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Thirty Eight year-old Ms. Paulina Oghenemere, an indigene of Kokori in Ethiope –East Local Government Area of Delta State, fasted and prayed  on  August 27, 2010, to cast away the demon tormenting her life. Yet, it was the devil in her green-eyed  lover, a father of four, simply identified as Mr. Difference,  that knocked on her door at 5 a.m. the next day,  and since that ill-fated Thursday when he poured a substance, believed to be concentrated hydrochloric acid, on  her face, Paulina’s life has never remained the same.www.mannastores.com

From what Sunday Vanguard saw of Paulina, the beautiful woman  who men found irresistible  was a shadow of her  former  self after she was discharged from University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, Benin City, two months ago. She spent  a year in the acid victims’ ward. When Sunday Vanguard visited her home, she fumbled about her sitting room, unable to see, but eager to welcome the team. What  came to mind was man’s inhumanity to man.

Today, Paulina, a divorcee and mother of two, needs a lifeline of  N10 million to restore her dignity.

‘How I met my ex-lover’
Heart-broken Paulina tells her story, “I divorced my husband with whom I had two kids after irreconcilable differences and incompatibility and relocated to Ujevwu  in Udu Local Government Area of Delta  State. There, I  began selling meat at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company, WRPC, area, a business which sustained and provided for my needs as the kids are with their father.

One  day, I was conveyed by a motorcycle rider, who identified himself as Mr. Difference Ogba, and  told me  he was resident in Egini, a neighbouring community to Ujevwu. He said he was unmarried. He picked interest in me and I told him I  was  a divorcee. He said he did not mind.

“After about six months, my church members alerted me that Ogba was married with wife and four kids. I trailed  him and got the truth and I told him to leave me alone, but he refused. His wife got wind of our relationship and started coming to abuse me at home.  I  insisted Ogba leave me alone, but he refused. He went to disturb my pastor. The pastor asked him to leave me alone, but he would not listen. They beat me up and took my money (N30,000).  I reported to the leadership of Egini community. They reprimanded him but he would not change his mind.”

Escape to Ekrokpe
The victim explained that because of Ogba’s  continued threats that if  she didn’t  marry him, he won’t leave  her  alone, she  packed out to Ekrokpe Community in Ughelli-South Council area.” After about three months, he found out where I moved to and he came again, I chased him away but he continued disturbing me until my landlady got tired and  threatened to give me a quit notice,”Paulina said. She continued,” “I continued to chase him away any moment he came around and my landlady later joined me in chasing him away, till he stopped.”

Fainted for 2 days, woke up in the hospital
“On August 27, 2010, I didn’t go to  the market. I fasted and went for our Wednesday prayers in my church (Church of God  Mission). I  prayed to God to chase away Ogba completely from my life.

I went to sleep early that evening as I had my plans for the next day. I wanted to go to the market and sell and, on return, cook and eat my choice soup (banga). But very early in the morning, August 28 , at 5a.m, I heard a sharp knock on my door and the voice of a woman I knew. I was shocked because she resides in Egini. I was wondering how she came to Ekrokpe that early.

Immediately I opened the door,  I was poured something (acid) on my head and face I shouted for help and fainted.  I woke up two days later at UBTH to discover that Ogba was the one who knocked on the door and poured me acid.” Ogba fled after the incident.

Without stating it, it was obvious that Paulina had gone through agonizing pains. She told Sunday Vanguard, “I have gone through excruciating pains as I had to undergo three different surgeries. Flesh was cut off from my lap to patch my head and lip. My skull was operated because of the level of burnt when the incident occurred.  I weaved my head a night before but the acid that soaked on my head burnt it. I saw death, but God did not allow me to die. I cursed the day I met Ogba, I will never forgive him.  I regret meeting him and I am still baffled that he did this to me. He neither drinks nor  smokes, I am not aware that he had or has mental problem; so, it is like a bad dream. How I wish it is a dream. I can’t see, my eyes are almost blind, I need help, I want to see again, please, I need help.”

Battle to save a sister
Paulina’s elder sister and member of Deeper Life Bible Church, Mrs. Kate Agbavwe, who resides at Okuokoko community, said, “I was at home on August 28 , 2010,  when early in the morning, our mother came to tell me that my sister was bathed with acid by her lover and she was brought to Kokori. We rushed back there and took her to hospital in Okpara Inland. The next day, she was referred to UBTH.

“At UBTH, life was terrible for my sister as many never believed she will survive, even some relatives’ advised that she be left to die. But I stood with her. I had to borrow money to save her life; I borrowed about N500,000 to buy drugs and blood. Things got hard and I had to liaise with my family to sell our land at Kokori. We were billed N665,000 for the bed, treatment and feeding for the one year.”

How Ogba was trapped and arrested
According to Mrs. Agbavwe, “When the incident occurred, the landlady promptly reported the incident at the Ekakpamre Police  Station and the case was forwarded to the Otu-Jeremi Divisional Headquarters. The police swung into action and arrested two members of  Ogba  family, who were eventually released on bail with a condition to look for  the suspect in two weeks.

‘’After a month, I came back from UBTH and a lady from Ogba family came as a spy to inquire if Paulina was dead or alive. I sensed her mission and I told her that Paulina was alive and had been discharged from hospital. The lady then said she was going to meet their family to see how they could come for settlement.

The following day, the family came to my house and I told them the truth that Paulina was in critical condition at UBTH. On hearing my report, the family said they would come back again, but they never did. Back at Egini, Ogba was planning to sell his house so that he could flee from his hideout. The  family told him that he should come so that they would plan on how to settle the matter. Then, they alerted the police who mobilised and laid ambush for him. He was apprehended and taken away. Later, he was transferred to the  state  Police Command in Asaba, but we heard that he is being remanded at the Okere Minimum Prison in Warri.”

Save Our Soul
“We are pleading with the government, non-government organisations, Niger Delta Development Commission, Delta State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission and other public-spirit organisations and persons to come to the rescue of our sister. We were told that corrective surgery can help rescue my sister but the cost  is  too much for us.

We do not have the resources to do it but we call for help. We have been told by the doctor that one of her eyes can be restored through surgery but it will cost so much, we need help so that at least she can see again”.

Now that the country is sliding, Christian Association of Nigerian has solicited that Federal Govt should allow Nigerians to carry Guns. They see it as a sure way to end these senseless killings.www.mannastores.com

 Gunmen killed four people at a bar in the troubled northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri in another of what has become incessant attacks blamed on an Islamist sect, police said Tuesday.
"A group of gunmen stormed a beer parlour in Jajeri area last night and opened fire, killing four people and seriously wounding another," Borno state police chief Simeon Midenda told AFP of the Monday attack.
There have been no arrests, but Midenda said "from all indications the attackers were from the Boko Haram sect".www.mannastores.com

The sect, which has been blamed for scores of bomb blasts and shootings, mainly in the country's northeast, has claimed responsibility for the August suicide bomb attack on UN headquarters in Abuja which killed 23 people.
In a separate incident, gunmen also shot an official of the city's rickshaw operators outside his house on Monday night, Midenda said.
"Gunmen shot dead a spokesman of the tricycle taxi operators association," said Midenda.
It was unclear why he was targeted, but rickshaws have become the main means of public transport in Maiduguri since July when the local government slapped a ban on motorcycles used as taxis.
Attacks in the city were mostly carried out by motorcycle-riding gunmen who shot their victims or tossed bombs at their targets and sped off.
Boko Haram, which launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a military assault, resurfaced last year targeting community leaders as well as members of the police, military and government.
The attacks have since intensified and become more sophisticated, including the use of bombs.

Hon Ikuforuji

 President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petirin to take over the security of Jos and stop the sectarian killings, Vanguard gathered yesterday that the Nigerian Airforce has already put on standby, a C-130 aircraft for the airlifting of troops from two Army Brigades, one from the South West and another from the North Central to complement soldiers on ground for the operation www.mannastores.com.


The General Officer Commanding ‘3’ Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adamu Marwa, who only resumed duty last week has been summoned to Abuja for briefings concerning strategies to be employed towards implementing the presidential directive.

Also, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika as well as the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar whose personnel and equipment would form the bulk of the deployments were said to be in marathon meetings for the better part of yesterday with their Principal Staff Officers, discussing operational implications of the President’s order.

Vanguard gathered that following the meetings, the Army High Command has directed the deployment of some armoured vehicles used for reconnaissance activities, advanced communications and night vision equipment as well as light combat attack vehicles to Jos for the operation.

Already, the Air Officer Commanding Tactical Command of the Nigerian Air Force, Markudi, Air Vice Marshal Odesola was said to have deployed some of the air surveillance aircraft in the command for surveillance activities to cover the long expanse of land and valleys where most of the attackers on both sides of the divide pass through to perpetrate havoc.

Meanwhile, indications have emerged that following investigations by bomb experts in the armed forces, most of the bombs used by the Boko Haram group and others for their attacks including that of Jos, are being manufactured or assembled locally.

This development came just as it was gathered that following this discovery, security agents are now combing parts of the country for those persons either trained by the military or the police but who would have retired from service, with the capability of assembling or building explosives.

While not ruling out that foreign technical assistance may have been obtained in the assemblage of some of the explosives used in some of the Boko Haram attacks like that of Force headquarters, a source told Vanguard that evidence collated on the UN house bombing, so far point to the fact that some locally made devices were put together to manufacture the explosives.

The source noted however that, “we are closing up on them as we have been able to unmask their modus operandi and their bases, and very soon Nigerians will hear the details of what has been happening”.

While refusing to give names of those suspected to be behind this group of people, the source said that “the planners of the attacks are very wealthy as the suicide attacks are capital intensive. Those who plan it buy brand new cars and settle the family of those to go on the suicide mission financially. So it is not something anybody can just dabble into without substantial reward”.

Giving an insight to the modus operandi of the group, the source said, “after any successful attack, they will study the security situation put in place and re-strategize. When they observe that tension is dying down and security arrangements have relaxed, they strike again. This intelligence is now available to the security agencies.

Residents hail Jonathan’s directive

Residents of Plateau State yesterday welcomed the directive by President Goodluck Jonathan that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petirin should take over the security of the state expressing hope that he would make a difference.

A cross section of residents who spoke yesterday said since previous measures such as the setting up of the Special Task Force (STF) have not solved the problem, they hoped he would come up with new strategies to solve the recurring crisis in the state.

A civil servant, Maiyaki Ishaku said the deployment of the CDS was an indication that the Federal Government was now taking the problem of Jos seriously.

“We do not know what the CDS will do to make a difference, but for the president to ask such a high-ranking officer to oversee the security of the state is an indication that the problem, for once, is being accorded serious attention. We can only hope and pray that his coming will bring the desired peace”, he said.

Acting President of Civil Society Coalition in the state, Dr. Tor Iorapuu also supported a change of strategy in tackling the security challenges as well as a review of the security arrangement.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition at a press briefing yesterday he said “the security saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives and property should be overhauled so as to weed out bad eggs that have brought disrepute to the task force.

“In Egypt, military officers who unleashed violence on protesters are being tried. The STF must court-martial all those that have been manipulated to have compromised the security of the state to restore public confidence”, he added.

Other residents who spoke, expressed similar sentiments stressing the need for Petirin to restore the confidence of the people in the security men as some of them have been accused of compromising in their duties.

Air Marshal Petirin is expected to take charge of security in the state anytime from now in accordance with the directive of the president.