Sunday, July 7, 2013

UPDATE: Two confirmed dead in San Francisco plane crash


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, killing at least two people, injuring dozens of others and forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety as flames tore through the plane.
More than 60 people were also unaccounted for from among the 307 passengers and crew aboard the flight, said San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White. It wasn't immediately clear where they were, but she said they weren't all presumed dead at this time.
"This is a work in progress," she said, adding the investigation has been turned over to the FBI and that terrorism has been ruled out. She said at least 48 people were initially transported from the scene to area hospitals.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Flight 214 crashed while landing before noon PDT. A video clip posted to YouTube showed smoke coming from a jet on the tarmac. Passengers could be seen jumping down the emergency slides.
Television footage showed the top of the fuselage was burned away and the entire tail was gone. One engine appeared to have broken away. Pieces of the tail were strewn about the runway. Emergency responders could be seen walking inside the burned-out wreckage.
It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the plane as it was landing, but some eyewitnesses said the aircraft pilot seemed to lose control and that the tail may have hit the ground.
Stephanie Turner saw the plane going down and the rescue slides deploy, but returned to her hotel room before seeing any passengers get off the jet, she told ABC News. Turner said when she first saw the flight she noticed right away that the angle of its approach seemed strange.
"I mean we were sure that we had just seen a lot of people die. It was awful," she said. "And it looked like the plane had completely broken apart. There were flames and smoke just billowing."
Kate Belding was out jogging just before 11:30 am on a path across the water from the airport when she noticed the plane approaching the runway in a way that "just didn't look like it was coming in quite right."
"Then all of a sudden I saw what looked like a cloud of dirt puffing up and then there was a big bang and it kind of looked like the plane maybe bounced (as it neared the ground)," she said. "I couldn't really tell what happened, but you saw the wings going up and (in) a weird angle."
"Not like it was cartwheeling," she said, but rather as though the wings were almost swaying from side to side.
Doug Yakel, a spokesman for the airport, said he did not yet know how many passengers were aboard the flight. "We also don't have any information at this time to the status of those passengers," he said at a brief news conference.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to San Francisco to probe the crash. NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Saturday that NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman would head the team.
Boeing said it was preparing to provide technical assistance to the NTSB. The maker of the plane's engines, Pratt & Whitney, said it was cooperating with authorities investigating the crash.
Numerous flights headed to San Francisco were diverted to other airports. A United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was sent to Los Angeles airport, and passengers were told the San Francisco airport would be closed for at least three hours Saturday afternoon.
Asiana is a South Korean airline, second in size to national carrier Korean Air. It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and joined the Star Alliance, which is anchored in the US by United Airlines.
The flight was 10 hours and 23 minutes, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. The aircraft is configured to seat 295 passengers, it said. The 777 is a smaller, wide-body jet that can travel long distances without refuelling and is typically used for long flights over water.

Thwaites: Good parenting key to educational process


EDUCATION Minister Ronald Thwaites says the ministry is doing its part to promote good parenting as a key element in the education process.
Thwaites, who was addressing the school leaving and prize giving ceremony of the Ferncourt High School on June 26, stated that the "greatest cramp to effective education in Jamaica is inadequate parenting".
THWAITES... we have to craft a new vision of family
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He said it is in recognition of the important role that parents play in their children's education and development that the ministry has set up a National Parenting Commission.
The work of the commission, he said, will involve the establishment of parenting advisory offices across the island "so that we can give support for those who are parents, or who are going to be parents, so that they may know and play their role better."
Thwaites called on the approximately 200 graduates to pledge to be good parents to their children when they decide to start families.
"We have to craft a new vision of family, a joyous vision, a vision of wholesomeness if we are really going to be a developed society, if we are going to have a society of settled people, and of responsible child bearing," he stated.

from Jamaica...Centenarian forced out of the constabulary by 'obeah'



BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE Sunday Observer reporter husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, July 07, 2013

HE is 105 years old, yet Cyril Goffe walked through his front door eager to share his life's story with the Jamaica Observer, all senses intact.
A former policeman, Goffe said that what existed over 100 years ago was heavenly, compared to what he is hearing of today.
"What I am hearing of today and what I have passed through, I should say my days were heavenly," the centenarian told the Sunday Observer last week from his Kingston 19 home.
"As far as I can remember, the happenings were nothing serious. Mark you, the place was not rich in cash, but it was rich in unity and love," he said.
Born in Rock River, Clarendon, on April 5, 1908, Goffe was the only boy of six children for his parents.
He admitted his unhappiness in being the only boy growing up with five girls.
"I didn't feel so well," he said. "The area was full of other boys, and when I would care to go and play with them, that was the time I would be called to do something that one of the girls could do," he recalled.
He said that he grew up doing house chores just like the girls. He would use coconut brush and wax, get down on the floor and shine it until it was sparkling.
"That got me vexed and irritable!" he said. "Because I believe most of it was girls' work. The only thing I didn't do, I can remember, was wash clothes. But everything else I had to do."
Goffe said that he grew up hearing that he would not have a brother, but pleaded with God, as a child, for one.
"When I did not get as much time with the boys and had to do the chores with the girls I felt indignant. And I said, 'God, why you never give me a brother?"
He recalled having a dream at age 11 in which he came face to face with God who told him he did not have a brother because that brother would bring disgrace to him and his family.
"From that day I never wished for a brother anymore," he said.
Goffe said that he was more or less spoilt by his parents as he recalled getting only two memorable spankings as a child, one at school and one from his dad.
He said that the one at school was as a result of vindictiveness, because the teacher and his dad had a disagreement.
"My father was not in school, but I was. So he (teacher) took it out on me," Goffe stated. "He asked me a question in Geography lesson, and I said 'I did not hear you, teacher'. And he used the horse whip with the double stirrup leather and he doubled it and stood up on one of the desks, and don't ask if he didn't wax mi!" the centenarian recalled. "My back was swollen. When I went home and I showed my mother, she just said, 'Never mind, mi son, never mind', and that was that. He had vengeance in his heart for my father, but he couldn't catch my father so he took it out on me," he said.
Even at 105, Goffe still recalls the name of the teacher who whipped him so long ago. This was at Rock River Elementary.
At age 20, Goffe did carpentry, but gave it up after working for months without being paid.
Goffe left Clarendon and came to Kingston in 1933 at the age of 25. He got himself a job at the Myrtle Bank Hotel on Harbour Street in downtown Kingston as assistant baggage master (bellhop).
He got married in 1947 to Meva Sylvania Smith.
He joined the police force in 1939, the same year that the Second World War started.
"For I said I was not going to any war," Goffe stated. "Because they wouldn't take me out of the force to go join war."
When he was a recruit, he said, the vendors would sell on the streets, but the store merchants were against this. It was his duty to get them off the streets.
"They wanted me to go and arrest them," Goffe said. "I dressed up into an old khaki suit and old felt hat and looked like a little old man, and when the people dem come to sell them something I said, 'Listen, run, I am a policeman, when you see me come, you run!'. "I didn't want to arrest them. For what? The people were making an honest bread, why should I go out there and arrest them? And then again they would have to go out and pay what they didn't have."
He said that after a while they got special constables to do what he had been assigned to do, and they treated the vendors like dogs.
Another thing that had him thinking as a police officer was the playing of the then Chinese game Pick-a-Pow. This he infiltrated as an undercover agent and aided in bringing the gambling to an end.
Goffe was stationed at Gibraltar Camp, which he explained was located at the now UWI Mona campus.
He met his wife on the eastern side of the camp after being sent there to keep away intruders.
The meeting with his wife came after passing through three relationships with other women who were bent on marrying him. He recalled that at age 15 he had sat in the bushes while tending to animals and asked God to one day send him a good wife. None of the three fitted the bill, then he met Meva, standing beside a lady selling fruits to the police officers. She was a teacher.
After a brief conversation, which he recalled word for word, they parted ways and never kept in touch. A year later they met once more.
They were married for 46 years upon her death in 1996. Their union produced three girls and one boy.
Asked how long he spent in the force, Goffe quickly stated that he didn't leave; he was forced out due to obeah.
He said that he was oftentimes commended and promoted by his superiors, thus gaining the jealousy of his peers.
After leaving the depot where they trained, Goffe was stationed at Gibraltar Camp for two years before being transferred to the Half-Way-Tree station. This was where things began to fall apart.
"Believe it or not, Satan step in. At Half-Way-Tree I was thought to be an excellent policeman and as such they didn't want my transfer. Had they the power, I would still be at Half-Way-Tree. But the transfer order came and I was transferred to Chapelton in Clarendon," he added.
At Chapelton he continued to excel and he made changes that did not go down well with those working at the station.
As a result, he said, persons there began to create problems for him. This included letting prisoners go so that he would be blamed.
He explained, too, that one day a co-worker asked to borrow a shilling. Three days later it was returned.
"That was the beginning of sorrow," Goffe said.
That night when he got home something invisible hit him forcibly in the side, causing blood to flow from his mouth. Since that night he has not recovered from unknown illness after illness. He said he visited several doctors, but they found nothing wrong.
Frustrated after a long bout of illness, family members said that they were going to 'look'.
"I gave myself up and they took me to four such people (mada women) and they all said the same thing. The fifth such person said she couldn't help me but she would tell me. They all told me it was the two people at my workplace and it was because I was doing so well," he said. "So five such people — I did not take them as liars."
He could no longer work.
Goffe said that even today he still has pain in his right side as he has never really recovered from the blow.
When asked what he believes has caused him to live for 105 years, Goffe simply pointed upwards.
"He is the one that causes me to be here now. No doctor."
His daughter Jennifer, who now cares for him, saw him as a strict person when she was growing up.
"We couldn't have friends over," she recalled. "You couldn't call the name boyfriend. Whatever my mother said was law and my father backed her. They worked well together. He was very supportive of her," she added.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Centenarian-forced-out-of-the-constabulary-by--obeah-_14601129#ixzz2YLspSSPI

‘Dandruff can appear below the breast’....HOW TRUE IS THAT??


   

Hair with dandruff
In this interview with GBENGA ADENIJI, Consultant Dermatologist and Genitourinary Physician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Olusola Ayanlowo, talks about dandruff and its effects
 What is dandruff?
Dandruff is scaly disorders of the scalp and skin. It normally occurs in the oil (sebum) producing areas of the body and the scalp. The disease may be mild or severe. Normally, it has seasons or time in which it is active and when it is quiet.
What are the possible causes of the disease?
There are some factors associated with dandruff. Some of them include excessive sebum (oil) production in the skin, malassezia furfur (a type of fungal infection which can grow on the skin of adults) and immunologic abnormalities. It can be aggravated or made worse by change in weather; trauma particularly itching; and emotional stress. It is worse in winter in temperate countries and during harmattan seasons in tropical regions. It is important to also add that certain medications may also worsen the disease.
Does dandruff have any symptoms before manifestation?
Yes, it does. Some of the symptoms of dandruff before appearance include burning, itching and scaling of the scalp and body. The disease can spread from the scalp to other part of the face such as the back of the ears, forehead and back of the neck. It often occurs at puberty but may occur at all ages and in all races. In childhood, the disease is called cradle cap.
Is there any skin condition known as dry scalp which some people believe is different from dandruff?
There is no skin condition known as dry scalp.
What are the signs to know that an individual has dandruff?
There are ways to know if an individual has dandruff. Some of the signs or examinations involve red, scaly, oozing and crusting of oily and hair-bearing areas of the body. Some of these hair-bearing areas are the scalp, forehead, around the eye lashes, beard area, behind the ears, around the chin, chest and the back over the sternum and in between the scapula. Rarely, signs can occur in the body folds in the armpit, below the breast and in between the genital area.
Some people believe that dandruff is a reaction to hair oil, gels or shampoo. Is this true?
There is no truth in the belief.  It is not true. It is possible that some people react to certain hair products which may mimic dandruff. This is known as contact dermatitis.
Is the hair disease hereditary?
It is not hereditary but may be familial. This means that it can occur in families.
Can dandruff be avoided?
Yes, dandruff can be avoided. One can avoid it through frequent use of shampoos that are medicated and avoiding excessively oily petroleum based hair products. My advice to those who have minor dandruff case is to that they should not allow their hair to stay dirty for too long. For some ladies who do braids and Ghana weaving, it is advisable that they wash their hair at least every two weeks. They should also endeavour to use good anti-dandruff shampoos. There are some good ones. Those with severe case of dandruff manifesting on their faces should see dermatologists because dandruff is also associated with some other diseases.
If one can avoid having dandruff, is it possible for sufferers to also cure the disease permanently?
Dandruff can be suppressed for a long time. Individuals with dandruff will need to see a dermatologist for confirmation of diagnosis and treatment. This is because there are conditions that may mimic dandruff such as psoriasis (an auto-immune skin condition).
Like some disease which have myths attached to them, does any myth surround dandruff?
I am not aware of any myths associated with it.

The 'UGLY TRUTH'...Cult members have godfathers in government — Okebukola


   


Okebukola
In this interview with MOTUNRAYO JOEL, the President, UNESCO Global University Network for Innovation and former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, tackles various issues bedevilling the nation’s education system

If we compare the curriculum of secondary schools and universities, would you say there is a link between both curricula?
Yes of course, there is a link. The National Universities Commission  in developing or revising university curriculum, factors in the content of the lower level curriculum, in this case, that of the secondary level. Take the B.Sc. Chemistry programme for example, efforts are made to ensure that the contents of 100-level courses are pitched at the exit level of the senior school certificate. This way, fresh students are guaranteed smooth transition from secondary to the university.
To what extent does the university curriculum have the capacity to help our society?
To the extent that the university curriculum is delivered as intentioned, then one can say that it has the capacity to foster development of the society through the provision of high-level human resources to drive the economy and provide quality leadership for the public and private sector. However, the sad part of the story is that, for many reasons, there is a gap between the intended and the achieved curriculum. For instance, you plan an engineering curriculum at 300-level to cover 15 topics and to have full, hands-on practical work. Owing to interruptions in the academic calendar, inadequacies in laboratory and workshop facilities, depressed quantity and quality of lecturers in engineering, poor reading culture of students, examination inadequacies and a host of other process variables; the curriculum is delivered less than it is intentioned. This is the achieved curriculum. Only 8 of the 15 topics are covered and practical work is hardly carried out by the students. The achieved curriculum ends up being about 45 per cent of the intended. We may take this as a simple mathematical expression of how we come about “half-baked” graduates.
The long and short of the story is that the university curriculum has the capacity to help the society, but this capacity is minimally explored.
What role does moral education play in preparing candidates for higher institution and against cultism?
Moral education is a key to good citizenship and pathway to instilling good behaviour and acceptable values in students. Secondary school students, who are already imbued with internal sense of right and wrong through moral education, will come to higher educational institutions with a stern aversion for cultism and examination malpractice. They will display honesty, respect for elders and stewardship. They will shun corruption and aberrant sexual behaviours that are prevalent in higher education institutions.  This is the theory side of the matter. The practical side shamefully shows that an elder, who the young secondary school student looks up to, has a derailed moral compass. In class, moral education teaches him or her to be honest and shun corruption. At home, his or her parents are dishonest and corrupt. In place of worships such as the church or mosque, religious leaders who preach good behaviour and good citizenship are not exemplary in their behaviour, as are known crooks around town. This mismatch imperils the success of moral education in schools. The fight for good morals and character should be carried beyond moral education delivered in and out of schools to the entire citizenry, young and old.
Is there any way that the university prepares students for life outside the profession they are trained in?
There are several ways, chief of which is entrepreneurial education. Entrepreneurial education is an offering which equips learners with knowledge, skills and attitudes to be an entrepreneur or innovator – the person who develops a new product, market, or a new means of production. In sum, it is all activities aimed to foster entrepreneurial mind-sets, attitudes and skills covering a range of aspects such as idea generation, start-up, growth and innovation. The world out there is one which demands that the graduate, regardless of discipline, should draw on knowledge and skills for job creation. Over 90 per cent of our universities now run compulsory courses in entrepreneurial studies for all undergraduates. In a study conducted in 2011, the top five universities in terms of quality of delivery of entrepreneurial studies are Pan Atlantic University (formerly Pan African University), Covenant University, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin and Olabisi Onabanjo University. Kwara State University is coming up quite strong in this endeavour.
Who is to blame for the fall in education standard?
The basket of blame for the depressed quality of education in Nigeria can be shared by all stakeholders. Mind you, I have not agreed that the “standard” is falling because I know it is rising. What has fallen is quality, including the proportion of those who can meet set standards. Let us leave that debate for another day. Government has its share of the blame with low investment in the sector. While parents are blameworthy for poor guidance and home support, teachers are to blame for delivering poor quality education. Students themselves carry a huge slice of this blame for poor attitude to work and the craving to pass without reading. They are more engrossed with social rather than academic life. For me, the goal is not to waste time shifting or apportioning blame, but to collectively explore how all stakeholders can be part of the solution.
How should universities deal with cultism?
There is a blueprint developed by the Federal Ministry of Education for dealing with cultism. This document is extensive in its prescriptions; including sanctions such as expulsion, publishing the photos and names of cultists, sharing of a database of cultists by all institutions so that they are not inadvertently admitted into another institution when expelled. The prescriptions also include counselling and public awareness campaigns on our campuses against cultism.
However, what do you do when the godfathers of these cultists are well placed in government and in religious organisations? While the universities should work towards removing the specks from their eyes, the larger Nigerian society should remove the huge log of cultism from its eyes!
How has your return to Lagos State University brought development to the institution?
I returned to LASU in August 2006 when I left the National Universities Commission and I am enjoying every bit of my teaching, postgraduate supervision and research. This is one side of my contribution to the development of the institution. We have set up a LASU Science and Technology Education Research Group to strengthen capacity of academic staff in research and be able to publish our research efforts in the most outstanding journals around the world. Within the last one year, the 75-member group has been able to publish in the world’s top two science education journals. Before the end of 2013, we shall have 10 of our research papers enjoying space in high-quality publication outlets.  Our current Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Obafunwa, has also asked that I serve as Chairman of the Academic Planning Committee. The committee has been working with the Director of Academic Planning and her staff to re-invigorate academic planning activities in the university.
In your opinion, what set of people qualify to become minister of education?
The minister of education of a great country like Nigeria should have two basic attributes- one acquired, the other innate. The acquired is the deep knowledge of the Nigerian, African and global education systems. The innate is a passion to lead the efforts to solve the multiplicity of problems bedevilling the Nigerian education system.
The first attribute can be read up from reports; it can also be part of the person’s training. On this count, some have rightfully canvassed that the minister should be a professor of education. For me, the second attribute is more important – the passion to heal the sick Nigerian educational system. The minister should have an undying zeal to selflessly serve and be one who will continuously aim a hard blow at the jugular of the problems facing education.
Is the Nigerian government successfully working towards curbing unemployment?
The government is making efforts. These efforts need to be stepped up.
Public universities are facing funding inadequacies, low teacher quantity and quality, interruption to academic calendar as a result of strikes, challenges of infrastructural facilities, poor curriculum delivery, and poor students’ attitude to work and social vices. These are the key issues. What should be done? That is the easy part. We should reverse the trend – invest more in education, strive to get quality teachers, provide adequate facilities… I can spend a whole day enumerating what we should do. The truth of the matter is we all (or most people) know what should be done. The political will at the local, state and federal levels is in short supply to reverse the trend

Plane crash-lands at US airport




PLANE CRASH-LANDS: The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777  at San Francisco International Airport, United States ...on Saturday,
A Boeing 777 aircraft on Saturday crash-landed at San Francisco International Airport, United States, British Broadcasting Corporation reports.
There is no word so far on casualties. Pictures posted on Twitter showed passengers jumping down the inflatable emergency slides and leaving the area, as plumes of smoke rise from the plane.
Firefighters and rescue teams were at the scene of the downed Asiana Airlines Flight 214. The cause of the emergency is not known.
The aircraft had taken off from South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
There were 292 passengers and 16 crew on board, South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported. The plane can carry as many as 300 passengers.
While the sequence of events remains unclear, it appeared the plane landed and then crashed on San the airport’s Runway 28L, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, Laura Brown.
Footage of the scene showed debris strewn on the runway and smoke pouring from the jet, as fire crews sprayed a white fire retardant into gaping holes in the craft’s roof.
One engine and the tail fin appeared to have broken away from the main wreckage.
Passenger David Eun tweeted a picture of people jumping out of the plane’s emergency inflatable slides and wrote, “I just crash-landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I’m ok. Surreal…”
Another passenger, Mr. Eun, who describes himself as a “digital media guy” and “frequent flier”, added, “Fire and rescue people all over the place. They’re evacuating the injured. Haven’t felt this way since 9/11.”
A witness, Ki Siadatan, said the plane “looked out of control” as it descended over San Francisco Bay to land just before 11:30 (18:30 GMT).
“We heard a ‘boom’ and saw the plane disappear into a cloud of dust and smoke,” he told the BBC, adding, “There was then a second explosion.”
He saw events unfold from the balcony of his home in the Millbrae area of San Francisco, which overlooks the airport.
Weather conditions were fine and there was little wind, he added. Arrivals and departures at the airport have been suspended since the incident.
The twin-engine Boeing 777 has a good safety record as a long-haul aircraft and is used by many major carriers.
Asiana is South Korea’s second-largest airline.

18 soldiers on trial for aiding Boko Haram




Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim
Eighteen  soldiers, including a  lieutenant,  on Monday appeared  before  a General  Court Martial in Jos,  Plateau State for aiding members of the  fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram,  and other insurgent groups in their  activities.
The soldiers are members of  the Joint Task Force code named Operation Restore Order in Borno State and the Special Task Force also known as Operation Safe Heaven in Plateau State.
The  JTF and STF were deployed in  the two states following the menace of  insurgent groups in the country. While the JTF is also  battling with Boko Haram members  in Adamawa,  and Yobe states,  the STF has been grasping with Fulani herdsmen who,  in the past 10 years had taken Plateau State by the jugular.
The soldiers are being tried under charges termed, “communication with the enemies, cowardly behaviour,  murder and manslaughter.”
The  General  Officer Commanding the 3 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Ebisowei Awala,  said before  the inauguration of the five-member panel that  the soldiers were duly investigated by the military police.
 Awala described   the  court martial  as  one of the instruments conferred on him by the  Armed Forces Act chapter A 20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria to address problems in the army.
He explained  that any officer who wanted to succeed in the military should be disciplined and loyal, adding that these were two “essential requirements” an officer should not lack.
The GOC said,   “Discipline is the foundation on which the military career rests; as a matter of fact, discipline and loyalty are two essential requirements no officer or soldier, who wants to succeed in professional soldiering, can afford to lack.
“It is the duty of superiors to observe, correct and instantly deal with negligence or any misconduct on the part of subordinates.
“When there is any breach, it is expected that appropriate disciplinary measures must be taken by commanders to forestall future occurrences.
“This way, the Nigerian Army can continue to play its constitutional role and sustain its accolade as the pride of the Nigerian nation.”
Awala said that the  court martial was  necessary so as to ensure that the high level of professionalism required to confront the lingering security challenges  in the country, especially in the North-East  was sustained.
He enjoined the parties in the court martial to discharge their duties expeditiously and with a high degree of commitment, to enable the accused persons to get justice.
According to him, justice is a three-way traffic that involves the accused, the   army and the state; hence the need for fairness and equity.
“I want to implore this general court martial to ensure that no effort is spared to achieve this three-way traffic of the justice system; in this case, of the accused, the Nigerian Army and the state.
“Where a person is convicted of an offence, sentence ought to be passed. Such sentences must be humanely meted out.
“Punishment is among the means available for the maintenance of discipline in the Nigerian  Army; as such the kind and amount of punishment should be adequate enough to achieve its purpose and serve as a deterrent to others.’’
He  stressed that the GCM was convened  to sustain a high level of professionalism required to confront the mounting security  challenges in the Division’s  area of responsibility.
Judge Advocate, Col.  Dorothy Wilson-Ekwo, told  newsmen  after the convening of the GCM  that the suspects  would be given a fair hearing.
When the charges were read to the soldiers,  they pleaded not guilty. No lawyer appeared for them.
Thereafter the court rose without announcing any adjourning date.
However one of the lawyers present, Mr. A. B. James, told journalists  that he was only there as an observer.
Another court martial is  also trying 14 officers and men under the 3 Armoured Division for various acts of misdemeanour.
A former  Commander of the 33 Artillery Brigade in Bauchi, Brig.-Gen. Muraina Raji, was  tried by a Special Court Martial at the 3 Armoured Division, Jos for his alleged role in the escape of two high-profile Boko Haram suspects.
Though he was  discharged and acquitted of all the three charges, he was convicted on “special findings” by the court and sentenced to a three-month loss of seniority in his rank.

motivational words for you

OO