Monkey inherits fortune

Shabista feeds Chunmun a diet of milk, fruit and home-cooked meals

An Indian couple who were ostracised after their families disapproved of their wedding have decided to leave all their property to their pet monkey.

Brajesh Srivastava and wife Shabista told BBC Hindi they were "lonely for many years" before they bought Chunmun the monkey in 2005 for 500 rupees ($8).
The couple, who have no children, say they have raised him like a son.
Mr Srivastava is Hindu and his wife is Muslim, and inter-faith marriages are still controversial in parts of India.
Mrs Srivastava says both their families shunned them after their marriage and that they were lonely until they bought Chunmun.
"He was a baby then, less than a month old, and his mother had died after being electrocuted," she says.
She feeds Chunmun a diet of milk, fruit and home-cooked meals. His room has an air-conditioner to keep it cool in the summer and a heater to warm it in the winters.

The couple say they were "lonely for many years" until "Chunmun came into our lives"

In 2010, the couple arranged a lavish wedding for Chunmun to a female monkey named Bitti Yadav.
The two monkeys live together at the couple's home, and have a party for their wedding anniversary every year.
Mr Srivastava said his business has improved and the family has seen prosperity ever since they adopted Chunmun.
The house in Raebareli town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where the Srivastavas live is named Chunmun and the couple talk about the simian with the indulgence of fond parents.
"For breakfast he has pomegranate and a glass of milk. At 10am, he has a home-cooked meal of lentils, bread, vegetables and chutney," Mrs Srivastava says.
She says Chunmun went through a phase where he would bite people.
"A doctor we consulted said it was illegal to keep a wild animal as pet," she says.
"When we heard that we started crying and told him that Chunmun was like our son. He felt sorry for us and spoke to some officials on our behalf. He also levelled Chunmun's teeth so that he won't be able to bite people," she says.
Although some street performers train the simians to entertain people and earn a living through them, correspondents say not many Indians are known to keep monkeys as pets.

In a rare case, a woman in the north-eastern state of Tripura was known to have adopted a monkey whom she used to breastfeed.

Fighting the crocodile that 'ate my wife'

Four months ago, Demeteriya Nabire was killed by a crocodile when she went to the lake near her home to fetch water. The animal later came back to the area but found Nabire's husband waiting, ready to take revenge.

Demeteriya Nabire was at the water's edge with a group of women from her village - they were gathering water from Uganda's Lake Kyoga when the crocodile grabbed her. It dragged her away and she was never seen again.
Her husband, Mubarak Batambuze, was devastated - Nabire was pregnant when she died, and he had lost not only his wife but an unborn child as well. He felt powerless. But then last month he heard the crocodile had returned.
"Somebody called me and said, 'Mubarak, I have news for you - the crocodile that took your wife is here - we are looking at it now.'"
The 50-year-old fisherman made his way to the lake with some friends. "He was a very big monster, and we tried fighting him with stones and sticks. But there was nothing we could do," he says.
So Batambuze went to visit the local blacksmith.

"I explained to him that I was fighting a beast that had snatched and killed my wife and unborn baby. I really wanted my revenge, and asked the blacksmith to make me a spear that could kill the crocodile dead.

Illiterate President

How would it feel to have a president whose academic credential is so low or does not exist at all? I want to imagine him in a room, on the spotlight with Obama or Merkel or Putin or Brown.

Will this have anything to do with his carrying capacity of his vision for Nigeria,his oratory or speech IQ? His eloquence or in-eloquence,his speech charisma,frail and pale looks,what will they mean for the brand 'NIGERIA'?

Buhari's inability to speak in visionary numbers and figures of how he will turn Nigeria great doesnt make him a prefered choice,just like his greatest rival in the race for presidency.They both do not have thought provoking manifestos.

However,time has our answers ready and we shall wait.

Albinos fetch plenty cash for witch doctors

These graphic images show how albinos living in Tanzania are being attacked and often hacked to death for their limbs in widespread witchcraft practices.
Referred to as 'White Ghosts' in their communities, many believe their body parts bring good luck and wealth.
And the rich are willing to pay for such superstitions, with some forking out up to £2,600 for a limb, and as much as £50,000 for a whole body.
The sick trade has seen families turn on their own loved ones with witch doctors using body parts in their rituals and turning them into charms and potions.
Many of those attacked are children, who are 'hunted down like animals', with suspicion often turning on family members.

There have also been cases of husbands turning on wives due to the lure of making money. Many are so badly mutilated they die from their injuries.

Officially, 72 people with albinism have been brutally murdered in Tanzania over the past five years and many others left mutilated. But charities fear most murders go unreported and it is impossible to know how many babies are killed at birth.

According to the charity Standing Voice, which is working to stop human rights violations against marginalised groups, the stigma that surrounds albinism has been ingrained in society for generations.
Those involved in witchcraft also operate under a 'code of silence', which has made it even more difficult for authorities to investigate.
A spokesman said: "Seen as a curse from God, albinos are believed to bring bad luck to the households they are born in to.

"Many are killed at birth or rejected by their families. Judged by their skin colour alone they are continually dehumanised and ostracised within their communities.
"This stigmatisation has reached an unimaginable new level.

Harry Freeland / www.standingvoice.org

Hereditary: Albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1,400

"This practice has been fuelled by witchcraft. Witch doctors say the magic charms are more powerful if they contain body parts from people with albinism, which has led to a lucrative criminal trade in these body parts.
"In a society where poverty is rife, this horrific practice is becoming more widespread. To date only five people have been convicted in Tanzania for these crimes despite 100 confirmed attacks."
Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes.
According to experts it affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often due to inbreeding in remote areas. There are approximately 17,000 people with albinism in Tanzania.
The shocking treatment of albinos in Tanzania led Harry Freefold to create a documentary.
In the Shadow of the Sun tells the story of two albino men as they attempt to follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear.
It was filmed over six years and shows first hand how albinos are living in fear for their lives. One of the men who features is Josephat Torner, who was born the only albino child out of 35 siblings.
He has spent his life campaigning for albino rights.

Superstitions: Albinos are targeted by witchdoctors

He said: 'People with the albinism are being hunted and killed for our body parts. It is because people want to become rich.
'We are still living in danger. It is because people, they have different ideas. Some people, they are thinking they should get our body parts and sell to different places."
Josephat believes it could be rich businessmen and politicians behind the trade in body parts, but is determined to help those with albinism live normal lives.
"We can't be refugees in our own country just because of our colour."
But the attacks have led to segregation, with hundreds of albino children being moved to live in special government schools surrounded by high walls and guarded by police. Yet it still hasn't stopped the sick trade continuing.
The most recent case is that of four-year-old Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi who was abducted from her home in December.
Despite promises of rewards and her father and uncle being arrested in connection with her disappearance, she has not been found.

Mr freefold, who was also one of the founders of standing voice, added: "We are holding a press conference in Tanzania next week, but are expecting the worst."

Magic Banks

From experience, investments that promise outrageous and quick returns have always been scam;and this is no different.It proves that hardwork,diligence and patience are superior ways of making a living.Examples are rife in these kind of failed promises like in the network marketing,crazy issuance of IPOs and the eventual stock market crash 2008/2009 in Nigeria.

The proprietor of a popular secondary school in Abaka­liki, the capital of Ebonyi State, Dr Pius (surname withheld), died recently. Family sources at­tributed the death of the seasoned educationist, who hailed from Ngodo village in Afikpo North Lo­cal Government Area of Ebonyi State, to frustration arising from a multi million naira investment gone awry.
According to an impeccable family source, “Dr Pius (surname withheld by us) invested about N50 million in a wonder bank which promised tan­talising returns on investments but he lost all the money. The promoters of the scheme had made promises to the effect that they will soon begin to pay investors but after waiting endlessly for some years without getting back his investment, he began to think and worry so much that his health took a dip. And the man died.”
Dr Pius was one of the custom­ers of Cash Flow ABI (American Biographical Institute) Network Limited, an organisation which pro­moted various schemes and offered extra-ordinary returns on investments to its clients but had been unable to discharge its obligation to them for about three years.
Indeed, the development is taking its toll on the thousands of investors in Ebonyi State and elsewhere whose investments appear trapped in the or­ganization. It was learnt that some of the investors had committed suicide while some developed such ailments as stroke and hypertension which in­capacitated them and, even claimed the lives of many.
One of the investors or victims, Mr Leonard Ugama, a retiree, recently told the reporter in his residence at Uburu in Ohaozara Local Govern­ment Area of Ebonyi State: “Yes, many of the investors have died, even somebody we may regard as the highest investor, the owner of a secondary school at Abakaliki died as a result of frustration. He threw in all he had worked for and it got trapped. Some died in Uburu here too.”
Another source said: “Many of the Cash Flow investors are dying and I do not think it is natural death. Many of them who were healthy not long ago have been plagued by all manner of ailments. It has to do with their in­vestments which vanished just like that. You know, we are poor people, so if you lose all you have laboured for in one go, there is nobody to help you. So, many of them are turning into vegetable.”
Rev. Charles Egbo, ICT manager of Cash Flow, Ebonyi State chapter, told the reporter that the network had many packages in online business, building investment, robot invest­ment, car investment, and soft loan facility. He added that the organisa­tion was “having close to N152 mil­lion investments from Ebonyi State and more than 1800 clients in the state,” but a source hinted that the ‘in­vestments’ could be much more than that amount. “I believe that they are indebted to Ebonyi people to the tune of more than N500 million. It is diffi­cult to see a family in the community without an investor or victim as the case may be. If you send money to your aged parents in the village, they will go and ‘invest’ it and go hungry. One elderly man was boasting to his son that he will surprise the young man,” the source disclosed.
It was gathered that “the investors were spread across various social strata. Educated, semi-educated and stark illiterates. Professionals, civil servants, businessmen and artisans all went for easy wealth and invested handsomely. In fact, anyone who was not part of the deal was regarded as lacking business acumen.”
How the cookie crum­bled
Many of the Cash Flow investors have been weeping in the valley of tears for years. They are dancing on the canvass of despair, sorrow and grief following the disappearance of their life savings and loans obtained with running interests from coopera­tives, among other sources.
Madam Rachael Nnennaya Chuk­wu, a teacher, is an investor with Cash Flow. Indeed, for her, it is like a bad dream. Cash Flow lifted her to an Olympian height, so to say and plunged her into a deep pit of shit. The reporter met her recently and she told a heart touching story. According to her, the investment nearly tore her family apart even as her integrity is now at stake. Her son in-law, brother, sister and church invested through her but their investments went down the drain or so it seems.
Hear her: “On October 1, 2011, I met one headmistress, Mrs Ebere Aja and she was introducing Cash Flow. She asked me if I knew any­thing about Cash Flow. I wanted to explain it in economic terms but she told me to stop blowing grammar. She said that Cash Flow is an organi­sation that rewards investors with 70 percent of their investment within 45 days. I asked her to explain it prop­erly and she did. She told me that if I was ready at the time that I could invest and in 45 days I would get an alert of 70 percent of what I deposited in the bank. I told her that I did not have money but that there was some money in my custody and that I will go and withdraw it and she said okay. The money belonged to the Mothers Guild in the church and I am their president.
“On Ocbober 13, 2011, we went to the bank in Abakaliki where the money was and we withdrew it. The amount was N700,000. I came home and met them at the Cash Flow office. I told them that I wanted to invest with them and they gave me their account number in Diamond Bank and asked me to go and deposit it and come with the teller so that they will open a file for me. So, I went and deposited the N700,000 in the ac­count they gave me which they said automatically becomes my account; they said I would be withdrawing my dividends from that account. After depositing the money, I brought the teller and they opened a file for me and gave me a receipt. They also gave me a certificate, showing that I had become their client. I still have the certificate. I did not want to take the money because it wasn’t mine; it was God’s money and I wanted to know if what they were saying was true.
“They didn’t give me alert until March 2012. That March 2012, they went round announcing that there will be verification and documenta­tion. It was even announced on the radio, that the owners of the invest­ment were coming to Ebonyi State and Uburu was the headquarters for the state. After checking their ledger, they discovered that I had not re­ceived any alert. After the documen­tation, they said I had N1.7million and asked me if I wanted the money. I told them that I wanted N1.6million and immediately they issued me a UBA cheque for N1.6million. They told me that they had five more days to stay at Uburu and that they were not fraudsters. They said that if I en­countered any problem at the bank I should call them with the number they gave me. I went to the bank at Abakaliki and cashed N1.6million.I left N100,000 in the account. I said it was God’s money, so I used the mon­ey to buy Toyota Bus for the church. I bought the bus for N1.2 million but we used the balance to b ring back the bus from Togo, registration and seats.”
Madam Chukwu became a super star in the community. She was the cynosure of all eyes wherever she went and everyone wanted to be like her. She continued: “With the way I spent the money, the news spread like a wild fire. Wherever I went, people pointed at me, saying this is Madam Chukwu who bought a bus for the church. Individuals and groups were coming, asking me how it happened and I explained everything to them. On account of that, people were rushing to invest with Cash Flow. In August 2012, they brought another promo, saying it attracted 50 percent interest on investment because as at that March 2012, they had reduced the interest to 20 percent. But I got 50 percent for November and December 2011 and 20 percent for January, Feb­ruary and March 2012. That was how they calculated my money.
“When the CEO, Engineer Phile­mon Gora, came with the 50 per cent promo in August 2012, he also re­duced the days of maturity to 30 days from 45 days. The news spread to nooks and crannies of Ebonyi State and people rushed to deposit mon­ey. The owner of Cash Flow came himself to an old hotel in Uburu, Chi­manelo Hotel and announced that his intention was to enrich people. There was a sea of human heads there. He said that he was not a politician and there was no politician who could compete with him in terms of mon­ey. He usually quoted Malachi 3:10, imploring everyone to pay tithe on whatever they were paid. He said no investor in Cash Flow will ever be broke. So, so many people invested within the period.”
Madam Chukwu added: “Many people borrowed money with run­ning interests to invest. I told my in-law who was working with the bank and many of my relatives. I told them I had seen the pathway to making money. I also invested another N1.55 million plus the N100,000 I already had with them. So, I had a total in­vestment of NI.65 million. They said that in 30 days “you will get 50per cent dividend on your investment and if you want to withdraw your investment you can do so after 30 days.” Since that August, till Decem­ber 2012, people were filling forms to withdraw but nothing was given to them. Then people started crying because many of them had borrowed the money they invested with the in­tention of paying back the loans.
“Gora later announced that every­one should go and open an account in a micro finance bank on Ogoja Road, Abakaliki. He categorized their clients according to the value of investment. He said that those who invested N5million and above would be getting a certain amount of money weekly until everything is paid if they so desired. And those who had between N1 million and N5 million would be receiving a certain amount of money through the micro finance bank. We rushed and opened accounts in the micro finance bank but nothing has been paid ever since. Those I introduced to the scheme in­clude my brother, sister, son in-law and the church.”
Madam Chukwu has been under severe pressure since the investments got stuck. She had been called names and accused of cheating. It almost destroyed her family. “I have been on fire since that time, as if I embezzled the money. The reason they gave me money was that they saw what I did with money from the scheme. But it appeared to them that I did not in­vested the money or that I refused to return the money to them. This thing caused a lot of problems in my fami­ly; it almost separated my son in-law and I because he brought N1 million. He appreciated what I did when I bought the vehicle for the church be­cause I explained everything to him but when the money got trapped, everything changed. They trusted me but with what happened, trouble arose.
“I am pleading for the man (Gora) to bring back my money. It is one of my prayer points. If it were my money, I would have endured it but it made me a liar. If I get the money, I will prove to them that I did not dupe them,” she said in an emotion soaked voice. It was learnt that “a few other investors who embraced the scheme early made bountiful harvest and be­gan to spread the ‘good’ news in the community and beyond. To convince anyone who had an iota of doubt, they flaunted the gains they had made within few months of investing in the scheme and even boasted about what they would do with money in the near future.
“As the early beneficiaries spread the good news as it were, many other investors came aboard. Many people who maintained accounts in regular banks withdrew all they had in them and invested same in the scheme. Even those people who didn’t have money of their own did not want to be left out. Hence they went to bor­row from any available sources, in­cluding money lenders, cooperative societies and traders unions, with running interests. The situation was such that the scheme was announced in the church and worshippers were encouraged to take up the opportu­nity.”
Like father, like sons
Mr Leonard Ugama, a pensioner, also narrated to the reporter how he invested in Cash Flow. Ironically, he didn’t invest alone; two of his sons were also investors in the ill-fated transaction. He said: “In November 2011, an old man told me that there was an announcement in their church that there was somebody who want­ed to make people rich. He said that the person was a Christian, that he was interested in helping people. He said that his pastor’s wife invested with the man and she had been get­ting some interest. They referred me to the Cash Flow office in Uburu. I went there and they showed me the returns that people had been getting. So, I decided to invest.
“My first investment was on No­vember 4, 2011; I invested N250,000 that time. When it started yielding, I opened another one with a little less than N250,000. I continued until I reached the fourth and fifth entries. They were paying us as you de­manded; they were giving us 20per cent for 45 days. So, after sometime they said that they were going to do promo and that the promo will attract 50per cent interest. Many people like me sourced money and invested in the promo which they called Local Robot. From the time of the Local  Robot, we started having problems. I was expecting that when I get money from the ones I had invested earlier, I would put it in the promo but it didn’t work that way because what I was expecting was never paid to me. Robot, we started having problems. I
“Later on, we started hearing the rumour that the people were having problems and we were waiting. One day, the owner of Cash Flow came by himself to address us. He told us that people were jealous of the peo­ple investing with him. He said that very soon, he will be free and start paying us, which he never did. We have decided to wait until whenever it is God’s wish that we shall get our investment back.
“I invested N1.3million in the pro­mo. Before the promo, I had N646, 800 in the scheme. There was a time he asked us to pay N50,000 to facili­tate the release of our funds and some of us did. In my immediate family, we were three that invested – my two sons and me. One of my sons invest­ed N700,000 in the promo and had a balance of N20,000 from other en­tries he made. The other one invested N200,000 plus N20,000 from other entries he made. They do not an­swer phone calls but when you send them a text, anybody there can reply. It was about a year ago that we had any form of communication. He has made us suffer beyond our expec­tation. My appeal, therefore, is that he should do something to help by giving us at least what we invested, even if the dividends are not forth­coming. Many of the investors have died, even somebody we may regard as the highest investor, the owner of a secondary school at Abakaliki died. Some died in Uburu here.”
In an earlier report, some of the investors had lamented their inabili­ty to access their investments. Mrs. Florence Chukwu, a retiree, had dis­closed that she invested N120,000 without getting anything in return. Mrs. Irene Ada Akpo, a school prin­cipal, said that she invested millions of naira in the scheme. She said: “I joined in December 2011 with the sum of N500,000. I was getting my interest up till June 2012 before the CEO introduced what he called ‘promo’ which he said that if some­one puts a certain sum, the interest would be 50 percent. So, some of us even borrowed money to join. I personally at that period put in N1. 6million. Then, we waited and the next month when we were supposed to have gotten our interest, nothing was forthcoming. We later learnt that the EFCC were interrogating him somehow. We continued to get in­formation that they will soon be over it and that about eight or nine of his accounts were closed, that we should be patient. Then, he came to Uburu and had a seminar at Chimnelo Ho­tel. Many of us attended. In fact, the hall was filled to the brim. He narrat­ed his ordeal in the EFCC, how they asked him to open a micro-finance bank and that he struggled to open it. He gave us some papers he called modalities for payment. He told us that the EFCC said that he should pay us our capital but that he was willing to add the interest there. And that was the reason he refused to pay his clients their capital only. Most of us believed him. They gave everybody the paper tagged modalities for pay­ment; some of us borrowed money again to pay into one account called Gadonkay GLC or something like that. I personally borrowed N50,000 and paid it in so that my money will come out but up till this moment, I have not seen anything”.
Mrs Precious Odi said that she in­vested N650,000, adding: “To wors­en my case, I collected the money I deposited with Cash Flow from someone and I’m paying interest on it up till now. So, each time I collect­ed my salary, I use it to service my debt, leaving me with nothing.”
Ugo Okolie, a teacher at Commu­nity High School, Uburu invested N70,000 while Mrs.Orienta, also a teacher invested over N60, 000. Another teacher, Victor Nnenna Ene, also a teacher, lost more than N70,000. Mrs Lucy Umahi, council staff, also invested N50,000.
Mr Onu Agodichi Emmanu­el committed N220,000 and Hon. Thomas U. Chukwu, invested over N1million. According to Chukwu, “the CEO came sometime ago and addressed us. He told us that those with deposit worth up to N1million will be rewarded with accumulated interests of over N1million. He told me to pay N50,000 into his account with Diamond Bank. He called it counter fund, saying it will facilitate repayment of my deposit. He also told me to go to a micro finance bank in Abakaliki to open an account with N1,000. He said that once we comply with these, they would com­mence payment to all depositors within a space of one week.”
About three years later, no investor had been paid.
Why payments stopped
Rev Egbo had told the reporter that the firm had “problems with Securities and Exchange Commis­sion (SEC) which made our ac­counts to be closed. Up to eight of our accounts were closed; we had no access to our accounts, that was why we couldn’t pay again. But the board of directors and CEO are pro­cessing the matter with SEC. They have finalized their investigations with him. They went to the banks with him and inspected the accounts and saw that the whole money was still intact. That what he was say­ing were not mere fabrications or falsehood. The CEO, Engineer Philemon Gora, a native of Kadu­na State, has been a Christian and truthful somebody. Since we came to work with him, we’ve not seen him misbehaving or maltreating or intimidating any client. And he is somebody who doesn’t want to hear that a staff harassed a customer.”

It was learnt that the firm also had issues with the CBN, EFCC and ICPC. The reporter wanted to con­firm the situation with the Kaduna office but the call rang out without response. On January 19, 2015, an sms was sent to the phone number on the certificate of investment issued to customer but there was no reply.