Fire disaster at Enugu Prison Barracks, Enugu Thursday

Members of Federal Road Safety Commission transferring the bodies of fire victims in their vehicle.

A view of the petrol tanker after the accident

Shows burning petrol tanker that caused the fire outbreak

Some vehicles affected by the fire incident

A thief caught during the incident being led away by the police.

People assisting Enugu State Fire Service to extinguish the fire outbreak.

Burnt body of one of the fire victim recovered from the Prison barracks.

Welcome! Oh Ramadan

Another chain of opportunities of opportunities are here again before us. It is a time for another high level spiritual devotion, for cleansing of our iniquities, for attracting divine blessings, for prayers, alms_giving, dhikr, re_direction of destinies, and a set of hundreds of opportunities for a ticket to al_janah.
Ramadan, the blessed month opens up a new vista for spiritual shopping, a month of intensive worship, reading of the Qur’an, giving charity, purifying one’s behaviour, and doing good deeds and moving the believers closer to his creator. It is a month in which good deeds are multiplied and bad deeds are overlooked.  A month of forgiveness and mercy, a month so great that flings the door of paradise open and with its might chains the devils and closes the doors of hell fire.
The night month of Islamic calendar and the third pillar of faith that is so honoured so much by Allah that the Glorious Qur’an was revealed.
For those who are drifted into swirls of sins and rebellion in different ways, to cleanse and purify themselves.
In this respect, one should make good use of the fruitfulness of Ramadan. It will amount to absolute loss in this world and a wanton miss of mercy and forgiveness of Allah if the month passed by without observing it.  What will be worse than digging one’s own grave and tumbles down in it?
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ascended the minbar and said: “Amin, amin, amin.” The companion asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you ascended the minbar and said, ‘Amin, amin, amin.” He said: “Jibril (peace be upon him) came to me and said: ‘If Ramadan comes and a person is not forgiven, he will enter Hell and Allah will cast him far away. Say Amin.’ So I said Amin. He said: ‘O Muhammad, if both or one of a person’s parents are alive and he does not honour them and he dies, he will enter Hell and Allah will cast him far away. Say Amin.’ So, I said Amin. He said: ‘If you are mentioned in a person’s presence and he does not send blessings upon you and he dies, he will enter Hell and Allah will cast him far away. Say Amin.’ So, I said Amin.”
Allah says in the Qur’an “O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed for those before you.  That you may learn self restraint.”
Fast for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number (should be made up) from days later.  For those who can do it (with hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent.  But he that will give more, of his own free will, it is better for him.  And it is better for you that you fast, if only you knew.”
“Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong).  So, every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting but if anyone is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (should be made up) by days later.  Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to difficulty.  (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him in that He has guided you, and perchance you shall be grateful.” (Q2:183-185)
Fasting for the period of 29 or 30 days in the month of Ramadan is not meant for self torture neither is it merely a temporary abstention from food and drink but a spiritual exercise to move believers closer to God and offer him divine blessings.  During the period,  a measure of ascendancy is given to one’s spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God while Allah makes good His promise by descending mercy on the believers.
Fasting is also a way of developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to appreciate Allah for His bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.Many Muslims insist on the local physical sighting of the moon to mark the beginning of Ramadan, but others use the calculated time of the new moon or the Saudi Arabian declaration to determine the start of the month. Since the new moon is not in the same state at the same time globally, the beginning and ending dates of Ramadan depend on what lunar sightings are received in each respective location. As a result, Ramadan date vary in different countries, but usually only by a day. This is due to the cycle of the moon. When one country sees the moon, mainly Saudi Arabia, the moon travels the same path all year round and that same moon seen in the east is then seen traveling towards the west. All the countries around the world see the moon within a 24 hour period once spotted by one country in the east.
While being appreciative of the grace of Allah for witnessing another Ramadan, it is also important to welcome the glorious month by saying Mar’aba bika yaa Ramadan, wa baraka llahu fiha.

More facts emerge on Mother of 7 miracle babies

Precious Ogbonna

There are indication that the husband who had kept mum all these while may also be a complicity in the case of Precious' seven miracle babies.  A family source has hinted societygist that before the ordeal of his wife in the hands of the police, Mr Ogbonna demanded the sum of N4million from his wife as a share of what she had received as donations from good spirited Nigerians on the seven miracle babies.
We gathered that Precious refused claiming she had no such money and the man vowed to deal with her.  A family source also hinted that the man who is a furniture maker at 41 Tetlow street, Owerri had the habit of extorting money from his wife, adding that all had not been well with the family since the issue of pregnancy came up two years ago. We gathered that he stayed away from the house and only coming around when he needed money.
Source hinted that recently Precious moved out of the house to hire a three bed-room apartment at the Umulere, Owerri where she was arrested by the police on Monday June 20. He seldom come to the house according to the source.
Meanwhile, in the interview he granted one of the daily newspapers, he had tried to exonerate himself on the issue disclaiming suggesting he disclaims the paternity of the seven babies.
Watch out for more details 

Mr Donatus Ogbonna

Home where ‘miracle babies’ were delivered

Side view of the house where miracle babies are born in Port-Harcourt

 *Another 3 babies delivered in 13mnths
•Charges between N.3m - N.5m per delivery

It was easy locating Nurse Blessing’s native  Maternity Home in Port-Harcourt where Precious Donatus Ogbonna claimed she was delivered of five of the seven babies.  In spite of the frustrating gridlock-traffic along Rumuokoro road, down to Rukpakulusi along Eleme road, compounded by the heavy downpour that afternoon, the mission was clear: to confirm her claim that she was pregnant of the children, take pictures of the place and also find out why pregnant women patronise the home since it was clear the nurse is being detained by the police in Owerri, Imo state.  But the whole exercise revealed other issues as neighbours and those who knew Nurse Blessing readily gave information.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that Precious Donatus might not be the only one in this incredible story of multiple births in months.  According to the neighbours, people patronised the Maternity Home, and there are those who had delivered there at different times which we immediately explored.
As we report this, another woman who is based in Warri, Delta State but who did not want her name in print following the controversy which the story of Precious Donatus has generated, claimed she also gave birth to three babies in two years in the same home.  She claimed she delivered her first baby in May 2009, another in October 2009 and the last one in June 2010.  All deliveries she said took place in Nurse Blessing’s native Maternity Home.  Like the story of Precious who also claimed to have had her five of her babies there, she stated that scan did not detect the babies in her womb.  But when SaturdayVanguard visited her home for an interview, she declined saying she has been warned against it until the issue of Precious Donatus is resolved.  She hinted that Nurse Blessing uses native materials, such as leaves, roots, and water.  “She will massage you with hot water to test the growth of the baby and ascertain whether it is time to deliver.
“When you deliver, she will give you a room and observe you for few days before you are discharged,” she added.
The other woman who was said to have also delivered a baby in the home could not be reached as at press time. But other information about the woman in charge of the home suggest either a spiritual manipulation of the multiple births or a huge racket of  sort yet uncovered.
Recently,  Abia state police command had raided the baby factory and rescued about 32 teenage expectant inmates from a certain clinic in the state where teenagers are kept until they are delivered of their babies.
According to the reports, the babies are usually taken away and their mothers discharged after being paid certain amounts ranging between N25, 000 and N30, 000, depending on the sex of the babies.
In the same vein, a natural clinic in Ugwuaku, Okigwe, Imo State, was believed to be the ‘solution ground’ for baby-seeking habitue. But behind the high fenced walls, all manner of the absurd takes place, away from the prying eyes of the public and law enforcement agents. Unknown to many, this was a hugely thriving baby factory, where women who pretend to be heavily pregnant deliver their ‘babies.’ But not without a price!
Could it be the one our source is referring to? Could it be a deception to cover up child-trafficking? Time will tell.


Nurse Blessing’s Home
At her house located on Ohonda close, in Rukpakulsi, the black iron gate is as tall as the building and you could hardly see anything from outside.
Hamzat, the gateman, who has been working with Nurse Blessing for several months, refused to let the guest in, saying he was warned never to open the gate for anybody.  The reporter had to slip his camera under the tall gate from which position he managed to take some shots. Hamzat however said that Nurse Blessing left the house about three weeks ago and  has not returned ever since.  He said her husband who is based in Abuja was around the previous day and had travelled back to his base.  He confirmed that Nurse Blessing used to take delivery of babies, adding that she has not done that for a couple of months now.  “She used to travel and deliver pregnant women of their babies but for some time now, she has not taken any delivery,” he said.
Another woman who preferred anonymity told SaturdayVanguard that Nurse Blessing had been doing the business for years now.
 “She is a fairly rich woman; we heard that she just delivered twins some  months ago.We also gathered she collects as much as N300, 000- N500,000 for each delivery depending on the complications.  She collects big money, sometimes 500,000 and sometimes less,” a source said.
“We also gathered that Nurse Blessing got her tutelage from a popular woman in Okigwe; Imo state who treats all kinds of spiritually attacked pregnancies for N1million.  The Okigwe woman we gathered had trained several women in the business and Nurse Blessing is one of them.”
A few distance from the house, a resident said Nurse Blessing was known in the area for the business of delivering pregnant women by massaging, and using warm water on the women’s belly. It is like a native hospital.
She also hinted that she used to stay on Jacob Ahonda street (pointing to the place) before she moved to where she now stays some metres away.”   When the reporter narrated the story of Precious Donatus Ogbonna to see if there is any confirmation of it or similar story, she declined knowledge of that but revealed that women quietly come there, give birth and leave most times without people knowing the details.

Tension as DNA samples are taken

The embattled miracle birth woman, Precious Donatus Ogbonna was cold. Her voice wobbled, fighting back tears throughout the few hours she was let out of the cell for a DNA test sponsored by the Vanguard Media Ltd. Clad in a flowing gown with a jacket she wore  weeks ago when Saturday Vanguard interviewed her in her house in Owerri. She looked atrophied with the realities of detention visible on her. Even the innocent babies too had a fair share of the transformation and hash realities of detention.  They had mosquito bites and rashes on parts of their bodies.  she was full of emotions throughout the period the DNA test lasted, only muttering few words  to her family member.

But very soon, the puzzle about her claim to have delivered seven babies in 11 months will be unravelled as samples for the test were taken last Monday in Owerri, Imo state.
The team, which included Vanguard reporters and a Pathologist from PathCare Lab in partnership with a South African company, Dr. Segun Isioye was received by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, CID, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu in his office. The team escorted by eight policemen immediately drove in convoy of two Police Hilux jeep to the Nigerian Red Cross Society and Motherless Babies home behind the Government House, Owerri, few kilometres from the Police Headquarters where the babies are receiving care.
Some of the police escorts, including Precious Donatus carried the babies from the Red Cross home to the clinic and back to the home after the test.

At the Nigerian Red Cross Society and Motherless Babies home

The home which has
about four detached halls blocks has 16 babies between the age of  4 months to two years in a well ventilated Babies Hall that takes over 20 baby cots. No security men were seen.  Source hinted Saturday Vanguard that a policeman was seen around the home during the first week of the babies in the home and wondered why the guard was discontinued in view of the controversy surrounding the birth of the babies.  
When the team entered the babies’ hall, five of the babies screamed in a high voice simultaneously as soon as they saw their ‘Mother’ Precious Donatus.  The eldest, Conqueror, cried loudly,  pointing at Precious, defying others who offered to carry her. The action pulled the ‘Mother’ to tears as she wept.

At the Police Clinic

The clinic specifically meant for the police in the state headquarters, is located about three kilometres away from the police headquarters.  Away from the bustling and hit of the town, it was as if the area was meant for that purpose alone, you could count the number of houses in that vicinity. But that is where the sickly police officers in the state visit when the need arises.
In the clinic’s waiting hall, Precious took time to inspect the babies. As the bio-data of the babies were being taken, she examined the babies thoroughly. She had seen them once since the three weeks she was thrown in detention. She battled tears that proved unstoppable as she saw mosquito bites and rashes on the skin of the babies. She could not contain the pain. She asked some of the police officers, including this reporter to see the mosquito-bitten bodies of her babies appealing that adequate care should be ensured on the babies.  
The blood samples were taken in a small doctor’s consulting room in the clinic. Precious who took the first turn was asked to carry the babies in turn for their sample.  It was done in other of their births.  She continued to examine the bodies of the babies one after the other as as she intermittently complained of skin problem the babies had developed, just as the screaming of the babies while conducting the test attracted sympathy from even the police.  We gathered it was not too long ago that the police took the babies’ blood for genotype test. 
Her husband, Mr Donatus Ogbonna, who came later to the clinic, did not utter a word even when he saw his embattled wife at the waiting room. Neither did he seek to carry any of the babies.   After the test, when Saturday Vanguard sought to ask his opinion about the test, he declined comment,  saying he would not grant any interview based on the first publication made.  
The test was supervised by the Medical officer of the clinic Dr, Ndubuisi Chukwudi Frank, (CSP) and the Investigating Police Officer of the case, B. S. Pedro.
At about 5:45pm, the babies were returned to the Red Cross after the test. The Matron of the home when asked to comment on the babies and the home, declined comment , saying she was not permitted to make any comment on the home or the babies there.

ACP, CID briefed

The team returned the
     babies to the home and went straight to the police headquarters to brief the Assistant Commissioner of Police, CID.   In the ACP, CID’s office, the samples were signed and sealed by the suspect, Precious Ogbonna and Vanguard Media Ltd and Pathcare Lab.
The ACP disclosed that other preliminary tests had been conducted and the results were ready but that the DNA will give accurate genealogical information about the babies and the suspect.
Meanwhile, family source hinted that the result of a test purportedly conducted by a firm in Lagos recently which Saturday Vanguard referred to in one of its publications is being withheld by the sponsor.  The source stated that “we have made several attempts to reach the person but we have not heard any thing. We called their line, they were not picking.  Probably, they were waiting for the release of Precious before they act on it.”
Apart from arraigning the suspect in court last Tuesday, the police have uncovered one of the places she allegedly gave birth to five of the seven babies.  The owner of the home, Nurse Blessing, a Port Harcout based native maternity nurse who Precious claimed took  deliveries of five of her seven babies, has been arrested and as at press time, was still in police detention.  When Precious appeared in court last Tuesday, Nurse Blessing was not arraigned with her.
However, Precious, who was full of gratitude for Saturday Vanguard has been telling even inmates in the Police cell in Owerri that it is only the DNA that can save her from prosecution and persecution.
In spite of her firm decision to have a paternity test, quite a lot of people still do not believe her story and therefore wonder that under this inexplicable sequence of her claim medically, she could still damn the consequences by insisting on a DNA test, just as some say she might be out of her minds.  Before the test was carried out, this reporter engaged her in another discussion and the interaction ran thus:
Could you please tell us the truth about the babies?
They are my babies, I’ll continue to say that and that is why I said I was ready for a DNA test.
Are you very sure?
Yes! I am very sure.
What would you do if the DNA turns out negative?
Never, and I say never. The babies are mine.
According to Dr Segun Isioye of Pathcare Lab, the result will be ready on or before 14 days. As we await the result of the DNA test anytime from next week, the case will unravel the puzzle of this miraculous birth as well as a new angle to a new issue that will emerge.

A debate on Islamic banking

Islamic banking became prominent in the early 1970s after the launch of the first International Conference on Islamic Economics organized by King Abdul Aziz University in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It was immediately followed by the establishment of the first commercial Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) in the United Arab Emirates.
No sooner than later, the International Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia paved the way for many private commercial Islamic banks. Egypt, Sudan, Kuwait, Pakistan and others followed suit.
The emergence of this Islamic banking was not only seen as a feasible and viable alternative financial institution but also as an efficient and productive way of undertaking financial intermediation between surplus and deficit economic units. Giving free-interest on loans from the surplus and at the same time operating on PLS (profit and Loss Sharing).
Since then, Islamic banking has gained momentum and has been growing very fast so much that the practice of Islamic banking is now not limited to only Arab and Muslim countries but has spread from East to West, all the way from Indonesia and Malaysia towards Europe and the Americas.  Today, there are several hundreds of interest free banks in about fifty countries of the world in addition to other conventional banks which provide Islamic financial products. So, if Nigeria is joining the league of countries that are operating the non-interest banking, does that make Nigeria an Islamic country?
In Nigeria, attempts have been made hitherto, to established Islamic banking system. What is now raising dust in some quarters predated the present CBN governor. The first move was made by Jaiz International Plc during the tenure of Chief Joseph Sanusi but was later approved under Prof Chukuma Soludo.
In 2007,  Bank PHB launched the system paving the way for an integration of Islamic banking principles into the structures of the conventional banking system with its interest-free (Riba) financial products. You can also talk about the TAKAFUL which literally means “mutual guarantee.” It has different financial products designed to ensure that Muslim faithfuls still stay in tune to their faith.
At this junction, Nigerians should look at the product and see what it has to offer the economy.
Ibanking as I would love to call it is based on free interest.   It is  based on Profit and Loss Sharing (PLS) system where profit and loss will be shared by investors.  The investors are not only limited to Muslims alone. Non-muslims whose principle and ideas are in concert with the dictates of free-interest which Islam propagates can invest in it.  The very essence of it is to provide alternative to the almighty-interest based principle of the conventional banks and to build capacity in micro and macro-economic management.
The underlying principle of Islamic banks is the principle of justice which is an essential requirement for all kinds of Islamic financing. In profit sharing of a financed project, the financier and the beneficiary share the actual or net profit/loss rather than throwing the risk burden only to the entrepreneur. The principle of fairness and justice requires that the actual output of such a project should be fairly distributed among the two parties. If a financier is expecting a claim on profits of a project, he should also carry a proportional share of the loss of that project.
One of the unique and salient characteristics of Islamic bank is that the integration of ethical and moral values is the hallmark of the banking operation. The ethical and moral consideration of Islamic bank cannot be detached and their behaviour should be consistent with the moral and ethical standards laid down by Islamic law.
Islamic banks are restricted to useful goods and services and refrain from financing alcoholic beverages and tobacco or morally unacceptable services such as casinos and pornography, irrespective of whether or not such goods and services are legal or profitable in a given country.
Another important characteristic which forms the basis for the development of Islamic banks is the relationship with depositors. They deal with their customers on investment grounds rather than a pre-determined fixed interest rate. They invest the money of their depositors on high profitable projects after going through a strategic analysis in order to give a substantial return to their depositors.
Furthermore, Islamic banks eliminate the barrier between those who save and those who invest, and bring them closer to the real market. The nature of the financial intermediation of Islamic banks significantly defers from conventional banks and it is in harmony with real market and in tune with the dynamics of the economy.
I think the CBN should introduce the theoretical foundations and principles on which this new alternative is going to work.  It is then people who are suspecting another ‘Islamic agenda’ can have a rethink on the need for it rather than crying over what they have little or no knowledge about. You also cannot rule out the possibility of islamophobia, but like I used to say Islam tolerates only non-Muslims dont.