Eighteen Los Angeles-Area Residents Charged as Part of Nationwide Medicare Fraud Strike Force Takedown

91 Defendants Charged in Seven Cities Linked to about $430 Million in False Billing

LOS ANGELES – LawFuel.com - Eighteen Los Angeles-area residents – including three doctors and one physical therapist – have been charged in six local cases for their roles in schemes to submit more than $65 million in false billing to Medicare.

The charges in Los Angeles are part of a nationwide takedown by Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in seven cities that led to charges against 91 individuals for their alleged participation in schemes to collectively submit nearly $430 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare. The more than $65 million in fraudulent billing from the Los Angeles cases is believed to be the highest amount of false Medicare billing in a single Los Angeles takedown in Strike Force history.

“Medicare fraud is a national problem that has a very local dimension, impacting patients, health care providers and taxpayers in every part of the nation,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “Here in Southern California, we will continue to work with our federal, state and local partners to crack down on the unscrupulous profiteers who threaten the integrity of our health care industry, as well as the well-being of its patients and practitioners.”

In Washington today, Attorney General Eric Holder said: “Today’s enforcement actions reveal an alarming and unacceptable trend of individuals attempting to exploit federal health care programs to steal billions in taxpayer dollars for personal gain. Such activities not only siphon precious taxpayer resources, drive up health care costs, and jeopardize the strength of the Medicare program – they also disproportionately victimize the most vulnerable members of society, including elderly, disabled and impoverished Americans. (see today’s Department of Justice national press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/October/12-ag-1205.html.)

According to court documents unsealed today in Los Angeles, four people affiliated with the Los Angeles-based Alpha Ambulance, Inc. were charged with submitting more than $49 million in false claims to Medicare between 2008 and 2012. According to the indictment, Alpha’s owners – Alex Kapri, 55, of Hollywood Hills, and Aleksey Muratov, 31, of Burbank– along with employees Wesley Kingsbury, 33, of Bloomington, and Danielle Medina, 35, of Corona, submitted claims for medically unnecessary transportation services and then created fake documentation to support those claims. Kapri, Muratov, and Kingsbury were arrested this morning and they – together with Medina, who self-surrendered this morning – are scheduled to make their initial appearances before a United States Magistrate Judge this afternoon.

“The FBI is committed to addressing criminal activity in the healthcare system that drains the Medicare Program of billions each year, a cost borne by taxpayers in the end,” said Timothy J. Delaney, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The defendants are accused in various cases of schemes targeting Medicare beneficiaries, primarily the elderly, and billing the federal government at inflated rates for services, or for services that were never provided.”

In three separate cases, individuals associated with four durable medical equipment (DME) companies – Bonfee Medical Supplies; Ibon, Inc.; Fendih Medical Supplies, Inc.; and Las Tunas Medical Equipment, Inc. – were charged with submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare.

The owners of Bonfee and Ibon – Charles Agbu, 58, and his daughter, Brooke Agbu, 25, Agbu, of Carson – were previously indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud related to medically unnecessary power wheelchairs. In a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury late last month and unsealed today, four additional defendants were added. The new defendants are Dr. Emmanuel Ayodele, 64, of Westlake; Dr. Juan Van Putten, 65, of Ladera Heights; patient recruiters Alejandro Maciel, 41, of Huntington Park; and Candelaria Estrada, 37, also of Huntington Park. The doctors and patient recruiters are charged with conspiring with the Agbus to provide bogus prescriptions to Bonfee and Ibon, which allegedly used those prescriptions to submit more than $12.3 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for the recruited patients. Ayodele, Maciel, and Estrada were arrested this morning and are scheduled to make their initial appearances this afternoon. Van Putten and the Agbus are expected to appear in federal court for an arraignment later this month.

In another case unsealed today, Victoria Onyeabor, 52, and her husband, Godwin Onyeabor, 49, both of Ontario, who own Fendih Medical Supplies in San Bernardino, were charged with conspiring with Dr. Sri J. Wijegunaratne, also known as “Dr. J,” 57, of Anaheim, to commit health care fraud. According to the indictment, the Onyeabors received prescriptions for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs from Wijegunaratne in return for kickbacks and used those prescriptions to submit more than $1.5 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare. The Onyeabors, Wijegunaratne, and a fourth defendant, Heidi Morishita, 51, of Valencia, who brought prescriptions to Fendih, also conspired in the payment and receipt of illegal kickbacks related to Fendih’s Medicare billing. Wijegunaratne and Morishita were arrested this morning and they, together with Godwin Onyeabor, are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles

Tigran Aklyan, 36, of Van Nuys, was arrested this morning on charges that he caused the San Gabriel DME company he owned, Las Tunas Medical Equipment, to submit more than $900,000 in fraudulent billings to Medicare, primarily for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs. Aklyan is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon. In another case, one defendant self-surrendered today on charges related to fraudulent Medicare billing for physical therapy claims.

Eddie Choi, 44, of Westlake, was a co-owner of California Neuro-Rehabilitation (CNR), a physical therapy clinic that allegedly submitted more than $2 million in fraudulent claims Medicare. Choi allegedly submitted bills for physical therapy when, in fact, the services, to the extent they were rendered at all, were massage and acupuncture that Medicare does not cover. A second person charged in this case – Won Suk Lee, 54, most recently of Murrieta, who is currently a fugitive – performed some of the treatments, even though he is not licensed to perform physical therapy. Choi allegedly caused CNR to bill Medicare for Lee’s patients and then paid Lee with approximately 60 percent of the Medicare reimbursements CNR received. Choi is scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court.

Finally, in a sixth case made public today, Vivian Neri, 58, of Baldwin Park, was charged with soliciting home health referrals in exchange for kickbacks. Neri is associated with at least $40,000 in home health services claims submitted to Medicare. Neri self-surrendered this morning and is scheduled to make her initial appearance this afternoon.

Glenn R. Ferry, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, Los Angeles region, stated: “It is exceedingly important that federal, state and local law enforcement be tightly coordinated and flexible enough to address health care fraud in its many evolving forms. So as in today’s actions, when ambulance companies, physical therapy operations, durable medical equipment companies, or other health organizations are suspected of breaking the law, they can expect swift justice.”

The defendants charged in these cases face a variety of criminal offenses, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, a charge that carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.

Since their inception in March 2007, strike force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,480 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

In addition to the six Los Angeles-area cases made public today as a part of the nationwide Strike Force takedown, prosecutors recently arrested Bamidele Tola Abdulrahoof, 60, most recently of Palos Verdes, on charges he submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary or not-provided DME products through his company, Warz Medical Supply. Indicted in August 2009, Abdulrahoof remained a fugitive until September 2012 when he was arrested coming across the U.S.-Mexico international border. Abdulrahoof entered a not guilty plea last month.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court. The Los Angeles cases announced today are being prosecuted by Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams comprised of attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Fraud Section of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. The investigations in these cases were conducted by agents from the FBI, HHS-OIG, and the California Department of Justice.

To learn more about HEAT, go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov. Persons who want to report incidents of Medicare fraud can file a report directly from the website, or they may call the toll-free number for HHS-OIG at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

.........LAW FUEL

NIGERIA: Weekend Papers, October 5-7, 2012

COMPILED BY AMBROSE EHIRIM

CLICK ON LINKS TO READ FULL STORIES

Public office holder's kids may stop schooling abroad

A Bill which seeks to prevent children of public office holders from schooling abroad has passed a second reading in the Senate.

88 Petrol-laden Ships, Others Arrive Lagos Ports

Ships laden with petroleum products and other items have started arriving at Nigerian ports, especially the ones situated in Lagos. The ships, which numbered over 88, were said to have started arriving since September 28, 2012.

Blast outside Nigerian bar kills one, wounds 11 -witness

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in the town of Jalingo, Taraba state, an area which has been occasionally targeted by Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Nigeria's Export to Europe hits 24.2 billion Euros.

The value of Nigeria's export to Europe increased from 10.2 billion Euros in 2007 to 24.2 billion Euros in 2011, the delegation of German Industry and Commerce said in Nigeria on Thursday.

Residents appeal to FG to repair Lagos-Badagry road

Some residents and road users in Lagos State have called on the Federal Government to urgently repair the deplorable Lagos-Badagry expressway. The residents said the condition of the road was affecting their social and economic activities.

Floods: Jonathan, govs in crucial meeting •2-hour rain causes panic in Lagos

AS flood disasters, precipitated by torrential rains across the country continue to wreak havoc on public and private infrastructure with growing human casualties and threat to food security, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, summoned a meeting with the state governors of the affected and other stakeholders.

Nigeria, ravaged by flood

In the face of the ongoing flooding tragedy in many parts of the country, Sulaimon Olanrewaju provides an insight into the tragedy and the efforts made to contain it.

Pains, agonies across the nation

The ongoing flooding incident across the country has done incalculabe damage. Gripping details of the situation in the affected states are provided by our correspondents in this report.

UN urges central banks to allow postal services to issue e-money

The UN Universal Postal Union (UPU) says that with more than 660,000 outlets throughout the world, and significantly larger networks than banks in many developing countries, postal services can play a major role in boosting financial inclusion.

Despite Global Slowdown, African Economies Growing Strongly

Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8 percent in 2012, broadly unchanged from the 4.9 percent growth rate in 2011 and largely on track despite setbacks in the global economy

What African American Communities Can Learn from Africa About Stopping the Spread of HIV/ AIDS

I was shocked to discover that the HIV infection rate for black males in our nation's capital is higher than that of some African countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Nigeria.

Goodluck Jonathan Reshuffles His Service Chiefs

Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim/NAN File Photo

President Goodluck Jonathan in what had been speculated about reshuffling his service chiefs earlier this week, on Thursday, October 4, 2012, by-passed the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika who in all expectations was to get t he powerful military post, appointed Naval Chief Vice Admiral Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim as the new Chief of Defense Staff replacing Air Chief Marshall Oluseyin Petinrin who is retiring. Ihejirika retained his post while Rear Admiral D.J. Ezeoba took over from Ola Ibrahim. Air Vice Admiral A.S. Badeh from the troubled state of Adamawa is the nation's new Chief of Air Staff replacing Air Marshall Diko Umar who is also retiring.

NIGERIA: Police Raid In Kano

The Nigerian Police Force spokesperson in Kano, Magali Majiya, disclosed Tuesday, October 2, 2012, that at least 96 suspected criminals have been arrested at 'various spots' including uncompleted structures in the Kano metropolis on a neighborhood watch program. The spots had been hideouts from where the alleged criminals operated. Ak 47 rifles, cutlasses, dane guns, locally made pistols and house breaking equipments were among items recovered from the raid. The arrests were carried out September 26, 2012, according to Majiya.

Analysis: Towards intervention in Mali

Iyag Ag Ghali, veteran Tuareg leader and head of Islamist Group Ansar Dine open to talks. Image: Brahima Quedraogo/IRIN

BAMAKO, 2 October 2012 (IRIN) - After weeks of shuttle diplomacy, speculation and contradictory signals, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) now looks to have the backing of the Malian government for a major troop deployment in northern Mali.

ECOWAS is still seeking support from the UN Security Council, whose members are divided on the issue of military intervention. Internal ECOWAS documents point to a draft plan, outlining provisional troop numbers, budget and time-frame.

In Bamako, supporters of an ECOWAS deployment are adamant that a strong outside force is crucial if Mali wants to “recapture” the north, ousting the Islamic movements which took over the area six months ago but have dominated an extensive criminal economy for years.

Speaking at a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly last week, Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon highlighted the Sahel's need for closer regional cooperation and a special UN emissary of its own, warning of "terrorist groups, transnational criminal organizations and insurgencies", and noting: "Human trafficking is on the rise, along with drug-trafficking and arms smuggling.”

Who is in control in the north?

When the rebellion in northern Mali broke out in January, it was the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) that quickly out-manouevred a demoralized, ill-equipped army, capturing large swathes of territory.

The MNLA's demands for an independent state carried strong echoes of previous insurgencies but its combatants and fledgling administrations were rapidly supplanted by radical Islamic movements.

For Bamako, the main enemy no longer had a separatist agenda, but a rigid commitment to a Salafist Islam largely alien to Mali. At the same time, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), widely presented as the controller and financier of the Islamic radicals in the north, has extensive trafficking and kidnapping networks there - reportedly secured with the discreet connivance of sections of the Malian military and Algerian security forces.

While there has been endless speculation about the size, military strength, internal structures and support networks of the three main movements (Ansar Dine, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa - MUJAO, and AQIM), hard information has often proved elusive.

Visitors to the north suggest AQIM's leadership is very much present, but extremely mobile, individual warlords frequently shifting location, while MUJAO’s strength is allegedly growing, much of it fuelled by non-Malian West Africans.

What about mediation?

Regional mediation efforts have yielded little. ECOWAS's designated mediator, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, was much criticized in Mali, seen as pro-Tuareg and taking unilateral initiatives without consulting the transitional government in Bamako.

Peace initiatives from Mali have been exploratory. Among those to have headed north was the Guinna Dogon (GD) movement, representing the Dogon ethnic community, mainly based around Mopti and Djenné in the north. "We went as cousins", GD president and Foreign Ministry adviser Mamadou Togo told IRIN. Both "occupiers and those being occupied" wanted peace and dialogue, but he found AQIM and MUJOA to be dominated by non-Malians, who seemed to have little understanding of the country, he said.

Togo found Ansar Dine veteran Tuareg leader and long-term negotiator Iyad Ag Ghali more approachable, but still with a wholly unrealistic agenda. "Iyad wants Sharia", Togo explained. "The Islamists argue that 95 percent of Malians are Muslims, so Sharia must be imposed now. How do you negotiate with that?"

What are the human rights concerns?

In a 23 September report Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that under the control of Islamic radicals "stonings, amputations and floggings have become the order of the day in an apparent attempt to force the local population to accept their world view."

There is evidence of strong cohesion between the three movements on imposing Sharia, with courts now sitting regularly in Timbuktu and Gao, according to senior HRW Africa researcher Corinne Dufka, who also confirmed major recruitment drives of children and adults.

Could intervention make matters worse?

The reports of excesses in the north have inevitably strengthened the calls for prompt, decisive military action, with warnings that the longer the Islamists are left to their own devices, the more difficult they will be to dislodge.

But there are serious caveats about the humanitarian implications of renewed conflict. "There are no easy answers," Ban ki-Moon warned. According to Oxfam West Africa Regional Director Mamadou Biteye, “there is a major risk that military operations in northern Mali would make an already fragile humanitarian situation much worse.”

Dufka of HRW warned of a conflict where humanitarian law would get little recognition, emphasizing that aerial strikes and drone attacks were likely to feature.

She also warned of a "fratricidal" element to the conflict, with armed groups like the northern militia group Ganda Koy (made up of ethnic Songhai and traditionally violently opposed to the Tuaregs), coming into the picture. Many Tuareg refugees told IRIN they were too afraid to return home because they would be targeted in attacks.

Dufka also expressed concern about the professionalism of the Malian military. An investigation has been promised into the killing of 16 Malian and Mauritanian Islamic preachers from the Dawa movement at Diabaly, 400km northeast of Bamako on 8 September, an incident which has further complicated Mali's relations with Mauritania and drew a furious response from Islamists in the north.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned in a recent report that "all scenarios are still possible in Mali," including a wave of attacks, major social protests, or another coup. The ICG urged the international community to help heal divisions and build strength in Mali’s military, re-establish stalled development aid, and give the crisis a much higher profile.

Is ECOWAS capable of effective intervention?

Diplomats, who see a conflict as likely if not yet inevitable, suggest an intervention begun in haste will be catastrophic, not least because serious questions remain about ECOWAS's own capacity.

Key member states like Senegal appear lukewarm about intervention in Mali. Nigeria, facing its own Islamic fundamentalist threat in the shape of the radical Boko Haram movement, may face domestic pressure not to commit troops.

Few available ECOWAS troops have combat experience in a desert. Mauritania, which has criticized Mali in the past for being “soft” on “Islamic terrorism”, and has sent its own troops into Mali on counter-insurgency operations, is not an ECOWAS member.

Neither is Algeria, accused by many Malians of spawning the Jihadist movements and their accompanying kidnapping and trafficking networks, which have played such a destructive role in northern Mali.

Neither the Malian army nor ECOWAS will be able to tackle the influx of arms and soldiers from Libya to northern Mali through southern Algeria and northern Niger, warns the ICG without “clear involvement of the Algerian... authorities”.<
ECOWAS has made it clear that it needs and expects strong backup from outside, particularly in airlifting troops to the combat zones, promoting speculation that France and the USA could play critical roles. Both, predictably, are downplaying their importance.

France has serious concerns about French hostages still held by Islamic radicals. The US formally suspended military engagement with Bamako after the National Committee for the Recovery of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDRE), headed by US-trained Captain Amadou Sanogo, took power on 22 March.

What about the new government in Bamako?

Military intervention is further complicated by the power vacuum in Bamako, where the government has no electoral mandate and where none of the three actors sharing power has sufficient legitimacy, say observers. Critics warn that the restoration of democracy has barely begun.

The government formed by President Dioncounda Traoré in August under outside pressure and headed by Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, remains a weak, compromise administration, described by one diplomatic observer as, at best, "an imperfect construct, but one that could move forward".

Other concerns include continued support for Cpt Sanogo, the military's retention of key ministerial portfolios, including Defence, Home Security and Territorial Administration; and a history of serious human rights violations, with security forces targeting critical journalists and the reported torture and disappearance of soldiers hostile to the military junta.

"This is not a normal democracy; this is Mali post-coup," said a Bamako-based analyst.

Relations between ECOWAS and CNDRE have been volatile, with Sanogo and his political allies wanting to keep foreign troops outside Bamako and confining ECOWAS’s role to logistics and training. The current civilian administration is more accepting, with Traoré issuing an invitation for military intervention.

But there is no evidence yet of a more robust approach from the Malian military, with reports instead of dangerous schisms, particularly after the “Red Berets” - Mali’s elite force - were accused of leading a counter-coup attempt in late April.

Timbuktu parliamentary representative Sandy Haïdara is adamant Mali cannot go it alone. "We are from the north and we know our army cannot do this," he told IRIN. "They will need help".

.....IRIN

Gay Nigerian risks death by being deported

UK authorities are insisting on deporting a gay Nigerian asylum seeker, despite him facing a possible death sentence and a campaign to let him stay in Bradford

UK authorities are insisting on deporting a gay Nigerian asylum seeker, despite him facing a possible death sentence and a campaign to let him stay in Bradford.

Olalekan M Ayelokun fled eight years from Nigeria eight years ago to escape persecution because of his sexuality.

A judge at Bradford’s Immigration Court stated he was not convinced Ayelokun was a gay and ordered his deportation by 6 October.

Mr Ayelokun was detained last Tuesday after a routine appointment at the UK Border Agency’s Waterside Court offices in Leeds.

Jason Feather, a friend of Ayelokun told Gay Star News: ‘He was arrested with only the clothes he was wearing, since then he did not have a change of clothes.

Yesterday he was moved to Collingbrook detention center in London, which is near the airport so he can be deported to Nigeria in only four days.

Feather and other friends of Ayelokun have set up a Facebook group, an online petition and a sample letter to MPs, to try and stop him from being forced onto a plane back to Nigeria on 6 October.

His solicitor, Mark Taylor, appealing to the High Court in a bid to get the judge’s decision reversed.

However, a UK Border Agency (UKBA) spokesman told the daily Telegraph and Argus that Mr Ayelokun had lived in the UK illegally, having overstayed a visit visa that expired in 2003.

The spokesman said: ‘He did not claim asylum until 2011, after he was arrested by UK Border Agency officers for using false documents to gain employment.

‘At no point has he been able to provide sufficient evidence of his sexuality and our decision not to grant him asylum has been upheld by an independent immigration judge.’

Taylor, Ayelokun’s solicitor, branded the judge’s decision in as ‘extraordinary’, claiming three former sexual partners and other friends from the gay scene gave evidence on oath that his client was gay.

He said: ‘This young man is undoubtedly gay. The reality is he will die if he goes back to Nigeria. Homosexuality is an offence there and there is Sharia law in some places, so the reality is that he will die.’

Jason Feather told GSN: ‘My friend Ola Ayelokun may face death if he is deported to Nigera.

‘It is also contradiction of David Cameron's pledge in 2010 who said that: “those Africans seeking asylum on the basis of sexual orientation and at real risk of persecution in their home countries should be allowed to stay in the UK".

'We are hoping the Prime Minister will step in and keep his word.’

Homosexuality is illegal in the federal system of Nigeria and is punished in different states in varying degrees of severity.

Southern states punishes same-sex acts with up to 14 years imprisonment.

While northern states and punish same-sex acts with a minimum of 14 years imprisonment as well as a fine, and in twelve of the northern states punishments include flogging and death by stoning.

Omar Kuddus, chair of the British charity organization Gay Asylum slammed the UK authorities telling GSN: ‘To what length does a person have to go to prove he is gay?

‘The UKBA needs to understand that to be gay in Nigeria is a death sentence and as such how can they justify sending him back to his possible death?

‘The UKBA must realize that they are playing with lives and as such must show compassion and understanding.’

...........DAN LITTAUER/GAY STAR NEWS

Universities to stop giving politicians honorary degrees

The VCs also decided to stop people who have done no research from bearing the title, "Doctor"

A new policy, drafted by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities is set to ban the nation’s tertiary institutions from awarding honorary degrees to any political holder or appointee.

This is among some other policies, are being put together by the Vice-Chancellors to reform the education sector as the association on Monday released guidelines for the award of honorary degrees in Nigerian universities.

The Secretary-General of the Association, Prof. Michael Faborode, stated at the 27th conference of the association, which was held at the Nasarawa State University,while examining the general erosion of academic culture and tradition agreed on the new guidelines.

According to Prof Faborode, “The onward procedure for the award of honorary degrees enjoined universities to make it a policy not to bestow honorary degree on any person holding political office while still in service.”

“The award of degree should be given to any professional who has made significant or ground breaking discoveries in the areas of accomplishments, invention, and innovation among others to societal development.”

“This should not be tied to wealth consideration or political alignment, rather it should be based on leadership, service and the contribution of the recipient to social and economic development of the society,” he added.

‘Dr’-title not honorary degrees

Another tough decision agreed upon by the Vice-Chancellors is to address the apparent abuse of the title ‘Dr’ by honorary awardees, who had not conducted any research work to earn the title.

Faborode further explained that the association agreed that no university should be allowed to award honorary degree “If it has not graduated any Ph.D. or has no post-graduate school.”

He also added that the use of ‘Dr’ as a title for honorary degree graduates and awardees “Is unconventional and therefore, not allowed.”

He noted that the association of Vice-Chancellors observed that the number of honorary degree awardees have become uncontrollably large, “Ranging from one to 20 in a single convocation ceremony and at times presented in absentia to surrogates.”

“We have also noted that most of these awards are based on wealth, political office, and position as a means of generating revenue with little or no consideration for integrity.

He lamented that there is no consideration for contribution to the development of the university and no consideration for national development for the awardees.

He said that the guidelines and procedure for the selection of honorary degree recipients should be in accordance with the law and statute of the respective universities.

This, he noted should be in line with best practices and the selection process which should be through the appropriate committee of the awarding university’s Senate.

The association of Vice-Chancellors as a matter of policy also decried the system of backlogging convocation ceremonies.

They therefore decided that all universities should hold their convocation ceremonies annually and where possible within the same month each year.

Faborode said that the association in collaboration with the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) would act as whistle blowers and take appropriate action to ensure compliance.

The guidelines which are known as “Keffi Declaration” are expected to be effective from January 2013.

The “Keffi Declaration” would reduce the indiscriminate award of honorary degrees and restore the age long university culture and tradition of best practices, declared Prof Faborode.

..........VINCENT EHIABHI/DAILY TIMES

US Considers Nigeria Torture Case

Washington - The US Supreme Court began its new session on Monday by re-examining an explosive international case alleging that oil giant Shell was complicit in acts of torture by the Nigerian government.

Fresh from their pivotal decision in June to uphold President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the nine Supreme Court justices took up a case with enormously important ramifications for international human rights.

The legal argument pivots on whether foreign plaintiffs have a right to file suit in American courts against US corporations accused of human rights violations, under an arcane 200-year-old statute.

In Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum, the oil giant is accused of being an accomplice to torture, extrajudicial executions and crimes against humanity by the Nigerian government between 1992 and 1995 in the Niger Delta region.

Shell is alleged have helped the former dictatorship arrest and torture 12 members of the Ogoni tribe, who had sought to peacefully disrupt oil development because of its health and environmental impacts.

Esther Kiobel, now a US citizen, brought her claims on behalf of her late husband, Barinem Kiobel, who was executed in a sham trial in which Shell is alleged to have played a key role.

Plaintiffs have invoked the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which allows non-citizens to sue in US courts for violations of international law.

Human rights lawyers already use the obscure statute to seek damages in US courts from foreign governments involved in human rights abuses.

ADOPTED Homeland

At issue now is whether multinational corporations, allegedly complicit in such overseas abuses, are also liable.

Justices indicated in February that the statute doesn't permit suits against corporations but decided to re-examine the wider question of whether the statute can apply beyond US borders.

"ATS clearly covers those violations," argued Carey D'Avino, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys.

The 1789 statute was barely used for two centuries before being resurrected in the 1970s by human rights activists to pursue international lawsuits.

This case is being closely watched as it has implications for several other pending actions, including a group of Indonesian villagers who accuse oil giant Exxon Mobil's security forces of murder and torture.

Attorneys for Shell argue that the oil giant cannot be held legally responsible in the United States for offenses allegedly committed far from American shores.

"This case has nothing to do with the US," said Shell attorney Kathleen Sullivan, adding that the petitioners were seeking legal redress "against an Anglo-Dutch corporation for something that happened entirely in Nigeria."

But Paul Hoffman, lawyer for the Nigerians, told the court that the plaintiffs, who have been granted asylum in the United States, sued here because this was their "adopted homeland".

The Committee for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit group, said it was worried that a negative ruling would damage the ability of the United States to take the lead on international human rights issues.

Another hot-button issue

"The ATS has been a cornerstone of US human rights litigation for over three decades, providing victims of grave human rights abuses justice that they could not get elsewhere," the group said.

A decision is not expected until next year.

During its new nine-month session, which runs through June 2013, the Supreme Court will also consider a number of other contentious issues ranging from gay marriage to civil rights.

In Fisher versus the University of Texas, the court will decide whether a white student, Abigail Fisher, was passed over unfairly for admission in 2008 because the school went too far with its affirmative action policy.

Another hot-button issue in the United States is same-sex marriage, and the court has at least eight appeals in line for consideration on this subject.

After long side-stepping the issue, Obama publicly endorsed gay marriage in May in a surprise move designed to draw a sharp contrast with Mitt Romney, his Republican rival in the November election who opposes same-sex unions.

Legal marriage between two men or two women is not recognized by the US federal government, but is now allowed in six of the 50 US states and in Washington, the US capital.

..........AFP/NEWS 24

Islamic Sect Says No Peace Talks With Nigerian Government

The suspected leader of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram is denying government claims that the group is involved in peace talks.

In a video posted on YouTube, Abubakar Shekau says group members have not sat down with government officials in a dialogue.

The video could not be independently authenticated.

Shekau also said Abul Qaqa, the group's suspected spokesman, is still alive despite claims from Nigeria's military that he was killed by security forces last month.

In addition, Shekau said security forces have begun to arrest the wives of members of the group. In the video, he threatened the wives of Nigerian government officials.

Boko Haram is believed to have several factions, which has confused government efforts to end the violence, either through security measures or negotiations.

The radical sect has been blamed for more than 1,400 deaths in Nigeria since 2010. Most of the bombings and shootings attributed to the group have taken place in northern Nigeria.

The group says it wants a hardline form of Sharia law imposed throughout the country.

Nigeria's population of 160 million is divided roughly between a mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

>.........VOA NEWS

Bookshelf's Fall Reading From African Authors

There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra By Chinua Achebe. Hardcover. Pages: 352. Penguin Press

The defining experience of Chinua Achebe’s life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe’s people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. By then, Chinua Achebe was already a world-renowned novelist, with a young family to protect. He took the Biafran side in the conflict and served his government as a roving cultural ambassador, from which vantage he absorbed the war’s full horror. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than forty years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa’s most fateful events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature.

Interventions: A Life Of War And Peace By Kofi Annan, Nader Mousavizadeh (collaborator). Hardcover. Price:$ 36.00. Pages:512. Penguin Press.

Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke to a world still reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” proclaimed Annan, “we have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further—we will realize that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations, or regions.” Yet within only a few years the world was more divided than ever—polarized by the American invasion of Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the escalating civil wars in Africa, and the rising influence of China.

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace is the story of Annan’s remarkable time at the center of the world stage. After forty years of service at the United Nations, Annan shares here his unique experiences during the terrorist attacks of September 11; the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; the war between Israel, Hizbollah, and Lebanon; the brutal conflicts of Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia; and the geopolitical transformations following the end of the Cold War. With eloquence and unprecedented candor, Interventions finally reveals Annan’s unique role and unparalleled perspective on decades of global politics.

Of Africa by Wole Soyinka. Hardcover. Price: $24.00. Yale University Press.

A member of the unique generation of African writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, Wole Soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. He deeply comprehends the pressing problems of Africa, and, an irrepressible essayist and a staunch critic of the oppressive boot, he unhesitatingly speaks out.

In this magnificent new work, Soyinka offers a wide-ranging inquiry into Africa's culture, religion, history, imagination, and identity. He seeks to understand how the continent's history is entwined with the histories of others, while exploring Africa's truest assets: "its humanity, the quality and valuation of its own existence, and modes of managing its environment—both physical and intangible (which includes the spiritual)."

At The End Of The Day by Ebuni Ilombi. Softcover.Price: $22.38. Pages: 217; Xlibris, Indiana.

Equal parts Nigerian woman, London cosmopolitan, and a poetess who sees the world through refined eyes, Ebuni Ilombu’s gregarious main character Marina in At the End of the Day takes readers through creatively ordered remembrances of childhood and moments of illuminating wisdom through her normal day of business in London. This beguiling debut novel is beautifully crafted with touching and nuanced insights into the strength and weakness of human minds in loss, love, struggle and friendship. Intellectually thrilling, yet with amusing anecdotes. It is quietly compelling and undeniably inspiring.

Underwater Eden: Saving The Last Coral Wilderness On Earth. Edited by Gregory S. Stone and David Obura. Hardcover. Price: $40.00. University of Chicago Press.

Yet in the waters off the Phoenix Islands, the corals were healthy, the fish populations pristine and abundant—and Stone and his companion on the dive, coral expert David Obura, determined that they were going to try their best to keep it that way. Underwater Eden tells the story of how they succeeded, against great odds, in making that dream come true, with the establishment in 2008 of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). It’s a story of cutting-edge science, fierce commitment, and innovative partnerships rooted in a determination to find common ground among conservationists, business interests, and governments—all backed up by hard-headed economic analysis.

President Goodluck Jonathan Hides in the Presidential Villa to Mark Nation's 52nd Anniversary

Statement by the Lagosian, Tunji Abbas who said "In Abuja, the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom" is indeed being upheld and respected.

President Goodluck Jonathan is hiding in Aso Rock, the presidential villa to mark the country's 52nd Independence anniversary in what his aid Reuben Abati said "was low-keyed to save costs and adequately prepare for the big event of 2014, when the nation would mark 100 years of existence from the amalgamation of 1914."

In addition, the presidential sources said, “President [Goodluck] Jonathan has personally responded to the allegation that the event is being held within the State House by making it clear that in 2014, we will have a big event; the centenary of Nigeria since amalgamation.Few years ago, we have the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence and that was a big event. The President’s take on this is that between that 50-year anniversary and the centenary of Nigeria’s amalgamation, we should have low-keyed celebrations. Those who are looking for celebration on a grand scale should wait till 2014 when we will have the 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation."

However, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, October 1, 2012, inaugurated the newly created 170 Special Forces Batallion to beef up security in the Presidential Villa and Abuja metropolis. "The fear of Boko Haram" is indeed "the beginning of wisdom."