Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 14th June 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 14/06/20
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REVEALED: Real Reason, Edo Governor, Godwin Obaseki, Was Disqualified From All Progressives Congress Primary In State
Godwin Obaseki
A petition seen by SaharaReporters has given more insight into why Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, was disqualified from the selection process of the All Progressives Congress ahead of the governorship election in the state.
Obaseki, who has been at war with APC’S National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, was on Friday disqualified over issues relating to discrepancies in his academic credentials.
The screening committee for the Edo State governorship primary of the APC also disqualified Chris Ogiemwonyi, a former Minister of State for Works, and Mathew Iduoriyekenwen, a former Majority Leader of the Edo State House of Assembly.
The petition seen by SaharaReporters among other things said that said that Obaseki’s O/Level results showed that he had three credits and that he spent only three years to bag a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies from the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, in 1976 without an A/Level result.
Godwin Obaseki
The petition, which was sent to the Chairman of the APC governorship screening committee by some concerned members of the party in the state, warned that the party would be risking another Bayelsa scenario if Obaseki was not disqualified.
The petition reads, “That Godwin Obaseki submitted a false affidavit to INEC on 12th July, 2016 contrary to the provisions of Section (5) and (6) of the Electoral Act.
“That the Peoples Democratic Party suspected the affidavit to be false and got their lawyers to write the FCT High Court requesting for a certified true copy of the affidavit on 2nd September, 2016.”
The petitioners said in response to PDP’s request, the Abuja High Court denied issuing any affidavit to the governor.
It added, “Any political party that fields such a disqualified candidate would be fined under section 31(8) of the Electoral Act.
“The problem with Obaseki educational history is that it appears fraudulent as no explanation has been reasonably offered why a four-year academic programme was completed in three years against the established course requirement for the completion of a degree programme in Classical Studies.
“It is indeed very questionable when one imagines how Mr Obaseki secured admission into University of Ibadan with just three credit passes in his ordinary level certificate at a time when the educational system was purely on merit.”
The petition also noted that the three-year degree programme was and is still applicable to only students with advanced level certificate/Diploma/National Certificate of Education, adding that the governor never showed that he possessed an A’Level certificate to qualify for a three-year programme.
Obaseki had since said he will not appeal the decision of the screening committee while there are reports that he is already being courted by other political parties ahead of the governorship election in the state in September.
DOCUMENT (1): Petition for Disqualification by Sahara Reporters on Scribd
DOCUMENT (2): Petition for Disqualification by Sahara Reporters on Scribd
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Soldiers Attack Borno COVID-19 Committee Enforcing Lockdown, Kill One, Injure Four
One person was reported killed and four others injured after Nigerian soldiers attached to the 7 Division attacked officials of the COVID-19 Committee at Auno checkpoint in Borno State.
SaharaReporters gathered that the state Attorney-General, Kakashehu Lawal, and Commissioner for Health, Dr Salisu Kawaya-Bura, were among the committee members when the incident occurred.
The soldiers, disregarding the ongoing interstate travel ban, forced their way through the entrance gate to Borno and allowed hundreds of illegal travellers into the town.
The armed personnel, who arrived in three gun trucks, allegedly threatened to open fire on the COVID-19 Committee members.
Speaking with a journalist, Lawal alleged that the soldiers forced their way by pulling down the barricade preventing non-essential travellers into the state by the committee.
He said that the troops in three Hilux gun trucks, who claimed to be on a mission to repel Boko Haram attack on Gubio, fatally struck the convoy of the Rapid Response Squad enforcing the lockdown.
He said that the force of the collision propelled the RRS Hilux vehicle down the roadway, causing it to summersault and killing one person while injuring three security men.
“After hitting the vehicle, the soldiers pointed their gun trucks at us and began assaulting us.
“One of the soldiers looked at me and told me “To hell with democracy, useless democracy”.
“Others raised their guns at us, while one of them removed the cap of a policeman attached to the team.
“A cameraman attached to the team from the deputy governor’s office was also attacked and beaten while his camera was seized by the soldiers,” Lawan said.
The deputy governor, Umar Kadafur, who chairs the COVID-19 committee, arrived at the scene of the faceoff and called the garrison commander to meet him at the scene.
Kadafur also ordered the return of the seized video camera while condemning the action of the soldiers.
The garrison commander, who apologised for the action of the soldiers, said the perpetrators have been identified and would face disciplinary action.
The garrison commander also said that the officer commanding the soldiers that violated the restriction order said they acted based on the fact that incoming travellers trying to escape the committee had gathered at a location and the soldiers were worried that they could come under attack by Boko Haram insurgents.
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E2%80%99-buhari-statues-festus-adedayo Pulling Down Christopher Columbus’ Buhari Statues By Festus Adedayo
Festus Adedayo
You may not like their reckless consumption of drugs, the airs they put on as “stars” and the pumped-up peacock ego sometimes exhibited by them at their apogee of stardom. The reality, however, is that, popular culture musicians, indigenous African musicians, that is, and even Africanist musicians among them, are prophets of some sorts. The ones who consume cannabis among them, a banned drug said to be native to Asia, claim that at the peak of the twirling of smokes from their nostrils, they communicate with the spirits of Africa who hand them inspirations beyond the ken of ordinary eyes. One of the advocates of the above conversation was Jamaican-born reggae musician, the iconoclast Winston Huber MclnTosh, otherwise known as Peter Tosh. In a 1971 song he did entitled Here Comes the Judge, Tosh predicted the recent pulling-down-of-statues judgment that came the way of slave raiders and traders who died almost five centuries ago and the retributions they are getting from progenies of black slaves who they mindlessly killed in unconscionable pogroms.
In the song, said to be one of the “blackest and darkest” songs ever sung by Tosh, delivered in a conversationist style, he played the role of a Judge in what he prologued with explanation. Tosh said that, by his mimicry of the court he traversed severally in his brawl with the Jamaican law, he wasn’t reverencing the “colonial judicial shitstem (system).” In the song, Tosh not only displayed his deep sense of global and African history, he simulated a day of judgment for these slave raiders/traders. These slave merchants, you will recall, subsequently gained huge prominence in Europe and the Americas as mascots and founders of those lands.
Here Comes the Judge began by a shout of “Here Comes the Judge/Hear ye him/God save the African king/Anyone have anything to say before this just judge?/Come say it now and say it like you (are) glad, not like you (are) mad/For this judge have no mercy!” Thereafter, the “Judge of Righteousness” began to call out the accused. In the front of the bench appeared Christopher Columbus (who he deliberately called Christopher Combulus), Francis Drake, Bartholomew De Los Casos, Vasco De Gama, Alexander the Great, (who he again referred to as Alexander so called the Great), John Hannon, James Grant, David Livingston, John Constantine, Henry Morgan and Marco Polo. The accused answered to the charges with trembling and trepidation. The charges against them, pronounced the Judge, were that, “You’re all brought here on, Count one: Robbing and raping Africa; Count Two: Stealing black people out of Africa; Count Three: Brainwashing black people; Count Four: Holding black people in captivity for more than 300 years; Count Five: Killing over 50 million black people without a cause; Count Six: Teaching black people to hate themselves.”
Festus Adedayo
For Tosh the Judge in his judgment against the rapists of Africa, subtlety was not his credo but crudity, measure for measure. While finding them guilty and sentencing them to death by hanging, he demanded their alocutus thus, “If any of you have anything to say before this execution/Say it quick, say it glad/This judge is getting impatient/Contempt! – No mercy!” And then the judgment: “The penalty for all this/Each of you must be hanged by the tongue/No appeal will be accepted.”
In arriving at the above judgment, Tosh displayed a deep sense of history. Hanging the tormentors of Africans by the tongue was a throwback to a process of mutilation called the Columbian Necktie or flannel cut, a crude and gruesome method of execution predominant in South America and often associated with the Columbian drug czar, Pablo Escobar. It was equally invented during the La Violencia Columbian civil war bipartisan violence between 1948 and 1958. The process of this execution is that the victim’s throat was slashed horizontally with a knife and the tongue was then pulled out from the open wound.
So when, at the mindless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by cops, America and the world literally erupted in a huge pall of fire, leading to the Black Lives Matter campaign, arson and looting, as well as the pulling down of statues in major cities of Europe and America, it would seem that Tosh’s “judgment” had come for these venal beacons of slavery, even in their graves. Chief among these were the statues of leading slave traders/raiders like Columbus. A few weeks ago, protesters pulled down a statue of Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol. They stated that they considered Columbus “a symbol of genocide against Native Americans.” A rope was said to have been thrown around the 10-foot bronze Columbus statue and it was pulled off from its stone pedestal.
Slave trade and imperialism also received a bashing after the Bristol monument to Edward Colston, a 17th century slave merchant, was pulled down and thrown into the harbor in the United Kingdom. Other slave traders, slave owners, colonists and imperialists whose statues are being considered for toppling were among Britain’s most famous historical figures. These included King Charles II, Oliver Cromwell, Horatio Nelson and Sir Francis Drake, as well as slave owner, Robert Milligan.
For us as Nigerians, there is the need to internalize some lessons of this retribution for the oppressors of black people, centuries after their evil acts and explore the nexus between this recompense and the Nigeria of today. What actually is in store for us to imbibe in the June 12 celebration of last Friday, for which the Muhammadu Buhari government has literally been gloating? What is the state of our democracy today and what statues do we need to pull down?
As I stated on an Ibadan radio programme I featured in last Friday, for all it is worth, we must be thankful to Buhari and his government for deeming it fit to accord the heroic exploits of June 12 that memorable and symbolic mention it deserves. Two kinsmen of the late symbol of that struggle, Ernest Shonekan and Olusegun Obasanjo, callously and peremptorily attempted to outlaw that date from the memory of Nigerians. The two did more than the slave merchants whose statutes are being pulled down in Europe and America today in their quest to perish the memory of human struggle for righteousness.
However, it would appear that Buhari was merely playing politics with his memorialization of June 12. He was one of the June 12 “slave raiders” who abetted and played key but evil roles in the infernal struggles to obliterate its memory. It is on record that Buhari was like a Second in Command to our own Christopher Columbus, the very same evil Sani Abacha. In Buhari’s Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) was an alternate government which was used to glorify and reify Northern ascendancy and funds funneled towards attaining the routing of the only obstacle on their way – June 12. In the very early years of his government, Buhari impudently maintained that the Columbus of that government, Abacha, in spite of glaring national larceny of our commonwealth, was not a thief, until very recently when he was confronted with the raw facts of the General’s monumental heist. So when Buhari, ostensibly for the sake of holding captive the minds of Southwest Nigerians while he continued watering the trough of the slave-raiding of our minds, engaged in the labeling of June 12 as Democracy Day, he was merely threw hay to our heifers.
This is because it is a gross insult on name-prefixing to call Nigeria a democracy. What obtains today under Buhari is worse than a dictatorship. It is an atavism, a rehash of the injustice of the Columbuses who diffidently stood against an acknowledgment of the humanism in black people. When things get to the level of democratic anarchy that is ongoing in the politics of Nigeria and the governance of the Nigerian state under the Daura-born General, people are faced with two choices: rebel against it or stand arms akimbo as blacks did while Columbus was raiding and killing them. Or, behave like the captured Igbo slaves, who, in a mass suicide in 1803, took control of their slave ship, refusing to submit to slavery. A shipload of these captives of West African origin, after surviving the Middle Passage and landed in America, preparatory to be auctioned off in the local slave markets, had chosen to commit mass suicide.
In his “Democracy Day” broadcast, Buhari reeled into several “achievements” that were encapsulated in statistics which have no bearing on the lives of the people. Accepting but not conceding that those statistics were true, what bearing do they have on the lives of Nigerians? While the curves of Buhari’s statistics are going up, the reality of Nigerians’ poverty, hopelessness, injustice and despondency are on the uptick. More fundamental is the unprecedented level of divisiveness that is ravaging Nigeria under Buhari. Nigerians had never been this divided, ever. The government should have done a comparative analysis of the level of Nigerians’ togetherness on June 12, 1993, and the “togetherness” in place today; the belief of Nigerians in Nigeria in 1993 and the same today.
While Buhari was busy having his dalliance with statistics and mouthing the shibboleth of “democracy” on a Democracy Day that he engaged in name-prefixing with, one of his lieutenants who he obviously has no control over, Adams Oshiomhole, was busy wee-weeing on the furnace of democracy. Nigerians, now accustomed to watching the surreal drama of the Columbuses among us, are less bothered by the Oshiomhole show of shame. On that same “Democracy Day,” Oshiomhole, having understudied the atavistic throwback into Stone Age despotism perfected by the Garrison Commander of Lagos in the inhuman and undemocratic muzzling of Akinwumi Ambode out of the race for a second term of office in Lagos, swung into action in Edo and rehashed that same grisly script.
It does not matter that it is a gross slap on equity and good governance that Oshiomhole, who is up in arms against Godwin Obaseki, is the same person who superintended over the decision to spike him from the governorship race. It does not matter if Obaseki is changing the situation of his Edo people or not. He has to be sacrificed to the impish god. What matters is that a Columbus’ wish for vengeance against an unbendable slave must be accomplished. It doesn’t matter, even if it is a laughable equivocation, that an Oshiomhole, who is not known to have a decipherable Primary School certificate, sat on the earlier speculation of whether Obaseki attended the University of Ibadan or not. In our very before, Oshiomhole would manufacture his lickspittle doll, put it in Edo Government House and we will stand by and watch, thinking it does not have any effect on us? Doesn’t it occur to us that, like Lagos under Ambode, one single man is about to incinerate performance in office and in its stead, plant the seed of self, using the decoy of party supremacy? And we think it is politicians’ usual messy affair? Yes, from the look of things, Obaseki is stubborn but, since when did stubbornness and not performance, the barometer with which to measure suitability for office? Since when did Oshiomhole approximate the electorate, the good people of Edo State? Doesn’t it occur to us that if Obaseki had been Oshiomhole’s plasticine which he could bend at will, we will not have this circus that we are watching?
People lose track of the real argument when they engage in the equivocation of “don’t bite the finger that fed you.” It is a fecund narrative often deployed by oppressors and godfathers. What if that finger stands in the way of the good of the majority; is diseased and needed to be chopped off? Even at that, Obaseki has argued consistently that the “feeding” is the other way round as his was actually the hand that fed Oshiomhole and brought him into government. In Ondo State, it is very likely that the Buhari government’s Columbus stand against democracy, manifest in Oshiomhole, will repeat its anti-democratic feat. Why would society stand by and allow self-serving graduation of self-hate into national discourse? Why would society stand by, in the name of so-called party supremacy, and allow the conversation of one man seeking to stop his nemesis from running under the banner of the All Progressives Party (APC) become the decider of the future of the people? In both instances, Oshiomhole merely promoted and projected personal hate into this critical decision of the lives of millions of people. That the two governors of Edo and Ondo performed to the admiration of their people is immaterial.
In Katsina State, like they did to Columbus, the people pulled down the “statue” of their slave traders – Buhari and Governor Aminu Masari. Their beef was that both of these people vicariously promoted their pains by keeping their arms akimbo while they were being killed. A Buhari who stood by like the Columbus effigy, while about 100 of his people were being massacred by Boko Haram insurgents, needed his statue pulled down.
Chinua Achebe once wrote in his Things Fall Apart that an old woman feels uneasy when dried bones are mentioned in a proverb. While the Columbuses in Nigeria – Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, David Mark, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, their hirelings and many of the cast of the gruesome flick of June 12 – watch the narrative of the pulling down of the statues of slave merchants, I hope they are feeling uneasy? The recompense for Columbus and his ilk should be a wake-up call to all of them. Their day of judgment could come now; it could be, like the case of Vasco De Gama and others, in four to five hundred years’ time. One thing is however certain: None of their evil acts against the state, against the people, would go without their statues being pulled down.
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Festus Adedayo
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DSS Still Detaining Nigerian Lawyer, Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna, Without Charges Despite Fulfilling Bail Conditions
Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna
The Department of State Services is still holding Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna, a lawyer arrested on the orders of Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State governor, over a Facebook post.
He was alleged to have posted that Ikpeazu visited a shrine outside the country where he swore to an oath of allegiance and secrecy to former governor of the state.
Ogbonna has denied being the originator of the post but that he only reshared it.
The lawyer was granted bail by a Federal High Court sitting at Umuahia, the state capital, on April 29 but rearrested hours later by the DSS.
Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna
On the day he was granted bail, government officials led by Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr. A.C Agbazuere, who incidentally is also a lawyer, accompanied by officials of the DSS forcefully attempted to rearrest Ogbonna within the premises of the Federal High Court but was resisted by prison officials and lawyers present because the bail term was yet to be perfected.
Upon obtaining the necessary documentation in the presence of prison warders, they drove to the Correctional Center at Afara Umuahia, rearrested Ogbonna and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
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Abia Government Arrests, Remands Activist In Prison Custody Over Alleged False Publication
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“He was released to the DSS officials and officials of Abia State Government on orders from above, they really wanted to deal with him,” a prison source told SaharaReporters at the time.
He is also yet to be charged to court 45 days after he was rearrested and detained.
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E2%80%99s-personal-assistant-yusuf-mamman-daura-and-aso-rock War In Aso Rock Villa: President Buhari’s Personal Assistant, Yusuf, Mamman Daura And Aso Rock Cabal Gang Up Against Aisha, Move To Strip Her of Security Details
Mamman Daura
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf; President Buhari and; Aisha Buhari
ADC to Aisha
The last has not been heard of the crisis in Aso Villa, Nigeria’s seat of power in Abuja, as aides and close individuals to President Muhammadu Buhari launch a massive offensive against his wife and First Lady of the country, Aisha.
Aisha incurred the wrath of the ‘cabal’, a group of powerful and almost untouchable individuals around Buhari, after her Aide De Camp and other security details forced her husband’s Personal Assistant, Saibu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf out of Aso Villa on Thursday after he refused to embark on a 14-day isolation period after a trip from Lagos.
Yusuf, according to findings by SaharaReporters was thoroughly beaten by the Guards Commander of Mrs Buhari after he refused to quarantine upon returning from Lagos in company with five women.
He was said to have escaped into the apartment of Mamman Daura, Buhari’s nephew, around the Villa and had remained there ever since.
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf; President Buhari and; Aisha Buhari
Angered by the situation, it was gathered that Daura, Yusuf and other powerful individuals around Buhari had initiated several meetings to get back at Aisha, whom they consider to be blocking their plans in the Villa.
This is after Yusuf and Buhari’s Chief Security Officer had ordered the arrest of Aisha’s ADC and other security details.
ADC to Aisha
A top Presidency source, who confirmed the latest development to SaharaReporters on Saturday, said, “The case has now escalated to a power tussle between remnants of the cabal including Mamman Daura, Isa Funtua, and Tunde Sabiu.
“Tunde was thoroughly beaten by the Guards Commander of Mrs Buhari after he refused to quarantine upon returning from Lagos with women. Tunde claims his trip was to visit his wife, daughter of NIMASA DG, who just delivered a baby. He reportedly secured special landing rights at the Lagos Airport from Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation.
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EXCLUSIVE: President Buhari’s Personal Assistant Orders Detention Of Aisha’s ADC After Disregarding COVID-19 Guideline At Aso Villa Upon Return From Private Trip To Lagos
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“Upon being beaten, he scaled the fence and ended in the residence of Daura, who now lives on the periphery of the Aso Rock Villa having been driven out of the Glass House within the Villa by Aisha last year.
“Daura then summoned Isa Funtua to a meeting to discuss next steps on how to deal with Aisha’s latest excesses.
“They contacted the IG of police, who initially declined, asking that the issue be handled by Villa officials, but he was warned to order the arrest of Aisha ADC, a formerly with Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello. The ADC was seen to be powerful because he knew the secrets of the cabal and was said to help Bello move cash to the cabal while he was there in Kogi. He also had a reputation for being ruthless as Bello’s ADC.
“When Buhari was informed, he asked that an investigation be done but it is believed that Buhari is in a state of dementia and most times don’t even remember the instructions passed out and the cabal around him capitalizes on this to commit atrocities and massive corruption.
“Tunde has remained in Mamman Daura’s house refusing to enter isolation as directed by Aisha, while the ADC to Mrs Buhari and other aides remain in detention at the FCT command.
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President Buhari’s Wife, Aisha, Confirms SaharaReporters’ Story, Tells IGP To Release ADC, Others Detained On Orders Of Husband’s Personal Assistant
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“Isa Funtua and Daura are asking the IG of Police to prosecute the ADC for some murders he reportedly carried out in Kogi as ADC to Yahaya Bello as a way of getting rid of him.
Mamman Daura
“Meanwhile, another scandal is brewing around Tunde, he was illegally recruited into the National Intelligence Agency but did not attend the compulsory training for cadets. He is looking into a future where he can be sent out of Nigeria as soon as Buhari’s regime is over as a way of covering up his massive wealth.
“Also, Daura cannot bear having Yusuf out of the Villa for even one week because of how he protects his numerous deals.”
Though Mrs Bihari had called on the Inspector-General of Police to release her security details, they remain in custody till this time.
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Oyo Government Discharges 95 Coronavirus Patients
Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde
The Oyo State Government has discharged 95 Coronavirus patients after they received their second negative test results.
Governor Seyi Makinde announced this through his official Twitter handle on Saturday.
Makinde said the figure raised the number of discharged cases so far to 271 in the state.
Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde
He said, “95 confirmed COVID-19 cases have received their second negative test results and have been discharged. This brings the number of discharged cases in Oyo State to 271.”
The governor, who is also the head of COVID-19 Task Force in the state, further announced that the COVID-19 confirmation tests for 35 suspected cases came back posi.
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WATCH LIVE: Police Brutality: A Global Pandemic
Police Brutality: A Global Pandemic – a virtual town hall meeting hosted by SaharaReporters.
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June 12: Dream That Never Berthed By Tony Ademiluyi
MKO Abiola
I remember in 1993 when as an eight-year-old starry-eyed lad, I was introduced to partisan politics. My father belonged to the then National Republican Convention (NRC) and he never told me to go and play outside when his political associates sauntered into our house for meetings.
As the child, who was saddled with the responsibility of purchasing newspapers for him, I was unconsciously taught the ropes of partisan politics.
My mother was a sympathizer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) because she was always in awe of the rags to riches story of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.
June 12, 1993 came and the nation went to the polls to elect a leader that will lead them to the proverbial Promised Land. For the first time in the country’s electoral history, the nation voted for a Muslim-Muslim ticket as we were fed up of the ruinous military rule especially with the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida which greatly pauperized Nigerians. For the first time we were united not minding our religious differences as our collective resolve was the common good. I recall that the religious resolve was absent in the 1979 Presidential elections when the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo ran with the late Chief Phillip Umeadi of the Unity Party of Nigeria on a Christian-Christian ticket. The nation had truly evolved.
MKO Abiola
The presumed victory by Abiola united the nation also for the first time despite divergent political party lines as many Nigerians who belonged to the NRC were united in their resolve to ensure that Abiola got his mandate.
The likes of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode for instance who was a staunch member of the NRC became a sturdy voice for the de-annulment of the June 12 elections. The current Ekiti State Governor, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi in his book ‘Out of the Shadows’ revealed that he was initially opposed to the candidacy of Abiola but rallied round him and campaigned vigorously for his presidency while he was on exile in the United Kingdom where he made his mark as a pro democracy campaigner.
The June 12 election which was initially the beacon of hope for the beleaguered nation tragically metamorphosed into a bucket filled with blood. Many of the pro democracy campaigners most notably Late Chief Anthony Enahoro, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dele Momodu, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi amongst many others were forced into exile. The ones who preferred to remain in the country were hounded into detention – names like Senator Babafemi Ojudu, a former Director with The News Magazine, Dare Babarinsa of Tell Magazine, Late Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele, Chief Olu Falae, Late Chief Bola Ige, Late Lam Adesina etc were guests of the dreaded gulags scattered across the country. The likes of Pa Alfred Rewane, Kudirat Abiola, Madam Suliat Adedeji etc paid the supreme price by being victims of the assassins bullet as the Late General Sani Abacha maintained a brutal killer force who were trained to kill without asking questions.
Many politicians as time went on betrayed the June 12 cause as they convinced Abiola to renounce his mandate in preference for the New Sheriff in town – General Sani Abacha. The likes of Babagana Kingibe who was Abiola’s running mate became a Minister under Abacha and distanced himself from the June 12 struggle, Late Chief Tony Anenih who was the former National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) became a roving ambassador for Abacha and travelled round the world trying to sell his self succession bid to the members of the international community.
Chief Abiola himself was clamped behind bars in 1994 after he declared himself as the President of the country in the famous Epetedo Declaration which shook Lagos to its very foundation.
After Abacha’s sudden and unexpected death, many incurable optimists were glad that Abiola’s mandate would become a reality but the international community thought differently as powerful diplomats led by Kofi Annan, the then United Nations Secretary-General, Emeka Anyaoku, the then Commonwealth Secretary-General and Susan Rice tried their best to convince the businessman and philanthropist to give up his mandate in the exchange for a good life. The Chief was defiant and the only option was to take him out which the diplomatic community did with the infamous cup of tea which made him join Abacha barely a month after the death of the dark Goggled General.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who angered the Yoruba community by saying that ‘Abiola was not the messiah that the nation needed’ later emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the June 12 struggle. He literarily walked through the valley of the shadow of death as he was also jailed by Abacha for treason. But for fate, he may have died in detention like his erstwhile deputy, General Shehu Musa Yar’adua who was injected to death allegedly by the dreaded Dr. Tanko Yakassai.
The June 12 apologists prevailed on the Owu born leader to recognize June 12 as democracy day but he refused preferring to celebrate May 29 as the nation’s democracy day. He is known to have had a long held grudge against Abiola which didn’t abate when he found himself in Aso Rock.
Buhari in 2019, sensing his unpopularity, hurriedly made June 12 the democracy day as well as a public holiday in order to get the votes from the south west which proved to be the deal breaker for him in 2015 when it was the votes by the west that got him the presidency which he had been fighting for since 2003.
Despite my disappointment with the Muhammadu Buhari led presidency, I commend him for recognizing June 12 as the true democracy day. We need to return history back to our educational curriculum as many youngsters popularly known as the Indomie generation know nothing about that fateful red letter day. It’s shameful if our present generation is ignorant of the goings on that led to Abiola’s death.
Beyond celebrating the day as democracy day with its usual boring and pedestrian rhetoric, it is important for the stakeholders in power to ensure that the long awaited dividends of democracy get to the Man on the Clapham Omnibus. The Plebians must be given a sense of belonging and ensure that their welfare is taking care of. Anything short of this will be akin to the fate of most of the animals in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ where there was no difference between Mr. Jones and the pigs.
I use this day to make the clarion call for restructuring and the strengthening of the states in a similar manner to how it was in the pre-independence era under the Lyttleton constitution which showed the prowess of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who masterminded many progressive initiatives as the Premier of the Western Region.
The good old days must come back as that will be the greatest gain of June 12.
Tony Ademiluyi wrote from Lagos
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Tony Ademiluyi
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E2%80%98tope-oriola How Police Departments Can Identify And Oust Killer Cops By ‘Tope Oriola
Tope Oriola
The global condemnation of the death of George Floyd, one of the latest in a constellation of officer-involved deaths of unarmed civilians, has grown into a social movement for disbanding or defunding police.
At the far end of the debate, there are those calling for abolishing the police altogether. Little consideration is given to what may occupy the ensuing vacuum. On the other hand, there are those wishing to defund the police. This means shifting significant material resources from police departments to social services for issues such as mental health.
Therefore, in cases of mental distress or welfare checks, social service providers intervene rather than police, who have proven ill-equipped to deal with people in mental distress. There is growing acknowledgment that the attitude of officers towards the human rights of suspects and numbers of police-involved killings need to change. The research on excessive use of force by police, the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to certain useful policy measures.
Tope Oriola
Psychological traits and screening
Killer cops and those who routinely maltreat civilians tend to be action-oriented. Research suggests that they are prone to boredom and suffer from major personality disorders. These include mood swings, impulsivity, lack of empathy, narcissism and anti-social personal disorder. Many of these traits begin early in life. Diversity workshops, training, or cultural sensitivity have limited utility to help such officers. The primary solution is to not hire such persons in the first place. This speaks to the need for greater psychological screening. A 2014 report by former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci submitted to Toronto Police Service following the death of Sammy Yatim in July 2013 calls for “screening out psychopathology and screening in for desirable traits such as emotional intelligence, empathy, tolerance of diversity, and patience”.
Hire more women
Women are less likely to support use of force than men. My collaborative research in Alberta demonstrates that women are less likely to support use of so-called less-than-lethal force options such as conducted energy weapons. The evidence in support of reducing deadly force by hiring more women in police departments is overwhelming. Female officers are less likely to use (excessive) force as they deploy de-escalation techniques and engage verbally. Police departments with a reasonable number of women tend to record lower levels of officer-involved killings. However, the number of women is important. Female officers in male-dominated police departments may exhibit hyper-masculine traits if they are few and attempt to fit in. They may be just as if not more brutal than men. There is no agreement on what constitutes a reasonable number. A gender-balanced police service should be ultimate priority. I suggest a minimum threshold of 40 percent female officers.
University graduate-only officers
Officers without university degrees populate the ranks of killer cops. Officers with university degrees are more likely to request mental health support for suspects and demonstrate a higher appreciation for the complexity of social life, individual problems and subtleties of working in an increasingly diverse environment. Officers with university degrees exhibit stronger verbal skills, effective communication and empathy. The Iacobucci report recommends recruiting officers from “specific educational programs” such as nursing and social work in order to foster “a compassionate response to people in crisis”. Many officers with stellar careers had grade 12 education or less. However, society has evolved. Grade 12 education is not sufficient for policing in the 21st Century.
Ethno-racial diversity
Evidence from the US is less settled regarding racial characteristics of killer cops. However, most studies find that white non-Hispanic officers are more likely to shoot or kill civilians. A few studies suggest black officers are more likely to shoot and kill civilians. These tend to be criticized for poor methodology. In Canada, most killer cops appear to be white men. An ethno-racially diverse police service is integral for building public trust and inclusivity.
Training
Much of the current six-month training focuses on deployment of lethal force or marksmanship. It is a waste of time and sets up officers for frustration given today’s realities. Once out of training, officers realize that citizens get meaninglessly drunk, spouses beat the crap out of themselves, and citizens experience psychotic episodes. Somehow, the police are required to respond to all these matters. These are in fact some of the most common issues brought to police attention. These scenarios may be frustrating for action-oriented officers. Action-oriented officers may see only moral failing in each case and respond with disdain and unnecessary force. The professional officer will see “clients” in need of bureaucratic assistance and attempt to de-escalate. There is a need to overhaul officer training and extend it to at least one full year of rigorous classroom engagement with human rights, mental health issues, and diversity, among others.
Accountability
The main officer involved in George Floyd’s death had 17 complaints in his file. Three of those involved shootings with one death. This is a poor disciplinary record. Such officers make policing more difficult and dangerous. Minneapolis Police Department bears responsibility for keeping such a person in service. Undesirable elements may sometimes enter into police service but must be promptly removed from service once their engagement with colleagues, superiors and the public begins to reflect certain troubling patterns. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) charged two officers in June 2020. It was the first charges brought forward against officers by ASIRT since its establishment in 2008. This is rather mindboggling given incidents of excessive use of force in Alberta. Tolerating errant cops is dangerous for public trust.
I propose a two-prong policy. A “kill-and-go” policy and “three strikes policy” for police accountability. Kill-and-go means any officer who kills an unarmed civilian or a suspect who had a weapon but did not deploy it against an officer is dismissed from service and prosecuted. My three strikes proposal is similar to the disused California anti-crime law of the same name. Any officer involved in three excessive use of force incidents in which a civilian is mistreated and sustains injuries is automatically dismissed from service and prosecuted. There should be no expiry to each strike across an officer’s career.
Policing is a fine, well-paying occupation relative to entry qualifications and length of training — at least in Canada and many parts of the US. This is rarely emphasized regarding policing as an occupation. We emphasize sacrifice, community-orientation and selflessness of policing. These are great ideals. However, a balance has to be struck between the ideational elements on one hand and the fact that policing is a wonderful path towards social respectability. The RCMP notes that the annual salary of a newly sworn-in officer is $53,144 per year and increases to $86,110 within 36 months of service. There are postdoctoral fellows working on life-saving biomedical research who make less than $50,000 a year despite possessing hard-earned PhDs. The government and public should get value for money spent on police by selecting appropriate people.
This article was first published in The Conversation. ‘Tope Oriola teaches criminology and terrorism studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. Follow Oriola on Twitter: @topeoriola
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‘Tope Oriola
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E2%80%99s-democracy-day-speech-dictator%E2%80%99s-false-dilemma-bayo-oluwasanmi Buhari’s Democracy Day Speech: Dictator’s False Dilemma By Bayo Oluwasanmi
Bayo Oluwasanmi
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day speech is a good example of “newspeak” in Gorge Orwell’s 1984 dystopian classic. In 1984, Orwell explains how dictators use “newspeak” language to manipulate their citizens.
“Newspeak” says Orwell, is a form of brainless speaking that enables garbage to be uttered convincingly. Going by Orwell’s theory, informed and rational Nigerians should take Democracy Day speech by Buhari as a total garbage.
Only the Akindanidanis will swallow hook, line, and sinker the garbage with blind uncritical belief in spite of the facts concerning the Nigerian state. In Buhari’s 2020 Nigeria, Orwell’s 1984 is no longer a fiction. Buhari’s use of manipulative lies, distortions, unfulfilled old promises, new empty promises, propaganda in the speech are in line with “newspeak” language. The speech is aimed at exploiting the naïveté and gullibility of Nigerians.
The speech exposes Buhari as suffering from dictator’s false dilemma. For example, let’s examine what he says about democracy, rule of law, the constitution, corruption, the economy, and press freedom.
Bayo Oluwasanmi
He says he’ll ensure democracy and the rule of law, but his disdain for flouting court orders and illegal detention of activists and critics is legendary. He tells Nigerians that his regime supports freedom of speech. In reality, Nigerians were beaten, arrested, detained, and dispersed from protesting peacefully. Protesters were hounded like criminals by the police and security forces. Omoyele Sowore, leader of #RevolutionNow was abducted and detained for organizing peaceful demonstration for good governance.
According to Buhari, “We have witnessed eleven quarters of consecutive GDP growth since exiting recession.” Under his watch, Nigeria became poverty capital of the world.
He preaches one Nigeria, but he’s the greatest nepotist divisive president that employs division and diversion to further polarize the already fractured and divided nation. He says he’s fighting corruption but looks the other way when his close aides and associates are involved in corruption. Indeed, Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. He assures the nation that Nigeria will always be governed by rule of law and uphold the constitution. Buhari is notorious for breaking the law and violating the constitution. He promises that he’ll guarantee freedom of press. The fact is, The World Press Freedom Index describes Nigeria as one of the most dangerous and difficult countries to practice journalism in the world as journalists are often spied on, attacked, arbitrarily arrested, or even killed.
Buhari’s past is a prologue. His long record of abuse and brutal tactics of repression have not disappeared. Do not be fooled by the propaganda and false promises promoted in his Democracy Day speech. Buhari is who he always has been – a brutal, senseless, and sadistic dictator.
Buhari has returned Nigeria to Abacha’s dark days. Activists, journalists, critics, have been routinely targeted for state-sponsored intimidation, detention, and torture. His regime is an extension of his military junta.
Don’t blame dictator Buhari alone. We the people – Nigerians – are the ones enabling the dictator. After all, the dictator cannot function without followers. Nigerians have abdicated their personal responsibilities which directly cripple freedom of expression and derail democratic process. Though we enable dictator Buhari, we can also disable him. This is how we can give meaningful interpretation to Democracy Day!
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Bayo Oluwasanmi
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