Joshua King's Free Press

Hell hath no fury like it has in the past few days in Northern Nigeria. The Islamic Sect, Boko Haram picked off where they left off from the coordinated bombings of the Thisday Newspaper. This time, it was the universities that got hit with two professors among 16 other deaths and many wounded. More attacks on another university as well as another attack in Jalingo, capital of Taraba. These are indeed sad times for Nigeria and Nigerians. We pray the good God grant the families of the dead the fortitude to bear the loss. We also wish the dead a peaceful repose. It was an abattoir of humans guilty only of innocence.   When there is chaos, one thing is certain, a breakdown of order. The security agencies and operatives have lost it completely. The president is even more distraught and appears frustrated. The national security adviser though knows what is wrong: the PDP! But the president disagrees. Azazi has challenged the president obviously. But their debate will not contribut...

May your road be rough I curse you not, I certainly hope you get tough Tough to face the challenges ahead There will be many, so keep a level head Many obstacles will lay in your way Look not for another’s way For your road must be travelled time and again Have the courage to march on though the journey brings pain If your destination is one of greatness Then continue your march with boldness For there is no great reward where risk was not taken And there is little reward where none is taken Decide now, whether you’ll hunt wild game Or settle for snails and never reach fame Strive for difficult excellence my friend Resolve to never settle for a stipend Make your mark while you have the chance Never leave the stage without the victory dance Sycophants, fraudsters, flirts and fiends will surround you Lovers, friends and acquaintances will abandon you Many mishaps, shipwrecks and misfortunes Losses, illness or a time in a dark dungeon None of ...

Guardiola leaves the Blaugrana bald. Upon becoming Barcelona manager, Pep had a full hairline. Meet Pep Short for Josep Whose achievements are not short His stay in Camp Nou now cut short By no other than Josep Guardiola Declaring his days there over Is he quitting when the ovation is loudest? One of Barcelona's finest His head was full upon arrival The trophy room is full at his departure Meet the man who had hair But leaves bald He favours a style Tika Tika The ball is passed again and again Opponents are left frustrated As they gasp for breath and not the ball That already is in the net Pep the puppeteer  He sought and found no way through Why should anyone park the bus at the Camp Nou The only one, yes the only one with a sextuple A feat no one has been able to topple He has left the Blaugrana to take a break That man Josep  Guardiola Pep out. Tito in. cartoon. Courtesy Omar Momani www.goal.com Full ...

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has urged Nigerians to desist from calling for a sovereign national conference. Speaking at a South South Economic Summit held in Asaba where he presented a keynote address the erudite professor argued that it had become unnecessary to clamour for such a conference but rather asked regional groups and states to determine their own fate as against the current situation of leaving their destinies in the hand of the federal government. “The constitutional ‘envelope’ that currently holds the parts together should be pushed as far as possible, without it actually bursting, leading to a vibrant competition and collaboration among its constituent parts. “Each regional grouping should, by its policies, declare an uncompromising developmental autonomy. “This will leave the centre only with its competence provenance of foreign policy, national security and inter-state affair,” Mr. Soyinka said. The Nobel Laureate is urging Nigerian states to be ass...

Terror group, Boko Haram struck yesterday in Abuja and Kaduna leaving as many as 7 persons dead and some others wounded from coordinated bomb attacks. Influential daily, Thisday the target of both attacks had their Abuja and Kaduna offices rocked by explosions in the morning of yesterday.  The group went ahead to release a video in which it defended its attack on the newspaper house. The Islamist sect which forbids western education is intent on sending a clear message to us in the media urging us not to misrepresent them. According to the groups’ hitherto thought to be captured spokesman Abu Qaka, Boko Haram is not happy about the level of misrepresentation from the media whom he accused of taking sides with the government. According to an interview granted to the organization from another news site http://premiumtimesng.com/news/4843-boko_haram_speaks_why_we_attacked_thisday.html the spokesman insisted that he is alive and free contrary to the reports making rounds in the ...

Contrary opinions are necessary every now and again. Dissent is essential for dialogue and creative exchange of ideas. There is no denying the fact that the world is a better place because some people thought otherwise especially when they have good reason for such dissent. Many years ago, the popular opinion was that the earth was flat and that the sun and moon hung as light bulbs on a ceiling. Someone disagreed and proved scientifically that our planet was spherical. His position though not immediately acknowledged has become the truth today and has since remained so for man has indeed been able to leave the planet and seen it from without. However, man does not disagree against his own good. When an adversary enters a farmer’s land to take possession, the farmer does not leave without a fight. Instead he challenges the occupier enforcing his right of ownership. In Nigeria of today though, it is different. While the majority celebrated with temporal relief at the report submitt...

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi appears very quiet and speaks rather softly. He schooled in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he obtained a degree in economics. During his research there, he must have come across a certain term or terms: citation and referencing. But the Kano born risk banker must have forgotten or at least appeared to have forgotten if the accusations of Professor Victor Dike are anything to go by. The Professor a lecturer at the School of Engineering & Technology, National University of Sacramento, California, USA has dragged the CBN chief to an Abuja High Court citing plagiarism. The professor, has several of his works allegedly used by Sanusi without a single reference to him, prompting the lecturer to return to Nigeria to file the suit. He wants in return the cost of his return from the US, cost of prosecuting the CBN governor and a restraining order put on the governor barring him from utilizing his works in the future. A total of N15m will be enough to satisfy ...

Like a well scripted plot playing out, accusations and denials have become the expected outcome of the fuel subsidy probe. The damming report is going to be challenged by no fewer than 17 firms who the report indicted. As was expected and predicted by Joshua King’s Free Press, they have begun contacting lawyers and briefing them as to the next line of action. The companies argue that, they were not invited for the hearing and as such should not have been indicted on ground of “unfair hearing.” The Farouk Lawan-led committee had indicted 18 oil companies and concluded that they were guilty of mismanaging about N41 billion subsidy money. The companies include AS Nigeria Limited; Somerset Nigeria Limited; Techno Oil Limited; Oil Bath Nigeria Limited; Muthaff Nigeria Limited; Stonebridge Oil Limited; Mobil Oil Nigeria; Petrotrade Energy Limited; Lucky Energy Limited; Rocky Energy Limited and Prudent Energy and Services Limited. The companies however, are showing a little caution as the...

Occupy Nigeria had no convener. It began out of a feeling of discontent to protest the sudden unexpected price increase on petrol. Gradually, it gathered momentum, day after day, turnout at protest grounds outgrew the number of the day before. They had one demand and one demand only: revert the fuel price to N65 per litre. Called out through social media and by personal persuasion, young Nigerians could not be kept quiet as they soon regretted their mistake of April 16. The NLC soon joined declaring a nationwide strike action which ground the country to a halt for 9 days. The whole time, the president was adamant; he refused to listen to the rage and bitterness in the land. His ministers had non in disagreement, they all agreed with finance minister and CBN governor that subsidy was evil or unsustainable. They preached long and hard about how much courage the president had and that the savings from the withdrawal of subsidy would be channeled to other areas of development. With the p...

Former Delta state governor, James Ibori got a 13 year jail term yesterday. He would have been handed a longer term but the Southwark based court considered his guilty plea and gave him a discount. Having already spent over 640 days in prison during the trial period, the term is going to be further shortened the judge said. The conviction is proof that our judicial process is considerably mired in mediocrity as the conviction rate following indictments is too low. Some of us see sense in this imported justice though. Our governors, ministers and presidents prefer to holiday, take medical trips, have their children in foreign schools and most times prefer to bank their loot abroad. It is altogether fitting therefore, for them to get justice abroad. Ibori with his millions one can say would not have been imprisoned here. His colleague a certain Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa state got the term of a juvenile while Olabode George and a few others had terms in prison look like a vacat...

Yesterday, the national distraction single: Ngozi Okonjo Iweala for World Bank Presidency was thrown out of the shelves. The World Bank’s board preferred to ride with Obama’s nominee Mr. J. Kim who will fill the position incumbent president Mr. Robert Zollick will vacate come June this year. At a time when key national issues pressed hard and sought maximum attention, the federal government led by a former lecturer thought it wise to distract Nigerians and released a single: Ngozi Okonjo Iweala for World Bank presidency. And like a Tuface release, it hit the airwaves and had everyone singing it. The media was awash with tales of her profile and the possibility of her taking over an organization that has forever been run by Americans. A common feature in Nigeria is the thought that the wishbone will replace the backbone or to say it another way, hopeless optimism. It is this hopeless optimism that makes Nigerians believe against the odds, that her Super Eagles will qualify for the ...

The last has not been heard of the fuel subsidy quagmire. For those of us who have just returned from Mars, the FG on New Year’s Day increased the pump price of petrol from N65 to N141. It reached this decision after it suspended subsidy (part payment). This subsidy withdrawal sparked huge protests in many parts of the country and later saw organized labour joining with a nationwide strike action that crippled the country for nine days. There were two sides of the coin on the subsidy debate: pro subsidy and anti subsidy. Convincing arguments were presented from both sides while Nigerians were then told that the real issue should be whether or not they could trust the government to keep its promise on SURE-P, a document that proposed to channel the savings that should have been used for the subsidy to do other things. But while the protests, strike and arguments raged on, the House of Representatives formed an ad-hoc committee to probe the subsidy scenario. This ad hoc committee ha...

A few hours ago, Boko Haram released a new home video that would not be sold anywhere near 51 Iweka Road Onitsha and such places but has since been watched severally by the president and members of the national security community. The video in which the Boko Haram threatened to end the president’s administration is a response to his boast to bring the group to its knees within three months. What is worrisome though is that this video is not in English language. The interpretation to the video has been provided by some online news sites. For the sake of the future, Boko Haram, we urge you to please release videos in English language or at least provide subtitles. The Boko Haram threat is not new but is now more directed at the president or his administration. Jihad is a term many people have come to understand means warring for Allah against infidels (unbelievers). Unbelief, yours truly is made to understand by distinguished Islamic scholars is belief in a god other than the one God...