DRUG SCANDALS

DRUG SCANDALS

It is not uncommon for rock stars and perhaps mentally unstable people to become familiar with drugs or even abuse them. We have often heard about people suffering from financial constraints selling drugs; but what are we to think when politicians are arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs... Well that is exactly what happened to Eme Zuru Ayortor, a member of the Nigerian Edo state House of Assembly. Nigerian drug enforcement officials say Mr Ayortor swallowed nearly two kilograms of cocaine in order to fund his election campaign



Police say body scanners revealed the contents of his stomach as he attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt. Mr Ayortor, 52, is running in the Edo state House of Assembly election but it is not clear for which party. Mr Ayortor is a qualified pharmacist who studied at the University of Wisconsin in the US. Officers from Nigeria's drug law enforcement agency say they recovered 100 parcels of cocaine from the politician's stomach at Lagos' Murtala Mohammed International Airport. It is understood that Mr Ayortor told officers he needed the money because his last election campaign, in 2007, bankrupted him. He was arrested two weeks ago - police are now at the end of their investigation. They believe Mr Ayortor is part of a wider network and that this was probably not his first attempt to smuggle drugs.



Politicians in Nigeria have to raise large amounts of money at election time – I have heard much of it goes on bribing election officials and paying gangs of young men to intimidate voters, but do not quote me on that. Last month, customs officers at the same airport seized a consignment of military uniforms which they linked to politicians preparing for elections next year. Nigeria is a major transit route for drugs - from South America and Asia - to the US and Europe. More than 300 tonnes of narcotics were seized in the country last year. Drugs law enforcement officers in Lagos have only four police sniffer dogs to monitor the airports, land borders and a massive seaport. They privately complain they need many more sniffer dogs to do their work properly.



Not only have politicians been arrested this week for with handling illicit drugs but now, a Canadian doctor who has treated Tiger Woods and other elite athletes has been charged with supplying illegal drugs. Dr Anthony Galea is accused of giving unlawful drugs, including human growth hormone (HGH), to at least three US professional football players. The Toronto-based physician has denied any wrongdoing. Woods said recently he had been treated by Galea, but categorically denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Dr Galea was charged with unlawful HGH distribution, lying to US officials, conspiracy to defraud, smuggling and interstate commerce with the unapproved drug actovegin. Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, is illegal in the US and not approved for use in Canada. According to court documents, Dr Galea's clients include at least three current or former National Football League (NFL) players, one of whom allegedly had two HGH kits delivered to his home, while another received actovegin injections. Charges involved only unnamed NFL players, although Dr Galea is also known to have treated other sports figures, including world golf number one Tiger Woods and several prominent baseball players.


It is little comfort to know perhaps, that whilst a Nigerian was caught for a mere 2 kilograms, Lebanese customs officers seized 103 kilograms of cocaine in a record drugs bust at Beirut port, on Monday. Customs officials found the raw cocaine, hidden in the hydraulic machine of a goods lift, in the biggest drugs bust at the Beirut port to date. It is believed the cocaine was smuggled from Colombia through the Belgian port of Antwerp. It was worth around 10 million dollars and once processed and mixed, its street value would have been 30 million dollars. Sniffer dogs had not picked up on the scent because the cocaine was hidden beneath metal and engine oil, but officials noticed something was amiss when the machine went through the scanners. Authorities have since arrested a 79-year-old Lebanese man suspected of involvement in the smuggling.



Seven men have been jailed for twenty-two years for their part in a major drugs and firearms conspiracy spanning the UK, Europe and South America. Liverpool Crown Court heard the gang smuggled the weapons, and cocaine with a street value of £10m, into the UK. Police said the four-year investigation to convict them was complex. The investigation found that the drug dealers were smuggling cocaine, using Eastern European men as drug mules via numerous airports and ports across the UK.

I believe the sentences these criminals were given reflect the very serious nature of these crimes and, quite rightly, these people will now be spending a very long time behind bars. As a result of the policemen’s hard work, a large, sophisticated crime group, spanning the UK and mainland Europe, has been dismantled, preventing untold quantities of drugs and firearms being brought into Lancashire and prevented inevitable harm to local and wider UK communities. Not only does their incarceration provide some respite to the communities affected by their criminality, but it sends a very strong message to other criminal gangs that law enforcement will track them down…Now that is what I call good policing!

(This article was printed in the PM Newspaper on Wed 19th May, 2010. Page 5. Written by Fade Ogunro)

The Meaning of Freedom

The Meaning of Freedom
What does freedom mean to you? Do you have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, free will or freedom from power, where you have to answer to no-one but yourself? Freedom is a powerful thing and millions throughout history have died attempting to achieve freedom. I believe freedom is when you are not physically, mentally or emotionally imprisoned, enslaved or otherwise constrained...how many of us are truly free?



In Europe this week, thousands of passengers have been physically constrained, unable to reach their final destination and stranded in various places all over the world. More than 95,000 flights had been cancelled since last Thursday, a day after the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southern Iceland erupted for the second time in a month. A flight ban was imposed because in the high temperatures of an engine turbine, ash produced from the volcano can turn to molten glass and cripple the engine of the plane.




As of yesterday some flights have been departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, on the sixth day of disruption caused by the spread of Icelandic volcanic ash. But major flight restrictions remain in place across most of the UK, Ireland, Finland, Germany and Poland. The eruption appears to be waning, but there have been reports of a new ash cloud heading towards mainland Europe. The Europe-wide air traffic agency said it was optimistic the situation would be back to normal in a few days' time. The EU Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, has rejected criticism that the EU took too long to respond to the crisis. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Kallas said the matter was not "in the hands of arbitrary decisions", as the lives of people were at stake. The airline industry says its losses have soared to over $1bn, since much of Europe's airspace was closed last week because of volcano ash.
For the thousands of stranded passengers, freedom to go home cannot be bought. Under normal circumstances one could perhaps bargain and plea but when it comes to the forces of nature…that is the end of discussion.
Meanwhile in Sudan, others are hoping for political freedom. Freedom to elect a fair government, freedom to have democracy but this is hardly the case. This week Sudan’s elections have been marred with claims of corruption and rigging. Sudanese opposition activists say a video which apparently shows election officials stuffing ballot boxes proves their claims of poll rigging. The clip, which has not been independently verified, has been posted on YouTube and is being circulated by a coalition of campaign groups. The National Elections Commission (NEC), however, dismissed it as a fake and is not even investigating it. The elections were held under a deal to end a 21-year north-south civil war. The polls - presidential, parliamentary and regional - were the first multi-party elections since 1986. Results are expected this week after the elections, which were extended by two days due to organisational problems. Several opposition parties withdrew in the north, saying President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party was trying to rig the voting.
In the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, two men who were physically imprisoned attempted to regain their freedom by escaping prison, unfortunately they were shot. Nigeria's controller general of prisons said inmates burned down the prison workshop and another building. This is the second attempted jail-break in Kaduna in the past few months. There were reports of shooting and a loud explosion, and security forces surrounded the jail in an attempt to restore order.



The controller general confirmed earlier reports of the two deaths and said 39 had been wounded. The controller general blamed the attempted jail-break on remand prisoners who were frustrated that their cases had not come to trial. However, the police commissioner said the riot had been caused by the transfer of a popular prisoner. He explained that when an inmate called Reverend King, who was awaiting a death sentence, was moved to another prison, inmates thought he had been executed and went on the rampage. Officials also said order had been restored at the prison, the inmates have been returned to their cells and that no-one escaped during the disturbance. At times, the price for freedom is often one’s life.
Kidnapping is directly inhibiting a person’s physical freedom, but for the family of the kidnapped it is often a mentally and emotionally unstable period. Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped two German men in the country's oil-producing south-east. The men, aged 45 and 55, were abducted while at a river beach in Abia State. The abduction is the second of foreign workers in Nigeria in the last 10 days. No group has said it carried out the latest kidnapping. One of the men works in Port Harcourt, the capital of the neighbouring Rivers State, while the other came from Lagos. The German foreign ministry said it was looking into the incident. Hundreds of kidnappings are reported in the oil-rich Niger Delta every year. Most victims are granted their freedom and often released unharmed, some only after a ransom is paid.
Everybody is fighting for some type of freedom, from financial freedom to emotional enslavement; I hope that like the Niger-Delta victims, we are all released to a free, fair and world, where the price of free will never has to be paid with death. These are my dreams for humanity: FREEDOM.

(This article was published in PM Newspaper on Wed 21st April, 2010. Page 5, written by Fade Ogunro)

YOUTH & VOTERS

YOUTH & VOTERS

In the UK there are 5 main political parties that aim to be in power and win the elections. Each party must tackle different agendas such as: economy, crime, health and education that affect the entire country. They must demonstrate how they aim to regulate each agenda. The economy is the key issue during any election campaign. Politicians must show how they will stimulate recovery from the longest recession in modern times. The main 3 parties: Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats have all put tax, financial regulation and public spending at the top of their agendas. They have clearly stated in their manifestos (which are readily available to the public) their different but transparent approaches to resolve main issues. Based on their manifestos, voters are able to make an informed decision on which party gets their vote.



These manifestos are very user friendly and any literate person would understand the different stand points each political parties take. I commend that they are able to transcend various socio-economic classes and get the mass to cast a vote. It is a fair voting process, absent of corruption and whereby politicians are genuinely forced to listen to listen to the needs of the nation, assess what the main issues are and most importantly set out a detailed guide for a resolution.


The central parts of any election are the politicians and the voters. The latter must be able to identify with the party’s ideologies and ideally the politician should persuade and convince the voter that their approach for resolution is the best. Is it any wonder that in the UK with a population of over 60 million people, over 75% of the nation voted taking into consideration that under 18’s are not allowed to vote. Meanwhile in Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million people about 20% voted in the last general election. I am still skeptical about these figures as they are received from local newspapers in Nigeria. It is not readily accessible public information.




For a country that is rife with corruption and rigging I would be very naive if I did not expect these figures to be exaggerated- there are over 20 political parties in Nigeria which is rather overwhelming. How can one make an informed decision on who to vote for, who has the best policies and track record of fairness? It is an almost impossible task to find the manifestos for each of these political parties. Besides who will read it when majority of the population are illiterate? As a Nigerian citizen I would like to know how each party aims to tackle key issues such as power supply, clean water, education, poverty, healthcare, the list goes on... As a journalist, if I am unable to find out what each party stands for, I am baffled at how over 20 million people were able to make an informed decision and vote. It all seems a bit shady to me! Furthermore, I have heard rumours of results being declared in states where elections were not held. How can an election be said to be fair when all citizens are not given an equal opportunity.



Do not take offence but I am tired of seeing old, weary politicians with frail bodies and archaic mindset ruling Nigeria. Who needs aged but powerful men ruling our nation, after all this has not worked. We need fresh young forward thinkers who can engage with the average Nigerian. We need educated, vibrant, cultured and worldly people to push this country into the 21st century. I am frustrated by leaders who are stuck in the 50’s and very complacent about serious issues in Nigeria like the lack of electricity which is killing our economy; even God said ‘Let there be Light!’ But these stubborn and greedy people we call government just aim to serve their pockets and not the nation or their people. I would love to see a Nigerian man or woman in their later twenties run for presidency. Politicians need to understand that if we the voters cannot relate to them, we will feel no need to vote at all. Ask any youth between the age of 18-25 what their viewpoint is on politics, what policies of PDP they agree with, who is the leader of the National Democratic Party, or simply when they last voted? You will receive confused and blank expressions as if you were asking them to translate hieroglyphics. Politics does not seem to appeal to the youth anymore- that is a major problem. If the children are our future, but they do not participate in shaping the future, are we not missing something? I believe that until every individual believes they can make a difference, that their voice is heard and most importantly that they can make a difference and not overlooked because of their age, and we have fair, corrupt free elections a large amount of the Nigerian population will never vote. What a shame!

(This article was published in PM Newspaper on Wed 14th April 2010. Written by Fade Ogunro)