President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he looked forward to receiving and honouring members of the Nigerian team on their sterling performance at the 2014 Commonwealth Games which ended in Glasgow, Scotland at the weekend. He gave assurance, in a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, that he will receive the medal winners and their coaches at the Presidential Aso Villa, Abuja at a date to be announced. President Jonathan was particularly elated by accomplishment of Blessing Okagbare who dominated the female sprint events, and other athletes who won medals for the country at the games. The President believes that the athletes’ very impressive performance at the games which resulted in Nigeria ranking 8th out of 71 participating countries, is a further demonstration of the indomitable spirit of Nigerians and the great heights they can attain with hard work, commitment, dedication, courage and patriotism. He assures the athletes and their handlers that his Administration will continue to do its best to encourage them and support sports development in the country. [myad]
Nasarawa state governor, Tanko Al-Makura has fought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state dominated House of Assembly, coming out of it all victorious. His neck has just been saved from the impeachment noose from the lawmakers. The Investigative Panel set up by the State Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko to investigate the governor for alleged misconduct and breaches of the constitution has dismissed the impeachment notice and the allegations. This, according to the panel, is due to the failure of the state’s House of Assembly to lead evidence in support of the allegations. The chairman of the panel, Yusuf Shehu Usman said that the House did not lead ‘any iota of evidence’ in support of the 16 allegations against the governor. Usman said: “Having considered and dismissed each allegation for lack of proof. “Having found no merit in the allegations, the panel hereby dismiss all the allegations. “In accordance with the constitution, the panel will send its report to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly.” The panel held that in criminal proceeding, the onus was on the person who alleged to prove and that since the state’s lawmakers had failed to prove the allegations, the panel had no choice but to dismiss the allegations. It also held that in civil cases, the onus to prove was on the person who would lose if no evidence was led and that since the house of assembly failed to adduce evidence in support of the allegation, the house stood to lose. Signs of the governor’s victory showed yesterday when neither lawmakers making the allegations against the governor nor any of their legal representation was present as the panel began sitting. Chairman of the panel was forced to adjourn hearing to today to give the lawmakers one more chance to appear to prove their case against governor Al-Makura. [myad]
Personal Assistant to Chairman of Greenbarge Media and Communications Limited, publisher of Greenbarge Reporters, Ruth Onorame Elawore celebrated her birthday today, August 5 with colleagues and friends. We in Greenbarge Reporters wish her many happy returns in good health and other good things of life.
The Nigerian army has announced the constitution of a powerful team of experts to investigate the war crime charge which Amnesty International leveled against its officers fighting members of Boko Haram in some parts of the North.
Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, in response to the war crime allegations, said in a statement: “the Defence Headquarters in addition to the already existing Joint Investigation Team (JIT), has constituted a team of senior officers and legal cum forensic experts to study the video footage and the resultant allegations of infractions in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts.
“This will further determine and stimulate necessary legal action against any personnel or anyone found culpable in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
Olukolade insisted that Military authorities are deeply concerned about the set of video footage being circulated and which unfortunately has also become reference data for Amnesty International in its report.”
Amnesty International, in its report, claimed to have “a fresh evidence of war crimes, including extrajudicial executions, and other serious human rights violations being carried out in North Eastern Nigeria as the fight by the military against Boko Haram and other armed groups intensifies.”
The military in its response said, “much as the scenes depicted in these videos are alien to our operations and doctrines, it has to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept, surreptitiously into the system.
“The Defence Headquarters considers these allegations too grievous to be associated with Nigerian troops, considering the doctrinal and operational contents of the training imparted to personnel on a continuous basis; emphasising the importance of respect for human rights and dignity of human person as well as observance of humanitarian laws.
“Notwithstanding the cases of impersonations that have pervaded the counter terrorism operations in Nigeria and many other related issues which cast doubts on the claims made in the video, the military authorities view those grave allegations very seriously, more so as it borders on the integrity of the on-going counter terrorism operation, which must be sustained in the interest of our national survival.
“The Nigerian Armed Forces cannot condone any action or inaction that tramples on the right to life of any Nigerian. The ultimate objective of Nigeria’s counter?terrorism operation is the complete cessation of the heinous and barbaric activities of the terrorists and to stamp out every vestige of terrorism in our country with the application of international best practices in such operations.
“It will, therefore, be absurd for the Nigerian Armed Forces as an institution to perpetrate such unprofessional acts in the manner and level depicted in that video as alleged by Amnesty International.
“Indeed, that level of barbarism and impunity has no place in the Nigerian military. Respect for the sanctity of life is always boldly emphasized in our doctrinal trainings. It must thus be reiterated that the Nigerian military is a very well organized professional body of troops whose conducts in war and peace times are guided comprehensively by law.”
Secretary General of the Amnesty International, Salil Shetty had said:
“This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling disregard for humanity in north-eastern Nigeria, where war crimes are being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict. What does it say about a country when members of its military carry out such unspeakable acts and then deliberately capture the images on film?
“The ghastly images are made worse by the numerous testimonies we have gathered which suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military and CJTF.
“Members of Boko Haram and other armed groups are responsible for a huge number of heinous crimes – like the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok more than three months ago – but the military are supposed to defend people, not to carry out further abuses themselves.
“A state of emergency must not give way to a state of lawlessness. Sadly, the same communities are now being terrorized in turn by Boko Haram and the military alike.”
The footage Amnesty has obtained includes a gruesome incident that took place near Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on 14 March 2014. It shows what appear to be members of the Nigerian military and CJTF using a blade to slit the throats of a series of detainees, before dumping them into an open mass grave.
The video shows 16 young men and boys seated in a line. One by one, they are called forward and told to lie down in front of the pit. Five of them are killed in this way; the fate of the remaining detainees is not shown on video, but eyewitness accounts confirmed that nine of them had their throats cut while the others were shot dead.
Additional footage featuring some of the same perpetrators, taken earlier that day at the same location, shows two detainees digging a grave under armed guard before the killing is carried out. One is told to lie down in front of the pit, where his legs and head are held by what seem to be CJTF members. The individual who appears to be the commander of the group puts his right foot on the man’s side, raises his knife, kisses it and shouts “Die hard Commando” and cuts the throat of the restrained young man. All other military and CJTF shout “Yes oga [boss], kill him”.
Amnesty spoke to several military sources who independently confirmed that the armed captors in the video were indeed military personnel, and according to two credible sources, they may be part of the 81 Battalion, which is based in Borno State.
No buildings, roads or other infrastructure can be seen in the video but the noise of cars confirms that it is near a road. Several of the armed captors are wearing military uniforms, one of which has the words “Borno State Operation Flush” emblazoned on the front. The ID number on one of the guns is also clearly identifiable.
Eyewitnesses told Amnesty that the videos were recorded on 14 March this year, the day of Boko Haram’s attack on the military detention centre in Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. Boko Haram forces reportedly released their members and told all other detainees to either join them or go home. After Boko Haram had left the town, more than 600 people, mostly recaptured detainees, were extrajudicially executed in various locations across Maiduguri. The detainees in the video were rearrested by the CJTF in Giddari Polo, near the barracks, where various sources have confirmed that a number of them were shot and killed by soldiers after being handed over to the military. The military then took the corpses and the detainees to a location outside Maiduguri, near Giddari where the executions are reported to have been carried out.
Military round-ups in Bama Further video evidence obtained by Amnesty reveals atrocities carried out in Bama, a town 70km south-east of Maiduguri.
Bama is one of the many communities that has been a focal point of the violence over the past two years. It has frequently been targeted in armed raids by Boko Haram and has also been singled out at least twice by the Nigerian military for mass arbitrary arrests of people whom they allege are Boko Haram members.
Residents told Amnesty about a “screening” operation which took place in July last year. Scores of Nigerian military and CJTF from Maiduguri arrived in the central market around 11am and told all the adult men to gather in one area and take off their clothes.
According to eyewitnesses, the men were then lined up and, one by one, told to close their eyes as they were pushed in front of a man seated in a vehicle. The man then indicated left or right. Up to 35 men who were sent to the left were alleged to be Boko Haram members. The remaining 300 or so were sent to the right, deemed to be innocent.
The video evidence obtained by Amnesty corroborates multiple eyewitness accounts of what happened next. The Nigerian military and CJTF members ordered those alleged to be Boko Haram members to lie down side by side on the ground, and then beat them with sticks and machetes. One eyewitness told Amnesty the military officials shouted: “You have to beat, even kill these; they are Boko Haram”.
The footage shows how during this “screening” operation, the military and CJTF fired celebratory shots in the air. Up to 35 detainees were then loaded onto a single military vehicle and taken away to the local military barracks in Bama.
Several days later, on the afternoon of 29 July, military personnel took the men out of the barracks and brought them to their communities, where they shot them dead, several at a time, before dumping their corpses. One local resident told Amnesty International how the gunshots rang out from around 2pm into the evening as soldiers shot and deposited the bodies in different places around the town.
A relative of one of the murdered men described the aftermath: “At that time everyone was aware that these people [had been] killed, [and] started running to look. We found [our relative] near Bama bridge. Plenty of people were with us. They [had] shot five of them [in that location alone]. There were five bodies including [my relative]. He had a bullet hole in his chest and no clothes, only trousers. We took the body and buried it. There is no death certificate; Bama hospital is not functioning. There is no place to complain; the town has restricted movement. Everybody left what happened to God.”
Deadly Boko Haram raid Like many other communities in north-eastern Nigeria, Bama’s residents have been living in constant fear of attacks by Boko Haram and other armed groups. These are sometimes believed to be in retaliation for what the armed groups deem to be the local residents’ co-operation with the Nigerian military. Many of the attacks have been met with little resistance by the military.
Boko Haram staged its most deadly assault on the town over the course of several hours early in the morning of 19 February this year, which locals report left almost 100 people dead and more than 200 injured. Improvised explosive devices and grenades were used to destroy huge swathes of the town.
“The insurgents had a field day, killing, burning and demolishing,” one Bama resident told Amnesty.
Video footage taken in the aftermath of the attack shows the charred remains of numerous cars and buildings, including fire damage to the top floor of the local Emir’s palace. Eyewitnesses said that schools and other administrative buildings were also bombed or torched, and more than 100 residents’ vehicles were destroyed. The footage from the aftermath shows scores of corpses wrapped for burial.
Amnesty is calling for an independent investigation into this pattern of systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in north-eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government must publicly condemn such acts, including reports of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and extrajudicial executions carried out by the Nigerian military.
Later this year, Amnesty will launch a report documenting human rights abuses committed by both parties to the conflict and the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the area. [myad]
Ghana major currency, the Cedi is currently facing danger as it fell 40 percent against the US dollar even as the country goes cap in hand for financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help strengthen the currency. Cedi is now considered to be one of the world’s worst-performing currencies.
According to expert report, Ghana, once seen as a shining example of economic strength in the region, is also struggling with high inflation, recalling that the country last went to the IMF for help in 2009, when it secured a $600m three-year aid package.
The report notes that in spite of the fact that it is a major exporter of gold, oil and cocoa, Ghana is struggling with large current account and budget deficits, adding that the country’s finance minister had last week said that the country would fix its currency problems itself and only go to the IMF as a last resort.
“Many experts see the decision to go to the IMF as the first admission by the government that the economy is in bad shape,” says the report. “Commentators said the move would force the government to take stronger action to tackle rising deficits and inflation.”
Leading financial analyst, Razia Khan of Standard Chartered Bank is quoted as saying: “An IMF programme is likely to give to investors that additional level of confidence that fiscal consolidation might be pursued more seriously. However, news of potential talks with the IMF is unlikely to be enough, on its own, to make a meaningful difference to the cedi just yet.” [myad]
When the first bomb went off on October 1st 2010, many could not fathom the possibility of a bomb going off anywhere in Nigeria let alone being targeted at innocent civilians on the streets of Abuja. But in effect, that was the dawn of a new era in our dear nation. We were rudely awakened to the reality of our vulnerability and negligence to issues that ought to have been tops on our priority list as a nation. We have simply been riding on the back of the proverbial tiger for too long not to end up in its belly.
When the renegade group called Boko Haram began their deadly and evil campaign, the critical part of our polity where blinded by the politics of self and regional interest to even see the red flag that was waving glaringly at us all, a warning of an impending danger brewing right in our midst. Like I said in an earlier write up, we have repeatedly run the red-light for too long to be perplexed at any ensuing accident.
Late in 2011, Arewa transformation and Empowerment initiative (ATEI) conducted a survey in the North-West, North Central and some parts of the North East states to document the activities and nature of some Almajiri Schools from which we produced a 30 minutes documentary and the revelations were alarming and startling. We found hundreds of makeshift schools with thousands of young children being tutored by unqualified teachers in very dehumanizing conditions. The point I am driving at here is in the fact that we have a growing population of young unskilled and uneducated population that have been neglected by the system in the last 3 to 4 decades in Northern Nigeria in the midst of dwindling economic opportunities especially in the North East. This breeds an army of unemployed, uneducated, semi educated (in some cases) and disenchanted population of young people who in many cases have never experienced any parental care or love whatsoever, a ready tool to be used by any evil minded person or group with an agenda.
The Nation and most especially the northern leaders were either oblivious of this time bomb we were sitting on or cared little from their respective comfort zones, spending their resources and energy instead on a quest for power and control of the center while the North continued to plunge deeper into an abyss of economic backwardness over the decades. It was this realization and an increase in the attacks by Boko Haram that prompted our call for the Northern IMPACT summit in 2012 where we sought to chart a new direction for the North with the consensus that our greatest asset is in our young population and we must begin to invest in building their capacity towards prosperity. Unfortunately, to this call we received little or no support from Northern leaders as we went ahead to begin implementing the Arewa Youth Empowerment Program. The truth is, if we do not give our young people something to live for, someone will always give them something to die for. Like the former minister of youths, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in an article recently, “ as long as we continue to breed an army of young people who feel excluded from the enjoyment of this life, visions of a better hereafter will always be a goal worth dying for’’.
The narrative of Boko Haram and their sinister campaign of terror in Northern Nigeria reeks with the stench of an invisible hand whose tactics is to stir up an uprising or anarchy in the midst of which they can achieve their ominous goal known only to them, any discerning mind can see the writing clearly on the wall.
At first they played the religious card by selecting and bombing churches and mosques in cities like Kaduna and Jos that have a history of religious crisis in the past with a propensity for reprisal attacks that mostly usually end up spiraling into mayhem of untold violence. When this tactics did not yield the desired result for the insurgents, they went ethnic, bombing luxury buses laden with innocent travelers going to the east in Kano. This unprovoked attack would have sparked series of reprisal killings in the South East in the past but luckily we were able to avert that mostly because Nigerians are a lot more informed today about the real intent of these bandits. Lately the attacks have taken a clearly political dimension, targeting soft targets, shopping malls, markets, motor parks, viewing centers etc. clearly designed to instill fear and apprehension among the populace and also pitch the people against the government and security agencies with an ultimate goal of inciting public unrest.
Their joker so far is the attempt on the lives of the former head of state Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and the renowned Islamic cleric Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi recently in Kaduna; both men have a near fanatical followership in the north and by their antecedence, very active and vocal on contemporary issues. Had they succeeded, all hell would have broken loose in the north with accusing fingers pointing in all directions but we thank God that they did not succeed. They have targeted and succeeded in assassinating in some cases some high profile individuals in the recent past all with the same intent. The abduction of the secondary school girls in Chibok was yet another strategy by the insurgents to whip public sentiments and also create a human shield for themselves while they pursue their campaign of terror.
It has become obviously clear that this insurgency clearly has no religious or ethno cultural ideology but rather a sinister political agenda achievable only by plunging the country into a civil war that will threaten the unity of Nigeria. Whatever their real motives, obviously it is only achievable in the midst of total anarchy and we must never grant them this goal. They have clearly identified our fault lines as a people to be religion, ethnicity, and political sentiments as the very tools with which they can use to achieve their evil goals.
This is the time we must close ranks as a nation united against this evil that is threatening our existence as a nation. We must throw our support to the men and women who put their lives on the line just so we can be safe. This is not the time for political grandstanding or partisanship, we must realize that there is an enemy within that is benefitting from our disunity.
I have always reiterated the fact that this is not a battle that can be won by boots and guns alone but a combination of soft and hard approach. We must begin to lay the foundation that will begin redressing the socio-economic crisis in the north that has created the enabling environment for this insurgency to thrive especially in the North-East. I think that it is only a long term socio economic solution that can solve this problem permanently and I believe that the recently announced Presidential Initiative for the North-East (PINE) is one of such solutions that if properly managed, will redirect the region towards prosperity. We cannot afford to indulge in a blame game and unnecessary criticism while our streets are awash with the blood of innocent citizens. We must all wake up to a collective responsibility as a people determined to root out this evil from our midst.
Mohammed Danjuma is President Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative (ATEI). [myad]
The 20 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, who signed the impeachment notice against Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, and their legal representatives, were conspicuously absent this morning as the investigative panel set up by the State Chief Judge commenced sitting even as the governor appeared before the panel.
Governor Al-Makura arrived at the Ministry of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs along Shendam Road in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa State, venue of the panel sitting, as early as 9am.
He was accompanied by a nine-man team of legal representatives, led by Chief Udechukwu Nnoruka Udechukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The other members of the legal team are: Olufunke Aboyade (SAN), Professor Earnest Ojukwu, Kehinde Aina, O.O. Adeleye, Olatoye Akinbode, Abdulwasi Musah, Chibuikem Mbachu, and Benjamin Nwosu.
The panel began sitting today before a large crowd of government appointees, associates of the governor and officials of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the governor’s party.
The 20 PDP lawmakers had earlier vowed not to have anything to do with the panel, directing the Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko to reconstitute the panel. They allege that members of the panel are not suitable because some are members of a political party, just as they said others have friendship ties with the governor. The Chief Judge, however, ignored their directive.
The panel has just adjourned till tomorrow, after it announced that the 20 lawmakers who signed a 16-count impeachment notice to remove the governor defaulted appearance.
The chairman, Yusuf Shehu Usman, after consultation with the other six members of the panel, announced the adjournment, saying the decision was taken “in the interest of justice and fairness.”
He said the panel decided to give an extra day’s grace for the signatories of the impeachment notice to appear and prove their allegations against the governor.
Usman said the panel would cause a notice of invitation of the 20 members to be served on them, and be pasted at relevant offices for their attention.
The adjournment came few minutes after the panel reconvened, following a brief stand down of the hearing, to consider the non-appearance of the 20 members either in persons or through their legal representatives.
Lead counsel to the governor, Chief Udechukwu Nnoruka Udechukwu, rose at the reconvention from the brief break, to plead the case be dismissed, citing Paragraph 7 (C) of the guidelines of the panel, as been in tandem with Section 28 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which provides that when a case is called and the prosecution is not in court for appearance, the court can dismiss the case.
Paragraph 7 (c) of the panel guidelines states that: “Where the House of Assembly fails or neglects to appear and lead evidence in proof of the allegations, the panel, upon proof of service may dismiss the allegations.”
The lead counsel pleaded with the panel to invoke Paragraph 7 (c) because it is in tandem with the provisions of Section 280 of the Criminal Procedures Act.
“I have come to confidently call for the case to be dismissed,” the lead counsel said, faulting the 20 lawmakers on various ways including that they did not serve either the governor, nor make a copy of the impeachment notice available to the panel.
“The only available notice is the publication in the Daily Trust,” Chief Udechukwu said, as he insisted that the panel does not any work to do with the non-appearance of the lawmakers.
But the panel chairman declined action, insisting that in the interest of justice and fairness, the panel will give the lawmakers the grace to appear tomorrow to prove the allegations against the governor.
“The panel has heard the submissions of the counsel to the governor. Having fully consulted, we want to say while we have not fully disagreed, we are of the view that Nasarawa State House of Assembly should be given further opportunity to appear and present their allegations against the governor.
“We will give them yet another opportunity to appear tomorrow (Tuesday). Consequent upon this, we shall; order the secretary to the tribunal to paste copies of the hearing notice to give them yet another opportunity,” the panel chairman said.
Meanwhile, Speaker Musa Ahmed Mohammed and five of the lawmakers who signed the impeachment notice against Governor Al-Makura are facing recall by their constituents over allegations that they did not consult properly before embarking on the exercise.
The other five members are the deputy speaker, Elisha Agwadu, Mohammed Baba Ibaku, Abdulkarim Usman, Francis Orogu and Mohammed Sidi Bako. In two of the constituencies, namely Nasarawa Central, and Udege/Loko, where the speaker and Ibaku are representing, respectively, people have for the past two weeks been collecting signatures from constituents. But the other constituencies have just commenced the exercise.
In Nasarawa Central, the constituents have already set up a central committee headed by the chairman of Nasarawa Local Government Area, Tijjani Ahmed, who is coordinating the recall process with three sub-committees.
A former council chairman, Barrister Mohammed Sani Bawa is heading the Nasarawa Central sub-committee, the state Commissioner of Agriculture, Danladi Madaki, is heading the sub-committee for Udege, while Alhaji Ibrahim Gambo and Nuhu Abubakar, a former councillor is heading the sub-committee for Loko axis.
When contacted, the speaker’s spokesman, Tanko Ibrahim, said: “Frankly speaking, I have no comments.”
Francis Orogu, on his part, confirmed the moves against him but insisted that the process is not one to give him sleepless nights.
“I have 100 per cent support from my constituents to go ahead with the impeachment against the governor. I consulted my people and they gave me the go ahead. Today, they are promising me an automatic ticket because I did them proud by appending my signature to the impeachment notice,” he said.
This is just as Lanze Kassim Ujah, a legislative aide to Usman of Wamba, said he is aware of plans by the minority APC members in his area to recall his boss, but added: “My boss consulted his constituents and got their approval. He is still in touch with his constituents.”
The deputy speaker, Elisha Agwandu, said he got the mandate of a majority PDP constituent to represent the area in the state assembly, just as he insisted that he had the approval of the electorate to sign the impeachment notice against the governor. [myad]
Nigeria minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has announced the constitution of a team to find the cure for the deadly Ebola disease that is making headlines news in recent time.
The minister named a professor of pharmacognosy and former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu as heading the team.
Though he did not give the names of other members of the team, the minister went on to confirmed that one of the doctors in Lagos who attended to Liberian Patrick Sawyer – the man credited with bringing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) to Nigeria – has contracted the virus, even as two other persons who have been under quarantine have developed symptoms of the virus.
The minister who said that it is not certain yet if the two persons have the disease, added that out of the 70 persons established to have had contact with the late Liberian, eight persons were now being quarantined.
Chukwu, who reiterated that efforts were being made to identify more secondary contacts, stressed that no outbreak had been recorded yet outside Lagos, appealing to Nigerians to report any incident of the disease to the ministry for immediate action. [myad]
I just returned from a reporting trip to Nigeria, where I was traveling around the country talking to terrorism experts, nomadic cattle herders, and government officials about how global warming affects conflict in the country. I lucked out with an amazing fixer, Mr. Michael. As a newswire reporter focused on the terrorist group Boko Haram, he was able to provide crucial context for my story. Michael grew up as a “street boy,” meaning he was able to make fast friends in the slum villages and farming communities we visited. He put himself through college, and after working as a Nigerian soap opera actor and door-to-door men’s clothing salesman, he clawed his way into journalism. Before that, he used to hang out with nomadic cow-herding kids, children who sell bottled water by the roadside, and budding scam artists. Yes, Nigerian scam artists, like the ones who send you emails purporting to be from an African prince who will pay you to help him move $3 million into your country, and all you have to do is give him your bank account number. I told Michael I wanted to interview his scammer friends. He said there was no way that his dudes would talk for less than $600. Shocker. Of course, at Mother Jones, we don’t pay for interviews. But I figured I’d be doing a public service by distracting the scammers from conning old folks for a couple hours. So I offered $100 for a rare glimpse at the human faces behind the syntax-challenged spam. We settled on $130, and off we went. I sat down with Sheye and Danjuma on the back patio of a fancy duplex in an upscale neighborhood in one of the country’s main cities, and the two dished on their craft, constantly interrupting each other as they downed bottles of Nigerian Star lager and chain-smoked. Though they lie for a living, Sheye insisted, “We are telling you the fact and the truth. This is a legitimate business.” Sheye and Danjuma have a name for the advance-fee email scams, in which victims agree to send money to a stranger, banking on the promise of love or fast money. They called these cons “Yahoo” jobs, pronounced Ya-OO. A scam email I received recently. “We go on the internet…We start making friend with you,” Danjuma says, explaining that they trawl Facebook and dating websites incessantly, looking for lonely women with money to spare. He knows if he meets “a Saudi Arabia person,” he’s in luck. “They don’t know what to do with money. “Whenever we want to fraud somebody, we will know what you are worth,” Danjuma says. “Where are you working?” Even “how much you have in your account.” They glean all this information just by developing a tight relationship with the dupe. If the mark is worthwhile, the scammer works up “a level of trust,” Danjuma continues. “Maybe the person doesn’t have a husband, and the person is looking for a husband in Nigeria. Maybe…you need a black man, you know white woman believe black men have sexual stamina than white guys,” he says, his down-sloping eyes very serious. At that point, the scammer will start to “give (the victim) a process,” promising to come visit her, but asking for money to take care of a few things first: “My car has problem,” or “My father is in Italy. He did not send money for me.” “Because you love me, then you say, ‘Okay,'” Sheye interrupts. “I go and withdraw my money. I keep on enjoying with my girls here in Naija.” He laughs wildly. Over the past decade or so, the United States has cracked down on Nigerian Internet scams. Western Union, for example, would not allow me to wire my Nigerian fixer an advance portion of his pay because, the operator told me, I was likely the victim of fraud. Still, Nigerian fraudsters manage to dupe Americans into forking thousands of dollars over to complete strangers each year. In 2011, the FBI received close to 30,000 reports of advance fee ploys, called “419 scams” after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that outlaws fraud. The agency received over 4,000 complaints of advance fee romance scams in 2012, with victim losses totaling over $55 million. Nigerians aren’t the only ones committing international advance fee fraud, but nearly one-fifth of all such scams originate in the West African country. The scams often involve phony lottery winnings, job offers, and inheritance notices. Ten years ago, Sheye and Danjuma, who are both in their mid-30s, say they could make up to 2 million naira—about $12,000—per Yahoo job, but the “US are very wise” now, Sheye says. They typically only make about $200 per “client” these days, though they know other scammers who still rake in millions of naira through the email schemes. “There is this boy in Kaduna (a city in northern Nigeria) who made over 2 million naira” last year on 419 scams, Danjuma says. “And he is not even 18. “We are not scared of any minister or president. We are not scared of him…Fuck them. They are all Thief people” The two fraudsters make most of their money duping fellow Nigerians. They insist that tricking people is not the same as stealing. “We don’t thief,” Danjuma says. We are modern day Robin Hoods.” They told me about one elaborate scam, called Elawala (or “Let’s go” in Igbo, one of the languages spoken in Nigeria), that they occasionally pull on their countrymen. It involves a taxi cab, a “juju man,” magic charms, and a huge bag of cash (and it’s way too complicated to explain here). Another go-to scam involves a taxi cab, a French man, a locked box filled with gold, and very expensive pliers. (Ditto). They even asked to hire me out for a day for one of their con jobs because, they said, a beautiful white babe with white skin would bolster their credibility. “Black people especially Naija guys believes that white man skin is reality,” Danjuma explains. They make a tidy living. Sheye and Danjuma say they are each worth about $60,000, in a country where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. They say they’d make a lot more than that, but they blow much of their income entertaining “clients” in order to convince the victims they’re legit. They’ll fly potential marks to Ghana, for example, and put them up in a fancy hotel while they meet with Sheye and Danjuma’s faux business partners there. Since Ghana is a less corrupt country, they say, victims are more likely to enter into a business deal with a Ghanaian than a Nigerian. The two say they own homes worth about a quarter million dollars each. The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is tasked with cracking down on con men like these. So is Interpol. The duo says they are able to skirt law enforcement because they have a lot of people on their payroll. “They’re all criminals,” Danjuma explains. They estimate that 30 percent of their earnings go to what they call “security”—that is, the payment of bribes. “We are not scared of any minister or president,” Danjuma says, his words slightly slurred by the third 20-ounce bottle of Star. “We are not scared of him…Fuck him.” They justify what they do by claiming that the highest levels of the Nigerian government are ridden with scammers. The fancy neighborhood where we meet backs up against a slum village. We take a stroll through it after the interview. The shack homes are constructed of used plastic cement bags tied to sticks. Feral dogs scamper around. A rivulet of garbage and water runs down the central dirt road. “The money [the government] should have used to construct this road, they are using for personal use,” Sheye says. “That is why we are bad boys.”
A rescue operation is underway in central Bangladesh after a ferry carrying up to 250 passengers capsized while crossing a river. Scores of people are said be missing.
Reports said the vessel, the MV Pinak, was crossing the River Padma in Munshiganj district, around 20 miles from the capital Dhaka, when it ran into problems.
Local media reports said that up to 250 people – or even more – may have been onboard at the time. Fire and rescue crews were hurried to the scene in an effort to save people who had fallen into the water. One unconfirmed report said up to 50 people had been rescued by early afternoon local time and that two bodies had been recovered.
Samsuddoha Khondaker, chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, said that he was unsure of the number of passengers who were being transported or what may have caused the accident.
Such accidents are all too commonplace in Bangladesh as a result of safety standards being ignored and intense overcrowding onboard such vessels, especially in rural parts of the country where they are an important and even essential form of transport. In May, about 50 people died in the same district in a ferry accident. [myad]
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We Are Modern Day Robin Hoods, Internet Scammers Confess By E. Eichelberger
I just returned from a reporting trip to Nigeria, where I was traveling around the country talking to terrorism experts, nomadic cattle herders, and government officials about how global warming affects conflict in the country.
I lucked out with an amazing fixer, Mr. Michael. As a newswire reporter focused on the terrorist group Boko Haram, he was able to provide crucial context for my story.
Michael grew up as a “street boy,” meaning he was able to make fast friends in the slum villages and farming communities we visited. He put himself through college, and after working as a Nigerian soap opera actor and door-to-door men’s clothing salesman, he clawed his way into journalism. Before that, he used to hang out with nomadic cow-herding kids, children who sell bottled water by the roadside, and budding scam artists.
Yes, Nigerian scam artists, like the ones who send you emails purporting to be from an African prince who will pay you to help him move $3 million into your country, and all you have to do is give him your bank account number. I told Michael I wanted to interview his scammer friends. He said there was no way that his dudes would talk for less than $600. Shocker. Of course, at
Mother Jones, we don’t pay for interviews. But I figured I’d be doing a public service by distracting the scammers from conning old folks for a couple hours. So I offered $100 for a rare glimpse at the human faces behind the syntax-challenged spam. We settled on $130, and off we went.
I sat down with Sheye and Danjuma on the back patio of a fancy duplex in an upscale neighborhood in one of the country’s main cities, and the two dished on their craft, constantly interrupting each other as they downed bottles of Nigerian Star lager and chain-smoked.
Though they lie for a living, Sheye insisted, “We are telling you the fact and the truth. This is a legitimate business.”
Sheye and Danjuma have a name for the advance-fee email scams, in which victims agree to send money to a stranger, banking on the promise of love or fast money.
They called these cons “Yahoo” jobs, pronounced Ya-OO.
A scam email I received recently.
“We go on the internet…We start making friend with you,” Danjuma says, explaining that they trawl Facebook and dating websites incessantly, looking for lonely women with money to spare.
He knows if he meets “a Saudi Arabia person,” he’s in luck. “They don’t know what to do with money.
“Whenever we want to fraud somebody, we will know what you are worth,” Danjuma says. “Where are you working?” Even “how much you have in your account.” They glean all this information just by developing a tight relationship with the dupe. If the mark is worthwhile, the scammer works up “a level of trust,” Danjuma continues.
“Maybe the person doesn’t have a husband, and the person is looking for a husband in Nigeria. Maybe…you need a black man, you know white woman believe black men have sexual stamina than white guys,” he says, his down-sloping eyes very serious.
At that point, the scammer will start to “give (the victim) a process,” promising to come visit her, but asking for money to take care of a few things first: “My car has problem,” or “My father is in Italy. He did not send money for me.”
“Because you love me, then you say, ‘Okay,'” Sheye interrupts.
“I go and withdraw my money. I keep on enjoying with my girls here in Naija.” He laughs wildly.
Over the past decade or so, the United States has cracked down on Nigerian Internet scams. Western Union, for example, would not allow me to wire my Nigerian fixer an advance portion of his pay because, the operator told me, I was likely the victim of fraud. Still, Nigerian fraudsters manage to dupe Americans into forking thousands of dollars over to complete strangers each year.
In 2011, the FBI received close to 30,000 reports of advance fee ploys, called “419 scams” after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that outlaws fraud.
The agency received over 4,000 complaints of advance fee romance scams in 2012, with victim losses totaling over $55 million. Nigerians aren’t the only ones committing international advance fee fraud, but nearly one-fifth of all such scams originate in the West African country. The scams often involve phony lottery winnings, job offers, and inheritance notices.
Ten years ago, Sheye and Danjuma, who are both in their mid-30s, say they could make up to 2 million naira—about $12,000—per Yahoo job, but the “US are very wise” now, Sheye says. They typically only make about $200 per “client” these days, though they know other scammers who still rake in millions of naira through the email schemes.
“There is this boy in Kaduna (a city in northern Nigeria) who made over 2 million naira” last year on 419 scams, Danjuma says. “And he is not even 18.
“We are not scared of any minister or president. We are not scared of him…Fuck them. They are all Thief people”
The two fraudsters make most of their money duping fellow Nigerians.
They insist that tricking people is not the same as stealing. “We don’t thief,” Danjuma says. We are modern day Robin Hoods.”
They told me about one elaborate scam, called Elawala (or “Let’s go” in Igbo, one of the languages spoken in Nigeria), that they occasionally pull on their countrymen. It involves a taxi cab, a “juju man,” magic charms, and a huge bag of cash (and it’s way too complicated to explain here). Another go-to scam involves a taxi cab, a French man, a locked box filled with gold, and very expensive pliers. (Ditto).
They even asked to hire me out for a day for one of their con jobs because, they said, a beautiful white babe with white skin would bolster their credibility. “Black people especially Naija guys believes that white man skin is reality,” Danjuma explains.
They make a tidy living. Sheye and Danjuma say they are each worth about $60,000, in a country where more than
70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. They say they’d make a lot more than that, but they blow much of their income entertaining “clients” in order to convince the victims they’re legit. They’ll fly potential marks to Ghana, for example, and put them up in a fancy hotel while they meet with Sheye and Danjuma’s faux business partners there.
Since Ghana is a less corrupt country, they say, victims are more likely to enter into a business deal with a Ghanaian than a Nigerian. The two say they own homes worth about a quarter million dollars each.
The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is tasked with cracking down on con men like these. So is Interpol. The duo says they are able to skirt law enforcement because they have a lot of people on their payroll. “They’re all criminals,” Danjuma explains. They estimate that 30 percent of their earnings go to what they call “security”—that is, the payment of bribes. “We are not scared of any minister or president,” Danjuma says, his words slightly slurred by the third 20-ounce bottle of Star. “We are not scared of him…Fuck him.”
They justify what they do by claiming that the highest levels of the Nigerian government are ridden with scammers. The fancy neighborhood where we meet backs up against a slum village. We take a stroll through it after the interview. The shack homes are constructed of used plastic cement bags tied to sticks. Feral dogs scamper around. A rivulet of garbage and water runs down the central dirt road.
“The money [the government] should have used to construct this road, they are using for personal use,” Sheye says. “That is why we are bad boys.”
*Not their real names. [myad]