Sunday, December 8, 2013
Asaba as Nigeria’s first capital
By Emeka Esogbue
It is baffling that in the face of Asaba serving as Nigeria’s first ever capital, Calabar and Lokoja are laying claims to the same historical position in Nigeria. Calabar’s claim especially is as a result of its thorough determination to boost its eco tourism profiles to attract local and international tourist lovers from around the world. But it is wrong to arrogate to itself what never occurred in history, particularly as records are there to buttress what truly transpired.
Claiming that Calabar was Nigeria’s first seat of power is non-recognition of Asaba in the colonial administration of the country. The British started the administration of Nigeria from the area called Asaba and propitiously that Asaba is still a part of the same Nigeria today. Therefore there was Calabar because there was Asaba administratively. The British cannot write the history of its first colonial headquarters in the area now called ‘Niger-Area’ (Nigeria) without Asaba. Any such history that neglects Asaba will be indistinguishable to the neglect of the colonial activities of the Royal Niger Company before Calabar.
Before Calabar, Asaba was the preferred choice of the British Royal Niger Company and Royal Niger Company was the incorporated institution of the British colonialists with which the British entered into treaties with locals and also conquered territories which they in due course annexed to the British Empire. It was on the potency of the Royal Niger Company that the British derived authority as well as imperial influence to present and support arguments on claims of territories at the Berlin conference. It was on the claim of Royal Niger Company that Great Britain’s claims were so recognized by other world leaders. In fact, the Royal Niger Company was Britain and
Britain was Royal Niger Company, since the company was its extended agent.
For proper comprehension of the discourse at hand, Sir George Goldie formed the National African Company in 1879, a mercantile company that operated in the lower valley of the River Niger in West Africa. He then persuasively encouraged other traders with similar economic aims to join him in the ownership of the company. This company then became an amalgamated British company. The company later translated to Royal Niger Company. Following the Berlin Conference of 1885 which made the partition of Africa possible, the Royal Niger Company in 1886 received a charter of incorporation authorized to engage in administration on behalf of the British.
It was the Royal Niger Company that extended the British influence in what later became Nigeria including Calabar and Lokoja, two other two claimants. The Royal Niger Company played significant role in the making of the country. For instance, it was the Royal Niger Company that signed treaties with the emirs of Sokoto and Gondo in 1885, an arrangement that effectively secured the areas of the Benue River and Lake Chad, thus blocking the advancing Germans. If Royal Niger
Company’s activities extended to far away Sokoto and Lake Chad, it is historically deceptive to conclude that Asaba never served as Nigeria’s first capital. The argument here is that Asaba was the headquarters of colonial administration of the British in Nigeria and that Asaba is still a part of Nigeria.
Royal Niger Company did not manage to subdue the Fulanis but it acquired for the British several northern emirates and forced them to recognize its suzerainty. It is historically correct to state that Asaba served Nigeria as its first capital from 1886-1900. There were a number of factors that ensured the relocation of the headquarters from Asaba to Calabar. In 1899, the Royal Niger Company became locked with territorial dispute with the French and added to this was the near perpetual complaints from the people of Brass which bothered on commercial interest but one must not fail to recall the stiffest Ekumeku resistance that the British faced in the hands of the Anioma people. The Ekumeku movement which spanned from 1898 to 1914 historically remains the longest resistance put up by any group against colonial imperialism in Nigeria and this forced the British to relocate to Calabar.
The argument in some quarters that the British never ruled Nigeria directly with Asaba as its capital but the Royal Niger Company did is no more than historical mendacity, perverted submission, and confusing argument. But if this must be accepted as factual, Calabar cannot also be said to be the capital of Nigeria but capital of Oil River Protectorate established in 1891 since the British never also ruled Nigeria directly from Calabar but with Oil Rivers Protectorate. Again, there was Oil River protectorate because there was Royal Niger Company just as administratively there was Calabar because there was Asaba.
There cannot be difference with Royal Niger Company and Oil Rivers Protectorate.
A history of Sir Goldie shows that he was a colonial administrator who worked for the British colonial interest, developing British rule on the River Niger and also responsible for bringing northern Nigeria under the British protectorate and finally part of independent
Nigeria. His company governed the area obtained by him for the British crown. It was on the strength of Royal Niger Company’s activities with Asaba as its capital that the British successfully claimed at the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884 -1885, the areas that would later extend to Calabar. It was also the transference of the company’s charter to the imperial British government on December 31, 1899 that made possible the relocation of the nation’s capital to Calabar.
That the British colonial activities began first in Asaba but later extended to Calabar as its headquarters; that the same colonial power being Britain was involved; that the British operated with charter first with Asaba as its headquarters then Calabar; that the British concealed its interest using Royal Niger Company as a tool in Asaba, later Oil River Protectorate in Calabar and for the fact that Asaba from which the British first operated remains a part of Nigeria, Asaba remains Nigeria’s first capital.
The claim that the British never ruled Nigeria directly from Asaba therefore cannot lay claim to being the nation’s first capital is not only unsound to historians but obnoxious to true sense of judgment.
Granted that the making of Nigeria was at its decisive stage at the time the British made Asaba its capital but as it turned out, Asaba became favoured as the first ever headquarters of the British colonial administration. Asaba was the first capital of Nigeria, not Calabar or Lokoja that assumed the position in 1914.
•Esogbue, is a Lagos based journalist
Benue, Delta arrive with largest contingents for maiden National Youth Games
Premium Times
Benue and Delta States arrived with the largest contingents as the maiden National Youth Games, NYG, gets underway at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The two states have about 200 athletes and officials each, with no fewer than 31 states already in town so far for the event organised by the National Sports Commission, NSC. The event is scheduled for between December 6 and 14, 2013, with Enugu, Kebbi and Yobe coming with the lowest contingent of 48, 57 and 59 respectively.
The states already in camp include Borno, Kebbi, Kano, Akwa Ibom, FCT, Abia, Imo, Delta, Taraba, Enugu, Bayelsa, Osun, Kwara, Benue, Cross River, Rivers, Oyo, Anambra and Bauchi.
Others are Ebonyi, Kogi, Yobe, Plateau, Gombe, Sokoto, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Ogun, Ondo and Katsina, Lagos, Edo, Adamawa, Zamfara, Ekiti, and Jigawa State.
The competition is scheduled to be declared open officially on Sunday, with a football match by 4 p.m., while technical meetings would commence on the same day.
A visit to the athletes’ camp in Kubwa on Saturday morning showed that various state contingents were seen eating their breakfast, while others were collecting their meal tickets.
Other forms of business are gearing up preparatory to the commencement of the sports event, with more than 15 caterers positioning themselves at the makeshift cafeteria to serve the athletes, officials, volunteers and stewards.
A welfare subcommittee member of the Local Organising Committee, LOC, Shammah Aliu, said no fewer than 40 caterers were hired to cook for the athletes and officials.
He said the caterers were kept in different locations, including the second athletes camp located in Soaka, FCT and managed by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.
An ambulance from the NSC was also seen stationed in the camp, while states like Niger, Bayelsa, Anambra and Imo came with their ambulances to complement that of the NSC.
A combined team of security personnel including Police, Civil Defence Corps, road safety corps and private security guards were seen patrolling the camp.
The security coordinator in the camp, Bridget Galadima, said 40 police officers would be deployed to man security at the camp for the next seven days. She said the police would also be working with civil defence corps officials, road safety corps officials and others.
“There is no problem about security, the camp is peaceful,” Mr. Galadima said, adding that the police would adopt the stop-and-search approach from Sunday so as to stop unwanted persons from gaining access into the camp.
The Chaperon of Delta contingents, Dorcas Oburumu, said things were working well, adding that she was still observing the developments as it was too early to analyse events.
Some of the athletes, who bore their expectations of the game, said the important thing was for them to do well for their states in the various sporting events registered.
An athlete representing Kano said “Kano Pillars is the defending champion of the Nigeria Premier League; the athletes here want to do well like Pillars players. We came here in Kano Pillars’ bus and I hope it will motivate us to win.”
About 224 technical officials, 24 competition stewards, 115 medical staff and 50 volunteers are engaged by the LOC to take care of the athletes during the games. Screening of the athletes to ascertain their true age and school commenced on Saturday.
Fourteen sports, including football, boxing, taekwondo, handball, volleyball, badminton, among others, would be competed for at the games.
(NAN)
Nelson Mandela Vs Obafemi Awolowo.
By ZENTS KUNLE SOWUNMI
A reader asked the Oracle to compare Awolowo to Nelson Mandela and this is what the Oracle sent to him.
Please don’t compare Chief Awolowo to Nelson Mandela. Awolowo impacted his people in the West of Nigeria, Mandela impacted the whole world with the spirit of forgiveness, however, Awolowo’s education programs, his demand for independence for Nigeria, his jail term in Nigeria for 3-4 years, his books impacted Nigerians and the South Africans, when they came in thousands to enjoy free education when OBJ was military Head of State in the seventies , OBJ made all the workers to donate 5% of their pay towards the fight against apartheid, the best you can give your children is education, like Prof Babs Fafunwa defined education as freedom from ignorance, education was the tool Awolowo used to free the Yoruba tribe, how the best of Mandela’s legacy will be sustained by the world, by his people is what the world should pray for, Obafemi Awolowo’s impact would have matched Nelson Mandela if he had his country Nigeria behind him or if Oduduwa was a Republic, that failure put him behind Nelson Mandela who cut across whites and Blacks races, who preached love fairness and respect.
However, both of them were great sons of Africa, like Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe , Herbert Macaulay, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, the Oracle says you can only become a hero if you finished the race with a larger audience, most heroes started as rebels, that was how Mandela did it more than Awolowo, but as a Yoruba who directly benefited from the programs of Papa Awo, I will pick Awolowo over Nelson Mandela anytime any day, as a Nigerian, I will pick all the heroes of our freedom like Herbert Macaulay who started it all in Nigeria, including Sardauna of Sokoto Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Akintola, even OBJ, Muritala Mohamed, and General Buhari, and Gani Fawehinmi, even Fela Anikulapo Kuti over Nelson Mandela, however, as a man with a Global view now , Nelson Mandela will be the greatest man to ever stepped on the political platform of Africa, more like Maitama Ghadi, and Chairman Mao, the best you can do as a politician is to live in the hearts of your people, both men will live in the hearts of their people, Mandela will live in hearts of billions worldwide than Awolowo in millions of the Yoruba tribe or some Nigerians that still share in his values.
Finally, when the music is over, and the mourning is gone, the tears can no longer be a factor for failure, but who you are, what you have for yourself and others , only then you learn to forgive not just everyone but yourself, and you can laugh over your mistakes and failures, you grow up and smile because you have finished the race, those are the values that put Mandela ahead of all leaders not just in Africa but worldwide. He did not attain this by himself, he had Walter Sisilu his commrade in the struggle , and his wife Winnie Mandela who carried the revolution worldwide, how she charmed the world with her beauty, her smiles, eyes and stallion height like a horse, the Oracle still believes Winnie was or is the tigress behind the success of Mandela.
May the souls of those who fought to free Africans before after colonization rest in peace from the time of Overameh of Benin, Jaja of Opobo, King Pepple of Bonny, up to Nelson Mandela who finished the race for them.
Zents Sowunmi
The flawed Anambra election
By Aruviere Martin Egharhevwa
The greatest fear, perhaps, of the inconclusive governorship election in Anambra State eight days ago, is that the next general election in the country is threatened. Anambra was, for the purpose of that election, a prototype Nigeria; and if INEC could not arrange a hitch-free poll in one state, how can it do so in about 30 states simultaneously? This fear is not unfounded going by events in Anambra. Besides, the fact that the much hyped election was inconclusive and a winner could not be declared, the entire exercise was dogged by many irregularities, thereby raising fears for a free and fair election in 2015. Certainly, Anambra did not portend positive signals for future elections.
Events before the election gave hope that it would be hitch-free. The Independent National Electoral Commission had mobilised the security apparatus, brought in 21 electoral commissioners including the resident commissioner, and appointed a university vice chancellor as presiding officer. These, combined with the lessons of previous elections, elicited expectations of a free and fair contest. But contrary to the high expectation, sundry contradictions surfaced. These included late arrival of polling materials, omission of names from the electoral register, non-mobilisation of NYSC electoral officials financially to move to their duty stations, while undergraduates were used to replace the NYSC officials. Above all, there was suspected collusion by INEC officials with some political parties ostensibly to undermine the electorate.
Given the above contradictions, the outcome was easily predictable – an electoral fiasco. The election was declared inconclusive. A hurriedly rescheduled exercise in Idemili North Local Council compounded the process to the extent that no winner was declared. Initial results put the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Willie Obiano in the lead, followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Tony Nwoye and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Chris Ngige. But it was impossible for the electoral officials to declare a winner. INEC, after considering the difference between the highest scorer APGA and the runner-up PDP decided that for the election to be acceptable, the valid votes must be more than the cancelled votes.Electoral malpractices in Anambra State have become a recurring decimal. In the 2003 and 2007 elections, similar irregularities were experienced.
The contradictions of the election have once again underlined the problem of electoral misconduct that have bedeviled the country since independence and have incrementally worsened over the years.However, the bigger issue is that if election could not be conclusive in a single state despite the concentration of resources, both human and financial, it portends serious implication for nation-wide electoral exercise. Something is fundamentally wrong. The problem this time is not the Anambra people who have significantly conducted themselves peacefully despite massive disenfranchisement. It lies squarely on the laps of the umpire, INEC.
Pointing accusing fingers to the politicians under the circumstances would be diversionary. The administration of the election was fundamentally flawed as manifested in the attendant problems. The electoral umpire’s credibility as an institution has been seemingly compromised in this exercise. If the election was well conducted, the hiccups would have been avoided. The failure of INEC to pull through the Anambra election is demoralizing; and it accentuates in no small measure, the body’s capacity to conduct next year’s elections.
INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega admitted that the election was sabotaged by his own staff. While this is not in doubt, the blame must be put squarely on the Commission. This is the failure of leadership despite structural underpinnings. Under liberal democracy, election is not a one-day event; rather it is a process. The point at issue is the failure of the electoral institution more than the constraints of the actual conduct of election itself. It translates into a colossal waste of resources, which Nigerians have supportingly put at the disposal of INEC through the various electoral reforms.
What happened in effect was a damning example of how an institution can single handedly derail the course of a country. Besides, it is an indictment of the country’s leadership, and in particular, the electoral umpire, that 14 years into the fourth republic, the expected culture of conducting free elections is yet to take root. This Anambra election is significant for the singular reason that it was supposed to be the litmus test of coming electoral exercises, especially the next general election. Sadly the exercise has not only undermined the optimism of a hitch-free general election next year, it casts a huge pall of illusion on the future of the country’s democracy.
Having accepted responsibility for the present quagmire arising from the election, INEC has a duty to correct the identified and the hidden anomalies; and sanction those responsible as appropriate. Above all, it must ensure that the election ultimately and fully reflects the genuine desire of the Anambra people.
ITS ALL ABOUT STOLEN CRUDE...Things you would never have known.
BY ENA OFUGARA
I have heard some of the dumbest statements about crude oil theft from some top social critics who have never taken the time to read up or understand oil theft in the Niger Delta of Nigeria or globally. I do not know if maybe because there is little material available that deeply explains the goings-on
I have found that like me when I watch football and my team is losing, even if it is to a much better-prepared, organized and financially savvy team, I scream at my team's coach who is not even the goalkeeper that allowed in a goal my late grandma would have caught with her arthritis. NO! I still scream "he no sabi coach. the coach yeye. sack am". So also have many Nigerians been at daggers-drawn with the administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, many accusing him of either being indolent in the fight to stop oil theft, complicity in or in fact being the very thief of the crude. The only thing I have not heard is that the President's black colour/complexion is the crude that poured on him on one of the crude oil stealing missions
The most popular accusation is that he is letting "his people" of the Niger Delta steal the crude as a form of "settlement"
This article sets to give an insight into the oil theft business....what has never been in print (yes yes, I feel the coming applause...after all e no easy to carry una enter the creeks and dangerous yet lucrative business of oil theft.)
Now to avoid a case of slander and libel, most of the things I will say of people, please add "alleged" as I cannot prove anyone's involvement. What I here write, it is your choice to accept it or throw it away as baseless.
The brilliant ones amongst us will see the plausibility of the points and realize that even if it is unable to stand up in court, yet this is the true happening in the oil-rich Niger Delta and the new millionaires it spouts daily while the environment and peoples suffer.
Okay, we begin.
Oil, arms and cocaine are the three biggest international businesses of questionable nature. Blood diamond is a distant fourth.
YAR"ADUA AND GEJ
Now you must understand that OBJ in refusing for Odili and or Ibori to be president or vice, knew that these two individuals had too much power and money and so chose the powerless, docile GEJ to be Yar"Adua's vice.
Yar'Adua knew he had to stop this militancy which had gotten out of hand as both Abacha a military man and OBJ an ex military man's aggressive policies of engagement and killing was counter-productive. Yar"Adua saw that the country was losing billions from its reduced oil production and theft and knew he could not kill all the militants as Obasanjo tried to do in Odi which backfired both in oil production and in the eyes of the international community. So Yar"Adua proposed the perspicacious "amnesty program" which is a simple strategy to remove the majority of the youths of the Niger Delta and then he can go on to kill those who refuse to stop the militancy.
The strategy involved giving a pittance to these youths as payment and then going on to drain the oil. It worked and works still as it has led to companies returning to the creeks and oil production going back up.
Now he needed someone to broker the peace (same thing GEJ is asking of Buhari with the Boko Haram which Buhari refuses to do) GEJ went to the militants and there began his fight with Ibori.
Ibori was the only one militants listened to. People who are kidnapped even in Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom are returned to him at Asaba. Thus Ibori was the most powerful man from the Niger-Delta, the feeders of Nigeria. Thus he wanted and indeed showed OBJ and Yar'Adua that GEJ was a neophyte and a stranger to how militancy works. He Ibori and Alamieseigha, GEJ's benefactor were the shot-callers and not this nonentity called GEJ...Vice President or not.
GEJ upon going to the militants was body-searched...told to hands up as they patted his body for guns and or wire taps. GEJ was said to have cried as he spoke Ijaw to the militants asking why they are humiliating him their own tribesman. That is he rambo that will shoot all of them?
Thus when YarAdua took the decision to bomb CAMP 5, GEJ remembering his humiliation said nothing.
Indeed, from Asari Dokubo's earlier speeches about GEJ, you will see a lack of respect that he would not dare with Ibori.
It is only now that GEJ has used the power of presidency to curtail Asari's excesses and Asari now knows to watch his statements to GEJ.
However successful the "amnesty program" has been, it has only succeeded to stop attack on oil installations and not to stop the boys from the creeks from making money. They have been exposed to the big business that oil is and really, who stops making money when he still can?
HOW THE DEALS ARE DONE
Okay, how then are these crude oil sales done? Okay check this scenario; I Ena Ofugara find Chinese here in America wanting to buy crude. I get all four of them and we arrive Warri or Yenagoa. The Chinese do not trust me as I am a Nigerian. So they never pay upfront. They keep their vessel in international waters.
Now I locate these oil sellers who have gathered enough crude from illegal refineries in Burutu, Patani and elsewhere or have cut a pipe and have drained enough to fill a vessel. I tell them I have buyers. They too do not trust me so they ask one of the four Chinese to enter their vessel and if having loaded the vessel they refuse to pay and or run off, they murder the Chinese. This is human security/collateral for their oil. They get the vessel, pulled sometimes by tugboat to international waters where the Chinese vessel is waiting and then when payment is made, the Chinese is released to them. I get my cut or I am killed...as greed and double-cross are ever present where these huge monies exchange hands.
GEJ'S CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP
The moneys that derive from these ventures make ending these businesses a very daunting if not impossible task.
Let us take a look at America, they spend the most money on securing their borders. They have the Coast Guards, Marines, FBI, CIA, and the police. Coca plants, from which you process cocaine do not grow in America. Yet if you stand back at many metro stations and street corners, and watch well, I am sure you will find someone you can buy cocaine or crack or at the ;least, marijuana from.
Now even if cocaine comes in small parcels, marijuana is very bulky and yet all of them find their way through the security apparatuses to even high schools and colleges...without fail.
Now why is this so? Why is almighty America that is able to detect those who try to harm the country, that spies on all the presidents of the world, that knows what you ate for dinner and if you were with your girlfriend while your wife was pregnant, why are they losing the "war on drugs"?
The same reason Nigeria will almost always be unable to stop oil theft....THE STAKES ARE TOO HIGH. TOO MUCH MONEY TO BE MADE. TYPE OF MONEY YOU SHOOT YOUR MOTHER OVER AND FEEL NO REGRET... AS YOU DO A HUGE BURIAL FOR HER....WITH THE PROCEEDS FROM THE DEALS.
Okay, a very zealous president decides to fight the oil theft. He gets some solid no-nonsense policemen and soldiers from the North and sends them to the Niger Delta with the instructions "torpedo any vessel with stolen oil"
The Hausa man is determined to do just that as he waves his three wives and ten children goodbye, asking Allah to watch over them for him.
He arrives Warri and gets on the boat with fellow officers as they patrol the waters.
He finds however that firstly, the creeks are not mapped as the country's leaders never envisaged they would ever develop that area. It was only good for draining the oil and not mapping it so as to get medical help or food etc to the denizens of the creeks. So even the soldiers rely on the Ijaw Private to navigate the boat for them.
He also finds that all eyes are on him as they patrol and the conversations...many of which is in Hausa as his townsman interprets what the Yoruba superior officer is saying to him. They are asking him about his family and if he wants the best life for them and he of course says he does.
And then they see the big vessel in the distance and they approach with speed. He gets his rifle ready and prays to Allah to protect him as he serves his country. Their patrol boat stops the vessel and he expects gunfire as he sees a very well armed boat of locals with leaves and red pieces of cloth around their arms, obviously voodoo as they clutch AK47s and SMGs ....superior guns to his.
He is somewhat afraid and wonders if they can win this battle should these people refuse to surrender. His thoughts immediately go to his 3 wives and even the fourth he is preparing to marry.
And then what happens next amazes him. The superior officer boards the vessel, returns with a huge suitcase and some expensive cigars and he is all smiles as the locals scream "officer! All correct sir" and let a few gunshots into the air as they and the oil vessel recede into the distance approaching international waters.
He is taken aback. He looks and sees eyes now furtively turned away from him. There and then the officer hands each of the JTF (joint task force) members a stack of money and hands him his.
This goes against everything he was taught in the mosque and in the army. But as he refuses to stretch out his hand, he hears a gun rooster behind him and there and then he knows the choices before him....become rich or die poor...right here right now.
He reluctantly stretches forth his hands and takes the money, his survival instincts taking over....undesirous of a death in the slick waters of thee Niger Delta.
He looks at the money and his heart skips a beat...the stack is in clean hundred dollar bills. Adamu his 14 years old son can marry his first wife and he his fourth with this. He almost says "Allah Akbar, but stops himself as he knew this was against the teachings of the prophet. But what other choice does he have?
And as he comes ashore and visits his brothers at Hausa Quarters in Warri, as he hands in the dollars and gets 300 thousand naira in exchange at the black market, he realizes it is not a bad first day at the job. The Hausa people rush their complimentary cards to him and ask him to bring the dollars to them next time for better exchange rate....next time? Wow, what has he been wasting his time in the North for ever since?
The above is the everyday scenario of the JTF and attempts to stop oil theft. What government can pay its security 300 grand a trip? How do you compete with these businessmen?
America with its social security net, better society, insurance, etc etc are unable to convince their officers not to collect "egunje" (bribe) how then do you really expect the Nigerian soldier or police who are used to collecting twenty naira as bribe in broad daylight with kids watching, to refuse 300 thousand?
Now make no mistake, this is not a new development. It is only getting attention now because this administration has gone on to speak endlessly about it and are "clueful" enough to know there is only one way to fight it.....we will get to that shortly.
WHY DOES ASARI DOKUBOH AND MANY MILITANT AND EX MILITANT LEADERS MUSLIMS?
BECAUSE ALL THOSE WHO STOLE CRUDE OIL USED TO BE HAUSA MUSLIMS. Yes, Ijaws and all in the creeks were mere serfs/boyboy to these Hausas prior to Ken Saro Wiwa's wake up call. For "Alhaji" to trust and love you, you had to convert to Islam and trust the brilliant Dokuboh whose village has no mosque and who cannot explain how he became Muslim in the creeks to anyone except of course now you know.
These theft are why the word ALHAJI came to mean "oga", Millionaire" "master" to the average Niger Deltan.
Then came Ken Saro Wiwa, who knew these Hausas were not more intelligent than he and knew it was HIS OIL as in OGONI PEOPLE OIL that these Hausa/Fulani were using their own people as slaves while they made all the money....from his oil.
So he began the struggles against the oppression and theft. In fact to him, NIGERIA WAS STEALING HIS OIL AS NOTHING CAME BACK TO HIS PEOPLE.
Yes, Hausa with Yoruba support in following Ahmahdu Bello's script of saying "We must treat the Niger-Delta people as conquered territories" never bothered to give back to nor feed the goose that lay the golden egg. Lagos, then Abuja was developed while Oloibiri that brought the oil died...I mean DIED...yes Oloibiri where oil was first found is a dead town. The blood was pumped from its veins, its heart and liver harvested so Lagos can be healthy.
Same thing was done to Abuja as Ogidigbe, Kpokpo, Ugborodo and Gbodoro etc continue to be wastelands with no government presence as its resources are drained through the pipelines.
ENTER IBORI, ALAMIESEIGHA AND ODILI, THE GOVERNORS OF THE NIGER-DELTA STATES
These young governors immediately see the potentials of the wake up call by Ken Saro Wiwa. The Ijaws and other tribes in the creek, beholden no more to their Hausa slave-masters are now mentored by the Iboris and Odilis and Alamieseighas who it is rumoured armed them even better and became the ones who now market the stolen crude...and why not? Is the oil in Arab lands not owned by the sheikhs? It is rumoured other governors started calling Ibori the Sheikh as we heard he even attempted to own refineries in South Africa.
The wealth from the oil theft got into Alams and Ibori's head and they started asking for 50 percent derivation which pitched them against then president Obasanjo who then ensured Alamieseigha got arrested in the UK and then began the famous "Ibori is an ex convict" court case which brought Ibori to his knees as he would have been removed from office as he is an exconvict twice over during his time in the UK.
Where you one of the mumus that laughed at GEJ when he called for international help to stop oil theft? Did you join the media and facebook critics who insulted our president and called him "olodo" and "clueless" for asking their help? Slap yourself twice. Done? Good!!!
America knew they would never be able to stop security operatives from allowing drugs in. The knew the simple economic truism "WHERE THERE IS DEMAND, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SUPPLY". This was true in the PROHIBITION and it will be true forevermore. And so they devised "follow the money". They passed laws and got International cooperation to declare drug trade an international crime and any moneys gotten/laundered through it was to be confiscated and shared between America and the host/domicile country. Switzerland and Luxembourg, the choice location for such moneys had to agree and that way the Escobars and and Griselda Blancos lost huge moneys to America and Switzerland and many druglords are no longer able to stay in business for long as it has become really hard to stash the cash.
This is what GEJ asks for stolen crude. It will reduce it....not end it even....just like drugs.
GEJ is pushing for crude oil theft to be added to piracy and drug trade as international crimes and so Nigeria can close down refineries in France, South Africa, China etc wherein stolen crude from Nigeria are refined. This is most "clueful" and deserving of support and applause.
Nigeria can never pay police 300 thousand per trip. WE CANNOT COMPETE, so silly speeches that blame the remuneration of the police and army as reasons for oil theft is just silly.
EX-MILITANTS AS SECURITY
The militants employed as security can only minimize and not eliminate it. What it does is get fewer youths not to need to be crude thieves themselves and also for them to catch a bunkerer here or there...as in...stop the smaller fishes.
But like as happens with the MAFIA and arms and cocaine dealer and barons, the big fishes, the sharks, the really organized criminals will continue to do this business as crime is a step ahead of detection
ASARI, TOMPOLO AND THEIR WEALTH
If you think Asari and the Tompolos get their money from pittance paid to them as amnesty, if you have criticised this admnistration based on this, neeldown, hands up and close your eyes. You deserve to be punished.
Asari Dokuboh is a brilliant man as are Atake Tom etc. These people have young brilliant people by their side as advisers...lawyers, doctors, professors too.These ex-militants like old MAFIA bosses have legitimized. They have started doing legitimate businesses with these oil companies.
This is the part that is killing the Hausa/Fulani who owned this racket. Their companies can no longer assure Mobil, nor Chevron, nor Shell of security and safe passage of goods...especially during the peak of militancy. Now these companies need this oil and will continue to do business even if rockets and bombs land daily. All they will do is align with those that can ensure their business goes on as their society is run by this oil.
Thus when Ken saro Wiwa opened the eyes of these Ijaws and other tribes in the creeks, Asari no longer needed his "Alhaji" and thus became his own boss and suddenly his "alhaji" was calling him sir. Man Friday has taken over from Robinson Crusoe
These companies thus deal directly with these militants/ex-militants on security....no different from how the MAFIA operates....create a security need and fill that need.
But that is not all. These oil companies like Mobil only drill. Al other inchoate businesees like House Boats, hospitality, iron fashioning, pipe-laying, diesel supply etc are contracted out. Foreign companies seeking to do business now offeer the militants as much as forty percent of profits and make them partners.
Do I hear you hiss? Was this not how Awolowo got shares in Coca Cola, or Rewane Flour Mill and so on? Does Coca Cola need Awolowo to sell their products? NO. Global companies partner with locals ad offer them equities. These equities used to be given to the "Alhajis". Now it is given to the Tom Atekes and this is ingratiating to those who have been dislodged from this opportunity.
So if you see Tom Ateke with a private jet, he may own 30 percent equity of Bloomberg Drillers, and may be the labour supplier to Anderson Glass, and is chief security officer to Mobil.
Did you say something about the security? Did you just insult the Nigerian Government's inability to provide security? Again, give yourself a knock on your head. Security is provided in main by private establishments in capitalist societies. When a Nigerian arrives in the US, the first available job to him is as security man in a private establishment. Thus Atake et al are only following global trends.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER
1. Why was Asari Dokuboh the first person Al-Mustapha went to meet having been released from jail? What business do they have together? Should they not be enemies considering Hamza Al Mustapha was Chief Security Officer during the regime of Abacha and was Asari not public enemy number one? What business I ask again did they transact together?
2. If GEJ is involved in oil theft, why is his government through Ngozi Oonjo-Iweala the first to scream about it? Why is GEJ going round trying to lobby oil theft to be declared an international crime?
3. How will you end it if you were president? Can you stop your JTF from collecting bribe in the high seas and oceans of the Niger Delta? How will you monitor them?
4. Is it not time to build the bridges that the Forcados and escravos communities need to link them together by land as was done in Lagos that has contributed little to Nigeria's commonwealth in comparison?
5. If we stop the stipend to ex-militants, can Nigeria withstand the upsurge in jobless youths in the creeks?
Tell me how you intend to end oil theft and I will call you MASTER!!!
Nigeria, Igbos, Yorubas: The Bitter Stand Of Femi Fani-Kayode And His Apology
By Uzoma Ahamefule
It should be recalled that the arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and callous dumping of homeless people of Igbo extraction in Onitsha, Anambara State, by the agents of Lagos State government at odd hour caused a lot of pandemonium within Nigerian media and bloggers. These people who are victims of bad leaderships and corruption by thieving Nigerian politicians could be seen in thousands in every part of the country and they deserve to be treated with compassion and not heinousness as displayed by Lagos State Government led by Babatunde Raji Fashola, one of my best governors in Nigeria. The brouhaha of this cruelty and inhuman treatment meted to these harmless and defenseless innocent citizens whose guilt was only being less privileged as a result of fraudulent
executions of uncaring government policies led to the condemnable articles written by the former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who unbelievably left the subject matter - the deportation of Igbos, to insult Ndigbo.
In a man's letter lies the nakedness of his heart. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the Igbo hater and ethnic jingoist, did not only insult Ndigbo but he also tried but failed with distorted historical facts to relegate the enormous contribution of Igbos in the development of Lagos State, incited the Yorubas against the Igbos, and finally asked the Igbos to leave Lagos State for the Yorubas.
In one of his articles titled, "The Bitter Truth About The Igbos", the former Minister got more than he had bargained as scholars with facts and figures took him to the cleaners. In a move to show that he did not hate the Igbos and to disabuse the minds of people who had across ethnic lines and religion condemned the venom at which he had without decorum attacked the Igbos in the article, he wrote another catastrophic one titled, 'Neither a Tribalist Nor a Hater' which deeply exposed his tribalistic tendencies and made him an object of ridicule. This time he had not only tried to humiliate the entire Igbo race again but he had also tried to destroy families and careers of some prominent Igbo married women as he claimed in the ambiguous article that he had slept with them including Nigerian beauty ex-queen, Her Excellency, Bianca Ojukwu, Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and the wife of the adored Igbo respected late leader, Chief Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu. It sounded so ridiculous to be real but it was an embarrassing fact that he made such claims. But Bianca Ojukwu punctured his unnecessary show of ego with a reaction published in the Sun newspaper stating that she had never been a girlfriend to him. Through her lawyer Bianca Ojukwu ordered Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to withdraw such false claim of having had an intimate relationship with her and to apologize within seven days or face legal action. In order to avoid legal punishment that awaits any dubious claimer or impersonator knowing that he had lied, a day before the expiration of the seven days ultimatum, precisely on 06.09.2013, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode ate his words, retracted his statements and apologized to Bianca Ojukwu. Uncomprehending! So what was he thinking when he made the claim in the first place? Perhaps the beauty of the likes of Bianca Ojukwu wobbled the heart of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode that the imagination of his intimacy with her became deceptively so real and beclouded the reality of life.
What manner of man is Chief Femi Fani-Kayode? Even if his claims had been true; what does a one time minister of a country and a well educated man of his status stand today to gain by naming happily married women with grown-up children he had slept with many years ago when they had still been singles in the pages of newspapers? That was a clumsy behavior that could not have been expected even from a ditched 15-year-old secondary school lover boy. It told a lot about the kind of Minister we had had in him.
There is no doubt that the agony of this embarrassment and rascality in the families of these mentioned women will linger years to come and people who value family dignities irrespective of their tribes equally shared the shock of this irresponsible bravado and arrogance. "… Like father, like son: That was 48 years ago. Today, Femi Fani-Kayode, the 53-year-old son of “Fani-Power,” continues in the mischievous tradition of his father: throwing dangerous missiles at the innocent," wrote Femi Aribisila. Most of us dated or had intimate relationships as youths or bachelors before we got married or repented and it will be unreasonable of any of us to name or discuss such relationships amongst friends at later years not to talk of printing such un-holy secret affairs in newspapers.
This shameful blunder has gone down in history as one of the most embarrassing goofs of all time ministers whether serving or former.
It is important to note that since the exposure of his false intimacy with Bianca Ojokwu, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has openly continued to attack Igbos indirectly with his articles, instigating people against them and promoting ethnicity to the detriment of nation building. This was one of his posts on his FACEBOOK wall on 19.11.2013. "At the end of the day whatever happens in 2015 the only thing that is important to me is that the yoruba nation is in a position to defend itself in the event of any hostilities from any quarter. We are a nation, not a tribe and we will not allow any other nationality to claim our land or to lord it over us. That will never be allowed to happen again. Either Nigeria must be restructured or Nigeria shall break.
"Finally no nationality that has a pathological hatred for the yoruba will ever lead or rule Nigeria again and neither will they be allowed to live amongst us peacefully. That much I know- if you hate us, you better forget ruling from the centre and stick to your zones and states and you better leave our territory and relocate back to your state of origin. ..."
I do not think that there is any part of Nigeria "that has a pathological hatred" for the Yorubas. But what are these statements targeted to achieve if not sowing seeds of war and hatred? As much as Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has got the right like any other citizen of this country as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to air views; can one imagine that the above statements came from a not long ago minister of this country who is supposed to be a promoter of the image and the unity of this entity? This is unfortunate.
In view of Bianca Ojukwu’s statement through her personal assistant Mr Issac Igboanu Chief Femi Fani-Kayode’s apology was not sufficient and satisfactory. My advice to the former beauty queen is that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode's retraction of his statements and his apology as she ordered should be enough. Irrespective of the tone or how he tried to paint his apology, apology remains apology. And for the fact that he was ordered to do so and he did it within the time frame given to him, the issue is no more worthy of any litigation because we know the truth. No room should be given to him again to make another rascal statement. Please, let the sleeping dog lie. Like Femi Aribisala wrote, "Next time Femi Fani-Kayode wants to tell us “the bitter truth,” he should tell us about N19.5 billion Aviation Fund mismanaged under his watch as Minister of Aviation under the Obasanjo administration.That is the bitter truth we need to hear from him right now." Until he clarifies this issue raised here, he has got no moral right to talk against the corruption in Nigeria.
Like Femi Aribisala also advised at the heat of the fiasco of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode's articles, "Collectively, we declared with one voice that the civil war is truly over. We must not allow the Femi Fani-Kayodes to turn back the clock." On the same ground I also appeal to Igbos, Yorubas and other ethnic nationals that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode's views about Lagos State and the Igbos are his personal views and we should not allow these to destroy the good relationships we have attained as nations that have witnessed massive immigration of the Igbos to Lagos State and the hospitality they have enjoyed from the Yorubas and other Nigerians in the state and no manipulation of words and facts by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode or his likes will change these historical facts.
There is no society where we cannot get people like Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. And we should not make the mistake to prejudice Yoruba people as Igbo haters based on behavioral attitude of one immortal or a very few individuals. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who is not more Lagosian than many Igbos is on his own as his views of asking Igbos to leave Lagos State and the reactions as opined by so many respectable Yoruba leaders took care of his outburst.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, whether Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik etc. we all can live together if we choose to. Stop the threats because they re-open old wounds and create unnecessary tension. You are a well informed man and a lot of people are looking up to you as a one-time minister. Please desist from inciting racial hatred posts on your FACEBOOK wall for these posts have misled many youths into Internet war. Free yourself from ethnic mind-set and use your position to fight for the well-being of the Nigerian masses that have been deprived of their meals and denied their rights by privileged Nigerians like you. But, yes, you are truly right, Nigeria needs to be restructured, address injustice and corruption or it should break.
Uzoma Ahamefule
A patriotic concerned citizen writes from Vienna, Austria. He is on FACEBOOK as Aham Uzoma - join him.
As swindlers port from emails to phone calls
by Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi
Email was predominantly the avenue they use in getting at us. If yours isn't set to shut out junk messages, you'd always see their mails informing you that through your mail address you've been randomly selected to win mouth-watering sums of money from foreign-based organisations or foundations. At other times, they will simply write: 'I have a project for you', expecting you to reply. Albeit, they haven't totally thrown away this method, they have added another to it.
Because the yuletide is here, these never-do-wells who
must have been lazing about since the start of the year suddenly realised that they must go all out in hitting home with a car as they had earlier resolved. It can also be that they waited patiently up till this time of the year since they know this is the time most people get easily beguiled; blinded by their craving for quick cash. Hence, the scoundrels capitalise on that to effect their latest sophistry.
Their current stratagem is to get personal. Yes, you heard me right! They do this by calling people's personal phone lines. If it were to be one's hotline they call, that wouldn't pose so much a problem as that would easily give them away. Rather, they go for those lines you must have reserved for close acquaintances and family members. And here is their trick: they'll call such lines claiming you gave it to them. They'll cite illusory scenarios as places where you both exchanged numbers.
Hear what one of them told me this Friday: "ah! Don't you remember me again? I met you at PHCN office by that busy road when you went to pay your bill. We were standing close to each other on the queue. We got talking and I told you I'm into supply; that I make supplies to the federal government. Can't you remember?" Those were the convincing words he uttered after he had called, introduced himself as Hon. John Idoko and averred that he has a job for me!
When he thought I was almost cowed into believing his story, he joking said: "you owe me a bottle of wine for not remembering me." He went on to advise that if I'm within the earshot of any, I should move away from there so that no one would hear our conversation. At this point, I asked him to tell me the town where the PHCN office he was talking about is. On account of this, he told me I should forget about the deal that: "since you can't remember me, let me give the job to someone else that knows me."
With that, he cut the conversation; probably expecting me to call back in pursuit of the chimerical job. I paid no heed to the fool, but continued with my day. My phone conversation with the supposed Hon. Idoko was on Friday morning at about 7:30. Towards evening of same day, another swindler was on my phone; my personal line, that is.
There was no resemblance between this voice and that of the former. Equally, was there no facsimile between their storyline and panache. But, there still was a parallel and it rests on the fact they were both on a mission to defraud me. I must confess that the gimmick of the latter was well orchestrated. This is essentially what can be made out of his tale. It is presented in the first-person account to better reflect its essence:
I just hit a boy with my car. He was severely injured and has been taken to the hospital. Now the police are holding me. They are threatening to lock me up in their cell. But I could be set free if only I recharge the phones of the inspectors here with N1500 worth of recharge card. At the background, I could hear what seemed like the voices of policemen telling him to act fast and stop wasting their time. He replies by telling them he was just talking to his brother who is to send across the airtime.
Me, his brother? This is somebody I'm still lost as to how he got my number!
He had earlier given a vague explanation for that. Seeing that I wasn't satisfied he pleaded that I'll surely know him when I see him, that we need not waste time, else the police locks him up. He continued: I have over N280,000 in my car. But I'd rather not have the police know I have such sum of money, else they'll leave me with nothing. I'll give you N25,000 for all your troubles after I must have paid for the recharge cards you'll send.
Please hurry to wherever they are selling recharge cards. Tell them to give you N1500 airtime, scratch and keep sending them to me till I settle all the police inspectors here. Once I'm allowed to go, I'd be coming to the place you bought the recharge cards to pay the vendor and reward you. I'll not hang up the phone until you read to me the pins. If I do, the officers here will lock me up. Please hurry! This was about the 12th minutes he was spending on this call. He told me that his hanging on to the call would convince the policemen that he was just trying to meet their demand.
He remained on the line while I acted as if I was going to the place recharge cards are sold. At a point, the pressure from him became so unbearable that I was almost buying his story. But, I requested that he allow me come and meet him at the scene since he said they were still there. He refused insisting that my presence would aggravate the case. I then told him to allow me come nearer to the scene, that since he said they were in front of a fuel station, I can just perch close by without the police sensing I was there. In response, he said by the time I got there, he'd have been taken to the station. Our conversation was getting to 18 minutes. I cut the call. He called twice and stopped calling.
After approximately 40 minutes, I called the number with a different line. I still heard the same voice but this time the voice isn't anxiety-laden, instead it sounded calm and relaxed. I feigned familiarity on a different level. But my interlocutor in his smartness kept saying: 'I can hear you.' When he sensed what I was up to, he ended the call. With this, it dawned on me that I have just escaped been pulled a fast one on.
There has been a consensus among everyone I narrated these episodes to, that those were fraudsters on the prowl. Two of them went on to share similar experiences they recently had with conmen. Their versions also showed fraudsters as trying to perpetrate both scams through GSM. But, how do they get these numbers? One of the victims reasoned it was the same way the get to know peoples' email addresses while the other thinks they get the numbers through trial and error.
He said our telecoms operators have so many subscribers that there is hardly a free line. Hence any other seven digits you combine with the first four that is peculiar to a service provider put you through to a subscriber. If this really is their strategy, then everyone is at risk. Since they can get through to anybody including Mr President! But the joy is that they don't just defraud you by contacting you on your line, they can only do you in when you get carried away by their lies.
As such, the elixir is to avoid buying when they come selling. No matter how much is involved, everyone will be well advised to steer clear whatever deal they are initiating. These fraudsters are like the devil. Remember what the Bible tells us to do with the devil. It charges us to rebuke him and he will flee from us. Indeed, these swindlers can't stand the sound of rebuke. Thus, let's not fail to use that.
On Nelson Mandela
When we were young growing up, a male child was born to a man in the neighbourhood. At the naming ceremony, the man gave the first and second names of his son as Nelson Mandela respectively. I couldn't really comprehend why the man had to go that far, but now I very much do.
Since President Jacob Zuma of South Africa announced the passing away of the first black South African president on Thursday night, there have been torrents of reactions eulogizing the anti-aparthied crusader. Mandela's death at age 95 provoked so much reaction to the extent that Nigeria declared three days of national mourning in honour of the late global Icon.
I wonder if there is any other thing that can be said to extol Late Mandela that have not been said by the Barack Obamas, Stephen Harpers and Ban Ki-moons of this world. In all these, I just wish that our leaders will learn that life isn't really about how much wealth you leave behind but it's more about the legacies you bequeathed to humanity.
I think the British Prime Minister, David Cameron got it wrong when while expressing his grief on twitter wrote: "A great light has gone out in the world". No, the light has not gone out for it still burns in the life of every aficionado of Mandela. Let our youths and all those aspiring for leadership chronicle the live of Madiba and make it their handbook. That way, they'll show the Mandela light as burning in them.
You can follow me on twitter via @ugsylvester or reach me through ug.ugovester@gmail.com
Shocking Séx Traditions-what do you think?
Séxual intercourse can be regarded as one of the most curious part of life.
While some people attach spirituality to the act, others have some very interesting rules for when and how to have séx.
Check out some of the most shocking séxual practices around the world:
1. Adolescénts allowed to have séx
In Polynesia, adolescents of are instructed in séxual techniques by an older experienced person, and during this period, it is permissible to have numerous séxual liaísons before settling down. Special "pléasure houses" are built to provide young people with their own place to socialize and have intercourse.
2. Premarital séx allowed after parents approval
The inhabitants of Tonga (South Pacific) allow premarital intercourse with permission of the girl's parents and the provision that conception won't occur. If pregnancy occurs, the offending couple must walk around the village naked for several days and apply a magic potion to the fence surrounding the community to prevent disease from infecting people.
3. Six-year-old girls allowed to have séx
In Trobrianders tribe, Papua New Guinea, girls begin to have séx at the age of 6-8 and boys at the age of 10-12. However, having a meal together before marriage is forbidden.
4. Widow inheritance
When a family man dies in the Lou community, in Kenya, there is something called a widow inheritance. This is when a widow must sleep with another man to cleanse the death of her husband and bring ritual renewal and regeneration.
5. Intimate cutting rituals to achieve manhood
The first portion of this Mardudjara Aboriginal rite in Australia, involves a barbaric circumcision. After he heals up, the male's séx organ is cut lengthwise on the underside. Blood is then dripped over a fire in order to purify it.
6. Unnatural séx abstinence in Romania
Decent and upright women in Romania do not perform unnatural séx other than the classic missionary positions. Even if they wanted to, their lovers probably wouldn’t let them as it is believed it is something that only prostitutes do.
7. Boys to stay away from girls for 10 years:
To become a man, boys from Sambia tribe in New Guinea are removed from all the females at the age of seven for 10 years. Among other traditions, they are required to ingest the semen of their elders.
8. Temporary Marriage:
In certain Muslim countries, a young couple who would like to have séx before they’re ready to marry can request a “temporary marriage”. They are allowed to pay for a short ceremony, with a written contract.
9. Egypt strange séxual practices:
The ancient Egyptians were so inspired by the act of self-stimulation that at the festival of the god Min, who represented Pharaoh's séxual potency, men seeking pleasure in public.
10. Polyandrous Society;
In Nepal, When families have more than one son, they simply marry all of their sons to one wife.
11. Pon:
In Indonesia, they celebrate a holiday called Pon. To receive such blessings, participants must spend the night with someone other than their husband or wife.
12: Séx Haven
In Cambodia, the Kreung people encourage the séxual independence of their daughters by building separate huts for them to sleep in.
13. Séx with donkey:
In Northern Colombia, it is common practice for adolescent boys to have séx with donkeys. It is like a rite of passage that a boy has to pass to become a man.
14. Paid to break vírginity:
In Guam, there's a full time job for a man to break the woman's vírginity, and they've paid to do that, because in guam law's a virgín woman isn't allowed to get married.
15. Making love to animals:
In Lebanon, people are allowed to make love with a female animal, if one is caught having séx with a male animal, he will be punished to death.
Which one do you consider the craziest? Do you know any more weird séxual practices that is not listed above.
A City in the Grip of Criminals
by Fredrick Nwabufo
It is 6 in the morning; the time when the sun is shy. A piercing scream from a robber-bitten woman disturbs the solemnity of the casual ambience. The scream breaks into a teary wail; a wail spewing up enormous pain. It is a Monday, but it becomes a mourn day. The bitten woman lies in a pool of precious blood. She has just been rob of her possessions and shot in the waist. She is a victim of dawn robbers in Onitsha. And she is one of the vast unknown numbers in the directory of victims of dawn robbery in Onitsha.
The woman victim, in between wailings, mutters, “Two boys on Okada at gun point asked for my bag which contained fifty
thousand naira and a Blackberry Phone. I resisted at first, and the one holding a gun shot me. They took my bag and sped off.” After her anguished mutterings, comes the climax of a deafening scream, e…wo! e…wo! e…wo!
Strangely, on the crimson scene only a scrawny number of people gather to help the wailing woman. The people of the area have become sated with habitual occurrence of easy, bloody, dawn robbery, that a new treat to it, is not really new or awfully exciting. Hence, only a Samaritan few have gathered to tend to the robbed and bloodied woman. Surprisingly, no one throws a thought at calling the police; it is a grieving waste of time. The hospital is the only place the wounded woman is thought to receive unsoiled attention.
The dawn tragedy soon passes, and the cacophony of jingling buses, weeping cars, whining motorcycles and heavy steps of impatient people announces the city’s humdrum awakening. The city unfurls in the accustomed pattern. All beats, no symphony. Just classic non-descript hurly-burly.
It is midday already, and there are stabbing reports of robbery attacks at different locations in the city. One knifing report says a group of shoppers were leisurely dispossessed of their belongings at a shopping plaza. This smokes out albeit contentiously and arguably a conspiracy theory since the traders at the plaza were not attacked. Another report says a mélange of girls at an eatery were robbed by supposedly gun toting security men.
The names of the crime spots and victims of these base attacks have been deliberately masked for security reasons.
As a matter of fact, a typical day for Onitsha residents is punctuated and hyphenated by robberies in shuddering successions. A day does not come to full maturity without splatters of blood from gun wounds and peals of lamentations effectuated by stolen property. In fact, in terms of robberies, Onitsha is a raging war zone.
It is 7 in the evening, and the sun has gone to sleep. There is a mad dash of people to their homes or safe havens, for it is sheer stupidity to be exposed to the evening marauders of Onitsha. The early mornings and late evenings are exclusively for intrepid Onitsha robbers. They own the times. This explains why there are few brave souls walking the streets at these times.
There are ear shutting sounds of gun shots, and frightened people scamper pell-mell. There is a robbery going on, and no one wants to be caught in the tragedy. The streets become broke. And so they remain until the night comes for a visit. The fear of night terrors keeps everyone behind iron doors as ominous dread swallows the city. The fear of the owners of town as robbers are called in Onitsha slang is the fount of wisdom.
Onitsha is a city in the pressing grip of robbers. A day comes to complete metamorphosis when spates of robberies are recorded. A day devoid of usual gut-wrenching robberies is an insipid day; insipid, because robbery attacks have become fresh meat for arresting tales, providing entertainment for some. A day without the usual tales of robberies is an entertainment starved day.
As it is now, the robberies reign unchallenged. So for those coming home this Christmas abide by the unwritten code of staying indoors in the early mornings and late evenings in Onitsha. I was given this advice, but I ignored it. And then I became a victim, that was when wisdom found me.
I have deliberately refused to name robbery prone spots, but please stay away from Upper Iweka in the early mornings and late evenings. It is a haunt for “area boys” who double as robbers.
It is a frightening reality that one of the commercial cities in Nigeria is in the fierce grip of robbers. It is more saddening that a state, Anambra, that prides itself as the light of the nation let different collections of robbers reign unchecked at its commercial epicenter. For the sake of residents and those coming home, more security initiatives and apparatuses should be deployed to scatter the nests of robbers and to shatter the concrete curtain of fear covering the city of Onitsha.
Finally, find wisdom by staying indoors early mornings and late evenings before it finds you in Onitsha. Finding it in Onitsha will cost you greatly.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and a poet. Email:fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com 08167992075
ANAMBRA: IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY
Anambra has never cease to be the land of new discovery in the political jugular of our society, both in positive and likewise negative. It was in the state, that a sitting executive governor, Chris Ngige was kidnapped by some godfathers and also it was the first that produce first woman in 2006, Virginia Etiaba as a governor, no matter how short the period is, even if it is lesser than the four month she occupied the government house.
One thing that is certain mostly in developing society is discovery of new method of rigging that most time held the electorates gasping for breath seeing the cunning strategy of manipulation and most important their forever captivity by not being free to choose who govern them in a free and fair election that is entrenched in democratic values, which is sine qua non to democracy practicability and not a mirage. In Anambra, as the tide is going, it is becoming a reality that the discovery of total numbers of cancelled votes more than the difference between the numbers of votes cast for the winner and the runner up, a new negative development will stand despite even INEC chairman, prof. Jega openly talk of election sabotage within INEC and deliberate misconduct from many electoral officers making the election marred with unprecedented irregularities than even the 2007 and 2011 general election altogether.
It is imperative to note here that am neither for any political party nor a believer in any of the aspirants as all of them are the same political vampires with chronic selfishness and desperation flowing in their vein as it is far from their desire to better the people and the Anambra state and also all of them, APC, PDP, APGA, LP and others do patronize rigging. However, it is an issue that requires condemnation as it is a big threat to democracy and particular the 2015 general election. As I strongly opine, that all the system that was adopted in the election manipulation and deprivation of the people's right to vote was mostly tested to see how effective it can be use in 2015.
As INEC declare the election inclusive, what is the justification of upholding the election with plan to organize supplementary election in 210 polling units instead of outright cancellation? Is supplementary in our Electorate Act? Isn't it like plea bargaining? Why organizing election on Sunday same hour with religion activity when majority of the people in the place are christians. And what right do Prof. Jega to opined that voting or attending church is a matter of choice ? Is this not a deliberate subjection of the Anambra people to choose out of cohesion by putting them in an unnecessary opportunity cost situation of either forgoing their religion right or right to vote? Why will larger registered electorates be disenfranchised, making less than 30 percent of about 1million registered electorates to vote and whose blame will that be?
My message to the masses especially the youths is this: Speak and act more in defending our young 14 years of struggling democracy and justice irrespective of your political affiliation and interest than you do to your parties because if all these manipulations and anti-democratic deed goes unchallenged, it could favour any political party today and tomorrow it will favour others, however, in all, it will favour the political elites and never the ordinary people, instead of it favouring them, rather they will be deprived of developments and dividend of democracy in all ramifications as a man that got into office knowing he did so through rigging and not peoples vote can never be accountable to the people, until we get our election right, we can forget good governance.
It will pay us as people and youths to argue the election in liu of what our constitution says, the Electoral Acts, what ought to be and what we want as people rather than argue or talking from the perspective the political elites want us to talk from.Our problems are the political elites, whose taste for power in having access to public treasury is only imaginable and can do whatever to achieve that.
Ifade Olusegun
Lagos
@realifade
Ifadeolusegun@gmail.com
NELSON MANDELA'S DAILY WISE GUIDE
1. “Difficulties break some men but make
others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul
of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed
with the hope that he will rise even in the
end.”
2. “It always seems impossible until it’s
done.”
3. “If I had my time over I would do the same
again. So would any man who dares call
himself a man.”
4. “I like friends who have independent minds
because they tend to make you see problems
from all angles.”
5. “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all
for the freedom of their people.”
6. “A fundamental concern for others in our
individual and community lives would go a
long way in making the world the better place
we so passionately dreamt of.”
7. “Everyone can rise above their
circumstances and achieve success if they
are dedicated to and passionate about what
they do.”
8. “Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world.”
9. “I learned that courage was not the
absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The
brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.”
10. “For to be free is not merely to cast off
one’s chains, but to live in a way that
respects and enhances the freedom of
others.”
11. “Resentment is like drinking poison and
then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
12. “Lead from the back — and let others
believe they are in front.”
13. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge
me by how many times I fell down and got
back up again.”
14.”I hate race discrimination most intensely
and in all its manifestations. I have fought it
all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so
until the end of my days.”
15. “A good head and a good heart are
always a formidable combination.”
16. “If you talk to a man in a language
he understands, that goes to his
head. If you talk to him in his
language, that goes to his heart”.
17. “If you want to make peace with your
enemy, you have to work with your
enemy. Then he becomes your
partner.”
18. “There is no passion to be found
playing small – in settling for a life
that is less than the one you are
capable of living.”
19. “After climbing a great hill, one only
finds that there are many more hills
to climb.”
20. “There is no easy walk to freedom
anywhere, and many of us will have
to pass through the valley of the
shadow of death again and again
before we reach the mountaintop of
our desires.”
21. “There can be no keener revelation of
a society’s soul than the way in
which it treats its children.”
22. “In my country we go to prison first
and then become President.”
23. “We must use time wisely and
forever realize that the time is
always ripe to do right.”
24. I detest racialism, because I regard
it as a barbaric thing, whether it
comes from a black man or a white
man.
25. “A good leader can engage in a
debate frankly and thoroughly,
knowing that at the end he and the
other side must be closer, and thus
emerge stronger. You don’t have
that idea when you are arrogant,
superficial, and uninformed.”
26. “Money won’t create success, the
freedom to make it will.”
27. “There is nothing like returning to a
place that remains unchanged to
find the ways in which you yourself
have altered.”
28. “Does anybody really think that they
didn’t get what they had because
they didn’t have the talent or the
strength or the endurance or the
commitment?
29. “I dream of an Africa which is in
peace with itself.”
30. “Let freedom reign. The sun never
set on so glorious a human
achievement.”
31. “If there are dreams about a beautiful
South Africa, there are also roads
that lead to their goal. Two of these
roads could be named Goodness
and Forgiveness.”
Now That Madiba Is Dead
By M Thandabantu Iverson
beware the icon makers
they will say he was great
they will laud his calls for peace
they will wring their hands and cry
speaking only of the man
disregarding the people
explaining away the movement
pretending the revolution was won
they will deny their guilt
denying their privilege
obscuring his birth in the pains and the blood of his people
denying the capital crimes
of neoliberal friends of apartheid still alive
now that Mandela is dead
they will say no one else will come
they will wink that we still organize
they will pretend that de Klerk was his friend
they will ignore the birth pangs in Jo’burg today
pretending to honor him with deceitful silence
in the face of Capetown shanties and Manenburg misery
and Durban oppression
while former murderers still prey
and bougie negros still play
while lying bishops still pray
and corporations still rape
and the people in South Africa still die
like people across the Global South
as the Revolution dies as Madiba’s children live in squalor
as the wine growers awake in shacks
as the homeless sleep beneath the floors of stores—after hours
when they will not be seen while they are still being sold
beware the speakers of phrases that lie
they will disremember liberation struggles
that have yet to be won
they will pretend that Mandela belonged to them
denying the people to whom he belonged
remember to remember Chris Hani
remember to remember Robben Island
remember to remember the South African Charter
remember to remember that icons created by oppressors
will never liberate the people
remember to remember that they are still killing Martin
remember to remember that they are still killing Malcolm
remember to remember that Assata still lives
remember to remember that our liberation will be sold to us for profits
unless we work for it with our minds and our actions
then we will remember Mandela as he was
for he will live inside us
and the lies will no longer deceive
because the struggle will continue
and the last will be first at last
FAYEMI: DON'T MOURN MANDELA, CELEBRATE HIM
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged admirers of the late South African political icon, Nelson Mandela, not to mourn him but to celebrate the ideals of freedom, equality, peace and unity he lived for.
The Governor in a special tribute to the late South African leader, said Mandela’s death calls for reflection, adding that it is an opportunity for leaders to rededicate themselves for the service of mankind.
Governor Fayemi said the demise of the famous freedom fighter has closed "an epic story of triumph of the human spirit over injustice".
The Governor recalled that Mandela while in prison became the symbol of the struggle against apartheid's oppressive inhuman regime, with his face readily coming to mind all over the world when people think and talk about South Africa.
Fayemi also said the late Mandela worked for a united South Africa, adding that the people of the south African country were more united during his presidency. He added that Mandela remained a symbol of unity among the various racial groups in South Africa saying tension among the ethnic nationalities in the Rainbow Nation would have led to civil war but for the late sage's unending messages of peace and unity.
The Ekiti helmsman is of the opinion that Mandela's conciliatory posture helped to defuse racial tensions crediting the late statesman with leading his country through a transition process that culminated in his election as the first democratically elected president of the country.
He said Mandela's gesture of preaching forgiveness and reconciliation on his release from peace led South Africa to a new and sustainable path.
According to him, Mandela stood as a shining example of what real leadership looks like as his willingness to leave power stood in stark contrast to a number of situations in Africa where erstwhile liberation fighters who assumed power found it impossible to relinquish presidency.
The Governor charged the new generation to continue the battle for freedom noting that the likes of Mandela has shown the way.
"The pursuit of freedom is not accomplished in one generation. This generation must now rise up and take up the gauntlet and begin the battle against inequality and poverty.
"Fortunately, in Mandela they have the most illustrious of examples to draw from and emulate", Fayemi said.
abiodun KOMOLAFE, AMNIM,
O20, Okenisa Street,
PO Box 153,
Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State,
Tel: +234 803 361 4419
+234 809 861 4418
Alt. E-mail: ijebuijesa@gmail.com
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