Nigerians who kill their wives in America

It has happened again. This time in St. Louis Park, Hennepin County, Minnesota. I'm not sure what happened and I haven't been extensive in my news related analysis until a couple of nights ago when I called my buddy, Mike Egi who lives in one of St. Paul's suburbs asking what is shaking out there in the Mid-West.

"Oh, You don't know what is going on?" "An Igbo guy just killed his wife last week and it has been all over the news."

"Whao, so what's up with all these our men who can't move on with their lives, no matter what?"

Well, it is sad indeed when you have men who descended so low in life to use murder as a last resort. The case of Mike Iheme is one of many cases where Nigerian men had taken up the measure in murdering their wives in the most brutal of circumstances.

On July 24, Mike Iheme drove to where his wife worked at an assisted living center firing shots at her car as she was preparing to leave. Hennepin County court records confirmed the victim Anthonia Iheme "had an active harassment restraining order against (Mike) Iheme" who made the 911 call proclaiming "I have killed the woman that mess up my life...a woman that had destroyed me."

Now he has a subtitute. He will spend the rest of his life in jail.

News Desk (Nigeria) Monday, August 4, 2008

26 confirmed dead in Rivers cult clash

The army, yesterday, confirmed the death of 20 cultists in an exchange of gunfire between soldiers and the cultists at Nembe waterfront in Rivers State on Friday night, thus bringing the death toll in the cult clash that started on Tuesday to 26. MORE>>>

Africans in UK, others urge global support for N'Delta

Mobilisation of support in Nigeria and abroad for the Niger Delta people's quest for a greater share of the region's resources and its development gathered pace in the United Kingdom (UK) at the weekend...MORE>>>

British warhips not for N’Delta – Navy

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye has dismissed the insinuation that the warships offered Nigeria by British are intended for the Niger Delta. MORE>>>

FAKE ESPIRIT DE’CORP

The widely acclaimed hostility suffered by the relatively young National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the hands of the Nigeria Police was, again manifested recently in Abuja...MORE>>>

‘Why Nigeria will handover Bakassi to Cameroun’

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29 condemned Nigerians in Thailand, Afghanistan get reprieve

Reliable sources at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that 23 convicts were on death row in Thailand and six in Afghanistan. MORE>>>

Abuja: Trailer crushes 15 to death

It was yet another day of horror in Abuja, yesterday, as an articulated Julius Berger trailer carrying container rammed into an 18-seater Toyota Hiace commercial bus killing about 15 passengers on the spot and injuring scores of others. MORE>>>

Summer Jam and Santa Monica Pier Fest

The 24th Annual Twilight Dance Series at the Santa Monica Pier, California, seems to be giving me some kind of buzz and I'm really having a blast at this beautiful beach resort. Everything is just happening. I have been asked quite often when I will slow down and stop hanging out like a party animal. My answer: Life is too short. Just play it hard. Yes, play it hard and have fun; and that's what life is all about, like the saying goes: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Well, the Twilight Dance Series in its 24th year of Summer jams is as usual with some line ups that is quite interesting with its opening June 26, showcasing The Bonedaddys and the Crown City Rockers.

I have been paying much attention in the last couple of days to Creed Taylor's production in his Kudu years when legendary jazzy musicians in the likes of Richard Tee, Hank Crawford, Grover Washington Jr., Joe Beck, Johnny Hammond, Ralph McDonald, Bob James, Eric Gale, George Benson and the rest added gravy fusion that would change jazz forever. I'm not sure if today's jazz performers have enough talent to produce in that mood. Whatever it is, they should be given some props.

But anyway, what's more intriguing at this years Summer Jam and this famous pier is the line up and another opportunity for me to see among others, Oliver Mtukudzi who performs live on August 7 alongside Rocky Dawuni who would be opening the show that night. It's going to be a whole lot of fun as 'am already getting exhausted partying and smelling the sweet breeze of this fine ocean. Meanwhile, Mike Farris appears tonight and before it escapes my mind, my favorite record store Amoeba Music which sits in my neck of the woods are proud sponsors of this elegant event.

Adding more flavor to the festival, Toots & the Maytals who added soul seasoning to reggae music will wrap everything up on August 28. That's the one show I'm really looking forward to and I'm quite sure it's going to be a hell of a show because methink 'Reggae got Soul.'

August 14 has Juana Molina, The Midnight Shivers featuring Samantha Crain on the line up while August 21 has Gerry and the Pacemakers before the closing ceremony August 28 when one of my childhood favorites Toots stomps with the showdown. I'm just having a blast and it's all good.

Editorials (Nigeria) Thursday, July 31, 2008

Nigeria’s Last Teachers

THE teachers’ strike is not a national emergency. The best the Federal Government has done, after leading the teachers into believing it was to issue a circular for their new pay scales, was to claim it never had such powers. [VANGUARD]

Killing the tyre industry

Dunlop was until the announcement, the only remaining tyre manufacturing company in the country that was producing. The rest of them have closed shop, on account of several reasons including inclement business environment, mostly the energy crisis, policy summersaults and product dumping from other economies, where production infrastructure are taken for granted. [DAILY CHAMPION]

The attack on Abia State governor's convoy

LAST week, the convoy of Theodore Orji, Governor of Abia State was attacked by suspected hoodlums on the Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway. The attack took place at 7.45a.m. in a village, Ngwanyiekwe in Abia State. [GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS]

The lingering power emergency

Hopes for a quick resolution of the power crisis via a declaration of an emergency in the sector have again been dashed following an announcement of the postponement of that initiative. [DAILY SUN]

News Desk (Nigeria) Thursday, July 31, 2008

One survivor, five corpses recovered

THE House of Representatives, yesterday, summoned the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo, over Monday’s collapsed building in Abuja, with the minister himself constituting a committee to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident. MORE>>>

Police recover N359m, $50,000, £2,000 from robbers in Rivers

THE Police in Rivers State, Tuesday night, recovered N359 million, £2,000 and $50,000 from a gang of robbers who had earlier in the day robbed a bullion van in neighbouring Imo State. Also recovered from the gang were assorted weapons. MORE>>>

Senators, others want fresh pact, referendum over Bakassi

NATIONAL Assembly members from Cross River State where Bakassi local council is located are angry over the killing of Nigerian civilians by Camerounian troops (gendarmes) and the political intrigues preceding the handover of the oil-rich enclave... MORE>>>

PDP To Conduct Fresh Congress In Anambra

Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) 14-member congress committee made up of its Chairmen and Secretaries from Southeast zone arrived in Awka on Tuesday to conduct a fresh congress for Anambra State PDP within 30 days. MORE>>>

Niger-Delta crisis: Atiku holds the ace, says Yahaya Kwande

For a permanent solution to the intractable crisis in the Niger Delta, the Federal Government should seek some urgent counsel from former vice president Atiku Abubakar, so says Nigeria’s former ambassador to Switzerland, Yahaya Kwande. MORE>>>

Soldier, militants killed in another attack

Rival militant factions in Niger Delta have clashed in an apparent supremacy fight, leading to the death of a soldier and three militants, security officials said on Wednesday. MORE>>>

Declare state of emergency on federal roads

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Julius Ucha, while paying a courtesy call on the Governor of Edo State, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, on Wednesday, decried the poor state of the roads and called for urgent steps to address the situation. MORE>>>

Editorials (Nigeria) Friday, July 25, 2008

CBN, wonder banks and the law

AT the behest of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) earlier this month gave judgment shutting down some 30 companies which were found to have been operating illegally as fund managers. [GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS]

Nigerians abroad and investments

One of the dire consequences of the economic down-turn in the country since the introduction of the structural adjustment programme (SAP) in the 1980s has been the mass emigration of Nigerians with any skills at all to other lands in search of greener pastures. [DAILY CHAMPION]

Deaths At Immigration Recruitment Exercise

Just how desperate the unemployment situation in Nigeria has become was evident a fortnight ago as thousands of citizens, flaunting degree, Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE)and diploma certificates, besieged recruitment centres of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)in different parts of the country, only to face death and hospitalisation in emergency wards. [DAILY INDEPENDENT]

Tackling Niger Delta unrest

To tackle the violence in the Niger Delta, the Federal Government should take the following steps: Initiate a credible, sustained dialogue on control of resources with Niger Delta civil society groups, including militants, activist leaders, religious leaders, women and youth drawn from nominees submitted by councils of ethnic groups in the Niger Delta states. [THE PUNCH]

Living and hustling in Nigeria

The above pictures were captured by Idowu Ogunleye of The News Magazine. What a life!

News Desk (Nigeria Early Edition) Friday, July 25, 2008

Isoko threaten to shut down Shell

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Pregnant woman, 8 others burn to death in Lagos - 2 fuel tankers explode - 8 vehicles, 12 shops razed

AN early morning inferno caused by oil spillage from a tumbled petrol tanker at Orile-Iganmu in Lagos on Thursday left at least nine people burnt to death with many others severely injured. MORE>>>

MEND denies receipt of NNPC’s funds for pipeline protection

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta on Thursday said it never collected any money from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for the protection of oil pipelines. MORE>>>

How we attacked Ibru, others —Sgt Rogers

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Parties sue Yar'Adua, others over unity govt

THE Government of National Unity (GNU) of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua may be 13 months old, but a group of political parties yesterday filed legal action at a Federal High Court, Abuja Division, challenging its constitutionality and legitimacy. MORE>>>

Militant Group to Destroy Oil Pipelines within 30 Days

While the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has admitted paying a lump sum of $12 million to what they claim were some militant groups in the Niger Delta, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)has swiftly reacted to NNPC's claim issuing a strong statement to blow up pipelines in the Niger Delta region within the next 30 days. MEND has accused the Delta State Governor for using the alleged gangs as front.

Related Links:

Nigeria oil militants threaten Bonny output

Nigeria rebels deny being paid by oil firm, vow more attacks

Nigerian Militants Vow to Destroy Major Oil Pipelines

Nigerian militants: We'll destroy oil pipelines

News Desk (Nigeria) Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NNPC pays militants N1.4b

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Reps Discover N1.5tr Unremitted Funds By MDAs

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Police docks ex-Gov Mbadinuju over forgery

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Specifically, he is facing trial over alleged forgery of police documents relating to the murder of a one-time chairman of Onitsha Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Barnabas Igwe and his pregnant wife, Amaka about six years ago. MORE>>>

Ribadu in court, denies ownership of $3.9m mansion in Dubai

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Obasanjo’s govt blew N25b fertiliser fund, ex-minister tells Senate

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Photo Op: Top Model Oluchi Onweagba