Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  21st Sept. 2013  An Investigative Police Officer, Insp Joseph Edo, has told a Lagos High Court in Igbosere that statements were voluntarily obtained from the suspected killers of Miss Cynthia Osokogu in an open room. The accused, Okwumo Nwabufo 33; Olisaeloka Ezike, 23; Orji Osita, 33; and Ezike Nonso, 25, were charged to court by  Lagos State. Led-in-evidence by the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Ade Ipaye, yesterday, at the trial within trial, Edo explained that the statements were voluntarily obtained during investigation of  Cynthia’s murder. The accused  allegedly chained and strangled 25-year-old Osokogu to death at Cosmilla Hotel, FESTAC Town, Lagos, on July 22, 2012. Edo, after being reminded that he is on oath, told the court how he knew the first and second defendants, saying “I know the first and second defendant in the murder case of one Miss Cynthia Osokogu which I am investigating.” He added: “On April 20th, after thei...

BY:  GBENRO ADEOYE   21st Sept. 2013 Chief Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party  – South and convicted chairman of Nigeria Port Authority, tells GBENRO ADEOYE why he will keep on fighting until he shakes off the ex-convict tag Are you a thief?  I can refer you to the judgement because it’s already in the public view. At least, the judge was honest enough to say ‘no kobo was missing’. It was the greatest convoluted conspiracy that I have ever seen in my life. But you know, as a Christian, if you have belief in God and your faith is very strong, you don’t get shaken. First of all, if we split contract, it would be for whose benefit? I'm not a contractor; the company did not belong to anybody on the board, so in whose interest? Two, nobody brought a contractor, whether they executed the job, whether they were paid the money, we just finished and the rest was left to the management. Whether they even awarded the contract, I d...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  21st Sept. 2013 Operatives of State Security Service Friday stormed an uncompleted building in Apo Area of Abuja occupied by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect. In the resultant battle, 12 members of the sect were arrested while several others were injured. This is coming on the heels of a fresh Boko Haram attack in Borno State, leading to the death of 22 people in Bulabulin Ngaura Village located on Damboa-Maiduguri Highway in in Konduga Local Government Area. The sect also entered Buni Yadi in Yobe State yesterday, killing three people and setting on fire several public buildings. On the same day, the Borno State House of Assembly passed a vote of no confidence on the federal government over the Boko Haram crisis. But last night, one of the people injured in the uncompleted building during the clash in Abuja, Mallam Ibrahim Mohammed from Zamfara State denied being a Boko Haram member. Mohammed who spoke through an interpreter on his hospital bed at ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  20th Sept. 2013 Jose Mourinho has insisted he will not abandon his plans to transform Chelsea’s playing style in a bid to produce an immediate end to their alarming early season dip. The Chelsea manager accepts he must face criticism after four games without a win, including successive defeats by Everton and Basel in the London club’s last two outings. Portuguese boss Mourinho reacted to those losses by highlighting the inexperience of some members of his squad. Mourinho Mourinho But, speaking Friday ahead of the visit of Fulham to Stamford Bridge for Saturday’s west London derby, he maintained he’d been charged by club owner Roman Abramovich with changing the team’s approach. And Mourinho was adamant he would not alter that agenda in an effort to provide an immediate upturn in results. “When you want to build something different than the players are adapted to and comfortable with, it’s more difficult,” he told reporters at Chelsea’s training ground. “Th...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  20th Sept. 2013 A late night shooting on a basketball court has left several people wounded in Chicago, President Barack Obama’s adopted home town that has been struggling to stem gang violence, police said. The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported that 12 people were shot in all, including a three-year old who one witness said was hit in the face, in the shooting on a basketball court at a South Side Chicago park. A police dispatcher told AFP that “there were several people shot” in the incident at around 10:15 pm (0315 GMT Friday). “Basically, there have been no fatalities reported and there is no one in custody at this time, the dispatcher said. The Tribune said the wounded were being treated at area hospitals. Three of the gunshot victims, including the child, were in serious-to-critical condition, the Chicago Fire Department told the Tribune. The shooting comes as Chicago struggles to stem an epidemic of gang violence that helped push the c...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  20th Sept. 2013 Death toll in last Tuesday’s Boko Haram attack on Beneshiek has risen to 87. Following the gruesome attack by the terrorists, who disguised in military uniforms, 23 persons were reported killed while several others were declared missing. An official of Borno State Environment Protection Agency, Mallam Saidu Yakubu, however, confirmed yesterday that “87 bodies were recovered in the bush and our people are still searching for more.” Saidu disclosed this to newsmen when he accompanied Governor Kashim Shettima to the scene of the massacre. Meanwhile, Islamist insurgents have rampaged through a town in Yobe State with heavy weapons, setting public buildings on fire and killing a soldier and the wife of a senior policeman, authorities said yesterday. The Wednesday attack was the latest carnage to hit the region, which has seen an upsurge in violence in recent days. Armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers and home-made bombs, the terrorists storm...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  20th Sept. 2013 THE actualisation of the long-speculated reshuffle of President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet is still raising some dust. In the midst of the political cyclone that recently hit the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, it was understandable that decision would assume stronger political meanings than in ordinary times. Proponents of political motive held that the president decided to send home ministers nominated by some of the so-called rebel PDP governors: Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers. It also came when a faction of the ruling party which styles itself as the “new” PDP broke away, and the aggrieved governors and former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were at the centre of it. It needs to be understood that the appointment, reposting and sack of ministers of the cabinet is a consti...