TODAY IN HISTORY: 31 AUGUST, 1985; Los Angeles mob attacks high-profiled "Night Stalker" killer

Richard Ramirez

On this day in 1985, angry mob attacked notorious “Night Stalker”, Richard Ramirez, in East Los Angeles, Carlifornia, after being recognized from a photograph shown on television and in the newspapers. Recently identified as the serial killer, Ramirez was pulled from the enraged mob by police officers.

The city of Los Angeles was panic-stricken during the summer of 1985 following the activities of an unknown killer that crept into his victims’ homes at night. The Night Stalker, as the media dubbed the murderer, first turned his attention on the men in the house, usually shot any man in the house with a .22 caliber handgun before raping, stabbing, and mutilating his female victims. He cut out one of his victim’s eyes, and sometimes carved satanic pentagrams on the bodies before he left.

By August in 1985, the Night Stalker has murdered at least a dozen people, and law enforcement officials were desperate to stop him. One witness, who managed to note the license plate of the car in which Ramirez fled, led police to a single, partial fingerprint left in the vehicle.

Apparently, the task force looking for the Night Stalker had already received information that someone named Ramirez was involved, so only the records for men with that name were checked against the fingerprint. Although the Los Angeles Police Department’s new multimillion-dollar computer database of fingerprints only contained the records of criminals born after January 1960, Richard Ramirez, who had a record of petty crimes, had been born in February 1960.

When Ramirez was identified as the chief suspect, authorities debated whether to release his name and picture to the public, fearing that it might give him the chance to escape. Nonetheless, they decided to take the risk, and Ramirez, who was actually traveling back to Los Angeles at the time, arrived to find his face and name on the front of every newspaper.

Ramirez turned his trial into a circus by drawing pentagrams on his palms and making devil’s horns with his fingers. When he was convicted, he shouted at the jury, “You make me sick. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells within all of us.” After the judge imposed a death sentence, Ramirez said, “Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland.” Ramirez married a female admirer and penpal while incarcerated at California’s San Quentin Prison in 1996. In 2006, his first appeals were denied and he died in prison on June 7, 2013.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 31 AUGUST, 1955; William Cobb exhibits world’s first solar-powered car

First solar car introduced by William Cobb in 1955

On this day in 1955, William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corp (GM) displayed his 15-inch-long world’s first solar-powered automobile, at the General Motors Powerama auto show held in Chicago, Illinois.

Cobb’s Sunmobile introduced, however briefly, the field of photovoltaics–the process by which the sun’s rays are converted into electricity when exposed to certain surfaces–into the gasoline-drenched automotive industry. When sunlight hit 12 photoelectric cells made of selenium (a nonmetal substance with conducting properties) built into the Sunmobile, an electric current was produced that in turn powered a tiny motor. The motor turned the vehicle’s driveshaft, which was connected to its rear axle by a pulley. Visitors to the month-long, $7 million Powerama marveled at some 250 free exhibits spread over 1 million square feet of space on the shores of Lake Michigan. In addition to Cobb’s futuristic mini-automobile, Powerama visitors were treated to an impressive display of GM’s diesel-fueled empire, from oil wells and cotton gins to submarines and other military equipment.

But today, 67 years after Cobb debuted the Sunmobile, a mass-produced solar car has yet to hit the market anywhere in the world. Solar-car competitions are held worldwide, however, in which design teams pit their sun-powered creations against each other in road races such as the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, a 2,400-mile drive from Dallas, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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TODAY IN HISTORY: 31 AUGUST, 1997; Princess Diana dies at 36 in an auto crash

Princess Diana

On 31 August, 1997, Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, who was fondly called “ the People’s Princess” died in a ghastly car crash in Paris, shortly after midnight. Her Egyptian-born socialite boyfriend, Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car, Henri Paul, also died in the crash.

Princess Diana who died at 36, was one of the most popular public figures in the world. Her death was met with a massive outpouring of grief. Mourners began visiting Kensington Palace immediately, leaving bouquets at the home where the princess, also known as Lady Di, would never return. Piles of flowers reached some 30 feet from the palace's gate.

Diana and Dodi—who had been vacationing in the French Riviera—arrived in Paris earlier the previous day. They left the Ritz Paris just after midnight, intending to go to Dodi’s apartment on the Rue Arsène Houssaye. As soon as they departed the hotel, a swarm of paparazzi on motorcycles began aggressively tailing their car. About three minutes later, the driver lost control and crashed into a pillar at the entrance of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel.

The car where Princess Diana died

Dodi and the driver were confirmed dead at the scene. Diana was taken to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and declared dead at 6:00 am. (A fourth passenger, Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured but survived.) Diana's former husband Prince Charles, as well as her sisters and other members of the Royal Family, arrived in Paris that morning. Diana’s body was then taken back to London.

Like much of her life, her death became a full-blown media sensation, and the subject of many conspiracy theories. At first, the paparazzi hounding the car were blamed for the crash, but later it was revealed that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs. A formal investigation concluded the paparazzi did not cause the collision. 

Diana’s funeral in London, on September 6, was watched by over 2 billion people. She was survived by her two sons, Prince William, who was 15 at the time, and Prince Harry, who was 12. 

TODAY IN HISTORY: 30 AUGUST, 1967, Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American Supreme Court justice

Thurgood Marshall

On this day in 1967, Thurgood Marshall emerged the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. He served in that capacity for 24 years when he retired in 1991 for health reasons leaving a legacy of upholding the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

From a young age, Marshall seemed destined for a place in the American justice system. His parents instilled in him an appreciation for the Constitution, a feeling that was reinforced by his schoolteachers, who forced him to read the document as punishment for his misbehavior. After graduating from Lincoln University in 1930, Marshall sought admission to the University of Maryland School of Law, but was turned away because of the school’s segregation policy, which effectively forbade Black students from studying with whites. Instead, Marshall attended Howard University Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1933. He later sued Maryland School of Law for their unfair admissions policy.

Setting up a private practice in his home state of Maryland, Marshall quickly established a reputation as a lawyer for the “little man.” In a year’s time, he began working with the Baltimore NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and went on to become the organization’s chief counsel by the time he was 32, in 1940. Over the next two decades, Marshall distinguished himself as one of the country’s leading advocates for individual rights, winning 29 of the 32 cases he argued in front of the Supreme Court, all of which challenged in some way the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that had been established by the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The high-water mark of Marshall’s career as a litigator came in 1954 with his victory in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In that case, Marshall argued that the ‘separate but equal’ principle was unconstitutional, and designed to keep Black people “as near [slavery] as possible.”

In 1961, Marshall was appointed by then-President John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, a position he held until 1965, when Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, named him solicitor general. Following the retirement of Justice Tom Clark in 1967, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court, a decision confirmed by the Senate with a 69-11 vote. Over the next 24 years, Justice Marshall came out in favor of abortion rights and against the death penalty, as he continued his tireless commitment to ensuring equitable treatment of individuals—particularly minorities—by state and federal governments.

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TODAY IN HISTORY: 29 AUGUST, 1987, Florida home of three HIV brothers sets ablaze

On 29 August, 1987, the Arcadia, Florida home of the Ray brothers; three HIV-positive Florida boys, burns down in what was almost certainly a case of arson. The story of the three brothers, who faced intense discrimination due their HIV status, has been a reminder of the brutal reality of America's reaction to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80s. Luckily the Ray brothers were not in the house at the time the house was set on fire.

The three brothers; Richard, Robert and Randy Ray, who were 10, 9 and 8 at the time, were all born with hemophilia, a condition that required them to receive blood transfusions. As was all too common in the 1980s, before the government and medical establishment had fully grappled with the scope of HIV/AIDS and how best to manage the epidemic, the brothers contracted HIV from HIV-positive blood donors. Although it was widely known by the late 80s that this was a common way of contracting HIV, and that HIV affected people of all sexual orientations, many Americans still considered the virus a “gay disease,” compounding the stigma of the illness with homophobia.

When the boys’ HIV status became public knowledge, they were rejected from their church and their friends and barred from attending school due to widespread misconceptions around how the virus could be spread. The Rays’ parents took DeSoto County to federal court, demanding that their sons be allowed to attend, and eventually won the case. Locals responded with a partial boycott of the boys’ school and with threatening phone calls to the Rays, which prompted the family to stay over elsewhere. Although they avoided the fire, which reportedly started in the boys’ bedroom, they were forced to leave their hometown forever.

Speaking with newsmen a day after the fire incidence, Clifford, the father of Ray brothers said, “Arcadia is no longer our home. That much was made clear to us last night.” Ricky Ray died of an AIDS-related illness in 1992, at age 15. In 1998, Congress passed the Ricky Ray Relief Act, establishing a fund to help cover expenses for hemophiliacs who contracted HIV/AIDS. Robert Ray died in 2000 at age 22. 

TODAY IN HISTORY: 29 AUGUST, 1958 American pop singer, Michael Jackson is born

Michael Jackson

On this day in 1958, the American pop singer, songwriter, dancer and philanthropist, Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana.

Jackson who was regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century began performing with his four brothers in the pop group the Jackson 5 when he was a child. The group scored its first No. 1 single in 1969, with “I Want You Back.” By age 11, Jackson was appearing on TV, and by age 14 he had released his first solo album. 

A Jackson 5 TV cartoon series which appeared in the early ’70s, Jackson family including sister Janet Jackson launched a TV variety show called the Jacksons that ran for one season. Michael Jackson who piped vocals in his high voice for “ABC”, I’ll Be There,” and many other Top 20 hits, got media attention throughout the 70s.

Jackson who became the first solo artist to score four Top 10 hits from one album including, “She’s Out of My Life” and “Rock with You,” released several solo albums in the ’70s, but his great breakthrough came in 1979 with Off the Wall. He became the first solo artist to score four Top 10 hits from one album, including. His 1983 album, Thriller became the biggest selling album up to that time, selling some 45 million copies around the world. This time, he scored seven Top 10 singles, and the album won eight Grammies. Although his next album, Bad (1987), sold only about half as many copies as Thriller, it was still a tremendous best-seller. In 1991, Jackson signed an unprecedented $65 million record deal with Sony. That year, he released Dangerous.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson developed a reputation as an eccentric recluse. He moved to a 2,700-acre ranch called Neverland, which he outfitted with wild animals and a Ferris wheel. He underwent a facelift and nose job and was rumored to have lightened his skin through chemical treatment, though he claimed his increasing pallor was due to a skin disease. In 1993, scandal broke when Jackson was publicly accused of child molestation and underwent investigation. The case settled out of court. In 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley; the couple later divorced. Jackson married Deborah Rowe in 1996, and the couple had two children, Prince and Paris, before divorcing in 1999.

On 13 June, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of sexual molestation of a young boy, Gavin Arvizo, in criminal court. 

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, in Los Angeles, California, just weeks before a planned concert tour billed as his “comeback.” He was 50 years old. 

A 2019 documentary, Leaving Neverland, raised two more credible allegations of sexual abuse from when Jackson was alive. Jackson's family and estate continue to deny the claims. 

TODAY IN HISTORY: 26 AUGUST, 1957, Russia tests an intercontinental ballistic missile

On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union announces that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of being fired “into any part of the world.” The announcement caused great concern in the United States, and started a national debate over the “missile gap” between America and Russia.

For years after World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union had been trying to perfect a long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Building on the successes of Nazi Germany in developing the V-1 and V-2 rockets that pummeled Great Britain during the last months of World War II, both American and Russian scientists raced to improve the range and accuracy of such missiles. (Both nations relied heavily on captured German scientists in their efforts.) In July 1957, the United States seemed to win the race when the Atlas, an ICBM with a speed of up to 20,000 miles an hour and an effective range of 5,000 miles, was ready for testing. The test, however, was a disaster. The missile rose only about 5,000 feet into the air, tumbled, and plunged to earth. 

Just a month later, the Soviets claimed success by announcing that their own ICBM had been tested, had “covered a huge distance in a brief time,” and “landed in the target area.” No details were given in the Russian announcement and some commentators in the United States doubted that the ICBM test had been as successful as claimed. Nevertheless, the Soviet possession of this “ultimate weapon,” coupled with recent successful test by the Russians of atomic and hydrogen bombs, raised concerns in America. If the Soviets did indeed perfect their ICBM, no part of the United States would be completely safe from possible atomic attack.

Less than two months later, the Soviets sent the satellite Sputnik into space. Concern quickly turned to fear in the United States, as it appeared that the Russians were gaining the upper hand in the arms and space races. The American government accelerated its own missile and space programs. The Soviet successes–and American failures–became an issue in the 1960 presidential campaign. Democratic challenger John F. Kennedy charged that the outgoing Eisenhower administration had allowed a dangerous “missile gap” to develop between the United States and the Soviet Union. Following his victory in 1960, Kennedy made missile development and the space program priorities for his presidency.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 20 AUGUST, 1920, Professional football is born by four Ohio league teams owners

The  first professional football team in 1920

On this day in 1920, the four Ohio league teams owners, the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles, met to establish a new professional league. The seven men, including legendary all-around athlete and football star Jim Thorpe, met to organize a professional football league at the Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom in Canton, Ohio. 

The meeting that led to the creation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), was the forerunner to the hugely successful National Football League. Jim Thorpe who was believed that his fame would help the league to be taken seriously, emerged the new president of the league.

The American Professional Football Conference (APFC) was changed to American Professional Football Association (APFA) on 17 September, when the league met second time and officially elected Jim Thorpe as the league’s first president.

Professional football was evolved in Pennsylvania in the 1890s, as local athletic clubs engaged in increasingly intense competition. A former Yale football star, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger who was hired by the Allegheny Athletic Association to play in a game against their rival the Pittsburgh Athletic Club in November 1892, became the first-ever professional football player. And by 1896, the Allegheny Athletic Association was made up entirely of paid players, making it the sport’s first-ever professional team. As football became more popular, local semi-pro and pro teams were organized across the country.

With the establishment of The Ohio League in the 1910s, professional football demonstrated itself as a viable spectator sport. Canton, the premiere team in the league, featured legendary decathlete and football star Jim Thorpe. From his play with the Carlisle School to his gold medal in the decathlon in Stockholm in 1912 and his time in the outfield with John McGraw’s New York Giants, Thorpe was an international star who brought legitimacy to professional football. The crowds that Thorpe and the Canton team drew created a market for professional football in Ohio and beyond. Still, the league was struggling due to escalating player salaries, a reliance on college players who then had to forfeit their college eligibility and a general lack of organization.

The APFA officially began football match fixture on September 26, between the Rock Island Independents of Illinois and St. Paul Ideals, who was defeated 48-0 by the Rock Island Independent of Illinois. A week later, Dayton beat Columbus 14-0 in the first game between two teams from the APFA, the forerunner of the modern NFL.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 AUGUST, 1946, Former U.S President, Bill Clinton is born

Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton

The 42nd American President, Bill Clinton was born on this day in 1946. The former U.S. President with birth name, William Jefferson Blythe III was born in a small town of Hope, Arkansas. His father, who was a traveling salesman, died in an automobile accident three months before he was born. Young Bill later took the last name of his stepfather, Roger Clinton. In 1993, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States.

Bill Clinton who attended Georgetown University and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in 1968, where he bagged a degree in Law from Yale, was inspired to join politics after meeting 35th U.S President John F. Kennedy at White House as a high school student in 1963. The meeting lasted just seconds, but the brief interaction with John F. Kennedy inspired teenager Bill Clinton to a life of public service and helped lead to his own election as President 30 years later.

In 1974, Clinton lost a bid for Congress in Arkansas’ Third District. He married fellow Yale Law graduate Hillary Rodham in 1975, and in 1980, their daughter Chelsea was born.

Elected Arkansas attorney general in 1976, Bill Clinton at age of 32 was elected governor in 1978 and he became the youngest governor to be elected in the United States in four decades. Though he lost his first reelection campaign in 1980, he regained the office four years later and was reelected comfortably three more times. In 1992, he won the Democratic nomination for president. In a campaign that revolved largely around economic issues, Clinton’s youth and the promise of change won over many voters, propelling him to victory over the incumbent George H.W. Bush and upstart third-party candidate Ross Perot.

Issues that arose during the first two years of his administration—including an ethics investigation into the Clintons’ involvement with the Whitewater housing development in Arkansas and a bitter debate in Congress over Clinton’s health care initiative—helped fuel a Republican takeover of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections of 1994. Nevertheless, the improving economic climate during Clinton’s presidency resulted in a low unemployment and inflation rate and a balanced budget (even a budget surplus), and in 1996 he became the first Democratic president after Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term in office.

In 1998, scandal erupted over Clinton’s alleged involvement with a young female White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. On the basis of an investigation by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Clinton was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice over his repeated denials of the affair; he eventually apologized to his family and to the American public for his dishonesty. He became only the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives, but was acquitted of the charges by the Senate in 1999.

Even throughout the tumult surrounding the Lewinsky affair, Clinton enjoyed high approval ratings at home. He was also popular on the world stage, confronting foreign policy challenges including war in Bosnia and Herzegovina; continuing hostility between Israelis and Palestinians; and Iraq’s refusal to comply with United Nations weapons inspections. He was praised for his peacemaking efforts in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and became the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

After leaving the White House, Clinton remained active in global affairs and as a public speaker. He heads up the William J. Clinton Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has addressed issues such as HIV/AIDS and the environment. Meanwhile, his wife launched her own political career, winning election to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000 and running her own presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2016. She served as secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 AUGUST, 2013, President Jonathan creates new army division, send 8,000 troops after Boko Haram

Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

On this day in 2013, the former Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan boosted the strength of the military in the insurgency infested North-east after indications emerged that about 8,000 troops were being sent after Islamic Boko Haram sect, ravaging the region.

The troops, according to security sources, will form the nucleus of an army division to be established in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

The newsmen gathered that the need to establish the new army division in the stronghold of the Boko Haram Islamist group is to firm up the successes recorded by special forces of the Joint Task Force (JTF) which have reportedly dislodged the insurgents from the forests and mountains of the North-east.

The move came to light barely 48 hours after the United States (US) said security efforts were necessary to protect  innocent Nigerians, prevent Boko Haram’s acts of violence, capture and prosecute its leaders.

The US under the then Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, who gave the recipe to ending the insurgency challenge in Nigeria on behalf of her home government, spoke in Abuja at the opening session of the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission’s Regional Security Cooperation Working Group.

Also reacting to the move, an ex-Inspector General of Police and the then Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr Mike Okiro, advocated the establishment of a civil force to complement the efforts of security agencies at the grassroots to curb terrorism and other crimes.

TODAY IN HISTORY, 18 AUGUST, 1988, American judge, Gary Little dies by suicide

Honourable Gary Morton Little (1939-1988)

On this day in 1988, an American judge from Seattle, Washington, Honourable Gary Morton Little shoots himself just hours before the Seattle Post-Intelligencer releases an article accusing him of abusing his power by sexually exploiting juvenile defendants who appeared before him. 

The front-page article also revealed that Little had exploited his teenage students as a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s. The scandal raised questions about the judicial system, because the judge had been investigated and disciplined, but the investigations was kept secret.

In 1981, Little’s first year as a judge, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer received a tip about Little’s unusual relations with juvenile defendants. When the reporter investigated the matter, he found that Little, who was working as a volunteer counselor in juvenile court at the time, had been charged with third-degree assault in 1964. 

Judge Little was accused of assaulting a 16-year-old defendant in his apartment, but the charges had been dismissed. The paper never published the story, but it sparked an investigation by deputies working for King County prosecuting attorney Norm Maleng.

Reportedly, Little had visited three male juvenile defendants in detention without their attorneys present. One boy spent the night at the judge’s house, and another had spent time with him at his vacation home. Little never denied any of the accusations of his contact with the juveniles outside of the court but claimed that he was merely trying to help them. No evidence of sexual contact ever surfaced, but one prosecutor noted that all of the young defendants were handsome, blond, and male, and that there was strong evidence suggesting that the youths who had spent the night with Judge Little had been lenient with in their sentences. The investigators submitted a 107-page complaint with the Judicial Conduct Commission, which dismissed the case and ordered that the information remain confidential.

Eventually, in 1985, Judge Little was quietly removed from presiding over juvenile cases. Also that year, the first public mention of the subject was published in the Seattle Times. However, the reporter who wrote the article was soon pulled off the case, despite new evidence that came forth after its publication. The issue was once again swept under the carpet, where it remained until 1988, when two reporters from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer resumed the investigation. Soon after these reporters obtained affidavits by five former students claiming that Little had used his position as a teacher to extract sexual favors from them, Little announced that he would not run for re-election.

On the night of August 18, 1988, Gary Little was found lying in a pool of blood outside his chambers—three floors below the jail cell where his father, Sterling Little, hanged himself in August 1947 after being arrested in a burglary investigation.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 AUGUST, 1998, U.S President Clinton appears before grand jury

Former President Bill Clinton

On 17 August, 1998, President Bill Clinton became the first sitting president to appear and testify before the Office of Independent Counsel as the subject of a grand-jury investigation.

The testimony came after a four-year investigation into Clinton and his wife Hillary’s alleged involvement in several scandals, including accusations of sexual harassment, potentially illegal real-estate deals and suspected “cronyism” involved in the firing of White House travel-agency personnel. Kenneth Starr, an independent prosecutor unearthed an amorous affair between the president and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. The President denied when the question about the affair was asked and this led Starr to slam perjury and obstruction of justice charge against the President, which in turn prompted Clinton’s testimony on this day in 1998.

After testifying, Clinton addressed the nation live via television and gave his side of the story. He admitted to an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky and said that he regretted misleading his wife and the American people when he denied the affair earlier. He insisted that he had given “legally accurate” answers in his testimony and that “at no time” had he asked anyone to “lie, hide or destroy evidence or to take any unlawful action.” In addressing the investigation into his past business dealings, Clinton insisted that the investigation did not prove that he or his wife Hillary had engaged in any illegal activity.

The damage, however, was already done. Revelations from the investigation sparked a battle in Congress over whether or not to impeach Clinton. While Democrats favored censure, Republicans called loudly for impeachment, claiming Clinton was unfit to lead the country. In December 1998, the House of Commons voted to impeach the president, but after a five-week trial in the Senate, Clinton was acquitted. Public opinion polls at the time revealed that while many people disapproved of Clinton’s extramarital affair—which he conducted in the White House Oval Office—most did not consider it an action worthy of impeachment or resignation.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 AUGUST, 2015, Asari Dokubo, Fasehun, Adams threaten legal action against NNPC over outstanding pipeline surveillance fees

Dokubo, Adams and Fasehun

On 17 August, 2015, a former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, factional leaders of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun and Otunba Gani Adams, as well as other beneficiaries of the controversial Pipeline Security and Surveillance contracts, called on Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay  their outstanding fees by the end of the month, or face legal action.

In an open letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, they claimed that they had a three-month contract with the NNPC, from March 15 to  June 15, which they delivered on but are yet to be paid.

NNPC on June 15, terminated the contract awarded under President Goodluck Jonathan to various private security firms to safeguard pipelines against vandals.

The companies are New Age Nigeria Limited (Fasehun); Donyx Global Concept (Adams); ATEF Nigeria Limited (Asari Dokubo); Galery Security Services Limited (Bibo Ajube); Bajeros Nigeria Limited (Joshua Machiever); Close Body Protection Limited (High Chief Omo) and Izon Ibe Security Limited.

They alleged that the NNPC has refused to pay its indebtedness to them, insisting that they are demanding their entitlement and not a handout or favour.

They debunked claims that President Jonathan was the one who gave them the contract in order to secure his re-election, adding that due process was followed between them and the Management of the NNPC, before the contract was awarded.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 16 AUGUST, 1812, U.S. General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit to the British

General William Hull

On 16 August, during the 1812 War between America and Britain, American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit and his army to the British without a fight. Hull, a 59-year-old veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large English and Indian force gathering outside Detroit’s walls. The general was also preoccupied with the presence of his daughter and grandchildren inside the fort.

Of Hull’s 2,000-man army, most were militiamen and British General Isaac Brock allowed them to return to their homes on the frontier. The regular U.S. Army troops were taken as prisoners to Canada. With the capture of Fort Detroit, Michigan Territory was declared a part of Great Britain and Shawnee chief Tecumseh was able to increase his raids against American positions in the frontier area. Hull’s surrender was a severe blow to American morale. In September 1813, U.S. General William Henry Harrison, the future president, recaptured Detroit.

In 1814, William Hull was court-martialed for cowardice and neglect of duty in surrendering the fort, and sentenced to die. Because of his service in the revolution, however, President James Madison remitted the sentence.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 16 AUGUST, 2003, Ugandan military dictator, Idi Amin dies in Saudi Arabia hospital at 79

Idi Amin

The Ugandan unquestionably evil and perversely military dictator, who presided Idi Amin over an eight-year reign of terror, died of multiple organ failure on this day in 2003 at a hospital in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia at 79 years. During his unfortunate reigns in Uganda, an estimated 300,000 people were killed and tortured to death.

Mr. Amin, whose official self-given title was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts, overthrew the government of President Milton Obote in 1971. Upon seizing power from president Obote, Mr. Amin, a gregarious and popular Army chief and onetime heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda, promised to abolish Obote's secret police, institute economic reforms and quickly return the nation to civilian rule.

Rather, he destroyed the Ugandan economy by expelling the country's ethnic Asians, slashed domestic spending to fund the armed forces and his own police and security details, made enemies of most of his neighbors and instituted a reign of terror on the citizens of the East Africa country.

During his rule, his atrocities horrified the world, but some found his buffoonish antics and pronouncements fascinating. In this country, he became probably sub-Saharan Africa's best-known ruler. He was a staple of late-night television talk show monologues. Punch, Britain's legendary humor magazine, ran a mock weekly column as if written by Mr. Amin. The columns were compiled in a best-selling book.

In his early days in power, Mr. Amin could seem a charismatic man of the people. Something of a national celebrity since his reign as the country's heavyweight champion from 1951 to 1960, the athletic 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound ruler would dance in the streets in public festivals and was known to dive into pools while wearing his bemedaled uniform. In those days, he could play the clown and gregariously entertain westerners.

He once had Kenyan students in Uganda executed to show his displeasure with actions taken by the Kenyan government. He expelled Indians and others of Asian descent (and executed those who did not leave quickly enough) after he supposedly received a message from God in a dream.

He fought coup attempts, both real and imagined, with mass executions of groups and people he came to mistrust. Among those who died were an Anglican archbishop and nearly the entire pre-coup officer corps. Most of their bodies were fed to Nile reptiles.

In 1978, Mr. Amin sought to take attention from an attempted coup by invading Tanzania's western province of Kagera. Three thousand Ugandan infantry and the Ugandan air force devastated the region, executing civilians and destroying all property and animals.

The Tanzanian army, along with Ugandan exiles, launched a counterattack that brought an end to his regime the next year. Mr. Amin, with his four wives, several of his 30 mistresses and about 20 of his children, fled to Libya, where Mr. Amin, who was said to be a Muslim convert, was offered sanctuary.

In the name of Islamic charity, Amin was given asylum in Saudi Arabia after he was asked to leave Libya following a violent dispute between his bodyguards and Libyan authorities.

Idi Amin Dada was born in Uganda's west Nile province of Koboko. His father, a Muslim, was a member of the Kakwa tribe. His mother was a member of the Lugbara tribe. Mr. Amin spoke Kiswahili, gained a fourth-grade education and became an accomplished swimmer, boxer and rugby player.

In 1946, with Uganda a British protectorate, he joined the King's African Rifles as a cook. He won rapid promotion in the regiment, whose officers were British. Promoted to corporal in 1948, he was a sergeant-major and platoon commander by 1958. The following year, he was made a warrant officer with the rank of effendi, the highest rank held by Africans.

In 1961, with Ugandan independence two years away, he was one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers. With independence, he made a rapid rise to major general and then was chief of the general staff before leading the 1971 coup.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 16 AUGUST, 2018, NYSC releases names of nine drowned corps members

National Youth Service Corps members

On this day four years ago, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, released the names of the nine corps members that drowned at River Mayo-Selbe in Gashaka Local Government Area of Taraba State.

The tragedy struck on Saturday, 4 August, 2018, barely a day after Maj. Gen. Zachare Kazaure, the then Director General of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, addressed the 2018 batch B corps members at the orientation camp in the state

The corps members who were reportedly part of a 22-man group that embarked on a picnic were said to have been swept away after the river suddenly overflowed due to a heavy rainfall in nearby communities.

The names of the drowned corps members included Ucheonye Nkadi, Delta; Ijeh Chile, Delta; Irorobulor Blessing, Delta; Solomon Miracle, Edo, and Adams Zipporah, Kaduna.

Others are Ojimba Matilda, Imo; Maduike Thelma, Imo; Onoduagu Arinze, Enugu, and Ezeamama Ifeanyi, Anambra.

Following the sad incident, the then Director-General of the scheme, Brigadier-General Zachare Kazaure, banned all forms of social outings by corps members without permission by either the Local Government Inspector or State Coordinator.

The State NYSC Coordinator, Mrs Florence Yaakugh, while confirming the tragic incident to newsmen, described it as most unfortunate.

Sylva didn't win any suit against Pointblank News – Jackson Ude

Timipre Sylva and Jackson Ude

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of an online newspaper, Pointblanknews.com, Mr. Jackson Ude has disregarded the claim that  Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylvia, won a suit against Pointblank News in the United State District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ude said Sylva who instituted defamatory suit against him, turned back and approached him with some Nigerian leaders to accept out-of-court settlement, adding that the minister’s victorious claim was false, criminal, malicious and ridiculous.

Preceding the publisher’s claim, an electronic copy of a settlement agreement entered by Sylva and himself for out of court settlement in the case filed in the U.S Court and presides over by Joseph F. Leeson Jr. claimed that Ude agreed to take down, delete and destroy all articles and publications alleging any criminal or other misconduct by Sylva displaying on Pointblank News website and its social media pages.

In a statement on Monday via electronic mail, Ude described the claims of victory by Sylva as spurious, criminal, malicious, defamatory and disparaging,

The statement reads "My attention has been drawn to spurious, criminal, malicious, defamatory and disparaging news report being sponsored by the Minister of State, Petroleum, Timipre Marlin Sylvia, in which he claimed victory in a United States Eastern District Court, Pennsylvania.

"Nothing can be more ridiculous than such a claim when indeed the Minister was the one who instituted a defamatory case against me, turned around to twice request for an out-of-court settlement through his attorney, used leaders in Nigeria to reach out to me to accept an out of court settlement.

"In 2021, Sylva came to the U.S court and filed a lawsuit against me for defamation. The case started in February 2022. After discoveries were conducted by attorneys for both Sylva and me. Sylva appeared for deposition via zoom and was interrogated for closed to five hours in May. I was also deposed for about three hours. After the deposition, Sylva through his lawyers approached my lawyers for an out-of-court settlement".

"The first request was denied. He came back again on July 22, 2022 and made another request. This time, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, whom I have tremendous respect for, has been reaching out to me on behalf of Sylva, requesting I accept to settle the matter out of court"

"After going through Sylva’s requests and adjustments made by my lawyers, I accepted the request in good faith and directed my attorneys to proceed with it. Judge Hon. Joseph Leeson Jnr of the Eastern District court, thereafter, set up settlement conference hearing for August 11, 2022. And also set September 14 as the Jury trial date if we did not reach an agreement to settle. I attended the hearing as ordered by the Judge while Sylva pleaded with the Judge to allow him to appear via zoom".

"At the Settlement hearing, we both went through the agreements. The Magistrate Judge, Hon. Pamela Carlos, supervised the process and both parties agreed and signed off the settlement agreement. No judgment was pronounced. Sylva was not pronounced winner as no trial in the case ever happened"

"In plain language, the suit did not proceed to trial or judgement stage. It was simply a settlement out of court which Sylva, not me, sought".

 "It is, therefore, a violation of the Judge’s order for Sylva to sponsor defamatory, malicious and disparaging publications against my person and that of Pointblanknews.com in other to whitewash himself. In due course, he would return to the U.S court to explain his actions".

"The amateur attempt to hoodwink the public and spread lies are some of the instrument politicians have employed to deceive Nigerians. Again, Timipre Sylva never won any defamatory case. How can you be a winner in a case that never went to trial? Otherwise, Sylva should show to the public a judgement he obtained from the U.S Court declaring him winner. It is pure lies from the pit of hell,” Ude submitted.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 13 AUGUST, 2015, Remains of Oba Okunade Sijuwade buried in Ife

Late Oba Okunade Sijuwade

On this day in 2015, the remains of revered monarch, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the Olubuse II, Ooni of Ife, south-west Nigeria, was buried after thousands of people thronged the funeral of the first class sovereign.

The traditional rites to honour late Oba Sijuwade - a king of the Yoruba, Nigeria's second biggest ethnic group were being held in the city of Ife.

Dignitaries, including Nigeria's Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, paid their last respects before the private burial of the late king who was believed to have been the 50th Ooni of Ife.

The 85-year-old sovereign who was crowned in 1980 and was widely respected, died in London in July, 2015 but his death was only officially announced on Wednesday 12 August, 2015 by the Ife Traditional Council led by Obalufe, Oba Solomon Omisakin at the Government House, Osogbo, capital of Osun state, Nigeria.

The delay in the announcement of the Paramount ruler's death was due to strict adherence to Yoruba tradition of announcing the demise of a monarch. In Yorubaland, which refers to south-west Nigeria, Togo and Benin, a traditional ruler does not die: He only goes on a journey to join his ancestors.

Nigeria's many monarchs vary in hierarchy and importance and some like the Ooni of Ife and the northern emirs rule over large areas, while others are traditional rulers of a village or town.

Customs were fully adhered to at the funeral for the Ooni of Ife, who, according to Yoruba’s belief, is a direct descendant of Oduduwa who is a Yoruba god. The body was not displayed neither was any mention made of his burial.

An inter-denominational Christian religious service was organised by the royal family on the palace premises. Dignitaries, priests and a choir were there, but there was no casket.

The moment he dies his immediate family are required to hand over his body to a traditional "cult" - a religious secret society – which will immediately begin the necessary rites. Details of the burial will remain secret.

The powerful "oro cult" declared night curfew on Ife, which lasted seven days.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 AUGUST, 1973, American golfer, Jack Nicklaus wins third PGA national champion in Ohio

Jack Nicklaus

On 12 August, 1973, American golfer Jack Nicklaus won the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) championship for his 14th major title, surpassing Bobby Jones’ record of 13 major championships. Nicklaus shot a seven-under-par 277 at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, to win $45,000 and his third PGA National championship. The “Golden Bear” went on to win 18 major tournaments, a record that still stands today. (Although it aptly describes his golden-colored hair and large build, Nicklaus’ famous moniker is actually derived from his high school alma mater, the Upper Arlington Golden Bears.)

Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1940, Nicklaus was regarded as the greatest golfer of the 20th century. He began playing golf at the age of 10 and at the age of 16, he won his first significant tournament, the Ohio Open. In 1959, he won the U.S. Amateur championship, which at the time was still considered one of golf’s major tournaments. Jack Nicklaus repeated the great feat two years later and announced he was turning professional. His first major professional title was the 1962 U.S. Open at the Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was derided by spectators for beating fan-favorite Arnold Palmer, and a rivalry was born between the two American golfers that lasted through the 1960s.

Nicklaus became a major force in professional golf in 1962 when he was 22 years old. He won six Masters tournaments, five PGA championships, four U.S. Open titles, and three British Open titles. He was a member of the winning U.S. World Cup team six times and was a record three-time individual World Cup winner. Nicklaus demonstrated remarkable composure under competitive pressure. On August 12, 1973, he surpassed the record of most major championships set by American golfer Bobby Jones in 1930. Nicklaus’ last major title was in 1986 when, at age 46, he became the oldest Masters winner in history. By that time, he had played in 100 major championships, finishing in the top three nearly 50 times.

A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame since 1974, the PGA named him Golfer of the Century in 1988. He joined the Senior tour in 1990, winning the U.S. Senior Open in 1991 and 1993. Throughout his career, Nicklaus also designed many noted golf courses, including Muirfield Village Golf Course in Ohio, site of the Nicklaus-sponsored Memorial Tournament. 

Nicklaus announced his retirement in 2005, from professional tournament play after that year’s British Open.

TODAY IN HISTORY, 12 AUGUST, 2014 American films actress, Lauren Bacall dies at 89

Lauren Bacall

Hollywood actress, Lauren Bacall, who rose to stardom in her debut film, 1944’s “To Have and Have Not,” in which she appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart, with whom she would have a legendary romance, died on this day in 2004, at her New York City home at age 89. Bacall whose acting career spanned nearly 70 years, produced more than two scores movies, including “The Big Sleep,” (1946) “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953) and “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996).

Born with name Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in the Bronx, New York, she began using the last name Bacal, part of her mother’s maiden name, after her parents divorced when she was young. (While breaking into acting, she added a second “l” to her last name, and Howard Hawks, who directed Bacall’s big-screen debut, dubbed her Lauren).

After graduating from American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan in 1940, she went on to work as an usher in Broadway theaters and also started modeling. Her cover photo for Harper’s Bazaar magazine eventually came to the attention of Hawks, who cast her in his wartime drama “To Have and Have Not.” During the making of the film—in which Bacall famously utters the line: “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow”—she and the then-married Bogart, who was more than twice her age and already the star of such films as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca,” began an affair.

Lauren Bacall, a Hollywood actress, was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2009.

Married in 1945, Bogart and Bacall became one of Hollywood’s iconic couples and made three more films together, “The Big Sleep,” “Dark Passage” (1947) and “Key Largo” (1948). Bacall also appeared in such movies as “Young Man with a Horn” (1950) with Kirk Douglas, “How to Marry a Millionaire” with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable and “Designing Woman” (1957) with Gregory Peck. Her marriage to Bogart, which produced two children, ended when the actor died of cancer in 1957 at age 57. After a brief romance with Frank Sinatra, Bacall wed actor Jason Robards in 1961. The pair, who had a son together, divorced in 1969.

Among Bacall’s other screen credits are “Harper” (1966) with Paul Newman, “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), “Misery” (1990) and “The Mirror Has Two Faces” with Barbra Streisand. For her role in the latter film, Bacall earned her lone Academy Award nomination, in the best supporting actress category. (In 2009, she received an honorary Oscar.) Bacall also appeared in a number of theatrical productions and won best actress Tony awards for 1970’s “Applause” and 1981’s “Woman of the Year.”

According to History.com Editors, despite her achievements, Bacall realized the public likely would always associate her with Bogart. As she said in a 1999 Newsday interview: “I’ll never get away from him. I accept that. He was the emotional love of my life, but I think I’ve accomplished quite a bit on my own.”

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 AUGUST, 2013, Nigeria becomes first African country to sign Arms Trade Treaty

Dr. Olugbenga Ashiru (second left) at the signing ceremony in New York on 12 August, 2013.

On this day in August, 2013, Nigeria becomes the 82nd UN Member State to sign the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), and the 3rd to ratify the landmark agreement. The then Foreign Minister Dr. Olugbenga Ashiru signed and deposited Nigeria’s instrument of ratification at the UN in New York. The minister, Dr. Ashiru made Nigeria’s commitment to the values of the Arms Trade Treaty clear in a statement after the signature and ratification.

The minister emphasized that Nigeria remain resolute and unyielding in her efforts to uphold the principle of ATT and, in particular, to ensure that small arms and light weapons is appropriately transferred and access denied to terrorist groups, pirates, bandits and the like.

Oxfam’s Head of Arms Control and Control Arms coalition Co-Chair, Anna Macdonald disclosed that after depositing the instrument of ratification, Dr. Ashiru immediately met with Control Arms members, to further strengthen relationship between Nigeria and civil society on arms control issues. 

She said with over 80 countries’ signatures and several ratifications since the treaty opened for signature on 3 June, 2013, there is momentum to urgently ensure the ATT becomes international law and starts saving lives. Fifty ratifications are needed for the treaty to enter into force, and we call on all states to get to work on their national legislation as soon as possible.

Secretary General of IPPNW in Nigeria, Dr. Omolade remarked that Control Arms member, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) signaled that this was a proud day.

“By signing and ratifying the ATT, Nigeria has solidified her role as a continental peace keeper, intent on addressing the problem of arms from its root. Dr Olugbenga Ashiru’s camaraderie towards the NGO community is commendable, and exemplifies the kind of partnership that must be forged to conquer arms. We the members of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in Nigeria have pitched into efforts towards an ATT in coalition with Control Arms; and congratulate all other NGOs that have worked tirelessly to give the ATT the visibility it deserves.”

TODAY IN HISTORY 11 AUGUST, 1952, Hussein succeeds his father, King Talal to Jordanian throne

On 11 August, 1952, Prince Hussein was proclaimed the king of Jordan after his father, King Talal, was declared unfit to rule by the Jordanian Parliament on grounds of mental illness. Hussein was formally crowned 14 November, 1953, on his 18th birthday. Hussein was the third constitutional king of Jordan and a member of the Hashemite dynasty, said to be in direct line of descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

During his nearly five decades of rule, he maintained good relations with the West and steadily developed Jordan’s economy. He fought against Israel in 1967’s Six-Day War and later against Palestinian guerrillas who tried to seize control of the Jordanian state. He opposed the Persian Gulf War of 1991 but supported the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He died in 1999 at age of 64 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Prince Abdallah. He was the 20th century’s longest-serving executive head of state.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 11 AUGUST, 2014, Military wives and children protest in Maiduguri over Boko Haram deployment

Military wives and children in the restive Nigerian city of Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Monday 11 August, 2014 took to the streets burning tyres to prevent their husbands’ deployment to fight Boko Haram.

About 300 women and 500 children for two days gathered at the gates of a military base in Borno state capital, claiming that their spouses were ill-equipped to take on the armed group.

One of the protesters, Thabita John said, “no weapons for husbands, no trip to Gwoza or any volatile place. We are tired of burying our loved ones,” 

She added that the soldiers were “ill-equipped to fight the dreaded Boko Haram”.

Another soldier’s wife, Rahina Ali, added: “Our husbands are always given inferior weapons while the Boko Haram have superior weapons.”

The military wives had staged a similar protest on Saturday, 9 August, 2014 to press home their demand for sophisticated weapons to their husbands before sending them to face dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Boko Haram has been waging a brutal insurgency since 2009 which has left thousands of people dead, despite a state of emergency imposed in three northeast states in May 2013 by Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Although a military offensive few weeks before 2015 presidential election regained lost ground from the Islamic sect, but Jonathan’s failure to get to grips with the scourge was seen as critical in his defeat, 

Speaking in Abuja a day after his victory over the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, in a largely peaceful election that was applauded by Barack Obama, David Cameron, Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders, the former military dictator, Muhammadu Buhari promised to crush Boko Haram sect.

But years later, the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists groups had been escalated. For the first time in 2020, residents of Maiduguri publicly directed their anger at President Buhari, when he was booed over rising insecurity and killings by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 AUGUST, 2003, U.K. temperatures hit 100 F for first time during European heat wave

For the first time in history, the United Kingdom on August 10, 2003, recorded temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Throughout the month, an intense heat wave scorched the European continent, claiming more than 35,000 lives.

August 2003 was the hottest August ever recorded in the northern hemisphere and broke all previous records for heat-related deaths. France was the worst hit, with almost 15,000 victims, followed by Germany, where approximately 7,000 people died. Thousands also died in Spain and Italy. A majority of the victims were elderly, very young, or chronically ill.

When a person experiences extreme heat, their bodies can struggle to cool themselves—which can prove especially dangerous in the very old, very young or already ill. If a person’s internal body temperature reaches 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the organs can began to fail and the person can eventually die. The Washington, D.C.-based Earth Policy Institute estimates that more people die every year from heat than floods, tornadoes and hurricanes combined.

In addition to directly causing deaths, the extreme heat also caused massive fires. In Portugal, 10 percent of the country’s forests were destroyed and 18 people were killed in the fires. The heat also caused glacial melt, flash floods and avalanches in Switzerland.

Being a dry month, the month of July 2022, went down in UK climate history as the first time the UK exceeded temperatures of 40°C on 19 July, during an intense heatwave where the UK saw its new record high temperature of 40.3°C at Coningsby, Lincolnshire. This shattered all previously held record in United Kingdom.

Scientists project that, because of global warming, the earth’s average temperature will continue to rise, reaching 42.44 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, a gain of 2.5 degrees. The only way to stop the rise in global temperatures and extreme weather catastrophes is to reduce levels of the carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 10 AUGUST, 2007, Gunmen kidnap American manager of Hydrodive oil firm in Port-Harcourt

On Friday 10 August, 2007, gunmen seized an American manager from oil services firm, on his way to work in the oil rich city of Port-Harcourt. The garden city of Port-Harcourt was particularly prone to kidnappings and street gunbattles at the time.

The then Commissioner of police in Rivers state, Felix Ogbaudu confirmed to newsmen that the man was on his way to work when some gunmen in a car overtook his vehicle and blocked it before snatching him.

Abductions for ransom was a trending phenomenon in the oil producing Niger-Delta region. It was recorded that between January and August 2007, no fewer than 100 foreigners have been taken hostage in the oil rich region.

Early 2006, violence escalated in the impoverished region when armed rebels seeking control over oil revenues and an end to neglect by corrupt politicians started blowing up pipelines and oilfields.

Their raids shut down at least a fifth of oil output from Nigeria, an OPEC member and the world’s eighth-biggest exporter of crude. The disruption has contributed to record high oil prices on world markets in 2007.

But the violence in the Niger-Delta degenerated over time into an uncontrollable wave of abductions for ransom, armed robberies, turf wars between gangs and fighting connected to a dangerous trade in stolen crude.

Over 200 foreigners were kidnapped  between 2006 and 2007, most of which were released unharmed in exchange for money, fueling the trend. This resulted in thousands of expatriate workers and their relatives fled the region.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 10 AUGUST, 1776, London discovers American independence plan

On this day in 1776, London got the news that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence. To King George III, the then King of Great Britain, it was a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans in the other hands, it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens.

Until the Declaration of Independence formally transformed the 13 British colonies into states, both Americans and the British saw the conflict centered in Massachusetts as a local uprising within the British empire. However, when Parliament continued to oppose any reform and remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and instead hired Hessians, German mercenaries, to help the British army crush the rebellion, the Continental Congress began to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies.

Earlier in January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, an influential political pamphlet that convincingly argued for American independence from the British monarchy. It sold more than 500,000 copies in just a few months. By the spring of 1776, support for independence had swept through the colonies, the Continental Congress called for states to form their own governments and a five-man committee was assigned to draft a document declaring independence from the British king.

The Declaration of Independence was largely the work of Virginian Thomas Jefferson. In justifying American independence, Jefferson drew generously from the political philosophy of John Locke, an advocate of natural rights, and from the work of other British theorists. The declaration features the immortal lines “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It then goes on to present a long list of grievances that provided the American rationale for rebellion.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 09 AUGUST, 1974, Gerald Ford becomes 38th president of America

President Gerald Ford

Following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon as the 37th president of United State of America, at noon on this day in 1974, his vice, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of America. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, president Nixon smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign from office.

Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

Ford, the first president who came to the office through appointment rather than election, had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before. In a political scandal independent of the Nixon administration’s wrongdoings in the Watergate affair, Agnew had been forced to resign in disgrace after he was charged with income tax evasion and political corruption. In September 1974, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

TODAY IN HISTORY 09 AUGUST, 2014, A police officer murders Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri

Michael Brown

Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager was shot on this day by a police officer, Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, on 9 August, 2014. Protests and riots ensue in Ferguson and soon spread across the country.

There are different accounts of the incident, including the testimonies of Wilson and of Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, who was with Brown at the time. Many details differ, but most accounts agree that Wilson saw Brown and Johnson walking in the street, demanded they get on the sidewalk, then stopped his police SUV in front of them in order to confront them. He and Brown had an altercation through the open window of the car, during which Wilson fired twice. Brown and Johnson tried to leave, Wilson exited his car to pursue them, and at some point Brown turned back around to face Wilson, who then fired 12 shots, six of which hit Brown.

Wilson claimed he fired in self-defense as Brown, an 18-year old black man, charged him, which Johnson denied. A witness claimed that Wilson warned Brown he would open fire, and that Brown responded with "Don't shoot!" before he was killed, although that was not corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and other witness statements.

The community immediately reacted with rage at the news of Brown's death. The shooting ignited long-simmering tensions between the majority-Black population of Ferguson and the local police, who were mostly white. Though public opinion was sharply divided, the protests and riots and the response by Ferguson's heavily militarized police demonstrated the extent to which the relationship between racial minorities in America and the police had frayed. 

Brown's name, the phrase "Hands up, don't shoot" and the very mention of Ferguson quickly entered the lexicon of the growing Black Lives Matter movement. 

In November 2014, a grand jury declined to indict Officer Wilson, and later, the Justice Department concluded that Wilson acted out of self-defense, and was justified in killing Brown. However, the same Justice Department investigation found that the Ferguson Police Department routinely violated the civil rights of its African American residents.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 09 AUGUST, 1963, Nigeria creates Mid-West Region

On this day in 1963, the then Nigerian government formally announced creation of Mid-West which became the country’s fourth region. The new Mid-West State consists of 2 provinces, Benin and Delta, formerly belonging to the Western Region.

It was began in the early 1940’s when discussion about the creation of states in Nigeria along cultural and linguistic lines championed discussions and the attitude of the British government towards the movement. The minorities commission advised against creation of new states and the British government accepted the advice. There are 2 special sets of factors those internal to the new state and those related to the national political scene. The creation of the Mid-West was as much a product of special political circumstances existing in Lagos and Ibadan as it was of popular sentiment in Benin and Delta Provinces. Its creation was possible by an alliance of East and North, but once created the alliance partners have begun to compete for its allegiance and the elections for the new regions Assembly in February, 1963 stimulated intense activity on the part of all Nigerian major parties.  

TODAY IN HISTORY 06 AUGUST, 1965 U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signs Voting Rights Act

The 36th U.S President, Lyndon Baines Johnson on this day in 1965 signed the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote. With the bill signed into law, it became illegal to impose restrictions on federal, state and local elections that were designed to deny the vote to Black people.

Johnson often referred to as LBJ, became American President in November 1963 following the gruesome murder of President John F. Kennedy. He was elected in 1964 as a substantive president under Democratic party umbrella in a landslide victory and used this mandate to push for legislation he believed would improve the American way of life, which included stronger voting-rights laws. A recent march in Alabama in support of voting rights, during which Black people were beaten by state troops, shamed Congress and the president into passing the law, meant to enforce the 15th Amendment of the Constitution ratified by Congress in 1870.

In a speech to Congress on March 15, 1965, Johnson had outlined the devious ways in which election officials denied African-American citizens the vote. Black people attempting to vote were often told by election officials that they gotten the date, time or polling place wrong, that the officials were late or absent, that they possessed insufficient literacy skills or had filled out an application incorrectly. Often African Americans, whose population suffered a high rate of illiteracy due to centuries of oppression and poverty, would be forced to take literacy tests, which they inevitably failed. Johnson also told Congress that voting officials, primarily in southern states, had been known to force black voters to “recite the entire constitution or explain the most complex provisions of state laws”—a task most white voters would have been hard-pressed to accomplish. In some cases, even Black people with college degrees were turned away from the polls.

Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak and it was often outright ignored, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of Black people in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo. Still, the Voting Rights Act gave African American voters the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and vastly improved voter turnout. The Voting Right Act, encouraged large turnout of voters among Black people in Mississippi from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. In 1970, President Richard Nixon extended the provisions of the Voting Rights Act and lowered the eligible voting age for all voters to 18.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 05 AUGUST, 2004, Nigerian police arrest 30 suspected ritualists in Anambra after 50 corpses and 20 skulls found in Okija shrine

On 5 August, 2004, Nigerian police arrested no fewer than 30 suspected cult leaders in Anambra state, after 50 decomposing bodies and 20 human skulls were found in raids on the fetish Okija shrine.

The head, genitals and other vital parts had been severed from some of the bodies, found in a teak forest in Okija village, a sign they may have been killed as part of a ritual.

The then Anambra Police Command Spokesman, Kolapo Shofoluwe confirmed to the media that police saw more than 50 bodies in various coffins and there were several skulls, some of which were really fresh.

Shofoluwe said preliminary investigations showed that the victims died after cult leaders engaged them in an animist ritual.

Residents of Ubahu-Ezike, a small town near one of the shrines, said they were afraid to go near the shrine because men faithful to the deities were waiting there to attack outsiders.

They said a small group of "high priests" had exploited the traditional religion and turned it into a big money-spinning operation.

An anonymous teacher in Ubahu-Ezike said those juju priests are very fraudulents. 

“They have been using the shrines to extort money from innocent people. They ride the best cars in the community and build fine, fine houses. Nobody dares challenge them, not even the traditional ruler."

As part of the ritual, police said, the victims pledged their property, including bank accounts, to a deity upon their death.

Their relations were made to believe they would also die if they refused to give up the property.

"We are looking beyond the deity," Mr. Shofoluwe said, adding that at least 20 shrines were raided.

"The priests may have killed the people for ritual, or to obtain their property by false pretence or they may have been running a human-parts market."

Ritual killing has been a recurring problem in some parts of Nigeria, where many people believe they can become wealthy by using human organs to make potent charms.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 05 AUGUST, 1998, A 70-year old Mother arrested for killing her eight children

A 70-year old Marie Noe, was arrested at her Philadelphia home on this day in 1998 and charged with smothering of her eight children who died between 1949 and 1968.

It was gathered that each of the eight infants was ostensibly healthy at birth, but later died when home alone with Noe. At the time, the deaths were attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Noe and her husband Arthur Alien Noe, had two other children who died from natural causes–one was stillborn and the other died at the hospital shortly after birth. Suspicion swirled around Marie Noe as the death toll mounted as none of the children lived beyond 14 months. But police had no enough evidence to charge her with any crime. In the 1990s, a magazine article put the case back in the spotlight. In August 1998, Noe confessed to killing four of her children but claimed she couldn’t remember what happened to the other four. Arthur, Marie husband, was not charged in the murders of his children. In June 1999, Noe was given 20 years probation and ordered to spend five years under house arrest.

In a similar case, Mary Beth Tinning’s nine healthy children died suddenly and mysteriously between 1972 and 1985. None made it to the age of five. The children all died while home alone with Tinning, of Schenectady, New York, who claimed she found them unconscious. In 1987, Tinning was convicted of smothering her 3-month-old infant daughter Tami Lynne to death two years earlier. She was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Susan Smith of South Carolina, in her own case in 1994, drove a car with her two young sons into a lake. Smith, who initially blamed the boys’ disappearance on a carjacker, was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In another case, Andrea Yates drowned her five young children in a bathtub in June 2001. After being convicted of first-degree murder, Yates’ conviction was overturned and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She was committed to a state mental health facility in Texas.