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Tag: Nigeria

  • Boko Haram Recruiting Little Girls For Suicide Bombs

    Boko Haram is believed to be responsible for Saturday’s bombing in a crowded northern Nigeria market.

    The bomb killed at least 20 people and injured many more.

    The Boko Haram suicide bomber who detonated the bomb was a girl, only about 10 years old. It is said that the bomb tore her little body apart.

    She was hiding the bomb under her veil, but reports suggest she may not have even been aware that she was wearing it.

    The little girl was being screened by vigilante security before entering the market. Witnesses say she resisted and that’s when security noticed a bulge around her waist. Then the bomb went off.

    “It’s a little girl,” said a hospital official who spoke to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity. “The body is beyond recognition, but from the face you can see it’s a young person. A young pretty girl.”

    This little girl is one of the youngest, possibly the youngest, recruit of Boko Haram to have ever detonated a suicide bomb.

    The horror is blinding, but the shocking news is that this kind of thing is happening more and more with Boko Haram.

    “It’s something quite new, and it’s disturbing, using these young, young girls wearing hijabs,” a top police official in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, said after the bombing.“Now, one has to be suspicious of any lady wearing a hijab — whether it’s a young lady, or an old lady.”

    Boko Haram is the militant Islamic terrorist group responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls from the town of Chibok last April. All but 57 of those girls are still missing.

    Boko Haram has increased the number of kidnappings of girls recently, increasing the number of “recruits” they could possibly add to their list of bombers.

  • Passenger Dies on Plane After Vomiting Fit From Nigeria to JFK Causing Ebola Scare

    A passenger died on a flight from Nigeria to JFK flight after a vomiting fit Thursday. A top lawmaker said officials gave the corpse only a “cursory” exam before declaring that the victim did not have Ebola.

    The unnamed 63-year-old passenger boarded an Arik Air plane Wednesday night out of Lagos, Nigeria, which has had 19 Ebola cases this year.

    “The authorities conducted tests on the body and it was only a short evaluation that suggested he did not have the deadly virus, prompting concerns there are still ‘vulnerabilities’ at airports,” reports Mail Online.

    Rep. Peter King (R-NY) berated airports preparedness for an Ebola outbreak in a letter to Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, saying the handling of the remains exposed some serious flaws.

    Between 70 and 100 passengers a day arrive at JFK from the Ebola-laden countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, King noted, with access to public restrooms and in contact with other travelers before they go through their first screening.

    “Given the high volume of travelers at JFK, it is essential that extraordinary measures are taken to intercept possible Ebola-infected passengers,” King wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Customs Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske.

    “These individuals transit the airport with the rest of the traveling population, including using the restrooms,” King wrote.

    “It is only after they arrive at the Customs and Border Protection primary screening location that they are separated and sent to secondary inspection for a medical check and to complete the questionnaire,” he wrote Johnson.

    His letter demands Homeland Security up measures to identify potentially infected passengers during flights and at the terminal itself before reaching the screening location. King also said Port Authority police and Customs and Border Protection officials who come into contact with high-risk passengers need to be better trained and understand protocols.

    “Based on what I know of this situation, I have very serious concerns about the cursory exam conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official to determine the passenger did not have Ebola, as well as the lack of instructions provided to CBP and [Port Authority] Police regarding handling the remains and the remainder of the passengers,” he wrote.

  • Ebola Kills Doctor Who Treated Dozens

    Ebola Kills Doctor Who Treated Dozens

    Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, who risked contracting Ebola to treat dozens of patients, succumbed to the deadly disease Tuesday, according to officials in Sierra Leone. Khan, who had been regarded as a national hero in his country, died while in a hospital under quarantine.

    Manifestation of Ebola begins with a sudden onset of an influenza-like stage characterized by general malaise, fever with chills and chest pain. Nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting are also common symptoms. Regarding the central nervous system, victims experience severe headaches, agitation, confusion, fatigue, depression, seizures and sometimes coma.

    Those who contract Ebola typically die of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) due to fluid redistribution, hypotension, weakened intravascular coagulation and focal tissue necroses. The hemorrhaging that comes with the disease is typically not the cause of death.

    Healthcare workers are especially susceptible to catching the Ebola virus.

    Here is an interesting Vice News documentary concerning the transmission of Ebola through eating bushmeat in Liberia:

    Human-to-human transmission of Ebola occurs via direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from an infected person, or by contact with contaminated medical equipment such as needles. No cases of aerosol transmission have been reported, and a potential for widespread Ebola epidemics is considered to be low, due to the high fatality rate of the illness, along with the rapidity of the demise of patients.

    The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria is the largest recorded in history, and the disease has a mortality rate of roughly 68 percent. So far, the outbreak has taken over 670 lives, and a vaccination is years away.

    Area flights have been restricted to stop the spread of the disease, and Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority board, said guards are now posted at the airport in Monrovia to enforce screening of passengers. “So if you have a flight and you are not complying with the rules, we will not allow you to board,” he said.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • FIFA World Cup: Is Nigeria The Last Hope For Africa?

    The African continent has yet to produce a World Cup-winning team. Many nations have tried, but all have failed.

    Even worse, most that qualify for the event are eliminated within the groups stage of competition.

    It was a sad fact that even when the games came to South Africa in 2010, the only African nation that made it to the knockout stage was Ghana.

    Ghana was then knocked out after a controversial match against Uruguay.

    Four years later, the pattern appears to be repeating itself.

    Yesterday saw the heart-breaking and absolute last minute elimination of the Ivory Coast due to a late penalty. Cameroon, a team that failed to win any of its three games or even draw, was officially eliminated a week ago.

    Of the three remaining African nations still fighting for a spot in the final 16, Nigeria has the best chance.

    If Nigeria can defeat Argentina, the team will not only qualify for the next stage, but finish at the top of the Group F table.

    Losing will not eliminate the Nigerians, but they must hope that Iran either draws or loses to Bosnia and Herzegovina. If Iran wins with more than 2 goals, Nigeria is out.

    Algeria can also qualify with a win or draw against Russia.

    Meanwhile Ghana’s advancement is dependent on both defeating Portugal and hoping that the United States fails to defeat or draw with Germany.

    Though these nations represent the strongest chances of having an African team in the knockout stage, it’s too soon to say whether or not their chances of qualifying are especially good.

    The Ivory Coast needed a draw or win to advance. At certain times during play, it seemed like they could get either.

    And then everything went badly.

    These teams must take nothing for granted this week, as what stands before them is a last gasp at glory…or a plane ride out of the World Cup.

    Image via YouTube

  • Boko Haram Offer To Swap Girls For Prisoners

    Weeks ago, a terrorist organization abducted hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria. Now it seems there may be a way to get most or all of them back to their families.

    In order to do so, a figurative deal with the devil may occur.

    Agence France-Presse reports that the Islamic extremist organization Boko Haram has released a video.

    The group of girls in the video are allegedly some of those that the extremists abducted.

    The rebel group’s leader claims that they are willing to release about 200 girls in exchange for the release of prisoners.

    On the surface, this represents a real chance to a number of Nigerian girls with their families. However, it’s not that simple.

    This is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of Nigerians over the past few years.

    Their aim is to fill the surrounding citizens with so much fear, their bid for control of the region will not be challenged.

    The response of the Nigerian government to the Boko Haram prior to the outpouring of international support and criticism has largely been lethargic.

    Are we to expect the situation to end with these girls being given back to their families? It’s not as if these men have no idea where to find the girls they release—or where to obtain new victims.

    This is one of the downsides to attempting to negotiate with terrorists like Boko Haram.

    Often these people reveal themselves to be cruel and without remorse. There is no limit to the horror they are unwilling to unleash to achieve their goals. Those who negotiate reveal exploitable weaknesses that are seldom forgotten by terrorists.

    Am I saying that I feel that these innocent girls should be abandoned and left to a horrible fate? No, not at all. I want the safe return of these young women and girls as much as any empathetic human being.

    I am simply skeptical that the solution put forth by these cold-blooded killers is coming from a desire to “do the right thing”. I also don’t believe that a group that is ready to murder and harm children can be trusted to never do it again following a single hostage exchange.

    Image via YouTube

  • Boko Haram Has Kidnapped Eight More Girls

    On Monday, May 5, Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group responsible for abducting 276 school girls last month, reportedly kidnapped eight additional girls.

    The newly abducted girls aged from 12-15 and were taken from a Northern village in Nigeria. Immediately upon arriving, the Boko Haram jumped from their trucks and started shooting before seizing the girls, along with the tribe’s livestock and food.

    “They were many, and all of them carried guns,” Lazarus Musa, a villager explained. “They came in two vehicles painted in army colour. They started shooting in our village.”

    “Many people tried to run behind the mountain but when they heard gunshots, they came back,” Lazarus continued. “The Boko Haram men were entering houses, ordering people out of their houses.”

    Also on Monday, the leader of Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau announced, in a 57-minute video, that he planned on selling the abducted girls on the market for marriage. He could be seen smiling with two armed guards standing next to him. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Shekau said while laughing. “Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.”

    It has been three weeks since the Boko Haram stormed the secondary school in the small village of Chibok. The slow process of finding the girls has led to riots and protests by citizens. Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan informed the public that they are doing everything in their power to make sure the girls are returned home safely.

    “Let me reassure the parents and guardians that we will get their daughters out,” Jonathan said. He also explained that additional military units, along with aircraft units, had been deployed to help with the search.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Boko Haram Will Sell Abducted School Girls

    On April 14, Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok and kidnapped more than 200 school girls.

    Now, the leader of the group Abubakar Shekau has announced that he is planning on selling the girls on the market for marriage.

    On Monday, the AFP news agency obtained a 57-minute video from Shekau. The video shows him bragging about having the girls and calling them his slaves.

    “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Shekau can be heard saying while laughing with two armed military gaurds standing next to him. “Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.”

    Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful” and Shekau makes reference to the fact that the girls were receiving Western education at the school.

    It has been three weeks since the girls were kidnapped, and the inability to have prevented the attack, or rescued the girls, is stirring protests at the capital Abuja. The Nigerian government says they are deeply embarrassed by the ordeal and President Goodluck Jonathan said that they are doing everything in their power to rescue the girls. “Let me reassure the parents and guardians that we will get their daughters out,” Jonathan said, and then added that they had deployed more militant groups and aircrafts to help with their rescue.

    Britain and the United States have offered their services in finding the girls, however not many specifics have been revealed. On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry promised to help. “The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice,” Kerry said.

    Many of the girls are believed to have been taken across Nigerian’s border to Cameroon and Chad. Loose reports revealed that some of the girls have already been sold into marriages for as little as $12.

    The hashtag #bringbackourgirls has been used on Twitter more than one million times as people are desperately praying and hoping for their safe return.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Boko Haram: Blamed For Bombing And Kidnappings

    A terrorist group known as Boko Haram has been a thorn in the side of Nigerians for the last several years. From their base in the impoverished north of Nigeria, they appear to be growing stronger and more bold.

    The Islamic extremists have escalated their efforts in recent years in a blood-thirsty bid to force their brand of sharia law on the region.

    The increasing threat of Boko Haram-based terrorism is worrying to many Nigerians. The group seems to be strengthening despite all government efforts to oust them.

    Boko Haram has already taken credit for a devastating bomb that destroyed a bus station in the Nigerian capital on Monday.

    The bombing in Abuja is reported to have killed at least 75 people.

    Within hours of the explosion, members of Boko Haram are said to have kidnapped dozens of young girls.

    A total of 129 Nigerian school girls were taken at gunpoint from their school in the northeastern state of Borno. The kidnapping is said to have occurred at night.

    Some girls fled the terrorists immediately, jumping onto the backs of trucks to get away as the group was being moved by the kidnappers. Others pretended to have to use the bathroom and escaped when they were far away enough from their captors.

    A total of 44 girls were able to flee, but there are still 85 girls that are missing at present. Their parents are desperately scouring the bush for them, pooling together what little money and resources they have to find their missing children.

    They knew of a nearby Boko Haram stronghold where they might be, but the locals warned the parents that the terrorists would murder anyone that came near.

    Nigerian military officials say that a rescue effort is underway, however residents remain skeptical.

    The loss of faith occurred following a report by government officials claiming that most of the girls were safe. Disappointed locals also say they see no signs of a military build up or preparation for action.

    Many in the area are uncertain exactly how committed the military is to fighting the growing threat of the Boko Haram in the region.

    Image via YouTube

  • Baby Factory Raid Finds 8 Pregnant Women

    Baby Factory Raid Finds 8 Pregnant Women

    Police in Nigeria raided a home where they discovered a “baby factory” with 8 pregnant women selling babies for around $2000 each.

    According to the UK Independent, police in Akute district of Ogun state raided a three-bedroom cottage where they suspected the women of hiding. However, they found nothing. Realizing they needed to have another look, they returned with a second team and found the women hiding in a wardrobe.

    Nigeria has been a hotbed of such activity in the past few years. Since 2011, over 100 women have been arrested in such raids. How they come to be in such a position has more to do with the morals and mores of Nigeria than with some seedy underbelly of human trafficking, although that does seem to play a part in the whole scheme.

    Many times, these women are staying in these “black market maternity homes” because they are pregnant out of wedlock and do not want to be seen and ostracized in public. They stay in the home until they deliver the baby, with the understanding that it will be sold and they will receive only part of the money, with the rest going to the person coordinating the “maternity home.”

    Some of the eight women discovered in this particular raid were teenagers. Another raid in December netted 19 pregnant women between the ages of 15 and 23.

    When the babies are born and sold, male babies bring more money than females. Some report that they are commonly bought by couples who are having trouble conceiving children. But this is an operation that falls far outside the usual legitimate adoption processes. That innocent-sounding eventuality could well be what mothers are told so they see the deal through to the end sale. Proprietors of these places commonly do not cooperate with police in determining where the babies ended up, which is not a promising indicator of a happy ending.

    Image via YouTube

  • $458 Million of Former Nigerian Dictator’s Funds Frozen

    The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that it has frozen over $458 million in funds linked to the corrupt Sani Abacha leadership of Nigeria. The department is referring to the seizure as the “largest kleptocracy forfeiture action” in the history of the Justice Department.

    Abacha was the dictator of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. During his reign he, his family, and his fellow heads of state are estimated to have embezzled billions of dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Much of the money was subsequently laundered through overseas accounts and bonds backed by the U.S.

    “General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in poverty,” said Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general. “This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department. Through our Kleptocracy Initiative, we are seizing the assets of foreign leaders who steal funds that properly belong to the citizens they serve. Today’s action sends a clear message: we are determined and equipped to confiscate the ill-gotten riches of corrupt leaders who drain the resources of their countries.”

    The Justice Department estimates that a majority of the frozen funds ($313 million) were part of two bank accounts held in the Bailiwick of Jersey. Another $145 million was held in two French bank accounts and a further $100 is estimated to have been held in UK bank accounts and investment portfolios. The investigation into the origin of the funds was conducted by the FBI.

    “We will not let the U.S. banking system be a tool for dictators to hide their criminal proceeds,” said Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge at the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “This action demonstrates the FBI’s ability to combat international corruption and money laundering by seizing the assets of those involved. I want to thank the special agents, financial analysts, and prosecutors whose hard work over the years resulted in today’s announcement.”

  • Nigerian School Attack: Islamic Extremists To Blame

    According to the Nigerian military, Islamic extremists from the Boko Haram group in north-eastern Nigeria are suspected to have attacked a boarding school in Yobe, Nigeria. The brutal assault is alleged to have occurred in the early morning hours on Tuesday.

    The Government College boarding school in Bodi Yodi is said to be the site of the attack. Teachers at the remote location told the Associated Press they believe as many as forty students were murdered, though other reports put the number at twenty-nine.

    By the time military arrived on the scene, dozens of boys were found dead. Some of their bodies were reported to have been “burned to ashes”. Residents also claim to have seen the victims having their throats slit.

    While Yobe military officials have confirmed that a gruesome incident took place, they are unable to shed much light on exactly what happened at the school.

    Yobe military spokesman Lazarus Eli told the AFP that it’s still not clear how many students were harmed in the attack. Said Eli, “Details are still sketchy due to [a] lack of telephone access.”

    The Boko Haram is strongly suspected to be behind these latest killings in large part due to the location of this attack. It is a short distance from a similar mass murder carried out by the group last September.

    The Boko Haram has been blamed for thousands of deaths going back to 2009. This is about the time that the Islamic extremist group launched a bloody campaign to install their version of Islamic law in the region.

    President Goodluck Jonathan has responded to the terrorist group by launching an all-out military attack. The president’s actions have been criticized by some who feel this led to an escalation of violence in the region and the targeting of citizens by Boko Haram as retaliation.

    Jonathan responded to the criticism by saying that the military has been successful in pushing back the extremists to a small north-eastern area of the Yobe state and that the Nigerian government is working closely with Cameroon to keep the rebels from escaping across the border after staging their attacks.

    BBC’s Will Ross, who is located in Nigeria, says that Yobe has been relatively peaceful this year, especially when compared with neighboring Borno. There, hundreds of citizens have been killed by militants.

    Image via YouTube

  • Nigeria Gay Arrests, Torture and Prison?

    On Monday, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that criminalizes gay marriage, gay organizations and anyone working with or promoting them. This has lead to a mass arrest of dozens of men who are gay or even suspected gay.

    The bill, which is widely condemned by the international community and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, enforces penalties of 14 years in jail for gay marriage and up to 10 years for membership or encouragement of any gay organizations.

    Four men were first arrested then were tortured until they named others, which then led to an all out “witch hunt” for the named men, according to human rights activists who warned that such persecution will rise under the new Nigerian law.

    It is unknown exactly how many arrests were made in Nigeria’s Bauchi state, and a local law enforcement official denied that anyone was tortured.

    All of this hostility began after an unfounded rumor that the United States had paid gay activists $20 million to promote same-sex marriage in this highly religious and conservative nation.

    The severity of this “witch hunt” can be seen in the actions of the local police officials. The trickery involved in trying to make these arrests saw an officer pretending to be a gay man that joined a group being counseled on AIDS, just to get information and names of those involved who are gay, according to Dorothy Aken’Ova, executive director of Nigeria’s International Center for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights.

    The police have arrested 38 men to date and are still on the hunt for 168 others, according to Aken’Ova, whose organization is helping provide legal services to the men. The AIDS counselor said he has helped secure bail for some of the 38 detainees. Many of the 168 men being “hunted” have fled the country.

    Shawn Gaylord of Human Rights First, a Washington-based organization, said he was alarmed by the reports of torture and arrests.

    “When discriminatory bills like this are passed, we are always concerned that they set the stage for violence and ill-treatment in society even when they are not enforced,” Gaylord said in a statement. “But the fact that this law is being enforced so quickly and forcefully demonstrates the full extent of Nigeria’s human rights crisis.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Bill Becomes Law Thanks To President Goodluck Jonathan

    On Monday it was announced that Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill that criminalizes “amorous relationships” between same-sex couples, setting the stage for civil rights movement protests.

    “Persons who enter into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union commit an offence and are each liable on conviction to a term of up to 14 years in prison,” the law says.

    The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, bans membership of gay rights groups, clubs and societies, and was passed by parliament last May but the president delayed signing it into law until Jan. 7 of this year.

    Existing Nigerian federal laws already bans sodomy but the new law presents a much broader crackdown on lesbian and gay activities. Even before passing of the law, same-sex relationships were mainly underground because of the prevalence of anti-gay sentiment and persecution of homosexuals in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

    Many see President Jonathan’s move as largely political. The law is considered popular in Nigeria given the cultural and religious inclinations of its citizens.  The enactment of the law is also likely to help President Jonathan win re-election in 2015. Some Nigerians have criticized the president and questioned his priorities.

    Some analysts view this as an anti-West move as some European and North American countries are largely tolerant of same-sex relationships. Recently, France offered same-sex couples the same rights enjoyed by heterosexuals and President Barrack Obama has in the recent past traversed the African continent urging for gay tolerance.

    Now, Britain and other western countries threatened to cut foreign aid to countries such as Uganda and Malawi that have passed similar legislation. However, they will have little impact over Nigeria because the country’s budget is mostly funded by its oil.

    Local and international groups that fight AIDS and Tuberculosis have warned that the move will jeopardize the fight against AIDS because access to HIV services for gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people will be severely affected.

    United States, Canada and Britain have condemned the new law and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says it “dangerously restricts freedom of all Nigerians.”

    Image via Wikipedia

  • Boko Haram: Priest Kidnapped in Cameroon Set Free

    On Tuesday December 31, the Islamic militia of Boko Haram set free French priest Georges Vandenbeusch following a seven-week captivity.

    He arrived in France Wednesday, greeted by President Francois Hollande at an air base near Paris.

    Members of the radical Islamist group kidnapped the 42-year-old priest November 13 in Cameroon. The armed men then took him to northern Nigeria where he says he stayed  “under a tree for a month and a half.”

    Fortunately, Fr  Vandenbeusch was not harm but still experienced a lack of compassion the group had for other hostages within his environment.

    “The leadership (of Boko Haram) decided to release the priest on compassionate grounds and having benefited from his medical expertise,” a source said within the radical Islamic group.

    However, the French priest denied treating any hostages or rebels of the Islamist group.

    Initially, Fr Vandenbeusch’s abductors demanded money in return for his freedom, which the French government refused. Instead, they asked of his safe return since he holds a significant title of a clergyman.

    Fr Vandenbeusch was released on terms unknown. However, the French government and his captors have denied that his freedom involved a ransom.

    Hollande has stated that the French government terminated a previous policy of paying ransoms for captives. However, the release of previous hostages abducted by Boko Haram has been under suspicion.

    Six other French nationals still remain in captivity in Syria and Mali.

    Since 2009, The Boko Haram Islamic movement has terrorized and killed thousands of Christians. Recently 12 victims were killed in Christian Villages in Northern Nigeria.

    Although the country is predominantly a Muslim state, the group “desires to establish a separate Islamic state in Nigeria’s northern states where it can enact an ultra conservative interpretation of Sharia law.”

    Unfortunately, the Nigerian government struggles to control the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and their brutal attacks continue daily in an effort to control the Nigerian government.

    Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told BBC News that the French government hopes violence would soon subside within the country.

    “We hope that all forms of violence, hatred and conflict in the tormented regions of Africa be stamped out, as well as elsewhere in the world.”

    Image via Youtube, Euronews

  • Nigerian Cook Survives 60 Hours Underwater

    A Nigerian cook, wearing only boxer shorts, survived for roughly 60 hours in the Atlantic Ocean, after locating a pocket of air inside the sunken tugboat he was in

    Harrison Odjegba Okene, 29, was the cook on a tugboat called Jacson-4, which sunk about 20 miles off the Nigerian coast on May 26th. Jacson-4 capsized while stabilizing an oil tanker filling up at a Chevron platform during rough seas. Eleven other crew members drowned, but Okene was able to find a small air pocket, which sustained him for almost three days, before South African divers found him.

    Okene says he was in the bathroom when he realized the tugboat was beginning to capsize, and as water began pouring in, he flung open the door to the toilet and made his way to a small adjoining crew quarter. For almost 60 hours, the cook was then amazingly able to survive while breathing on a slowly diminishing 4-foot pocket of air, over 90 feet below the surface of the ocean.

    Here’s a surreal clip of the rescue:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr9zNznYd98

    “I was there in the water in total darkness just thinking it’s the end. I kept thinking the water was going to fill up the room but it did not,” Okene said, adding, “I was so hungry but mostly so, so thirsty. The salt water took the skin off my tongue.” Seawater got into his mouth, which chafed his tongue, though he had nothing to eat or drink during his time in the air bubble.

    At one point, Okene decided to swim into the officer’s quarters to retrieve some wall paneling to attempt to build a small raft to keep his body more elevated. At this point, he felt that he wasn’t alone – “I was very, very cold and it was black. I couldn’t see anything,” Okene said, “But I could perceive the dead bodies of my crew were nearby. I could smell them. The fish came in and began eating the bodies. I could hear the sound. It was horror.”

    As time wore on in the wreckage, Okene recited a psalm his wife had sent by text message:

    Oh God, by your name, save me. … The Lord sustains my life.

    Eventually Chevron and the ship’s owners, West African Ventures, were searching for crew members, and Okene heard them on May 28. “I heard a sound of a hammer hitting the vessel. Boom, boom, boom. I swam down and found a water dispenser. I pulled the water filter and I hammered the side of the vessel hoping someone would hear me. Then the diver must have heard a sound.”

    Divers rescued Okene, who then spent an additional 60 hours in a decompression chamber. There was a chance he wouldn’t survive if immediately exposed to normal atmospheric pressure.

    Image via YouTube.

  • African Billionaires Numbered at 55

    In a recent study conducted by Ventures magazine, a Nigerian business magazine which champions capitalist developments in Africa, has identified at least 55 billionaires on the continent of Africa. While this number is a conservative estimate, according to founder Chi-Chi Okonjo, it is still a drastic increase 16, from the number formerly reported by Forbes.

    Chi-Chi Okonjo contributes the under-reporting to the rampant corruption the country faces: “People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth.” OozoEewala, Ventures’s editor-in-chief, says that Africa is a “…culture of you don’t necessarily want to show your wealth, considering the gap between rich and poor.”

    Most of the 55 people on the billionaire list have accumulated their wealth through the abundant resources that are available in certain areas of the country. Nigerian manufacturer Aliko Dangote is listed as the richest man on the continent, topping the list with a wealth of $20.2 billion. Dangote earned his money through a lucrative cement business, and then expanded his talents to include flour and sugar businesses. Dangote also has a massive oil investment.

    Oil is the most lucrative business in Africa. The youngest billionaire on the list is a 38 year old Nigerian oil trader. The Nigerians, who comprise the majority of the list, make most of their money through the oil business.

    The richest woman in Africa, Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, started her career much like Dangote. Alakija was educated in the fashion industry in London, and then returned to her homeland to find work. In Nigeria, she designed clothes for Maryam Babangida, the wife of former Nigerian military leader and ruler Ibrahim Babangida. Through this connection, Alakija was able to acquire an off-shore oil block for a cheap price; business has been booming ever since.

    While the population of those in poverty has increased from 205 million to 441 million in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 30 years, there have still been improvements. One of the members of the billionaire list, 38 year old Tanzanian Mohammed Dewji, is a Sub-Saharan man that has been able to make his fortune through a vast trading company.

    Dewji’s success is an indicator of economic improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank has reported a 4.9% increase in economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa this year. The bank’s biannual publication, Africa Pulse, estimates growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to reach 5.3% in 2014 and 5.4% in 2015.

    Africa’s increasing wealth has also led to increasing philanthropy. Dangote donated more than $100 million toward the causes of education, healthcare, and disaster relief in Nigeria last year. Nigerian banking billionaire Jom Ovia donated $6.3 million toward ICT training, and Zimbabwean telecoms mogul Strive Massiyiwa pay the school fees for approximately 14,000 children.

    While almost 1 in every 2 people live in abject poverty in Africa, the economic status of the continent continues to see positive improvements. One cannot expect a country devastated by extremely invasive imperialism for multiple centuries to rebound overnight. Since Europe and North America have left the continent to its own devices, Africa has continued to make steady improvements. Let’s hope that the spirit involved in economic growth and increased philanthropy also carry over to the humanitarian troubles of the continent.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Islamists Continue Worldwide Offensive

    As the news spread of coordinated U.S. Navy SEAL strikes against Islamist leaders on either side of the African mainland, Islamists elsewhere were launching attacks of their own.

    Iraq was rocked by a series of suicide bombings this weekend, Reuters reports. One bombing involved a truck loaded with explosives that was driven into a primary school playground in the northern region; in that attack, 14 children and the school headmaster perished.

    An additional Saturday bombing targeted a group of Shi’ite pilgrims visiting a Baghdad religious site, killing 14 and wounding over 30 others.

    No public claims of responsibility have been made for any of the recent attacks, although the tactics utilized cause local police to suspect Sunni-affiliated terrorists tied to al-Qaeda. The primary school bombing occurred mere minutes after a reported attack on a Tel Afar police station just 45 miles northwest of Mosul city, a known Islamist stronghold. In the police station attack, no injuries were reported. A Tel Afar city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity commented that “The fingerprints of al Qaeda are clear on both attacks.”

    Meanwhile, deep in the Nigeria’s Borno state, the Islamists of the Boko Haram rebel group killed at least 20 when they assaulted the town of Damboa early Saturday morning. Five were executed at a mosque as they said their morning prayers.

    In a statement given to Reuters, Nigerian military spokesman Captain Aliyu Danja said, “While they [the Islamists] were unleashing their mayhem, troops [with the Nigerian military] engaged the terrorists, killing 15 in the process while others fled.”

    The military’s casualty counts for engagements with militant Islamists are frequently exaggerated and often unverifiable. Nigerian military forces have been waging an offensive against the Boko Haram rebels since May, but it remains the biggest security threat to the country. Traditionally known for targeting security forces as well as Christian and Muslim opponents, Boko Haram has recently conducted roadside massacres, and threatened Western schools considered sacrilegious.

    [Image via an AFP news report on YouTube about the Boko Haram Islamist faction]

  • Nigeria Sacked Ministers But Will Replace

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is making major changes to his cabinet. He won the election two years ago; however, this is the first massive overhaul during his leadership. Ministers in the following areas have been removed from their positions: foreign affairs, education, science and technology, housing and urban development, national planning, and environment. The ministers of state for the departments of power, agriculture, and defense, who operate as junior ministers, have also been removed from their positions. The ministers in both finance and petroleum will not be replaced.

    According to a spokesman on behalf of Goodluck Jonathan speaking about the potential to fill the newly vacant positions, “They will be replaced but not immediately.”

    Though the exact reason behind these changes has not been made clear, there have been discussions of candidate opposition for representation of The People’s Democratic Party during the 2015 election. Internal conflict within The People’s Democratic Party regarding Goodluck Jonathan’s supposed intentions to run in the 2015 election may be a contributing factor in the decision to change minister positions.

    Since The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has won every national election from 1999 to the present, and served as the dominant force since the end of the military rule, whoever receives the backing of the party will have considerable influence during election time. Barely two weeks ago, opposing forces included a former presidential candidate who formed a separate group in anticipation of the 2015 election process. This becomes even more curious when one questions the loyalty of the newly-released ministers. Former Education Minister Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufai received the nomination for minister from an opposing governor.

    Mr. Jonathan assumed the role of president in 2010 when he was serving as the vice-president, yet became promoted after the president died in office.

    The following video is a clip from the keynote address Goodluck Jonathan gave in August at The Rockefeller Foundation.

    [Image And Video Via YouTube]

  • Boko Haram Insurgents Kill 42, Including Schoolkids

    Gunmen killed dozens at a school in the northeast Nigerian town of Mamudo on Saturday. Believed to be members of the Islamist Boko Haram movement, the attackers herded students and staff into a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and firing into the building.

    A medical worker and local residents claim that 42 were killed, though the Nigerian military claims the death toll was roughly half that.

    Haliru Aliyu of the Potiskum General Hospital, where many of the victims were treated, said, “we received 42 dead bodies of students and other staff of Government Secondary School (in) Mamudo last night. Some of them had gunshot wounds.” Hospital personnel are currently combing the area in search of students who might have fled the scene and are hiding.

    “So far six students have been found and are now in the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds,” Aliyu said.

    Mamudo is roughly three miles from Potiskum. Located in the state of Yobe, Potiskum is a commercial center for the area and has been a flashpoint in the Boko Haram insurgency in recent months. This most recent attack is thought to be a reprisal for the killing of 22 Boko Haram fighters by the state military on Thursday.

    “It was a gory sight. People who went to the hospital and saw the bodies shed tears,” claimed a local resident who did not want to be identified. “There were 42 bodies, most of them were students. Some of them had parts of their bodies blown off and badly burnt while others had gunshot wounds.”

    Boko Haram (which, in the Hausa language, means “Western education is sinful”) is a jihadist group located in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger. Founded in 2001, the organization seeks to establish sharia law in its home area. Some analysts have linked the group to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), though Boko Haram’s general lack of organizational structure makes any sort of formal relationship unlikely.

  • Who Falls For Nigerian Email Scams? The Gullible, of Course

    We’ve all gotten them. The emails from someone purporting to have a lot of money that needs help sailing through the tricky waters of international banking. The ones that need us (me!) to do the important work of banking for a prince, or deceased magnate. Those messages from Nigeria. Those scam emails.

    But why do those scammers write that they are from Nigeria or some other third-world country? They most often aren’t, and the notion makes the whole thing seem ridiculous. Also, why do they send the emails with terrible grammer and spelling issues? Couldn’t they at least proofread it once? The answer to these questions, of course, is that we are not the intended targets of the emails. Someone would have to be very gullible to fall for one of those scams, and that’s exactly the point.

    Cormac Herley, the principal researcher in the machine learning department at Microsoft Research, has actually crunched the numbers to prove that’s the case. His paper, titled “Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria?”, looks at the scam from the scammer’s point of view. The scammers have a limited amount of time to scam, and must prioritize the most gullible victims quickly if they want to make money. Herley visualizes this problem as one of binary classification. Will a specific mark be profitable? If the scammers guess wrong, they either spend valuable time scamming for no gain, or dismiss what could have been a profitable mark.

    To solve the problem, Herley places all of the variables into a mathematical model of how a scammer might act. He then uses a Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve, which, he says, is how the trade-off between two types of error is usually graphed. From there, he is able to determine exactly how a scammer should choose which people to scam. The answer, of course, is to find a way to accurately identify from a large sample of people those who will be prone to scamming. From the paper:

    The initial email is effectively the attacker’s classifier: it determines who responds, and thus who the scammer attacks (i.e., enters into email conversation with). The goal of the email is not so much to attract viable users as to repel the non-viable ones, who greatly outnumber them. Failure to repel all but a tiny fraction of non-viable users will make the scheme unprofitable. The mirth which the fabulous tales of Nigerian scam emails provoke suggests that it is mostly successful in this regard. A less outlandish wording that did not mention Nigeria would almost certainly gather more total responses and more viable responses, but would yield lower overall profit. Recall, that viability requires that the scammer actually extract money from the victim: those who are fooled for a while, but then figure it out, or who balk at the last hurdle are precisely the expensive false positives that the scammer must deter.

    It seems like common sense, but now at least there is proof that these scammers aren’t all actually Nigerians with poor English. Herley’s paper can be read (and understood if you enjoy math) in PDF form over on the Microsoft Research website. One question that remains, though, is whether the “Nigerian” scam started when someone created it to filter out all of the non-gullible people, or whether it was actually from Nigerian scammers, and just happened to catch on because of this unintended effectiveness.