Police begin autopsy on 18 recovered corpses in Anambra

THE Anambra State Police Command Monday announced the commencement of autopsy on the 18 corpses recovered from Ezu River in Amansea, Anambra State, on Sunday.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ballah Nasarawa, disclosed this to journalists during the launch of the Code of Conduct for officers and men of the Anambra State Police Command at the Police Headquarters yesterday.

“Tomorrow (today), police pathologists from Benin and government doctors in Anambra State will commence work on the autopsy.

“Investigation reveals that all the corpses are male adults, no females and children. It was also discovered that there were no gunshot injuries or any marks of violence found on the corpses,” he said.

The police boss also used the opportunity to refute the rumour making the rounds that 30 or 50 corpses were recovered, insisting that only 18 corpses were picked up from the river.

According to him, the state Commissioner for Health, who witnessed the evacuation of the corpses from the river on Sunday, will also be present during the exercise. “Investigation is on-going, and any further revelation will be made later to the press,” he added.

Nasarawa assured that police in Anambra would not relent until all forms of criminality are wiped out, just as he cautioned those involved in criminal activities to look for other sources of livelihood.

Speaking further on the achievements of the police, he said his men killed two armed robbers during an encounter, arrested nine armed robbers and 16 kidnappers, while six kidnap victims were rescued.

He further said that 35 assorted live ammunitions, two locally-made pistols, four magazines and 10 assorted vehicles were recovered.

According to the police chief, the Code of Conduct is aimed at providing officers and men in the command with a set of principles and standards of behaviour while on or off duty.

He added that it is expected to guide all police officers not to exceed their authority in the enforcement of the law, and to conduct themselves in accordance with the constitution and all other applicable laws.

“Indeed, the code will be regarded as an accountability manual that will be applied on all officers, irrespective of their rank.”

Commercial sex worker sent to 6 years imprisonment for killing client

A Lagos High Court in Ikeja on Monday sentenced 27-year-old Nkechi Okafor, a commercial sex worker, to six years imprisonment, for killing a client, Abiodun Sarumi on March 2,2010.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports Justice Lateefat Okunnu sentenced the accused, after finding her guilty of an amended charge of manslaughter.

Delivering judgment, Okunnu said the six years would begin from March 16, 2012 when Okafor was first arraigned and remanded in prison custody for the offence.

"From the evidence before the court, Miss Okafor acted on impulse by stabbing Sarumi, but without the intention to kill", she held.

The judge, however, said that Okafor's defence was not enough to exonerate her of the crime.

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had charged Okafor to court on a murder charge, but later amended it to manslaughter.

Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan, Director, Lagos DPP, had told the court that Okafor committed the offence at Nice Time Hotel, Old Ipaja Road, Lagos.

Ogungbesan said Okafor had stabbed the deceased with a bottle on his shoulder, close to the armpit. The prosecutor said that Okafor, in her confessional statement to the Police , admitted that she stabbed Sarumi but without the intention of killing him

According to Ogungbesan, Sarumi had managed to come out of the room soaked in blood and was shouting for help before he finally died.

She said a mob who witnessed the incident had attempted to lynch Okafor before the police rescued and arrested her.

In her testimony before the court, Okafor had claimed that she killed the victim in self-defence.

She said Sarumi came to the hotel on the fateful night to see her friend, Ivie who was not around.

Okafor said the deceased had attempted to forcibly have sex with her and she only stabbed him to prevent him from raping her.

Ogun PDP Crisis: Oyinlola, Oni, Mustapha Risk Jail Terms

The crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may consume some chieftains of the party including National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the National Vice Chairman of the party (South-west), Mr. Segun Oni, as well as the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha.
A chieftain of the party in Ogun State, Buruji Kashamu, said Oyinlola, Oni and Mustapha risk being committed to prison soon for contempt of court.
Also at risk of being sent to jail, according to Kashamu, is the chairman of a parallel executive of the party in the state, Senator Dipo Odunjirin, who was sacked last November 16 by a Federal High Court which also nullified the ‘congresses’ that brought him into office.
While addressing journalists at Ijebu – Igbo area of Ogun State on Sunday during a political meeting, Kashamu said the Adebayo Dayo-led executive of the party was already tidying up an application which would be filed in court soonest for the purpose of initiating a contempt proceedings against Oyinlola.
Relying on the court judgment in suit/FHC/ABJ/CS/504/2012 delivered on January 11 by Justice A. Abdu-Kafarati, which sacked Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the party, Kashamu said the judge had found out that the embattled former governor disobeyed the court the judgments in the following suits PHC/L/CS/1248/2011, FCH/L/CS/ 282/2012 and PHC/L/CS/347/2012 which were instituted by the Ogun State chapter.
In the said suits, the judgment of PHC/L/CS/1248/2011 delivered last April 27, 2012 nullified the South-west zonal congress of the party and removed Segun Oni from office as National Vice-Chairman.
The judgment of suit FCH/L/CS/ 282/2012, delivered May 2, 2012, sacked Chief Bode Mustapha as National Auditor of PDP while the judgment in suit PHC/L/CS/347/2012 confirmed the authenticity of the Adebayo Dayo-led Exe,cutive and restrained the National PDP from dealing with anyone in Ogun State, except through the Dayo-led Executive.
But Oyinlola, it was gathered, allegedly, breached the said judgments last year by writing to the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission that Ireti Oniyide, Mr Fasiu Bakenne and others were the caretaker committee members of PDP in the state.
Oyinlola also allegedly wrote letters to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies introducing Dipo Odujinrin as Ogun PDP executive officer.
According the court judgment of January 11, “in the instant case, the various letters written by the first defendant (Oyinlola) seeking to override the orders mentioned above constitute criminal contempt and interference with the admission of justice.
“Their conduct amounts to criminal contempt and they may be liable for committal to prison. It should be emphasised that an act of disobedience to an order of court renders those in disobedience to sanctions by the court and it also renders any step taken by those in disobedience invalid.”
“A new congress would be organised and conducted in the South-west, there is no other authentic PDP in Ogun State apart from the Adebayo Dayo-led exco. Anybody that tries to do otherwise will end his life in jail. You just have open your eyes and see what is going to happen, the Abuja High Court has already found Oyinlola guilty of contempt.
“We are tidying up an application which we are going to file in court to declare the sentence on Oyinlola because the court has said Oyinlola has disobeyed the court order. Segun Oni and Mustapha would go and just wait you will see what would happen in the next two weeks. What is important to us is that the elephant has fallen and the once the elephant is down, the small animals would be easier to catch.”

No great enthusiasm for Benjamin Netanyahu Re-election

So much for compromise. As Israelis vote in parliamentary elections, Benjamin Netanyahu seems poised to win a third term. That doesn’t bode well for peace with Palestine, writes Dan Ephron

In a country where prime ministers rarely last a full term, Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to get a third one today, as millions of Israelis vote in a parliamentary election that will likely strengthen forces on the far right that oppose any compromise with the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touches the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2013. (Uriel Sinai/Getty)

Despite a mixed record over the past four years and a deeply fraught relationship with President Barack Obama, Netanyahu has remained through the three-month campaign the most popular candidate by far and the only one who could viably form a majority coalition, according to polls here.

His Likud Beitenu party has lost some ground to a more right-wing faction known as The Jewish Home. A widening budget deficit could also cost him support. But center-left parties that posed a challenge in the past remain divided and at least one of them could end up joining Netanyahu’s coalition.   

“There’s no great enthusiasm for Netanyahu generally in the country but the fact is there is no alternative credible leader,” said Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

He said the question wasn’t so much who wins today but what kind of coalition Netanyahu ends up establishing.

In Tel Aviv, the country’s main metropolis, many Israelis lined up to vote early before heading to cafés or beaches. Election Day is a holiday in Israel and, across the country roads to popular touring sites were congested.

Netanyahu cast his ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem with his wife and two sons. Earlier in the morning, he stopped at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, and tucked a note between the large stones asking for success, according to Israeli media.

Surveys suggest his party will get around 35 seats in the 120-member Parliament, requiring Netanyahu to add other parties to his coalition for a minimum 61-seat majority. Results of exit polls will be announced at 10 p.m. Israel time (3 p.m. EST).

Netanyahu, who is 63, first served as prime minister in the 1990s. After a break from politics, he worked his way back to the premiership in 2009, presiding over a coalition of mainly right-wing and religious parties.

His government has been one of the most stable Israel has known in years. Netanyahu touts as his successes keeping the Israeli economy steady during a worldwide recession and bringing about international pressure against Iran’s nuclear program. Palestinian suicide attacks that rocked Israeli cities a decade ago remain a distant memory.

But in other areas, Netanyahu has been widely criticized. Jewish-settlement expansion in the West Bank has surged during his term, prompting Palestinians to reject negotiations with Israel. Tensions with Obama—over settlements and also over Netanyahu’s threat to attack Iran—have occasionally spilled out into the open, a rarity in the relationship between the two countries.

In one of the more widely quoted censures, a former Israeli security chiefrecently described Netanyahu as a reckless opportunist who plotted to attack Iran without the approval of his cabinet.

Avineri, the political scientist, said that Netanyahu has managed to maintain support in part by nurturing the perception that the Palestinians form the main obstacle to peace.

Obama's second inauguration fails to enthuse Americans: poll

Only 50% Americans happy about President taking oath this time, compared to 70% in 2009

Press Trust of India / Washington Jan 22, 2013, 19:09 IST

Unlike in 2009, Barack Obama's inauguration for a second term at the White House has failed to enthuse weary Americans, who are facing a litany of challenges, including economic woes, according to a new poll.

In January 2009, nearly seven in 10 Americans questioned in a CNN survey said they were thrilled or happy that Obama was about to take office. Now, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll, that number is down 18 points, to 50 per cent.

Back then, six in 10 saw Obama's inauguration as a celebration by all Americans of democracy in action, with just 39 per cent saying it was a political celebration by the supporters of the winning candidate.

Now, the numbers are nearly reversed, with 62 per cent saying the second inauguration held yesterday in Washington is a celebration by those backing the 44th US president, and 35 per cent saying it's a celebration of democracy.

Fifty-one-year-old Obama was sworn-in as US President for another four-year term yesterday at a high-profile event attended by over a million people. However, in 2009, when he became the first African-American President, a record 1.8 million people had flooded the National Mall to witness his swearing in.
  
"The thrill is gone, along with the hope that the start of a new presidential term of office will bring a divided nation together," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

The smaller crowd this time around reflects the reality of second-term presidencies, when the novelty and expectations of a new leader have been replaced with the familiarity and experiences of the first act, Holland said.

For Obama, that difference is even sharper. His historic ascendancy to the White House in 2008 came with soaring public hopes and expectations for a new kind of governance that would close the vast partisan gulf developed in recent decades, the report said.

However, a litany of challenges, including an inherited economic recession and repeated battles with congressional Republicans over budgets and spending, only hardened the opposing positions in Washington, it said.

Obama's signature achievements, including major reforms of the health care industry and Wall Street, became symbols of political division, with opponents constantly accusing him of hindering needed economic recovery, CNN reported.

For his second term, Obama, a Democrat, has vowed to press for an overhaul of the nation's immigration policies and new ways to boost the sputtering economy, proposals that are bound to spark battles with his Republican rivals, and oversee the implementation of Obamacare.

The deadly shootings at a Connecticut elementary school last month put the divisive issue of gun control on his immediate agenda.

Chelsea Secure First Option To Sign Highly-Rated Spanish Attacker

With the January transfer window now open for business we’ll be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest transfer gossip. Today, Chelsea are favourites to land Isco.

Source: Denis Doyle/Getty Images Europe

Chelsea are now regarded as favourites to sign highly-rated Spanish youngster Isco after securing first option to buy the attacker from Malaga in the summer, according to the Daily Express.

Isco has become one of the most exciting attackers in Spain since joining Malaga from Valencia in 2011 and has scored 11 goals in his 57 games so for the club.

His impressive form seems to have attracted the interest of several top European clubs with the Express claiming Malaga rejected a £13m bid from Real Madrid for the 20-year-old this month.

However, it appears Chelsea are now in the driving seat with the report claiming Malaga agreed to give the Blues first refusal on Isco as part of a deal that saw Lucas Piazon move to the La Liga outfit from the European champions earlier this week.

Malaga have financial troubles and it seems only a matter of time before they’re forced to cash-in on Isco, so a summer move could be on the cards.

The youngster has represented Spain at every youth level but is yet to make his senior debut, having been an unused substitute during friendlies with Serbia and South Korea last May.

The Express believe Chelsea have identified the attacking midfielder as a potential replacement for Frank Lampard – who’s expected to leave Stamford Bridge when his contract expires at the end of the season.

MEET THE 420LB MOTHER OF FOUR

Mikel Ruffinelli is a proud mother of four children who might not have scored 91 goals in calender,be the richest woman alive or slaming one of such records but regardless,her name still goes into the history books as the woman with the widest hips in the world which measures a staggering 8ft in circumference

At just  five -foot-four,39-year old mikel,who lives in los angeles,is substantially wider than she is tall,but says she wouldnt want it any other way.