Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Friday 20th August 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 20/08/21
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E2%80%93-pdp-chairman-secondus-makes-empty Obasanjo Visited Afghanistan To Resolve Its Crisis – PDP Chairman, Secondus Makes Empty Claims To Seek Ex-President’s ‘Blessings’
Uche Secondus
Embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, has said he learnt former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Afghanistan lately to intervene in the crisis rocking the Asian country.
Secondus, who has been under pressure to resign as the party’s national chairman due to infractions, described Obasanjo on Thursday as a “global personality, resolving issues across the world.”
Uche Secondus
By his subtle claims, the chairman believed that Obasanjo could wade into the party’s crisis and give him (Secondus) his blessings.
The chairman spoke with journalists at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, after a closed-door meeting with the former President.
After the meeting that lasted more than an hour, the PDP Chairman said he came to Obasanjo as an elder statesman to advise the present government.
“I am here with the members of my team and as well as the PDP executives in Ogun State to tap from the wealth of Baba’s knowledge as a statesman. It has been very difficult lately because Baba is a global personality, resolving issues across the world. In fact, the last place I learnt Baba visited was Afghanistan, despite the situation in that country, he went there and came back alive.
“So, my team and I are very grateful and we give glory to God. We have discussed Nigeria. Nigeria first before any other thing; yes, we belong to a political party, but if we don’t have a country, where do we practise democracy? We need to have a peaceful country where democracy can strive and at this point; we need Chief Obasanjo to come in with solutions.
“We are aware of the insecurity, the poor economy, banditry, kidnapping all over the country; and we can’t continue to watch without reaching out to the elders so that they can come to gather and advise the present government. That is the duty of a statesman.”
In his words, Obasanjo maintained that though the situation of Nigeria was very bad, it was not irredeemable.
He asked Nigerians to set aside partisanship and think of working together to save Nigeria from collapsing.
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E2%80%93-bode-george-slams-embattled-pdp-chairman-secondus-over You Abused Your Opportunity – Bode George Slams Embattled PDP Chairman, Secondus Over Crisis
Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said the embattled National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, should stop disturbing elder statesmen in the country for help in his bid to perpetuate himself in office.
George was reacting to the closed-door meeting between Secondus and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent, George said Secondus mismanaged the privilege given to him to manage the affairs of the PDP but he was running helter-skelter when the party members said they had had enough of him.
“Why is he running around now? When he was given the mantle of office and you were supposed to remain just, fair and equitable, did he do that? Let him stop disturbing the old men; allow them to rest. Like I have always said, the PDP is not a personal property of anyone.
“Are you going to repair all the damages he created by his inactivity or lack of respect for the ground norms and the constitution of our party? I don’t hate him but he mismanaged the opportunity given to him to manage the affairs of the party. He went outside the constitution and threw it down the drain.
“APC also went through their own crisis during the tail-end of Oshiomhole but President Buhari had to take a decisive action, otherwise, that party would have gone down today. So, if the members of the PDP are saying we are tired of the methodology of Secondus, so be it.
“I have an example of his complete mismanagement. I think he should have done all these things long before now. Yes, we know the elders are experienced and we shouldn’t ignore their words. But they gave you an opportunity for almost four years and you bungled It”.
“Now, look at crisis everywhere especially in Anambra. Look at all the governors leaving the party. What was he doing? He did nothing because he didn’t care. Now he is now running around to Baba and others”.
“I think Baba and others should just tell him that if the party doesn’t want you, be a party man and rise above this pettiness. There is always a beginning and there must be an end.”
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Court Dismisses Application by Northern Group To Stop Arrest, Extradition Of Disgraced DCP Abba Kyari To US
Abba Kyari
A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected an ex-parte application for an order restraining the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from arresting and extraditing suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling on Thursday, said he was not inclined to granting the relief sought in the ex-parte motion.
Abba Kyari
The Incorporated Trustees of Northern Peace Foundation had through its team of lawyers led by Dr Olukayode Ajulo argued an ex-parte application before the judge praying him to grant the temporary order of injunction against the two defendants pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.
The ex-parte application dated August 9 2021, was accomplished with a 21 paragraph affidavit of urgency.
The plaintiff is, in the substantive suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/854/2021, querying the propriety of the alleged threat to arrest and extradite Kyari in relation to his indictment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has since suspended Abba Kyari from office and as head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
His suspension followed the recommendation of Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, as a temporary measure while the police investigate Kyari’s relationship with suspected fraudster, Ramon Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi.
Kyari was indicted by a U.S. court as a conspirator in a $1.1 million fraudulent deal against a Qatari businessman.
Hushpuppi had said he used the former leader of the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team, to jail a fellow Fraudster, Kelly Chibuzo Vincent after both were locked in a dispute presumably over how to share the $1.1 million loot received from a Qatari businessperson.
Vincent subsequently contacted the victim and informed them that they were being scammed by a syndicate involving him and Hushpuppi, US court documents read.
This elicited anger from Hushpuppi, who contacted Kyari to arrest and jail his rival over the dispute. Abbas said Kyari sent pictures of Vincent in jail and subsequently sent his bank account number to Hushpuppi to which a wire transfer should be made having done a good job as sent by him.
“Court documents outline a dispute among members of the conspiracy, which allegedly prompted Vincent to contact the victim and claim that Abbas and Juma were engaged in fraud. After this contact, Abbas allegedly arranged to have Vincent jailed in Nigeria by Abba Alhaji Kyari, 46, of Nigeria.
“According to the affidavit, Kyari is a highly decorated deputy commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force who is alleged to have arranged for Vincent to be arrested and jailed at Abbas’ behest, and then sent Abbas photographs of Vincent after his arrest. Kyari also allegedly sent Abbas bank account details for an account into which Abbas could deposit payment for Vincent’s arrest and imprisonment,” US justice department said in a statement.
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E2%80%99s-wedding-emir%E2%80%99s-coronation Buhari Sends Four Ministers, Others To Kano Ahead Of Son’s Wedding, Emir’s Coronation
President Muhammadu Buhari has dispatched a high-level delegation to Kano State, ahead of the wedding fathia between his son, Yusuf and Zahra Bayero, the daughter of the Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Ado Bayero.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and publicity, Garba Shehu.
Members of the delegation include Minister of Defence, Bashir Salihi Magashi; Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika and Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Hussein Adamu alongside Shehu himself who are all led by the Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari.
The statement reads, “Ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano for the marriage of his son, Yusuf Buhari, to Zahra Bayero, the daughter of Nasiru Ado Bayero, the Emir of Bichi in Kano State on Friday, the President has dispatched a high-level delegation to be led by his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
”The Presidential delegation, including the Ministers of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu as well as the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), Garba Shehu will stay back after the wedding, to represent the President at the coronation of the Emir at Bichi the following day, Saturday.”
SaharaReporters had earlier reported that Yusuf and Zahra’s wedding is scheduled to hold on Friday, August 20.
The wedding ceremony is set to hold at the palace of the bride’s father, Nasir Ado-Bayero, who rules Bichi, a town in Kano State.
Yusuf is set to get married to his bride to embark on a journey which started with their meeting while pursuing their academics in the United Kingdom.
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High-Profile Nigerians Get Invites For Yusuf Buhari’s Wedding At Emir Of Bichi’s Palace
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The Emir of Bichi, father of the bride-to-be has given his approval, for the organisation and inauguration of a 145-man committee to ensure that the wedding ceremony does not meet any obstacle or complication along the way.
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E2%80%99t-fraudulently-finance-2023-elections-%E2%80%93-nigeria%E2%80%99s-anti-graft-chairman-bawa-warns-bank Don’t Fraudulently Finance 2023 Elections – Nigeria’s Anti-graft Chairman, Bawa Warns Bank Directors
EFCC Chairman Bawa
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has asked financial institutions in the country not to engage in “fraudulent election financing, foreign exchange malpractices and money laundering.”
According to the EFCC boss speaking on Thursday during an interactive session with Managing Directors of banks in Nigeria in Lagos, it was imperative to bring the financial institutions in the country up to speed with the growing policies in the commission.
EFCC Chairman Bawa
Bawa asserted that the collaborative effort is in line with the United Nations’ categorization of the fight against corruption vis-à-vis prevention, enforcement and assets recovery.
This was contained in a statement sent by the Commission’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday.
According to him, “At the EFCC, we want to place more emphasis on prevention.
“We want to lay less emphasis on enforcement, which is investigation and prosecution and put our energy more on prevention and asset recovery.
“In addition, some of the issues we have identified include foreign exchange malpractices and fraudulent election financing.
“As you all know, in 16 to 18 months, Nigeria will be preparing for another round of elections, and the government will not want what happened in the past to repeat itself.”
The nation’s anti-graft chief said it had become necessary to put bankers on their toes, particularly as the 2023 general elections approached.
Bawa also declared that the “new EFCC” under his leadership believes that the financial institutions possess an important role to play in the Commission’s efforts to purge the country of economic and financial crimes.
He added that the occasion was used to charge the bankers to comply with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on the issuance of Personal Travel Allowance, PTA and Business Travel Allowance, BTA, to their customers.
“You need to ensure full compliance with regard to knowing your customers and ensuring that you do not give opportunities for foreign exchange malpractices.”
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World Taekwando Body Orders Nigerian Technical Director, Chukwumerije To Undergo Compulsory Safety Training Over Assault Of Female Athletes
The International federation governing body of Taekwondo, World Taekwondo has recommended that the Technical Director, Nigerian Taekwondo Federation, Chika Chukwumerije, enroll in professional training that would ensure the safety of the athletes.
WT also asked the NTF to institute protective measures that would be endorsed by the world governing body of the Taekwondo sports for the complaints.
These were revealed in a statement signed by the WT Secretary General, Hoss Rafty, and obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday.
According to the letter addressed to him, dated Wednesday, August 18, 2021, Chukwumerije was given till August 24, to respond or face stiffer resolve of the World Taekwondo.
In WT letter to Chukwumerije, the WT Secretary-General said, “In reference to your case, be advised that the WT Integrity Committee was provided the complaint file, provided to you on 22 June 2021, as well as your answer to the complaint provided on 6 July 2021.
“Following a review of the complaint and your response, the Committee found most persuasive the Court Decision of 31 May 2021, ref SUIT NO.FCT/HC/CV/577/15 1 (the “Court Decision”), and its holding on pages 20-21 that the facts in question did occur as reported.
“The Committee notes your stated intent to appeal the Court Decision. However, a) given the uncertain timeline for such an appeal, and b) the fact that the initial Court Decision took more than six years to reach, and c) the priority to safeguard athletes and err on the side of caution in given the disparity of power in this situation, the Committee has determined that steps should be taken by WT to safeguard the welfare of athletes.
“Therefore, the Committee has issued the following guidance: i) that the NTF puts in place appropriate protective measures, to be proposed by the NTF and approved by the Committee; and, ii) that you undertake safeguarding education via a recognized institution or program, to be approved by the Committee.
“We ask that you confirm your agreement to abide by the Committee’s recommendations.
“Kindly provide your answer to this by no later than 24 August. Be advised that if you do not agree to follow the Committee’s recommendations WT be required to take further steps towards enforcing the Committee’s findings and guidance.”
Recall that Chukwumerije was accused of physical assault by female athletes, as the High Court in Abuja dismissed a N500 million libel suit by him against Yemi Adeyemi-Enilari and Delateur Foundation on May 31.
In the suit filed on December 22, 2015 against Adeyemi-Enilari and Delateur Foundation, Chukwumerije had claimed that they (defendants) published on Nigeria Taekwondo Black Belt College Facebook page, a letter dated Monday October 5, 2015 purportedly addressed to “President, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation” concerning the claimant with the caption “Petition: Abuse and Assault of Taekwondo Athletes.”
It was learnt that other athletes who suffered similar abuse reported their ordeals to their state associations as one of the victims, Fatimah Abdullahi, had recounted her ordeal in a petition written to the NTF.
“During my first training he (Chukwumerije) instructed us to do certain things and when we didn’t do it right he used a rope tied with paper to beat us,” she stated in the report of the disciplinary committee cited by our correspondents.
“There was a time he wanted to use a tiny iron rod to beat us, but Master Tony Anafulu stopped him from using it on us,” Abdullahi said.
SaharaReporters published that despite being found guilty of abuse and assault, Chukwumerije led the Nigerian Taekwondo contingent to the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Can you imagine that the same person found guilty of abuse and assault is leading the Nigerian Taekwondo continent to the Olympics? Someone that ought to be in prison now?
“Instead of taking action against him, the Nigerian government, Sports Ministry, and the National Sports Commission (NSC) decided to reward coach Chika Chukwumerije,” a source at the ministry had said.
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E2%80%93-atiku Bandits May Soon Register With Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian Stock Exchange – Atiku Warns
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday said bandits ravaging the country with growing impunity would soon register formally with the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Atiku spoke when he chaired the launch of a new book by journalist Chido Onumah in Abuja on Thursday afternoon. ‘Remaking Nigeria: Sixty Years, Sixty Voices,’ was unveiled at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The book collected critical voices from across the country to reflect on the country’s journey since Independence and suggest ways out of the country’s myriad crises.
The book came six years after Onumah wrote ‘We Are All Biafrans’ to demonstrate a metaphor for the mutual disaffection and claims of marginalisation amongst Nigerians of all tribes and ideological persuasions.
Abubakar, who challenged but lost to Mr Buhari at the 2019 presidential polls, said Nigerians should learn from Mr Buhari’s divisive mindset and emulate ideals that promote unity and economic prosperity in order to leave a lasting legacy.
He said, “I find it amusing when people declare Nigeria’s unity as fixed and non-negotiable while doing everything in their power to destroy that fragile unity.
“Nothing in the relationships among peoples is fixed for eternity. You cannot declare your marriage as non-negotiable while doing everything to sow seeds of discord in that same marriage.
“You can whip groups of people into forming a country but you cannot whip them into forming a nation.
“Nations are built through conscious or even unconscious agreement by peoples who believe that being together is, on balance, more beneficial than being apart.”
On the insecurity ravaging the country, Atiku said, “But who would have thought that our country would become a haven for kidnappers and all manner of bandits to the extent that their nefarious activities would become a major industry?
“They have been allowed to operate so openly and brazenly that it would surprise no one if they applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission and listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“Five years ago, the Abuja – Kaduna Road was not a virtual no-go area. The South-East was not a virtual war-zone, and Amotekun was not needed to protect lives and property in the South-West.”
He also blamed the Northern region and the country for not doing enough to check the encroachment of the Sahara Desert and the drying out of Lake Chad, saying that this was responsible for trajectory of the insurgency in the North-East and the banditry across the Northern states.
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E2%80%93-gani-adams South-West Residents Paid N3billion Ransoms To Bandits In Two Years – Gani Adams
Gani Adams
The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, had said that the South-West region had paid about N3billion as ransom to kidnappers in the last two years.
According to Tribune, Adams stated this on Thursday at the South-West Security Stakeholders’ Conference organised by the South West Security Stakeholders’ Group, with the theme” “Stemming the tide of insecurity in South-West Nigeria: A Criminology Therapy,” held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Gani Adams
He disclosed that no fewer than 200 lives were lost as a result of insecurity in the region in the years under review.
Adams noted that if the leaders fail to act on the development, the region may record the same incident being experienced in the Northern part of the country.
He appealed to the Federal Government to consider regionalism as a way out of the present situation in the country.
“There’s a need for self-government or regionalism in the country where governors would control the police and other security architectures of their states.
“At every point in time in the region, insecurity has reached an alarming rate and there is the need for us to take drastic action towards ending the prevailing scourge,” he said.
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Five Reasons Why IBB Should Not Be Celebrated, By Festus Afofun
The ravaging calamity that befalls Nigeria as a country since the colonial era is the act of re-writing history. The Nigerian ruling elites have successfully rewritten Nigeria’s history by excluding themselves from the gory path of history and rebranding themselves as liberators.
This unscrupulous act of rebranding criminals as statemen gets me infuriated. Ibrahim Babangida’s 80th birthday brought many fake achievements, praising and altered history about the former head of state and his role in Nigeria’s democracy.
Prominent persons, academicians, and influencers in Nigeria are trying to rewrite the gory details of Ibrahim Babangida, widely known as Maradona.
IBB, as he is popularly called, is a well-known coupist and enemy of democracy in Nigeria. He was born on August 17, 1941. IBB was a military dictator who ruled Nigeria from 1985 when he staged a palace coup that ousted General Muhammadu Buhari’s regime from power. IBB oversaw the brutal assassination of Dele Giwa, a veteran investigative journalist who exposed the criminalities of IBB and his cronies. Aside from the annulment of the June 12 election, the massacre of dissent voices, and enormous corruption engaged in by Ibrahim Babangida, what other things do you know about him?
Read five revelations I consciously brought out of the numerous crimes against humanity committed by the former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida.
1. Restriction of Freedom of Expression and Press: Babangida crippled freedom of press and expression as various journalists, media houses, critics, and civil societies suffered from his inhumane dictatorial 6-year regime.
Three newspapers in Lagos owned by John West Publications were shut down in March 1991 for 13 days for what was described as “embarrassing publications” against the corrupt military head of state, IBB, and his wife, relating to the Jennifer Madike case.
Also, William Keeling, a correspondent with the British Daily Financial Times, was expelled from Nigeria and declared persona non grata after he wrote an article that exposed the Babangida government for not reporting about half of the extra five billion dollars that it was estimated to have earned from a boost in oil prices during the Gulf War.
Many media houses were shut down and scores of journalists were imprisoned with no charges against them. The press bitterly suffered from the claws of Babangida’s oppression.
2. Abortion of Democracy: Babangida was the Chief of Army Staff who annulled the June 12, 1993, presidential election which happens to be the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria. The unofficial result of the election though not declared by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), indicated a victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who defeated Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). Babangida purportedly annulled the June 12 election after he discovered that Abiola won the election despite all machinery he had put in place to truncate the electoral process.
The hidden reason why the archenemy of democracy, General Maradona failed the Nigeria people was that Abiola’s campaign focused on economic issues, as he was a vocal critic of the government’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which the Babangida government had commenced in 1986, and following prescriptions by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, he imposed austerity measures to ensure fiscal discipline by the state.
To interest you, Tofa, the government-sponsored presidential candidate, supported the SAP as he hammered on focusing on the effective implementation of existing economic policies if he assumed power.
Note that Babangida had closer ties with Tofa as he had once suggested that Babangida should remain Nigeria’s leader till 2000.
The evil genius annulled the June 12 election because of his nepotic, tribalistic, selfish, and bourgeois interests.
3. Brutal clampdown on civil rights advocates: He jailed hundreds of activists and democrats who demanded respect for human rights and democratic government. He was so tyrannical and brutal such that he admitted to a news magazine that his favourite alias was the “Evil Genius”.
Sometime in November 1991, the passport of human rights attorney, Gani Fawehinmi was seized when he was on his way to London, UK for medical treatment. No official reason was given for the action.
Human rights attorney, Alao Aka-Bashorun’s passport, which was seized in 1990, has not yet been returned.
Popular public interest advocate Femi Falana was harassed on numerous occasions, apparently because of his role as defence counsel for Jennifer Madike, whose case was a headache for IBB’s tyrannical rule. Femi Falana was arrested on May 12, 1991, when security agents asked to see documents used in the defence of his client.
The activist’s passport was also seized in October 1991, when he was at the airport trying to leave the country to attend a meeting of non-governmental human rights organisations from Commonwealth countries. The meeting had been called to lobby the 1991 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference, which was being held in Zimbabwe. He was questioned over the following two days about the Madike case and accused of being insufficiently patriotic because of his opposition to the government-sponsored candidacies of Nigerians to fill prestigious positions in the international arena.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was also jailed for years because he criticised IBB’s dictatorial regime.
Babangida Maradona also put in prison pro-democracy activists like Omoyele Sowore, Shehu Sani, and many others who led protests to demand democracy in Nigeria.
4. Killing of students: Under Babangida’s rule, thousands of students were massacred across various Nigerian universities, especially in Zaria based on the order of the military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida. IBB military government’s hostility towards academic pursuits crippled universities throughout the country as academic operations were stopped.
In 1991, students were the targets of a Maradona siege, The government cracked down on students’ unions and their leaders in May as a response to an ultimatum issued by the National Association of Nigerian Students which the government later banned.
Babangida arrested and jailed over 500 students from Lagos State University (LASU), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and other institutions who protested against the government’s maladministration of the educational system.
5. Corruption: Babangida was as corrupt as Goodluck Jonathan, former Nigerian president. IBB regime institutionalised corruption. His government found pleasure in looting the national treasury to enrich himself, his friends, and families.
Ibrahim Babangida’s regime was unable to give an account of the Gulf War oil windfall, which has been estimated to be $12.4 billion.
According to wikipedia.com, during General Ibrahim Babangida’s tenure, corruption became a policy of the state that he routinely disbursed vehicles and cash gifts to people to earn loyalty, and the discipline of the military force was eroded.
The term “IBB Boys” emerged, meaning fronts for the head of state in the business realm, someone who usually transacted dirty deals from drug dealing to money laundering and all sorts of other corrupt deals.
Babangida covetously enriched himself through banking, oil, and import licences as he used these favours to raise huge cash for himself and his allies.
As of today, IBB is regarded as the richest past head of state in Nigeria.
I penned this piece down for this and the next generation to know that Ibrahim Babaginda (IBB) is a skunk that cannot be deodorised. He looted the national treasury, closed down universities for several months, murdered his opponents, jailed journalists, closed down several newspapers, and used various government privatisation initiatives to reward friends and cronies, which eventually gave rise to the current class of nouveau riche in Nigeria. Babangida is a thief that should be living in jail by now if only Nigeria was being led by good people, not past criminals.
Festus Afofun, a writer and human rights activist, writes from Ogun state, Nigeria. Festus can be reached via email: youngcomrade111@gmail.com.
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Lies, Damned Lies About Afghanistan, By Azu Ishiekwene
Azu Ishiekwene
In journalism proverb, Afghanistan is a convenient shelter, the writer’s fantasy island from topical issues at home. In the current deluge of news from that country, however, that proverb appears to have lost its meaning.
There’s no need for escape to Afghanistan; the traffic is the other way, while Afghanistan’s mythical status is being supplanted by lies, damned lies.
Azu Ishiekwene
One of the big, fat lies, for example, is that Afghans are cowards, too comfortable hiding behind their burkas and poppy fields to fight for their country. Why should anyone die for them?
That was the essence of US President Joe Biden’s message to Americans spread all around the world by major US networks. But it’s a lie, a convenient lie to cover the humiliation of the US, after that chaotic and catastrophic pullout followed by the Taliban retaking of Kabul.
It was always going to be difficult explaining to Americans why after nearly 20 years of US occupation, Taliban ended up replacing Taliban with an orderliness far more exemplary than the transition of power in the last US presidential election.
Are Afghans freeloaders happy to use others as dogs in their own fight?
History tells a different story. The landlocked country roughly the size of Texas, located at Asia’s crossroads, has been of strategic interest to the world powers in their ideological and proxy wars, not to mention their shameless lust for the country’s mineral resources.
The former Soviet Union has been there. For 10 years (1979 and 1989), the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, used it as a buffer post against Western encroachment in the Cold War and ran it with an iron fist. Unbowed, the Afghans toppled the puppet Soviet regime after three years of a shambolic handover.
Led by the Mujahideen, mostly from the rocky countryside and with support from the West, Afghans fought the Soviets like mad. Over two million Afghan lives or about 11 per cent of its population died in the war. It was a long, brutal war. In spite of the odds and the large casualties, Afghans neither retreated nor surrendered. They fought to the bitter end.
The war also took a heavy toll on the Soviet Union. By some accounts, at the end of the war, the Soviet Union may have spent over $100 billion in today’s money with an estimated 15,000 soldiers killed, about 35,000 wounded and vital military assets lost.
Of course, the Afghans received plenty of opportunistic help. But a collateral lesson of the Afghan mission is that foreign troops and intelligence are vital in battle, but the war is ultimately won by the people and hardly ever by puppets or mercenaries.
In the end, however, it was their war and they fought it. Apart from the material losses inflicted on the occupying Soviet forces, they dealt a blow that further weakened the USSR and, according to some writers, hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly after the war ended.
It’s a lie that Afghans are cowards who won’t fight for their country. If the US finds comfort in this lie and the Soviets have conveniently forgotten their own humiliation, choosing instead to mock the US defeat, surely the British – famous for their unwritten laws but yet full of rich tradition – still remember.
Soviet and British expansionist policy in the 19th and 20th centuries was the major cause of two Anglo-Afghan Wars, both of which left Britain humiliated, disgraced and despondent.
The comment of a British army chaplain in a memoir of the disastrous first Anglo-Afghan war, summarises the point nicely: “A war began for no wise purpose, carried on with a strange mixture or rashness and timidity, brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory. Not one benefit, political or military, was acquired with this war.”
This does not read like an account of coward country. Or the record from a place where the people depend solely on the benevolence of outsiders to fight their wars.
After defeating the British twice, routing the Soviets and forcing the US in recent days to exhume memes from Vietnam, it is ridiculous to suggest that Afghans are cowards, who prefer to watch others fight their wars.
But I understand. Biden’s message about Afghan cowardice was not for the rest of the world: it was for his American audience, who had been led to believe that the ragtag Taliban forces could not return to power in a thousand years.
After nearly 20 years, about 2,500 US soldiers dead, trillions of dollars in cash, allies in disarray and a poisoned chalice handed down from the last four presidents, Biden was justified to say: enough!
To make matters worse, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ran away without giving his allies a hint. He did not even wait to take copies of his widely celebrated book, “Fixing failed states,” when he needed the book most.
He absconded when he should have stayed to repair the broken sovereignty gap he wrote about so glowingly and also to execute the framework for rebuilding his country, never mind rebuilding the world.
But Ghani the man is not Ghani the country. Rather than creating the impression that Ghani’s betrayal reflects poorly on the whole country, the US must accept the events of the last few days as its own moment of soul-searching.
Damned lies about Afghanistan won’t help. A Western trope is that the place was always bound to collapse anyway because its political elite is hopelessly corrupt. That is largely true. But a coin, even a bad one, has two sides.
The military industrial complex in the US, specifically the Pentagon and its contractors, cannot pretend that corruption among the so-called Afghan elite was a one-way street. It was mutually beneficial, or as we say in my neck of the woods, both parties scratched each other’s back.
Describing the squalid flow of largesse in the Afghan mission through inflated contracts and, sometimes, even the supply of poorly refurbished military assets, an article by Andrew Cockburn in the July 2021 issue of the Spectator, said it would be mistaken to assume that Pentagon has no strategy for the Afghan war.
In a cringeworthy summary, he described Pentagon’s strategy as, “Don’t interrupt the money flow.” From Vietnam to Nicaragua and from Korean to Iraq – and now Afghanistan – the US can hardly deny the complicity of its military elite in the corruption that has complicated and prolonged the conflicts. The malaise has also bred a tragic indifference, leading to the loss and destruction of thousands of innocent lives.
I should not be mistaken. The Taliban has a murderous history, which it cannot be proud of. Any state that hunts and murders its own citizens in the name of God or religion, tramples on the rights of women, girls and minorities as the Taliban notoriously did, should be called out and denounced.
And where they got away with murder before, the Taliban should not expect the world to believe that chewing microphones and hosting press conferences would be substitutes for respecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens and residents. The world is watching keenly.
It’s also America’s teachable moment. Yet, with the way the US covered up the massive rigging in the last Afghan election just to prop its ally, it’s doubtful if any lessons have been learnt.
The Taliban was not always US enemy. When America sided with the Mujahideen to supplant the USSR, providing arms, cash and intelligence, little did the US realise they were breeding monsters – and one of the most deadly turned out to be Osama bin Laden, radicalised by the Soviet-Afghan war. Things fell apart after 9/11, when Afghanistan sheltered Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden.
The images of scores of Afghans clinging onto US military transport planes as they climbed out of the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul will haunt, not just the US, but the world for a long time. Afghans born in the last two decades have not known peace. But they have seen pictures of greener pastures by friends and relatives who risked everything to migrate abroad and they covet that secure life.
These folks are not desperate to escape because they’re cowards, afraid to stand and fight for their country. Perhaps, they have only faint memories of the heritage of courage by their forebears forged in blood and iron in decades of warfare.
Yet, they’re human. They’re simply responding to the basic human impulse to seek a better life, wherever it is possible. And that, my friend, is not cowardice.
Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP
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Azu Ishiekwene
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