Maina Drives Two Bulletproof Cars, Spends N16m On Security Monthly – Senate Committee

The Chairman and the Co-Chairman of the Joint committee of the Senate investigating pension administration in Nigeria, Senators Aloysius Etok and Kabiru Gaya, have given accounts of their experiences with the Chairman of the Pension Reform  Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina.
Gaya, recounting his experience, said the committee received 7,800 petitions during its assignment which alleged that Maina coordinated the process of mismanaging pension funds.
Etok, in his submission, noted that Maina refused to join the committee on the tour of the states during the investigations to hear what pensioners had to say against him; instead he was busy condemning the Senate in the media.

“We called him to account for his stewardship in all the offices he was overseeing. When we exposed some things, he decided not to appear again. Instead of appearing before the committee, he would go on the media, condemning the entire Senate.
“He said he was not given fair hearing, but when we offered him fair hearing, he refused. He drives two bulletproof cars, in a country where pensioners are hungry. He used N1bn for jamboree in the name of verification abroad. He spends more than N8m every two weeks on personal security,” Etok said.

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South African Paralympic Star Mistakenly Kills Girlfriend On Valentine’s Day

Oscar Pistorius

South African Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius, commonly known as the “Blade Runner”, was on Thursday arrested after his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in Pretoria, police and domestic media said.
Police declined to name 26-year-old Pistorius as the suspect but confirmed that a woman had been found dead at the scene in the upmarket Silver Woods gated community east of the capital.
“We found a 9 millimeter pistol at the scene. A 26-year-old man was taken into custody,” police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale told Reuters. She declined to give any further details.
Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 said Pistorius was understood to have shot his girlfriend in the head and arm, although the circumstances surrounding the incident were unclear. He may have mistaken her for a burglar, the radio report said.
Pistorius, who races wearing carbon fiber prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and reached the 400 meter semi-finals in London 2012.

However, things did not go smoothly in the Paralympics with Pistorius suffering his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race, he sullied his media darling persona by questioning the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira’s prosthetic blades.
The comments sparked controversy though Pistorius was quick to express his regret, going on to describe 100 meters champion Jonnie Peacock of Britain as a “great Paralympic sprinter”.
South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime and some home-owners carry weapons to defend themselves against intruders.
Pistorius’ mobile phone went straight to voicemail on Thursday. There was also no response from his agent. [Reuters]

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Ronaldo At His Peak – Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Cristiano Ronaldo is a better player now than he was during his time at Manchester United.
Ronaldo, 28, spent six successful years at Old Trafford, during which he scored 117 in 290 appearances, including 42 goals in 2007-08 as United won the Premier League and Champions League.
On Wednesday, four years after leaving Manchester to join Real Madrid for a world record £80m, the Portugal international will line up against his former club, looking to add to his tally of 182 goals in 179 games for the Spanish club.
“Cristiano is a better player than when he left us because of his maturity,” said Ferguson. “He is at the peak of his career now.
“He was still a young man when he left and you can see how he has flourished in Madrid. His fitness, speed, goals – and he’s never injured. That is unique in the modern game.
“I never thought he’d get the amount of goals he’s scored. I knew he’d improve. I knew he was one of the best players in the world. But to score the goals he has is phenomenal.”
However, United have their own attacking threats.

The major difference for United in the title race this term has been the arrival of Robin van Persie, who on Sunday took his goals tally for the season to 23 against Everton.
“Robin is now approaching that level,” said Ferguson of comparisons with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Ronaldo. “He has been a breath of fresh air.”
Van Persie’s strike-partner Wayne Rooney was depicted as a “hooligan” in the Spanish press on Tuesday, with sports daily Marca also describing the England player as “a freckled demon” who is “built like a barrel packed with gunpowder” and on his way to “blow up the Bernabeu”.
“He is a mature player now,” said Ferguson of Rooney. “He is 27. When players mature little bits of their games change.
“His goalscoring has been very consistent. He used to score in snatches. Now there is a far more consistent nature to his goals.
“He also plays different positions with great enthusiasm. Not every player in the world has these qualities.”
Asked about today’s unflattering reports in the Spanish press, Ferguson said: “Rooney can’t read Spanish so we will be all right.”

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Two Nigerian journalist brutalised by South African police

Two Nigerian journalists covering the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were kicked, dragged on the ground, threatened with cocked guns and forcibly detained for two hours by officers of the South African police in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Debo Oshudun, Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for Central and Southern Africa and John Joshua Akanji, a Deputy Editor of The Sun Newspapers were onboard a taxi on their way to cover the departure of the AFCON winners Super Eagles when shortly after they both alighted, they were surrounded by no less than 20 fully armed South African police officers who threatened to shoot them after they insisted they were Journalists.

 

The duo, who narrated their story to SportingLife, were grateful to God for sparing their lives.

“I thank God we are still alive because we could have been shot, knowing the type of (extra-) judicial killings in South Africa. I have never been in that situation in my life. I was dragged on the floor, kicked and brutalised. I and John Joshua-Akanji were disposed of our phones, my keys and we couldn’t contact anybody. We were detained for two hours and I was really traumatised throughout the time the police dealt with us and still imagining it up till now.

“The police claimed that they stopped our car because the taxi we were in had a number plate with two different characters. Immediately they stopped us they removed the number plate. They lied that they had been trailing us,” Oshundun told SportingLife in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.

Joshua-Akanji had to miss his South African Airways flight due to the torture he received from the South African Police.

 

The Sun Newspaper Deputy Editor also narrated his ordeal to SportingLife in Johannesburg yesterday.

“I was in a trance. I thought I was acting out a movie. I never thought it was for real. I have never seen a thing like this in all my life. But I am happy to be alive to tell the story”, the visibly shaken journalist disclosed. 20 policemen, who had already cocked their guns and pointed them to my head and my colleague Oshundun’s, were shouting ‘I will shoot you, I will shoot you. Who are you? Do you think you are special? I will blast your brains off’”, Joshua-Akanji revealed.

 

Lieutenant Colonel M. F. Tshabalala station commander, Sandringham Command South African Police Service, SAPS, later apologised for the treatment meted out on the Nigeria Journalists.

It took the intervention of the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg to secure the release of both men. There are no indications yet, if the Journalists will press charges against the South African Police.

 

The two journalists however commended Hope, the South African taxi driver for daring his country’s police by rising to the defence of the Nigerians. “These men are responsible journalists that have come here to cover the AFCON. They are like brothers to me. I ate and dinned with them. They have been wonderful to me as a South African. Why are you treating them this way? It’s not fair! it’s not fair!”, Hope is said to have cried out while the policemen were brutalising the Nigerians.

Source: Sporting Life

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