Saturday, 11 February 2017

Soldiers imprisoned, forfeit ranks for brutalising cripple

Two soldiers, Corporal Bature Samuel  and Corporal Abdulazeez Usman, who brutalised a wheelchair-bound man along New Market Road, Onitsha, Anambra State on Tuesday, have been sentenced to 21 days imprisonment with hard labour.
The two soldiers of 82 Provost Company also lost their ranks.
According to a statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the soldiers’ ranks have been reduced from corporal to privates, coupled with the 21 days Imprisonment with Hard Labour.
The DAPR added that the convicts would also forfeit 21 days pay to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Army has also reached out to the victim of their unjustifiable assault, Mr. Chijoke Uraku (alias CJ), as widely reported by the media. We wish to reiterate our avowed determination to ensure that troops conduct themselves in the most orderly and professional manner at all times. Any act of indiscipline would not be tolerated,” Usman added.
The two soldiers of the 302 Artillery Brigade, who had already been discharged from their unit, were court-martialled on Thursday.
Addressing journalists during a news conference in Onitsha on Friday, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of the 82 Division, Col. Sagir Musa, had earlier said that given the seriousness of the offence, the maximum sanction possible would be meted out to the erring soldiers.
He said even though it is against the law for someone who is not a soldier to put on military uniform, the conduct of the soldiers did not conform with the norms of the Nigerian Army.
The Army spokesperson explained that though the Nigerian Army volunteered to take the victim to the hospital for treatment, he refused, saying he would not take western medicine.
Uraku, who hails from Ikwo in Ebonyi State, told journalists at the briefing that the only compensation he would accept from the military authorities was to be decorated as a colonel.
He said, “I’m a commander at Egerton on the New Market Road Onitsha. I don’t want anything from you except full decoration as a colonel. I want you to give me the complete uniform to look like you people and that is the only thing that will make me happy.”
Shouting on top of his voice, the victim said he was not after the new clothes and the envelope the army offered him to assuage his pains.
To calm Uraku down, the senior army officers jocularly awarded him the title of a “colonel and commander of the Egerton command” with a promise to give him a military uniform later.
Also, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Victoria Chikwelu, commended the Army for the actions taken so far, adding that Governor Willie Obiano had directed that the victim be adequately taken care of

9 Ways you’re exposing your home to burglars

When you’ve put your heart, soul and a lot of money into turning your house into a home, the last thing you would want is for someone to break in and rob you. A home intruder is scary to even think about, but spending a few minutes of time recognising and fixing ways that your home is vulnerable can pay off in the long run. Here are nine ways you may be mistakenly exposing your home to burglars.
  1. Rundown front door
Your front door is the first place burglars will look, and a dilapidated front door signals that your home is an easy target. A clean, painted front door gives the impression that the entire home is well-cared for and harder to breach.
  1. Single lock
Burglars look to see what kind of locks they’ll have to navigate to enter, and when they see only the standard cylinder lock, they’re more likely to have a go than if there’s also a padlock visible. In short: doubling up on locks makes your door physically more difficult to break into and your home less appealing to burglars.
  1. Enticing trash
The discarded boxes and bags from all your big-ticket purchases are like advertisements to burglars of the valuables inside your home. Prevent thieves from getting as excited over your new flat screen TV box as you are with your new TV by keeping this type of garbage inside until trash pickup day.
  1. Dark exteriors
Burglars don’t like to risk being seen, so when you create a barrier of light around your home using motion sensor-activated and basic exterior lights, you’re creating a barrier around your home through which they’re not likely to penetrate. Pay special attention to vulnerable areas like front and back doors and walkways.
  1. Welcoming landscaping
When planted beneath windows, bushes and shrubs are not only pretty, but they’re also an obstacle to climbing into windows. Burglars are especially deterred by the kind of greenery that has thorns or makes loud snapping noises. For trees reaching up to second-storey windows, be sure to clean up lower branches so they can’t function as a ladder.
  1. Overflowing mailbox
Piles of mail are a sign that you’re out of town and primed for a robbery. If you’re going away for a while, use the ‘Request Hold Mail’ service to stop delivery to your house. For shorter periods, you can tell a trusted neighbour to help pick up your deliveries.
  1. Visible interiors
You don’t want burglars to get a peek at all the goodies you have inside your home, so shut the curtains, pull the shades, put a giant houseplant in front of a street-facing window — do whatever you have to do to keep unwanted eyes out. Be especially mindful at night when the dark sky and lit interior combine to create a fishbowl effect in your home.
  1. Empty house
Encountering the resident is way more than most burglars are bargaining for. If they think you’re in the house, they’re staying out of it, so make it look like someone’s home by turning on a light or two and even leaving on a TV or radio to make some noise. For prolonged periods away, you can use electronic timers to turn them on and off automatically.
  1. Non-existent alarm system
They take a bit of financial investment, but a quality alarm system is a huge burglar deterrent, and a necessary one if you live in a high-crime neighbourhood. Do your research and pick a reputable alarm company — thieves know the bad and bogus alarm system signs — and consider high-tech options, such as alarms with a camera that allow you to monitor your home from anywhere

DSS drags Prof. Pat Utomi to court

The Department of State Services (DSS) has sued Prof. Pat Utomi over his alleged plan to establish what he called, “a shadow government” in ...