Friday, 9 October 2015

Ancient DNA reveals 'into Africa' migration

BBC

By Rebecca MorelleScience Correspondent, BBC News

Mota caveImage copyrightKathryn and John Arthur
Image captionThe remains were found in this cave in the highlands of Ethiopia
An ancient African genome has been sequenced for the first time.
Researchers extracted DNA from a 4,500-year-old skull that was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia.
A comparison with genetic material from today's Africans reveals how our ancient ancestors mixed and moved around the continents.
The findings, published in the journal Science, suggests that about 3,000 years ago there was a huge wave of migration from Eurasia into Africa.
This has left a genetic legacy, and the scientists believe up to 25% of the DNA of modern Africans can be traced back to this event.
"Every single population for which we have data in Africa has a sizeable component of Eurasian ancestry," said Dr Andrea Manica, from the University of Cambridge, who carried out the research.
Petrous bone
Ancient genomes have been sequenced from around the world, but Africa has proved difficult because hot and humid conditions can destroy fragile DNA.
However, the 4,500-year-old remains of this hunter gatherer, known as Mota man, were found in a cave and were well preserved.
Importantly, a bone that is situated just below the ear, called the petrous, was intact.
Dr Manica, speaking to Science in Action on the BBC World Service, said: "The petrous bone is really hard and does a really good job of preventing bacteria getting in and degrading this DNA.
"What we were able to get is some very high quality undamaged DNA from which we could reconstruct the whole genome of the individual.
"We have the complete blueprint, every single gene, every single bit of information that made this individual that lived 4,500 years ago in Ethiopia."
Mass moves
The genome revealed that Mota man had purely African DNA, his ancestors had never moved from Africa.
But the comparison of this with modern African genomes highlighted that about 1,500 years after his death, the make-up of the continent had changed.
Genetic studies have shown that after the great migration out of Africa, which happened about 60,000 years ago, some people later returned to the continent.
But this study shows that about 3,000 years ago there was a much larger migration than had been thought.
The dig in progressImage copyrightKathryn and John Arthur
Image captionThe researchers uncovered a rock cairn before finding the buried remains underneath
The Neolithic farmers from western Eurasia who, about 8,000 years ago, brought agriculture to Europe then began to return to Africa.
"We know now that they probably corresponded to a quarter of the people that already lived in East Africa (at that time). It was a major backflow, a very sizeable movement of people," said Dr Manica.
It is unclear what caused this move - potentially changes happening in the Egyptian empire - but it has left a genetic legacy.
"Quite remarkably, we see in Ethiopia about 20% - so a fifth - of the genome of people living there right now is actually of Eurasian origin, it actually comes from these farmers," explained Dr Manica.
"But it goes further than that, because if you go to the corners of Africa, all the way to West Africa or South Africa, even populations that we really thought were purely African have 5-6% of their genome that dates back to these western Eurasian farmers."
Neanderthal genes
The Eurasians' return also introduced some extra genetic material to Africa.
The genes their ancestors had picked up from interbreeding with Neanderthals were then passed to Africans, and can still be seen today.
Commenting on the research, Dr Carles Lalueza-Fox, from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, Spain, said: "What is nice is that it places in time the origin of the Eurasian backflow into Africa already detected some years ago from modern genome data, and it turns out to be the farming.
"Once again, like in the case of Europe where we see dramatic genomic turnover, the spread of agriculture has had a huge impact even in a continent where large groups continued to be hunter gatherers.
"And it is also interesting to discover now that even sub-Saharan Africans have a bit (0.3-0.7%) of Neanderthal ancestry."
Prof David Reich, from Harvard Medical School in the US, added: "The claim that all sub-Saharan Africans today have a substantial amount of ancestry due to back-to-Africa migrations is quite interesting, and while I won't be 100% convinced until I look at the data myself, I think the analyses seem careful and thoughtful.
"While previous studies have documented substantial West Eurasian ancestry in some sub-Saharan African populations, including Nigerians and KhoeSan from southern Africa, if the findings of this paper are right, they are important because they extend these claims to populations that were previously thought to have little or no West Eurasian ancestry, for example Mbuti hunter gatherers from central/east Africa."

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Thursday, 8 October 2015

Do you know that?

Fight Corruption in Nigeria - BribeNigeria.com
Courtesy Ayo Adedoyin's Wall

Do you know that?
1. The River Niger Bridge at Onitsha was constructed between 1964 and 1965 by Dumez- a French construction company and cost £5 million.
2. Patience Jonathan is one of Nigeria’s most-educated First Ladies, with an NCE, a B.Ed, and a PhD from University of Port-Harcourt.
3. The highest peak in Nigeria is located in Taraba and is called Chappal Waddi which means “The Mountain of Death”.
4. There are 196 countries in the world and at least one Igbo person from Nigeria lives in every one of them.
5. The Pidgin word ‘Sabi’ came from ‘Saber’, Portuguese and Spanish for ‘to know’. Both country’s ships traded slaves from the Bight of Benin.
6. Katsina College (now Barewa College in Zaria) has produced 5 Nigerian Presidents/Heads of State since it was founded in 1921 in Katsina.
7. Ojukwu taught Murtala Mohammed and Ben Adekunle at Regular Officers Special Training School, Ghana. Both ‘fought’ their teacher during the civil war
8. At Nigeria’s independence in 1960, there were 41 Secondary Schools in the North and 842 Secondary Schools in the South.
9. In 1983, Senator Arthur Nzeribe spent $16.5 million to win a Senatorial seat in Orlu (in Imo State).
10. In 1973, the Federal Government of Nigeria considered officially changing the name of “Lagos” to “Eko”. Regarding “Lagos” as a colonial name.
11. The geographical area now referred to as Nigeria was once referred to as ‘Soudan’ and ‘Nigiritia’.
12. Offences punishable by death sentence after the 1966 coup included embezzlement, rape and homosexuality.
13. MKO Abiola was named Kashimawo (Let us wait and see) by his parents. He was his father’s twenty-third child, but the first to survive infancy.
14. Jaja Wachucku was the first person to refer to Lagos as a “no-man’s land” in 1947, provoking a national controversy.
15. Jollof rice, chicken breast, serve of ice cream, tea, coffee or Bournvita, with full cream milk and sugar: Meal Cost = 50Kobo- Unilag in the late 1970s
16. At the point death in 1989, Sam Okwaraji was a PhD candidate and qualified lawyer with an LL.M in International Law (University of Rome)
17. When British Bank of West Africa (now First Bank) opened a branch in Kano in 1929, Alhassan Dantata (Dangote’s Grandfather) opened an account depositing 20 camel-loads of silver coins.
18. Jaja Wachuku is reputed to have owned the biggest one-man library in West Africa. Balewa sometimes referred to him as “Most Bookish Minister
19. The colonization of Nigeria took more than 40 years to achieve and the territories were integrated by the use of force.
20. Yoruba is spoken as a ritual language the Santeria cult in Carribean and South-Central America.
21. Slavery existed in the Nigerian territory before the 15th century and was abolished in the 19th century- 1807 by the British.
22. At least 55 women were killed in South-East Nigeria, in 1929 when the women forced the Umuahia warrant chiefs to submit to their rule.
23. The coinage ‘Supreme Court’ was first used in 1863 by the colonial administration through the enactment of the Supreme Court Ordinance No. II.
24. MKO Abiola died suddenly on July 7, 1998, exactly one month after General Sani Abacha died mysteriously on June 8, 1998.
25. Agbani Darego was the only one to wear a maillot as opposed to a bikini during the Miss Universe contest in 2001.
26. The ‘Ankara’ material is not indigenous to Nigeria. Our indigenous textiles include the Akwete, Ukara, Aso-Oke and Adire.
27. Aloma Mukhtar is the first female lawyer from the North and went on to become the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria.
28. The area known as Makoro town in Lagos was first a swamp, later sand-filled by the colonial government and served as the first bridge to the Island.
29. Esie Museum is Nigeria’s first museum, established in 1945. Once reputed to have the largest collection of soapstone images in the world.
30. Aminu Kano formed the Northern Teachers’ Association (NTA) in 1948, the first successful regional organization in the history of the North.
31. George Goldie, who played a major role in founding Nigeria, placed a curse on anyone who attempts to write his biography.
32. In 1996, John Ogbu, a Nigerian Anthropologist firmly advocated for the use of African-American Vernacular to teach in the U.S
33. Hause Language indigenous to Northern Nigeria is spoken in 11 African States. Germany, French, U.S., and British International radio stations broadcast in Hausa.
34. The surgeon who ‘killed’ Stella Obasanjo was sentenced to 1 year in prison, disqualified for 3 years and fined €120,000.
35. The word ‘asiri’ means ‘secret’ in Hausa, Yoruba, Nupe and Igarra. It also means ‘gossip’ in Igbo.
36. Igbo-Ora in Oyo State, Kodinji in India and Candido Godoi in Brazil are the towns that produce the highest number of twin births in the world.
37. Bishop Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba, in 1857 produced a reading book for the Igbo Language and a full grammar and vocabulary of NUPE in 1864.
38. The first TV broadcast in Nigeria and Tropical Africa was on October 31, 1959.
39. In 1978, a 50Kobo increase (from #1.50 to #2) in the cost of University Students’ meal per day caused the ‘Ali Must Go’ protests.
40. Albert E. Kitson discovered coal in Enugu in 1909. This discovery led to the building of Port-Harcourt town in 1912.
41. Today, only Nigeria has a larger black population than Brazil. More than 3.5 million Africans were captured, enslaved and transported to Brazil.
42. Groundnut pyramids were the invention of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata to stack bags before export.
43. In 1967, old traditional ruler, Oba Akran and A. Ademiluyi were jailed for 14 years (7 each) for stealing £504,750 (#2.5b).
44. Since 1960, Nigeria has been either ruled by an ex-lecturer/ex-teacher or military man. The only exceptions are Azikiwe and Shonekan.
45. If you visited Lagos in 1975, you could spend a day at the Presidential Suite of Federal Palace Hotel for #100, single room for #19.
46. The first aircraft to land in Nigeria landed in Kano in July 1925. A British fighter jet flew from Khartoum (present day Sudan).
47. In 1895, Koko of Nembe (now in Bayelsa) took 60 white men hostage. When the British refused his demands, more than 40 of those men were eaten.
48. The ‘Naira’ was coined by Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he was serving as the Federal Commissioner of Finance.
49. Koma Hill (settlement in Adamawa where people lived and practised the killing of twins) was discovered in 1986 by a NYSC corps member.
50. The pilot (Francis Osakwe) that flew Ojukwu away from Biafra (1970) was the same pilot that flew Gowon to Uganda (last flight as Head of State).
51. In 1986, Shehu Shagari was banned from participation in politics for life. The ban has still not been lifted.
52. As the wife of the deputy Head of State (Vice President of Nigeria) in 1984, Biodun Idiagbon personally ran a small ice cream shop in Ilorin..
53. Koma Hills (Adamawa State) inhabitants when discovered were observed to engage in the practise of borrowing wives among themselves.
54. Juju, Dashiki, Yam and Okra are words in the English dictionary that originated from ethnic groups located in present day Nigeria.
55. Nigeria has more English speakers than England. -
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THE FALL OF THE CABAL 2.

THE FALL OF THE CABAL 2.





NIGERIA’S OIL FRAUD GANGSTERS NAMED.
A must read.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
Diezani Alison-Madueke
As Diezani Allison-Madueke expects a possible Jail term of between 12-15 years in London, if convicted, the former powerful Petroleum Minister Nigeria has ever had, is also
expected to name over 200 accomplice who connived, helped or participated in one of the biggest oil fraud Nigeria has ever
had. In a well orchestrated scheme where almost $50Billion was lost in a period in more than five years of her reign as Petroleum Minister, Diezani midwifed oil theft, fraud and
money laundering ceespool that milked Nigeria’s oil fortunes. Sources in London and Abuja have told Pointblanknews.com that Diezani is not prepared to go down alone. She is indeed, preparing to name all her accomplice, tell all, in what may be dubbed “Nigeria’s Oil Fraud Gangsters. In one year alone, Diezani and her cronies have fraudulently milked Nigeria about $11Billion from offshore processing agreements (OPAs) popularly known as oil swap. And within
the Period she midwifed the Petroleum sector, Nigeria lost about $50Billion.
In the well built cell of cronies whom she used at will to perpetrate the most audacious criminal activities in the oil industry, are men who built walls around themselves, spending
petro-dollars with impunity, acquiring private jets, yatchs, private islands, undermining and sabotaging the Nigerian economy.
With her arrest, Diezani is said to be ready to name names and implicate all those who know about the deals that saw her become richer than some countries.Some of those who are expected “feature prominently and perhaps go down with Diezani are: Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, (AKA A.A Oil), Dan Etete,
Tope Shonubi, Tonye Cole, Ade Odunsi, Tunde Ayeni, Idahosa Wells Okunbo, Walter Wagbatsoma, Benny Peters, Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko. Meet Some Members of the ‘Crude Oil Gangsters’ Tunde Ayeni and Idahosa Wells (Ocean Marines Security, PPP
FM) The two men since 2011 have been involved in the transportation of five million barrels of crude from Escravos to Warri refinery, and Bonny Island to Port Harcourt refinery, from drilling terminals to the
refineries using ships, and circumventing direct linking pipelines, at the cost of
N3.063.00($15.4 USD) per barrel of crude.
Mrs. Madueke, Austin Oniwon,Yinka Omorogbe, the legal adviser to the corporation and some others, facilitated the deal for Ocean Marines and PPP Fluid Mechanics. After the Isrealis that had fronted for the two companies were“paid off,” they jerked up the contract sum to N6.7 billion monthly from N1.1 billion ($5.82 million USD) monthly, in the most bizzare manner in a
contract that was never bidded for, according to industry sources. While the deal was expected to supply Warri Refinery with
105.6 million barrels of crude, NNPC records show that the refinery only received 61.2
million barrels, combined. At least half of what was expected by ship alone was not delivered. Ayeni and Wells allegedly pocketed
proceeds from the barrels never recieved by the NNPC. From his fraudulent proceeds, Ayeni bought major shares in Skye Bank,
Mainstreet Bank, bought Ibadan and Yola Discos, Nitel and Ascot. Sahara Energy (Tope Shonubi, Tonye Cole, Ade Odunsi) Tope Sonubi, Ade Odunsi and Tonye Cole were some of the few oil magnates who benefited immensely from former petroleum minister,
Diezani Alison-Madueke sleazy administration. Sahara Energy was allocated 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), through an
agreement with Societies Ivorienne De Refinage crude oil by the NNPC and
was expected to use proceeds from the sales to import petrol, Kerosene and other petroleum products into the country.
On the other hand, some of the companies received crude to be refined in some refineries abroad under a special arrangement and were expected to import the products back into thecountry. It was however discovered that the Sahara Energy short- changed the country in the arrangement as the crude allocated to them could not be accounted for. It was suspected that the companies have been selling the crude allocated to them by NNPC without making returns to the government neither did they import the bye products into the country based on the agreement
with NNPC. Investigators said Sahara Energy made over $2Billion from the Oil swap deal alone. NNPC had requested Sahara Energy, with it’s Switzerland subsidiary, Sahara
International Pte Limited at 7, Quai du Mont-Blanc, Geneva to refund N6.034 billion ($37.55 million) of subsidies unless a ‘credible explanation’ can be provided on the subject it oil swap transactions. They never did. A Swiss report stated that Sahara Energy is entirely unable to justify a bank statement showing another $33.7 million while it is
among the companies that have not imported the quantities that they should have but
who have nevertheless been able to continue their importing activities with flagrant impunity. Sahara Energy is a major beneficiary of the Petroleum Ministry
under Diezani. Even when the OPA agreement of others were canceled, Sahara and
Aiteo were the only ones left behind because of their closeness to Diezani, a source close to both companies told Pointblanknews.com.
Jide Omokore, Kola Aluko, Atlantic Energy, Seven Energy Without any bidding, the NPDC signed “strategic partnership
agreements” worth around $6.6 billion with two local firms to manage
them; Seven Energy was awarded three fields; while Atlantic Energy got
two. Seven was co-founded in 2004 by Kola Aluko, who also co-owned
Atlantic with Jide Omokore. Atlantic was incorporated the day before it signed
the deals.
According to the contracts signed with the NPDC, Seven Energy retained 10%
of profits in the three oil blocks, while Atlantic got 30% in its two blocks. Unlike Shell, neither firm pays royalties, profit tax or duties to
the state. Both companies wasted no time sub-contracting to other
operators, on terms that were neither disclosed to the NPDC nor the NNPC.
Atlantic Energy does not publish accounts, but Seven’s 2013 annual report showed
its deal with NPDC helped its revenue more than triple to $345 million. In
May 2013, House of reps called for investigations into the contracts saying Madueke transferred state assets to private individuals without competitive tender.
But Madueke argued no tender was needed because the contracts involved no
sale of equity in the oil fields; the probe failed. Seven said on its
website its agreement with NPDC pre-dated the Jonathan administration and
included an allowance for taxes. The company claimed it had
invested over $500 million, more than doubled production from its three
blocks, and paid $48.8 million in taxes in 2013.
Aluko owns a fleet of supercars, including a Ferrari 458 GT2 that he races
with Swiss team Kessel Racing. He also owns a $50 million yacht, according
to Forbes magazine, and divides his time between a $40 million home in Los
Angeles, an $8.6 million duplex on Fifth Avenue in New York,
and homes in Abuja and Geneva.
Omokore has also become rich from oil and gas. Forbes estimated his annual
revenue at Energy Resources at $400 million. His jet-setting lifestyle
matches Aluko in equal measure.
According to SuperYatch.com, Aluko owns the Galactica Star yacht, which he
acquired in June 2013. The 65m long Galactica is a unique custom built
Super Yacht; the newest and largest Heesen yacht ever built and goes for
over $100 million! Beyoncé and Jay-Z celebrated her 32nd birthday on one
in Italy this year. Omokore and Aluko both made $3.9Billion from shady oil
deals under Diezani. Abubakar Aliyu, Dan Etete/Malabu Oil Scandal
Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, the dimunitive Kogi born has been heavily involved
in fraudulent oil deals since the reign of late Gen. Sani Abacha. He is
alleged to have been one of those who imported the infamous foul smelling
fuel in the late 90’s and early 2000 which killed many Nigerians.
Aliyu was a middleman in the yet-to-be resolved Malabu Oil scandal.
Aliyu owns Rocky Top Resources Limited with an account in one of the Abuja
branches of Key Stone Bank with number 1005556552, where $336 million of
the $400million Malabu money was transferred to. The remaining balance of
$60 million was transferred to account No 3610042596 (allegedly belonging
to Etete) for forex trading, leaving zero balance with Malabu’s
Keystone bank account.
Of the $336 million transferred into the Rocky Top Resources account, $165
million was subsequently transferred into various individual accounts,
leaving the balance of only $171 million, the anti-graft agency’s report said.
According to an EFCC’s report, Rocky Top Resources was registered with the
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with 100,000 shares capital only and is
owned by one Abubakar Aliyu.
Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke and the
former Minister for Finance (State) Dr. Yerima Lawal Ngama “instructed the
release of $401, 540, 000″ into Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd accounts domiciled
with First Bank of Nigeria and $400 million into another Malabu accounts
with Keystone Bank (former Bank PHB).
The EFCC report said “JP Morgan complied with this instruction and made
the transfers on 23 August, 2011.” Malabu, controlled by Chief Dan Etete,
ex-oil minister, who was convicted of money laundering in France in 2007.
The report further said that first payment of $401 million to Malabu’s
First Bank account was distributed directly to A Group Construction Co.
Ltd-also co-owned by Abubakar Aliyu ($157m); Mega Tech Engr. Co. Ltd
($180M); Imperial Union Ltd ($34m); Novel Property and Development
Ltd-also co-owned by Abubakar Aliyu ($30m); leaving the balance of $143
million Malabu’s account. And “reasons for this payment is yet to be
ascertained,” the EFCC report said.
Benny Peters (Aiteo Energy)
Benny Peters, the owner of Aiteo Energy. Mr. Peters is one of the major
beneficiaries from Nigeria’s notoriously fraudulent fuel subsidy payments.
A well known crony of Ms. Alison-Madueke, he is also quite close to
President Jonathan.
Sometime in 2014, in a hushed deal that fell far short of the requirement
of the bureau of public enterprise, the company acquired 85percent stake
in OML 29 ,one of the biggest onshore oil blocks from Shell Nigeria for
$2.56 billion. The block is believed to have around 2.2 billion barrels of
oil and 300 million standard cubic feet of gas.
He fraudulently made $1.5billion from the Oil Swap deal from
which it recieved a 90,000 bpd contract from the offshore processing
agreements (OPAs) for which his supplies were short by 193,046,590
litres in 2011. His contract was renewed at the tail end of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and was swiftly canceled by President Mohammadu
Buhari. Walter Wagbatsoma
Wagbatsoma and his Ontario Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited,
allegedly defrauded the Nigerian government of N1.9billion in unearned oil subsidy
payments. Wagbatsoma and his firm, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited,
received payment inexcess of N414 million by filing fraudulent fuel importation claims.
He is part of numerous fuel marketers standing trial for allegedly defrauding Nigeria by forging documents that enabled them to receive fuel subsidy payments from the Petrol that was never supplied.
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