OF OKADA RIDERS & POLICEMEN IN BARIGA

It was an Okada rider friend of mine that told me about it last week, even before I saw the visuals on Sahara TV. An Okada (moped taxi) rider was riding his customer and child to their destination in Bariga, in Lagos. While she was alighting, the Okada rider sighted a policeman in mufti (as is their nature, especially when they intend to raid unsuspecting members of the public, justly or unjustly), coming towards him with the aim of "arresting" and milking him of his hard earned money, decided to bolt away, thinking the child behind him had alighted with the mother, only for the woman to begin to shout to him to stop so her child could come down from the bike. Unfortunately, this incident happened around Bariga market, with the crowd that could easily become a lynch mob at the slightest provocation. These, thinking that this was yet another case of kidnapping (especially for ritual purposes) successfully stopped the Okada rider and began to descend on him without hearing his side of the story, nor the womans' (whose child had by now been safely returned to her), whose appeal to them to desist from hitting the man was falling on deaf ears.

THE BEATING OF THE OKADAMAN IN BARIGA CAUGHT ON VIDEO. (SOURCE: SAHARA TV)

Interestingly, the policeman and his colleagues (who had by now joined in the melee) who were responsible for the fiasco in the first place, rather than help situate the matter in its right perspective, even if at the end of the day, they'd arrest the Okadaman and deal with him as they wished, allowed the man to be beaten to near comatose level before the woman with the help of others was able to gain access to the pummeling party, to relate the true side of the story, and they helped take the man to the clinic for treatment. That day Okada riders rode free of police intimidation and extortion in Bariga, because the Divisional Police Officer, without accepting responsibility for the actions of his men or apologizing for it, appeared to have prevailed on his men to sheathe their swords at least for that day, because of the seething anger amongst the populace when the truth of what actually happened was made manifest. In fact the Okadaman and the woman she carried were familiar with each other, and this wasn't the first time he'd be carrying her and her child.


Only a few of the inhabitants of Bariga felt that the coming of the new DPO at the Ilaje Police Station in Bariga, will change the extortionist ways and tendencies of the police in that part of Lagos. At the end of their evil stick are Okada and Tricycle (Keke) riders, sometimes the "Danfo" drivers though they have a strong union with connections with politicians and powerful people in the society that unless for serious criminal cases have become untouchable by the Nigerian police, as long as their palms are frequently greased with "shandy", "wazo" or any other pseudonym for any of Nigeria's currencies that the policemen routine collect at various points in Lagos where legally and illegally position themselves daily come rain or shine. Part of the proceeds from their "day's labour" goes into "deliveries" they make to the bosses in the offices, who assign them to "juicy" spots, like the areas around Bariga market in Lagos (for instance), with the heavy flow of traffic there. Some of it goes into the various "esusu" (like cooperatives) they join, to which they deliver huge sums of money daily, weekly or monthly, amounts that sometimes either equal, or more in multiples of their monthly emoluments, of which when collected eventually a few of them have gone on to build estates, even establish businesses.


It's a known fact that a large percentage of the Okada plying the Bariga route are owned by the policemen posted there, and the riders of Okada not owned by any policeman have to "settle" some policemen frequently, for "protection" in the days they have a falling-out with the colleagues of their "protector"; though a few times these have joined their peers in complicating matters, when their help is sought leaving the Okada riders in deeper shit and despair than they were before calling up their chargers for "protective aid". With these policemen in Bariga there's no gain, just losses, severally they'd carry out raids on the neighbourhoods arresting boys for just about any flimsy reason under the sun. Of course, only the Inspector-General of Police know that "BAIL IS FREE", Nigerians know that the contrary is true, and the amount they collect will make you wonder if police stations haven't become revenue generation centers, not for government, but those men in uniform. That police station in Ilaje, at some point had an ATM within its environ before the immediate past Central Bank governor outlawed the siting of ATMs at locations other than around banks. While that ATM was there though, it was difficult for anyone who had "business" to do at that police station, to claim they had no money for bail.


When it comes to the police, President Buhari's "CHANGE" mantra holds no water. Even the state police commissioners who have been regaling the public with rallies of "Change Begins With Me" by policemen and women under them, know that it's just mere lip service and another money making adventure. Nothing in the extortionist behavior of the police have changed, rather the fees payable have astronomically increased owing to the "recession" in the air, and Nigerians have been left none the better for it. When last year, a policeman lost three of his children to a landslide in Lagos, not a few Nigerians and Lagosians were unsympathetic with the man, when it returns to their consciousness that the man is a member of the Nigerian Police Force, many of those unsympathetic Nigerians had a good reason to feel the way they did.


'kovich



VIDEO CREDIT:
- https://youtu.be/3epMcLz_2fY

NIGERIA'S ENDANGERED IDPS

During the Christmas holidays I saw a documentary on Al-Jazeerah about refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo domiciled in Malawi. It featured one of the Congolese refugees who was formerly a popular rapper in the DRC (before threats to his life forced him to flee and become a refugee), and showcased life at the refugee camp, as well as the rapper's attempt to regain as much as possible every bit of the life he left behind in the Congo. Many things about that refugee camp struck me as out of the ordinary, compared with those in Nigeria. For one, make shift shelters have given way to brick bungalows, raw food was adequately dispensed as and at when due, and I think to some extent quite more for some people, because the rapper in the documentary claims (and it was shown) he gives excess of his to families with more mouths to feed, seeing as he is a bachelor and lives alone. This United Nations administered refugee camp had running water, and was like a small town only that there is a gate that restricts movement, allowing people who had genuine reasons to go outside it to leave for a specified period only, then return. Believe me, except what I saw on that day was stage managed, I could have sworn that most people's existence in that camp was far better than those of most Nigerians who live free, talk more those who have found themselves in Internally Displaced Peoples', IDP camps because of the ongoing war against the dreaded Islamic Fundamentalist group, Boko Haram in the northeast.


I cannot recall at anytime, besides the provision of makeshift shelter, that the IDPs in Nigeria's northeast had any cause to celebrate, though not that anyone in an IDP camp would or should have anything to celebrate, but if one considers the austere situation that brought them to the camps, then little mercies like the one I highlighted with the situation in Malawi would've been enough cause to celebrate, unfortunately this hasn't been the case with the Nigerian IDP, whom I daresay, that save for the inclement weather Syrian refugees have to contend with presently, as well as political issues surrounding their situation in Europe, are far better in terms of welfare and related matters.


To say that the IDPs of Nigeria's northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, have been dealt the wrong hands of fate will be an understatement. These escaped literally with their lives in their hands, onto the protection of  government that provided camps for them. From the very first day they set their foot 'pon those camps, it's been one sad news to the other. At the initial stage when the economy was bouyant under former president Goodluck Jonathan, and even after stealing some of the funds allocated to the welfare of those displaced by Nigeria's "war on terror", the IDPs were not treated like humans. I saw pictures of IDPs been dished bland "jollof" rice using spades and shovels for instance. There were widespread reports of sexual abuse of mostly female IDPs at the hands of those who managed the camps, and personnel of security agencies deployed to those camps.


These cases worsened with the emergence of the President Muhammadu Buhari government with its "lean purse" policy. Now the people in authority, who had a bit to spare for the IDPs after  corruptly enriching themselves with the much in the days of plenty, had little or nothing to spare for the welfare of the IDPs after removing their part, as their cut now became the whole, and that scandal lingered for a while, till it fizzled out of press coverage, not because the situation got better but as with everything Nigerian, noise just simply dies down after a while (especially when government feeds to the press, yet another arrest of an opposition politician for embezzlement while in power, and the gullible get carried away by the frenzy thus created four another while), and the IDPs continued to suffer for no just cause (not that there's even a just cause for them to suffer). Those who escaped death at the hands of Boko Haram, found it at the hands of  government-induced malnutrition and hunger, and the pictures are there for all to see. Of course, the abuse of IDPs continued not only unabated but with impunity and  shamelessly, under a regime flaunting a no-nonsense approach towards corruption as it's credentials, so much so that the secretary to the federal government, awarded a contract for the clearing of weed around IDP camps to a company in which he has interest, and as if that wasn't even bad enough, the company had the temerity not to deliver on its trivial mandate for the millions of naira allocated to it, and yet the man neither resigned from his position, nor the government fired him.


And just as usual with all things Nigerian, when it seems government have become so steeped in its ways over a subject that the people simply just let go, especially at this period when Human Rights Activists have either in the main pitched their lot with the government in power, fearing retribution and silencing that's become the lot of those who felt to continue where they left off with the previous  government, only to hear that a Nigerian Airforce jet bombarded an IDP camp in the Rann (a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon) area of Borno state, on Tuesday. Depending on which media you're listening to, the death toll is between fifty and two hundred, involving personnel of Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC and several IDPs who according to eye witness accounts, were on a queue to collect humanitarian materials. As usual the  government owned Nigerian Television Authority, NTA has stuck with "accidental incident" at an IDP camp as the body of its news item concerning the unfortunate event, totally withdrawing the naming of the culprit in that dastardly act, except when it involved condemnation by the president and his order to concerned authorities to investigate the matter (with findings that will never be made public even if the order is complied with).

AFTERMATH OF THE BOMBING OF AN IDP CAMP IN RANN, BORNO STATE BY THE NIGERIAN AIRFORCE.

What is most baffling for many an observer of this event is how the Nigerian Airforce, which had in the past claimed that it restrained from bombing Boko Haram insurgents severally because they had people suspected to be innocent civilians (including at some point, the abducted secondary school girls from Chibok) in their midst and may be using same as human shield, yet in this matter opted to bomb civilians on a queue, not once, not twice, but thrice (according to eye witness account)! I cannot even begin to imagine the trauma, already  traumatized IDPs affected by this incident are presently going through, after the dehumanization they had witnessed at the hands of those saddled with the responsibility of their safety and well-being so far, only to now have to suffer this as well. When one of the survivors told the press that the government was out to wipe them out I couldn't but empathize with his situation. Who wouldn't think such, having gone through their many predicaments?


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.pulse.ng.com

IKORODU: LAND OF HORRORS

In recent times Ikorodu has been appearing on the timelines of my head more often than before. There was a time I didn't even know it was a part of Lagos, okay yea I had a girlfriend who I never visited because she lived there back then in secondary school. But that was just it, the other times it was because I'd use Ikorodu Road to several other destinations besides the place it actually led to, and then again that was it. It wasn't until a colleague at work some years back regaled us with tales of how she would wake up as early as three in the morning, and be on the road by four just to be at work on the island before seven that my consciousness was raised a notch concerning the place. Of course, we also witnessed the many times she was robbed, phones and bags collected severally, besides the physical and psychological trauma she was subjected to by (armed) robbers and hoodlums, as she made her way to work, and the many times she'd had to leave work before closing hours for home, because the people of Ikorodu had one (Orò) festival or the other, bordering on the fetish and diabolical to perform, for which women, sometimes men are required to stay indoors sometimes for days on end. You could tell how evidently she changed once she moved out of Ikorodu, where she didn't have to pay rent because it was her parent's house, to the island where she paid massively, but had rest of mind.


With these at the back of my mind, when I forayed into a bit of real estate, I wasn't keen on Ikorodu, even though it seemed like it was the only place we could afford to buy land in Lagos at the time, before we decided to move outside of Lagos, although it was the issue of land speculators and/or grabbers that topped the list of our disenchantment with that part of Lagos at the time, over and above my personal issues with the place. It also meant that when accommodation became an issue for me sometime last year, Ikorodu wasn't even up for consideration, despite the fact that many of the new apartments on display, mostly online had the kind of space as well as other facilities, for less competitive pricing that you'd find nowhere else on the mainland or on the island, without boring a huge hole in your pocket.


Now, recently a man was caught (while his accomplices managed to escape) in the Majidun area of Ikorodu, said to be planning to blow up the third mainland bridge in Lagos. He was said to be part of the oil bunkering militants, whose stock in trade was to burst oil pipelines in the Arepo and Ikorodu areas of Ogun and Lagos States respectively, fill barges with twenty-five litre kegs containing fuel, and even bigger containers for onward sales to customers in the black market. He and his cohorts, according to the police decided to blow up the bridge because of recent Nigerian army and airforce raids that bombed them out of their hideouts and out of business (at least for now). As usual, and as is commonplace with the Nigerian security services, they overplayed and over-sensationalized that event in the press, ignoring the wider, even more deadlier scenario, that this was just one man (which I doubt would've been able to go through with his plans, with the few dynamites and other explosive paraphernalia on him) out of the horde that have now gotten their hands to other mischief to make "ends" meet, ends that have widened exponentially, based on the amount of money that was formerly available to them in their oil bunkering days. That simply added to my dread of Ikorodu, and I simply noted the event.

ABIODUN AMOS AKA "SENTI" AND HIS GANG, ACCORDING TO THE POLICE, WERE PLANNING TO BLOW UP THE THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE. 

So, weeks ago, just before Christmas, on the stretch of Ikorodu road of which Majidun (again) is part of, a robbery incident was recorded in which Aisha Alli- Balogun, a TV presenter was shot dead while in traffic and her daughter, a kid was kidnapped (later released to her family, with no news as to whether a ransom was paid or not) during the attack that involved several commuters in traffic on the said night. It was while I was scanning through twitter that it came to light that this wasn't the first time this would be happening there, especially on that part of Ikorodu road, as I began to read of experiences of even passengers in public buses who have lost valuables while they were caught up in traffic, and robbers took advantage of their helpless situation to strike.

THE LATE AISHA ALLI-BALOGUN, GUNNED DOWN IN TRAFFIC ON IKORODU ROAD BY SUSPECTED ARMED ROBBERS. 

In that period, I also noticed that another staff at work who lives close to Ikorodu was now coming later than usual, and I asked her about the situation, only for her to attribute her lateness to her now having to leave home later than usual, till such a time as she could see the light of day because of the nefarious activities of "former oil bunkerers" who have taken to armed robbery and kidnapping, since their oil bunkering activity was halted by the Nigerian military. She stated that on one particular occasion the armed robbers blocked both sides of the traffic at about seven o'clock in the evening around the Ogijo part of the Ikorodu road, and  perpetrated their crime, robbing from vehicle to vehicle for more than an hour without police showing up anywhere to rescue the situation, while it lasted, till the thieves got tired of hauling loot and left. What broke the camel's back for her however, was the recent abduction last week of passengers in a bus still on the Majidun axis of Ikorodu road, who were hailed down by armed men very early in the morning, and transferred from their bus to that of the kidnappers, and driven to an unknown location from where families of those abducted were called to pay varying amounts as ransom to facilitate the release of their wards and family members, then in the care of kidnappers. Since then, this staff, has defied the fear of a query for late coming because of that incident, saying she'd be devastated if something like that happened to her, while still nursing and breastfeeding a baby. Unfortunately, moving to other parts of Lagos is presently out of the question for her seeing as her husband prefers Ikorodu, due to the proximity to his business to their house, and also not wanting his wife to be closer to her people in mainland Lagos, which a move away from Ikorodu, outskirt of Lagos might enable.

KETU ASPECT OF THE IKORODU ROAD DURING RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC. 

How could I have gotten this far without mentioning the cult problem in Ikorodu. When in discussions last week over the issue with a friend, he attributed the situation to the presence of the Lagos State Polytechnic students there who are members of one cult or the other, but I was quick to inform him that the cultism in that institution, and indeed of tertiary institutions in Nigeria is child's play compared to the horror that cultists, who aren't mainly students, in Ikorodu get up to, as well as visit on the people of Ikorodu, sometimes with active connivance of the police and other security agencies, as well as politicians and the well entrenched traditional society in that part of town. Many times, when the people resort to jungle justice and lynching of a criminal, they say that at other times they resorted to following the law such criminals were released from police custody under controversial circumstances, sometimes by influential chieftaincy title holders and powerful politicians, whom they might have done some favour for, many times the gory ones that the people of Ikorodu wake to see some mornings as headless corpses, with other parts of the body missing, and these include of males and females. Even with rape cases, Ikorodu stands out, with victims at certain times including either the very young, or the very old, then bizarre in that some of the perpetrators then go on to wipe the vaginas of their victims with a white handkerchief, in what many suggest will be used for ritual purposes.

SERIAL RAPIST AND CULTIST, POPULARLY KNOWN AS "BADDO" LYNCHED AFTER HE WAS CAUGHT A SECOND TIME. THE FIRST TIME HE WAS CAUGHT HE WAS HANDED OVER TO THE BAÁLÈ (COMMUNITY CHIEF), WHO HANDED HIM OVER TO THE POLICE, ONLY TO BE RELEASED WITHOUT PROSECUTION. 

It isn't unusual that Ikorodu is getting all these bad vibes now. It's where the middle class have elected in recent times, to build their homes on cheaper to acquire land, though that comes with its own challenges, including as mentioned before, land speculators/grabbers who could make a landowner pay several times for the same land, depending on the number of times different aboriginal families win cases in court to upturn a former so called "original" aboriginal landowner (omo onílè). Ikorodu is like sugar surrounded by a horde of ants. Even an arm of Nigeria's entertainment industry, the Yoruba-speaking film industry, known as the National Association of Nigerian Theater Arts Practitioners, NANTAP, have lots of their members who have homes, businesses like hotels and sundry in Ikorodu, as against their English-speaking Nollywood counterparts who have made Lekki axis on the island their base, as with the very wealthy of Lagos. When the criminals abduct (even primary and secondary school students, some of them while on the assembly ground in the morning), rob or perpetrate crime in Ikorodu, they do these aware that some of their victims are wealthy, or are related to those who are and own houses in Ikorodu, and can afford to pay ransom to secure the release of their wards in their captivity.


What Ikorodu needs is more opening. The expansion and reconstruction of Ikorodu road is a step in the right direction, but that long stretch needs now to be policed, not just by the armored personnel carrier with a few policemen at strategic points on that stretch of road but far more than that, to include frequent patrols. If the fourth mainland bridge, which will link Ikorodu with Lekki, is finally built that will further

PROPOSED FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE TO LINK IKORODU WITH LEKKI ON THE ISLAND IN LAGOS, IS EXPECTED TO BE A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT, PPP ON A BUILD, OPERATE AND TRANSFER BASIS. 

open up Ikorodu and naturally that sort of openness will bring that part of town under further scrutiny especially of the security agencies, as well as government attention, which because there'll be facilities to protect on that axis, with new markets and economic opportunities, the land will be forced to modernize and hopefully crime will be effectively fought just because of exposure to the outside world, without forgetting the old ways that Ikorodu must shed to move forward, with or without the opening up of the area. It is heartwarming to learn that the Lagos state House of Assembly has passed into law, the anti-kidnapping bill into law, which prescribes life imprisonment for kidnappers, and a death sentence for them, if their captive dies in their custody, as well as forfeiture of the property in which the abducted was held incommunicado, though I don't know how the complicity of the owner of a property can be proven in such a situation, but notwithstanding it is a step in the right direction, if the laws can be implemented. Hopefully, the tales from Ikorodu will turnaround for good, for now it remains a no-go area for me.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://punchng.com
- http://www.stargist.com
- http://www.naijanewsrave.com
- http://scannewsnigeria.com
- http://www.nleworks.com

A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR VICTIMS OF SOUTHERN KADUNA MASSACRE

When it came to light that the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN had declared today, a National Day of Mourning sometime last week, I was very happy. Happy, not because it will bring back the dead, or heal the injured, or restore all that the people of southern Kaduna lost, after marauding Fulani herdsmen paid them a "Christmas day visit", leaving destruction and death in their wake, but because for once a body like that, deemed it fit to dedicate a day to remember and honour the dead, even when the government at both state and federal level conveniently turned their eyes and ears away from the carnage that took the lives of more than eight hundred Nigerians away in yet another ethno-religious crisis in the north, disguised as farmer's versus herder's clashes, even when so called farmers died in their homes mostly while they slept, or very early in the mornings trying to escape the invasion unarmed, and that includes women and children as young as just a few months.


If you hadn't heard about this declaration by the CAN last week, after the gruesome murder of Christians and animist inhabitants of Southern Kaduna, you'd be shocked that the office of the vice president could release a video afterwards in which former Nigerian Christian presidents and vice presidents rendered a hymnal in English and in they're language, for those who could like there hadn't been a massacre at all, talk more, the killings of fellow Christians, and to go ahead and say a few words afterwards without mentioning the travails and persecution of Christians, non-Muslims and southerners in the north. Yes, I am not surprised about the silence of the vice president, whom when a deaconess from his church (where he incidentally is one of the pastors) was killed during "morning cry" a few kilometers from his abode in Abuja, said nothing, neither pressured the authorities using his high office, to even pretend to leave no stone unturned in bringing the killers of that woman to book, before you begin to wonder at his quiet about other killings before and after that of male and female Christians in the north following accusations of blasphemy against the Muslim God and/or his prophets. Of course when such Christian leaders keep quiet, you don't expect the sultan or emirs, whose ultimate goals may be inadvertently served in the long run by these killings to speak on behalf of Christians, or demand justice for their maltreatment, abuse or wrongful deaths at the hands of intolerant and fanatical Muslim fundamentalists.


If you were unaware of this declaration by the CAN, you'd think Nigerians and Christians are quite insensitive, especially when an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, a Christian comes on air to say that his principal doesn't have to make a comment concerning killings of fellow Nigerians (and Christians like him), since the state governor is on top of the matter. You'd hear the Inspector General of police dispute the number of the dead like even the killing of one Nigerian would matter less, under the circumstances those that died where mercilessly massacred and butchered. He would then go on to assure southern Kaduna people of increased security by promising to locate a mobile police force unit there, as if the presence of police and/or the military in that region has ever been the case, over and above how they conveniently disappear when  marauding Fulani begin their raid. Only to return and arrest those indigenes found even with a pen knife (either for self defence or to peel orange to avert the unpleasantness of the harsh harmattan weather), for attempting to disturb the peace, while a Fulani walks by armed with his AK-47 unhindered, talk more arrested.

INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE, IBRAHIM IDRIS ADDRESSING SOME RESIDENTS OF SOUTHERN KADUNA DURING HIS VISIT TO AREAS AFFECTED BY THE "CHRISTMAS DAY" MASSACRE. 

If peradventure the day that declaration was made, you were cocooned away from the Nigerian reality by the workload on your workstation, and therefore missed it, you may not miss the secretary of the Miyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, justifying their ignoble act, while warning on the side that inhabitants of southern Kaduna should forget about avenging the death of their loved ones, but rather come to negotiate peace with the Fulani (without justice), so that all could get on with their live, as they are content now that a wrong done them since 2011 have been somewhat righted. Though that  statement was widely publicized, no single arrest, either of that man, nor of the perpetrators which he may know have so far been made, rather reports keep making the rounds that despite increased police and military presence, the murderous Fulani are camped well in the sight of everyone that cares to know, with the possibility of a new onslaught not ruled out, while a journalist courageous enough to publish pictures from the pit of hell that some parts of Southern Kaduna became, was promptly picked up and could've been surely whisked off to Abuja from Lagos had not the problem with Nigeria's aviation sector not reared its ugly head in the form of lack of aviation fuel, leading to delays in takeoff, and thereby having the journalist and his police captors waiting a while at the departure lounge, catching the attention of passersby via which that piece of news was leaked.

MASS BURIAL CONDUCTED FOR SOME OF THE VICTIMS OF THE "CHRISTMAS DAY" ATTACK ON INHABITANTS OF SOUTHERN KADUNA. 

When black South Africans were dying at the hands of their Boer rulers like flies, and they were helpless, even hopeless in ending their unfortunate situations, they didn't lose opportunity to openly mark the demise of their dead. Each time any country in the west suffers an act of terror by groups even low in terrorist ranking to the Fulani terrorists, this same quiet President Buhari (on issues concerning killings of Nigerians, especially by his kinsmen), is usually one of the first presidents to send condolences to the countries concerned. Those countries mark the passage of their dead by flying their flags at half mast, they declare day(s) of mourning for their dead, especially following such dastardly acts, hence you could imagine my sadness when I learnt that the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria, CBCN berated CAN for making statements that is capable of threatening the fragile unity of Nigeria, and I'm guessing they said this because CAN in the release calling for the declaration of a "National Day of Mourning' (in which amongst others' Christians are to adorn themselves in black apparel), had stated that they "perceived President Buhari's silence (on the killings) as official endorsement of the dastardly and ungodly acts",  instead of joining the call for a day of national mourning. How about the fact that I waited till after Pastor Bakare's so called speech to the nation, before writing this with the hope that he'll say something about the massacre of Christians in the north, especially seeing as he'd visited the president last week, only for him to come out with an uninspiring call for the "restructuring of Nigeria" into six regions, which he knows is a tall order, considering the posture of the man he ran as running mate to many years back, and continues to wholeheartedly support despite the man's total "about-turn" on lofty ideas many thought he'd espouse now that he's gotten power eventually?


Yes, there are issues, a myriad of them that Nigeria needs to tackle, but for now some Nigerians, as were many before them, have been brutally murdered, in what could pass as genocide, and the  government and those who should have prevented this have kept quiet, or spoken up after constant and consistent criticisms was thrown in their direction. We are left with nothing to do but observe a day of mourning in their honour, like we weren't wont to do before now. Nothing in the government's body language, as well as security operatives drafted to southern Kaduna and indeed, other hotspots in Nigeria, suggest that a recurrence isn't likely, so when it does happen again, we should dedicate another national day of mourning to those that will die then. Maybe, after several national days of mourning for those lost in crisis such as the one bedeviling southern Kaduna now, with complicity of government at both state and federal levels, a Pharaoh who knows not Joseph will use his/her presidential or gubernatorial powers to act to make the protection of human lives and property, as enshrined in Nigeria's constitution, a priority. For now, we will mourn our dead and declaring a national day for it is trite or else when history is being told, the story of the genocide would be suppressed by the same people who stood by doing nothing when it was being perpetrated.



'kovich



PICTURE CREDITS:
- https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news
- http://www.tori.ng/news 

ET TOUJOURS SHEKAU VIDEO

First, it was that the military said they had to approach "Camp Zero" from the ground and not from the air because Boko Haram insurgents were using their captives as human shield. Then of course, after critics voiced concern about how not even a single shot was fired according to reports, before "Sambisa" was overrun, they kind of recanted stating initially, that several members of the deadly group have surrendered, not to the Nigerian military but Nigérienne in the border town of Diffa. That also didn't sound right, so the claim that several members of Boko Haram, sympathizers and more hostages were rounded up in the takeover of the dreaded group's operational base, by the military came to be the new kite that was flown. And to prove to us that it's no joke, a Qur'an purportedly belonging to Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau and a black flag with the group's insignia, said to be the one in front of which he shoots most of his videos, was put on display by the sector commander, like that was going to make Shekau fall down and die wherever he is.


True to type, as we have repeatedly seen, since the war against this Islamic  Fundamentalist group started, especially since Abubakar Shekau took over the reins of power, a video of him surfaced, in which he (in Hausa and Arabic) denounced claims by the military of the defeat of his group, stating that he and members of his group are safe. Predictably, the military were quick to come out in condemnation of the latest video, calling it propaganda materia in a bid to cast a doubt on the veracity of the tape, especially as regards when it was shot, like they'd ever been proved right when they made assertions like that in the past. Even those who were carried away by news of a possible end to the insurgency with the declaration of victory by the military this Christmas season, are now like those who felt the celebration was hasty from onset, once the video hit the usual social media outlets.

SHEKAU DENOUNCING NIGERIAN MILITARY'S CLAIMS IN NEW VIDEO.

I personally feel that the military should've been the ones tempering the populace' eagerness to see an end to the group, even if Shekau had been killed. Somalia's Al-Shabab has severally lost leaders yet the group is far from decimation, even with foreign assistance to the Somali government, talk more a situation where the nomination of another by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS (to whom Boko Haram pledged allegiance) had done nothing to water down Shekau's influence, nor the several attempts at killing him, making the discerning begin to wonder if he's not enjoying some kind of protection from those who have been charged with the responsibility of putting him down.


Another issue which the happenings of the last few days have exhumed is that of the other Chibok girls supposedly still in Boko Haram captivity. There are fears that they may never again be seen, or at least not anymore in that number that made up the more than two hundred often bandied as the number of students abducted two years ago (except that in itself was grossly exaggerated as part of some conspiracy, as is speculated in some quarters). The back and forth concerning them have continued to fuel conspiracies in some certain quarters, of how all these may have been orchestrated by prominent personalities in Nigeria's northern region in a bid to recover power from then President Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner and to retain such thereafter, even far beyond a Buhari presidency, for which reason a Shekau alive, or the Boko Haram group or its like remaining formidable despite losses, remain an enticing proposition, as they could easily be activated as and at when needed, regardless of the harm it does to Nigeria's military and intelligence services.


As it is, Shekau and Boko Haram are not indispensable if the same forces (according to conspiracy theorists) are behind the killings in the north-central and southern states of Nigeria, put at the doorstep of militant Fulani herdsmen, which a recent report by an international terror watchdog, claim are one of the deadliest in the world, a claim further substantiated by Kaduna's Governor El-Rufai (a Fulani as well) when he went outside of Nigeria to pay Fulani of neighbouring countries some money so they stop killing Nigerians, as well as incriminating statements by leaders of the group to the effect that their murderous activities akin to genocide, because of its systematic pattern, is due to the penchant of farmers and farming communities in the affected areas of killing cattle which had encroached upon their farmlands. The systematic nature of the attacks in the religious and ethnic composition of those attacked, killed and/or displaced, suggest something far more organized, and possibly with the blessing of those in power or those close to them because of the impunity with which the acts are committed. One wonders what one is to think, when President Buhari said nothing after he was a no-show to events in the Niger Delta severally, to Enugu in the southeast last week, or even to Lagos months back; whose media aide said he needn't make a  statement about killings of Christians and animists in southern Kaduna over the Christmas weekend (having in the past reluctantly made one over the killings in Benue and Enugu states after wide criticisms greeted his silence months back), but on missing a scheduled visit to Bauchi in the northeast due to poor visibility owing to the harmattan haze (to which obsolete equipments, and poor navigational aids at Nigeria's airports had no answer to), he shoot a video, apologizing to the people of Bauchi in Hausa language, something the 5% in the south-south and southeast couldn't get, even in English.


'kovich



VIDEO CREDITS:
- http://www.saharareporters.com (https://youtu.be/6qNPTkzD8H8)

NIGERIA'S CHRISTMAS BLUES

It was a rather long Christmas weekend and holiday for me, as with typical Nigerian to make up in weekdays the holidays that fall within the weekend. I spent much of the time indoors, before the TV (when "NEPA" permitted) and my phone and I mention this because of the different things that both media focused on, as the days passed and how that influenced how people reacted especially on social media, if you could gauge people's feelings from there as I routinely do. Except in a few spots, celebrations was largely low key, though I cannot say if that accounted for what I hear was the total absent of queues for fuel at the various filling stations in Lagos, a clear departure from what was obtainable in the past, for which the vuvuzelas of the party in power have rushed to declare as part of the change promised, without considering the possibility of a lack of disposable income (with all the trouble associated with collecting money from banks and ATMs that was the face of Nigeria last week), for that state of affairs.


Beside stories associated with Christmas celebrations, nationwide and internationally, one news the media covered in Nigeria was the takeover of the Sambisa forest from the Islamic  fundamentalist group, Boko Haram with the army chief declaring that the area will be turned into a military training base. Like sugar, this news item invited like ants, reactions from various sides and shades of the Nigerian polity. Those by whom the government could never do wrong simply jumped into celebratory mode despite the fact that there wasn't much in terms of video evidence to support the so called capture of "Camp Zero" (more like the operational base of the group) of Sambisa forest (apparently without news of a single shot fired, or arrests of insurgents or release of more Chibok girls abducted more than two years ago), in an age where picture and video is everything. The opposition People's Democratic Party, PDP while congratulating the president and the military for a job well done, was quick to remind all who cared to listen that the foundation for the military success of today was laid back when they were in  government, pointing to the continuous use of military hardware purchased by that government as largely instrumental to the present military gains.

SOLDIERS PULLING DOWN A BOKO HARAM FLAG AT "CAMP ZERO", SAMBISA FOREST, BORNO STATE. 

As if to remind us that the storming of Camp Zero may best be described as merely symbolic, as the group (as most terrorist groups are) remain amorphous, a female suicide bomber detonated her "wares" at the Kasuwan Shanu (cattle market) in Maiduguri, Borno State, while the other whose explosive vest failed to detonate was

THE SECOND SUICIDE BOMBER AT "KASUWAN SHANU" WHOSE EXPLOSIVE VEST FAILED TO DETONATE. 

arrested by security forces, the day after the "fall of Sambisa". Thankfully, no one save the suicide bomber died. Interestingly, news of this victory came just days after pictures of soldiers appeared to hold hostage a crew of a military helicopter that had just brought them supplies, days after a video surfaced of soldiers in the theater of war dying from thirst and starvation, but was roundly denounced by the Nigerian military echelon as fabricated since it was mainly circulated on social media and sources unverifiable. But when you match the so called "truths" by the military, and the All Progressives' Congress, APC-led  government in power, with the reality on ground, from the citizen/soldiers' independent videos on YouTube and interacting with those on ground, coupled with the antecedents of a government that came to power on the strength of lies, propaganda and false promise, it makes you want to question the veracity of the so called takeover of the notorious forest (which in actual fact, is more desert, than forest) by the Nigerian military, which you'd sincerely hope should be true, as the negative consequences of that been a lie could be better imagined especially seeing how in recent times officers as high as lieutenant colonels have lost their lives in ambushes and tales of mutinies hushed, as in the case of the many deaths of the "cat with nine lives", Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.


What the news about the capture of Sambisa's Camp Zero, and the reactions surrounding it couldn't bury, especially on social media, despite intentional repetitions be mainstream media, especially government owned and biased privately owned ones, was the act of genocide that was ongoing, even till Christmas Day, in southern Kaduna populated by mainly Christians and animists compared to the Muslim northern part, with several killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen, despite heavy security deployed in that area by the government led by a Fulani, Governor El-Rufai whose sympathies to the Fulani expansionist cause has been well documented over the years, from the time he said killing a Fulani is a debt that must be repaid, to recently going as far as outside of the country to pay Fulani in the West African region (with state funds) in a bid to persuade them to stop invading Nigeria and particularity his state, seeing that "one of them" is now in power there, and then turning around to blame militants in the Niger Delta of masquerading as Fulani herdsmen to kill the people of southern Kaduna because he couldn't fathom the killings been perpetrated by the "terrorists" he had just paid a huge sum to (in ransom) for the lives of the people of his state.


Not even his visit to the President, another Fulani for increased military presence in the state would stop the killings, as it looked like the curfew imposed on three of the affected local governments in southern Kaduna, was a ploy to keep the people indoors, to make their slaughter by the suspected Fulani herdsmen hitch-free and of maximum effect, as the military were conveniently just nowhere to be seen on the occasions these men with dark hearts stormed the various villages, especially Goska to wreak wanton destruction on lives and property of the people they were constitutionally mandated to serve and protect.

GOSKA, THE MORNING AFTER THE ATTACKS BY SUSPECTED FULANI HERDSMEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY, IN WHICH ELEVEN PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES. 

Unfortunately, going by the tone of the presidential media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina who said there was no need for the presidency to comment on happenings in southern Kaduna (even though the president personally visited Zamfara to launch a military operation against cattle rustlers), since it deemed the governor capable of handling matters in its domain, anyone expecting that there would be a "State of Emergency" declared in Kaduna is dreaming. Unlike in the very "peaceful southeast", where President Buhari's body language to the "five percent" has resurrected secessionist ideals by unarmed protesters, has led to "OPERATION PYTHON DANCE" (Nigeria's military and crazy operation titles though), that did nothing but make life difficult for most easterners that traveled to the homeland for Christmas celebrations. The same president had to hide under a ridiculous excuse not to attend a summit for the southeast held in Enugu, after the pro-Biafran group threatened him, like those in the Niger Delta did months back and he failed to attend the launch of the oil-spill cleanup operation in Ogoniland, making the phrase, Commander-In-Chief of The Armed Forces sound like a joke, except if the truth of the matter is that he doesn't give a hoot about the people of the southeast, and of course the Niger Deltans, except of course their oil and gas.


The posture of the military, like the president also seem to favour cattle, as the military chief recently intimated Nigerians of plans to set up ranches in military formations nationwide, claiming to have sent some officers to Argentina to learn the tricks of the trade, making most discerning Nigerians suspect that it's another ploy by the government in power, pursuing a Fulani herdsmen agenda primarily, to introduce, activate and implement to the latter, bits of the roundly condemned, "grazing (at the heart of herdsmen killing of innocent villagers and destruction of farming communities, from the north-central region of Nigeria to the south) bill" especially in Nigeria's southern region. All of these and more occupied my mind during the holidays, making food and drinks bland, and thoughts of the future of and for Nigeria scary to imagine, despite the not too inspiring Christmas messages by the president and other politicians, as they are wont to do at this time of the year, to applause of the gullible, hangers on, and those who just don't want anything to spoil their celebrations, in spite of genocide happening somewhere else in the country where hopefully they have no relatives residing or affected directly or indirectly. I choose to feel differently.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng
- http://www.nairaland.com

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Many years ago in a small village in one of the world's most obscure regions, a man named Kush was approached by his friend Gadar (with whom he'd been friends since childhood), for help. The latter was having it rough with making ends meet, as he was hardly ever paid by the man whose land he toils on. The man would either find an excuse, or altogether say nothing to him when the time comes for him to be paid, eventually either not paying him, or paying him a fraction of his wage's due. When he related his ordeal to his friend Kush, the latter felt pity towards him and was determined to help him in any way he could, even though he wasn't a wealthy person himself.


Kush didn't have a land of his own, but he wasn't employed to work on landowner's farms like Gadar. He had an arrangement where he worked people's farms for a share of the proceeds which he then went on to sell at the produce markets. From the much he makes, he had been able to buy donkeys which he gives out to small scale merchants who go ahead to make returns to him over a certain period,  after which they then become owners of the donkeys. Gadar was aware of this but asked Kush for help to set up something similar though on a larger scale, saying he'd studied how the business works and promised greater yield in returns for Kush if only his friend could help him acquire a camel, in order to move goods from one town to the other, even to the farthest recesses of the known world at the time.


Kush's eyes widened with excitement when Gadar presented him with the mouthwatering proposal, he was very excited at the prospect and possibility. He'd always admired the riders of the camels, wondering how much they'd be making their owners. It had been a dream of his to one day progress from owning a few donkeys to owning a camel(s), and he saw that opportunity in providing help for his friend, only that he didn't have the  wherewithal to buy one. Despite his lack of capacity, Kush was undaunted in his task of getting a camel for Gadar, he visited some of his other friends who were better off, for a loan or with an option to be part owners of his new business venture. He got turned down by a few who he thought could help, but felt they either didn't believe in him enough, or thought his idea was ridiculous and farfetched, while some had excuses mostly genuine not to oblige him. He still managed to find other friends who keyed into his dream and helped him make up the much needed to avail Gadar enough to procure a lightly advanced in years camel that had served a few years as a beast of burden.


He surmised that subsequently, with proceeds from that and his other engagements he'd be able to acquire a studier camel, but for now this should do. Because of the condition the camel was in at the time it was redeemed, Gadar took it to the village's animal carer, that will pass as a vet in our time. But Kush didn't hear from Gadar for a while after, even though he was aware that the camel had since left the animal infirmary, as he was the one who paid the animal carer. When he eventually saw Gadar, he was told that the lack of communication had been due to arrangements he was making to put the camel to work and that soon he will begin to meet the end of his bargain.


It turned out that Gadar wasn't making any concrete arrangement, and the bit he tried wasn't successful, such that when Kush heard about it he still took it upon himself to make the necessary connections on behalf of Gadar just to ensure that his friend started up. It was like marrying a wife for a friend, and also helping him fulfill his conjugal obligations. Kush was glad that he could help bring his friend back to his feet, while hoping the latter will generously reciprocate his gesture by fulfilling his end of the bargain, by remitting a part of the proceeds to him, till such a time as they both agreed, that the camel will pass on to Gadar.

Days passed. Weeks passed, and though Kush was aware that Gadar was using the camel for the purpose it was meant, he wasn't getting his due, then much later Gadar started paying but it was far below the agreed sum, the days of excuses far more than the days when something, always short of the agreed sum was actually paid. Within months Kush was beginning to see his investment in the camel as bad business, but he kept up faith in his friend who continued to feed him excuses from the believable to the most ridiculous, just in a bid not to remit him his due, even on one occasion where he accompanied Gadar on his trip, and he saw how much was paid to haul goods, yet he was given nothing once the goods were delivered, nor days after when time was yet again ripe for delivery.


You can imagine how frustrated and angry Kush was, when about six months into the operation, Gadar visited Kush, who was expecting that some good news was about to come his way that evening, only to learn that the camel broke its leg in the last journey and the injury was so bad that it couldn't be moved from that location back to their village. Kush was further infuriated by the fact that Gadar also asked for aid to help him repatriate the camel back to the village like he was entitled to such an aid, and wondered where that was to come from.  At a time his "venture of help" had almost bankrupted him, and he was finding it difficult to meet up with his numerous obligations, also to those through which the now injured camel was acquired. He was too stunned by the turn of events to speak, that he couldn't immediately respond to Gadar's request.


Gadar left a dumbfounded Kush that night for his abode, and avoided him for the weeks following that visit. Kush, not willing to give up even on a bad deal would once a while inquire about the status of the wounded camel and Gadar would offhandedly tell him that he hadn't raised the means to retrieve it from where it was last taken. It took another two months for Gadar to eventually repatriate the camel, only to dump it at the animal infirmary in their village. Seeing that if left to Gadar alone that animal will die, so also so what he'd put in, including the hopes of several others who believed in him, Kush took it upon himself to restore the beast of burden, once again with the help of those who were kind enough to enable it in the first place. He marshaled out a plan to ensure that he avoided the mistakes of the past, as the wounds of the camel was tended to at such great a cost, for which Gadar never showed interest, nor offered any form of apology. That was how Kush learnt in a very hard way that, "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished".



'kovich



PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART00217/

IGBO CHILDREN'S INABILITY TO SPEAK THE MOTHER TONGUE

Two weeks ago, I attended the end of year party of my village union in Lagos, and as usual members came with their families, even friends. The party started as in the afternoon with prayers, I came in to meet a member praying the kind of firebrand prayers that you'd often see with Pentecostals, you know, the type that's quite physical and hysterical, with shouting and gesturing, and even though I was seated in front because of my position in the union alongside other members of the executive, I wasn't intimidated by looks from those compliant with prayer directives to put my hand on my head or elsewhere, or raise my hands to make one prayer point or another, in response to this pastor-member who said "finally" more than four times before bringing the prayer session to an end. As if the chairman felt that the prayer may not be received in some parts of heaven, he asked another pastor member to summarize the prayers, who this time with a low voice and calm mien, helped the plane to touch down.


Prayers made by pastors was quickly followed by the breaking of Kola, by the chairman, secretary and another member of the high table, who took turns to pray for the health of all those present, as well as members who couldn't make it, to which we all responded with "Ìseeeeee", on the various occasions. In previous years, we didn't have a compere take charge of the end of year party, so when this young man came up to handle the "mic" while food and drinks made their way to the tables, I joined others present to see what he had up his sleeves. He was totally uninspiring, had dry jokes, made no effort to endear himself to the "strong men" present, even if with the intention to milk some "change" off them by massaging their easy to rouse egos, rather he went about disrespecting them at the slightest opportunity he got. So much so that they turned to the DJ to cut him off, and continue to play just music, and that state of affairs prevailed for a while.


But the MC wasn't going to take that lying low, he picked up the mic again, got the DJ to cut the music, and after the high table people extracted a promise from him to be courteous he was once again allowed to do his job. This time he wanted kids to come play games for prizes which he had packed in a bag. The game was such that the kid who had mastery of Igbo will go home with the prize. I began to sense trouble here, seeing that been born and bred in Lagos I couldn't until a few years back, speak the Igbo language and still not even fluently at that, and I'm edging closer to my fourth decade on earth. I learnt to speak Yoruba and English before Igbo and I know that it's even worse with today's Igbo kids born and bred in Lagos.


The kids of course didn't disappoint, many of them couldn't say their names in a sentence in Igbo language. They were certainly worse than I was at their age. They didn't know the name of their village, neither could the majority make a simple sentence in the Igbo language, the only girl who did, and knew the name of her village amongst other sundry, wasn't even from our village but was on holidays with the family that had brought her to our end of year party. Now, this was the last straw that broke the camel's back for the MC, as he started berating the children who couldn't speak the mother tongue, even directly casting aspersions on their parents. I'd excused myself to go take a leak at a nearby gutter away from the location of the party, in order to relieve my bladder of the stout that was about to burst it, which seemed apart from the semovita and bitter leaf soup, the best things that was happening to me at the party, only to find the MC been hassled out of the venue by some of the men at the gathering on my return. Apparently, the parents must've had enough of his shenanigans and would rather see the back of his head than continue to stomach the shit he was spewing at them.


I couldn't care less, I'd thought he was a mistake right from onset, especially when he failed to use the opportunity provided him to kiss arses and make himself some cool dough, but he went totally in the opposite direction, even to the extreme at that and he deservedly got what was coming to him. So the party continued without him, wining, dining, feasting and dancing. Kids were organized to dance and

each of them got a prize, then the adults danced, drank (so much alcohol), then packed excess food home in takeaway packs afterwards, thus we ended the year on a somewhat happy note, post-the crazy compere.


On my way home however, I reflected on what had happened, and was deeply saddened by the fact that our children couldn't speak our language. I was self taught, which is why I don't speak my exact Igbo dialect but what you might term "Lagos Igbo", the only time I appear to speak a better Igbo is when I read it, and I do write less excellently though, because of my deep understanding of the Yoruba which isn't too different from the Igbo both in reading and writing (I have a good WAEC result in Yoruba, in the days when "expo" or "orijo" wasn't a thing, to back that up). It was painful to see Igbo parents who had better Igbo upbringing than I did, make the same mistakes my parents made in this day and age of identity seeking and promotion. I even noticed some parents expressing their displeasure when the DJ played strictly traditional "Egwu Ékpílí", because they considered it pagan, preferring their children danced to Igbo church music, or the explicit lyrics of "Phyno", the Nigerian hip-hop act that raps in the Igbo language.


The only tribe in Nigeria that seems to be doing very little in promoting the mother tongue, even in the homelands, are the Igbo. When I travel back home, which is almost frequently for several engagements, I see kids there trying to impress me with the English they learnt at "Nt'akala" classes, wanting to be like their Lagos-Igbo counterparts. Unfortunately, I do not know what we should do, besides bringing this to the attention of Igbos, so we begin to think of how to address this anomaly. I hope that when we have our first village meeting next year, that attention will be drawn away from the events surrounding the MC-ing at the end of year party, which I'm sure will be raised, and apportioning blame to whoever thought him a good idea howbeit for the first time in the history of such parties; to looking at the salient issue the MC raised and exposed, though in a rather tactless and uncouth manner, in a bid to redressing the shame. Ìgbò, E Kène Mu Únù!


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.iheanyiigboko.wordpress.com

BUHARI, SO FAR, SO .....?

It is not just enough to simply stave off the growing concern of public spirited Nigerians about the direction the anti-corruption war is going, following recent revelations involving members of President Muhammadu Buhari's sanctum sanctorium, dipping their hands in the national cookie jar, by claiming that it is corruption fighting back. In the past few days, and weeks before that, even those who believe that the senate is on a revenge mission against the presidency, in the recess of their minds wonder how it came to be that the one on whose shoulders rest, the investigation and prosecution of the corrupt, hasn't himself approached to equity with clean hands.

EFCC BOSS, MR. IBRAHIM MAGU, WHOSE CONFIRMATION THE SENATE HALTED FOLLOWING SECURITY REPORTS BROUGHT AGAINST HIM, AND SECRETARY TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, BABACHIR LAWAL WHO ALLEGEDLY AWARDED CONTRACTS FOR "CLEANING OF INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES" AT IDP CAMPS FOR MILLIONS OF NAIRA, AMONGST OTHER CONTRACTS RELATING TO IDPS TO COMPANIES IN WHICH HE HAD INTEREST.

Even if they choose to close their eyes to it, the picture of the dying malnourished in the various Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camps in the northeast of Nigeria, mainly due to diversion of funds meant to ensure that such an outcome doesn't become today's narrative, by the secretary to the federal government via proxies, from irrefutable evidence not just as presented in the senate, or in the press, from whose eyes the scales appear to be gradually falling as regards their posture to this "saintly"  government, but even from reputable civil society, will make even the ardent supporter (though definitely not the incorrigible zombies, akin to the "walkers" in the walking dead), shudder to the bone.

 MALNOURISHED CHILDREN AT AN IDP CAMP IN BORNO, NORTHEAST NIGERIA.

Hence, the children that supposedly escaped death by the hands of Boko Haram, the funds of which was meant to decimate became frittered away by the past regime, now face death by starvation and malnutrition, after funds grew wings under a "puritanist" government supposedly elected to right the wrongs of the past.


The last straw that they seem to be hanging on, remain the so called incorruptibility of the god-hero, Buhari forgetting that this isn't the first time something like this will happen, seeing that if you consider when he chaired the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, or was military Head of State, or as Petroleum Minister, this is more like deja vu, where he rants like the loan voice "crying in the wilderness" against corruption, yet associates (many of which he  nepotistically enabled into high profile positions) of his with impunity perpetrate the same ills to high heavens, daring anyone to bat an eyelid. Unfortunately, this is one man that never accepts responsibility like Adam in "the fall of man", even when the buck naturally should stop at his desk, not just for present sins, but for past sins against Nigerians and their psyche while in power, in the corridors of power, even in seeking power.


There's no gainsaying that the lopsided anti-corruption war has hit a brick wall, as many of the opposition politicians who hitherto felt the heat as they were rounded off to detention and to the counts have now begun to find the whole exercise amusing, to the extent of posing for selfies while in detention,

REUBEN ABATI, MUSILIU OBANIKORO, FEMI FANI KAYODE AND OTHERS POSE FOR PICTURES WHILE IN EFCC DETENTION FACILITY RECENTLY.

after discovering that the whole process had been what they guessed it to be, a charade, with some of the crafty ones decamping to the ruling party to attain the sainthood that automatically accrues to members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC regardless of whatever type of corruption (and innocent lives that might have been lost by their actions and inactions) they might have committed either at state or national level, in order to have their cases at various levels of prosecution stalled and/or possibly stopped. The only ones not finding it funny, remain those with whom he has personal grouse, or whose people's quest for "self determination" he loathes with a vengeance, who despite courts of competent jurisdiction, locally and continentally, ruling to the effect that such "political prisoners" be granted bail, he continues to turn a "deaf ear" to.

FORMER NSA, IBRAHIM DASUKI AND PRO-BIAFRA LEADER NNAMDI KANU, WHOSE CONTINUED INCARCERATION APPEAR TO BE AT THE PERSONAL BEHEST OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI. 

Now, the renegades in the ruling party, once slated for slaughter, have now become favoured brides of the president and

ONCE VILIFIED SENATE PRESIDENT, NOW THE NEW WINE IN ASO ROCK. 

presidency, whose listening "ear", he's no longer reluctant to lend, as the reality of 2019 dawns, without an attendant waning of and for the allure of power, even if it's just for the sake of bagpiper soldiers rising to almost every occasion at the whims of the handlers of the president,

BAGPIPE PLAYING SOLDIERS, A NEW FEATURE SINCE PRESIDENT BUHARI CAME TO POWER LESS THAN TWO YEARS AGO, AND GROWING TO BECOME A REGULAR FEATURE WHEN THE PRESIDENT LEAVES OR ARRIVES TO THE COUNTRY, AMONGST SEVERAL OTHER SUNDRY OCCASIONS. 

even at times when their melodious presence are totally uncalled for. It doesn't matter if the ministers have performed woefully since assuming office, or availed themselves of the opportunity of a budget presentation to the joint sitting of the National Assembly, by their principal to "sleep",

SOME OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI'S MINISTERS SOMNOLENT AS THEIR PRINCIPAL PRESENTS BUDGET 2017 PROPOSAL TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

or have provided much needed comedy (and embarrassment to the government, and country before the world) with their positions on issues, comments, statements, even turning the English language on its head, to Nigerians at a difficult time as this. The economy can go to hell, even the Naira that's speedily becoming toilet paper before foreign currencies can discover oil for all he cares, retention of power by all means necessary seems to be the byword of his party, with the "Independent" National Electoral Commission, INEC honing it's skills, with smaller but bloody and controversial elections (a reason a Buhari is now the last person Gambia's Yayah Jammeh is willing to listen to, as negotiations to persuade him to hand over power to his victorious opponent in the country's last presidential elections continues) in preparation for the year of the dog and baboon, as he seeks to destroy the ladder by which he ascended to power.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.google.com/amp/www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/sen-wabara-calls-resignation-magu-lawal/amp/
- http://buzznigeria.com/starvation-children-borno-unicef/
- https://www.google.com/amp/punchng.com/top-social-media-photo/amp/
- http://www.post-nigeria.com/buhari-set-to-release-kanu-dasuki-others/
- https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.naij.com/amp/655735-photo-see-president-buhari-senate-president-saraki-today.html
- http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/02/buharis-strange-scottish-bagpipers-at-abuja-airport/
- http://www.nigerianmonitor.com/buharis-ministers-caught-sleeping-during-his-2017-budget-presentation/

RELIGION À LA NIGERIA

I found myself in a situation last week, when my insomnia kicked in a great deal and I yearned to swipe over qwerty my thoughts, but was in a quandary over what to write, or recycle. To my aid came Philip Ip Lyricx and Snagga Mwangi, of Nigerian and Kenyan descent respectively. Ip wanted my view on how Islam and Christianity came into Nigeria despite protestations from me of not been a student of history, at least of the academic type, as well as what differences are there between the old and new testament, while Snagga advised that I start to run a review of the New Testament alongside the Old, seeing that at the snail speed I was going with the old, I'd be very advanced in age, probably list some cognitive skills by the time I'd get to the new. They both steered me in the direction of religion, and indeed very controversial aspects of it. This will be the first of two posts that will address the issues both of them raised.


Google is anyone's best bet when it comes to history these days, hence I won't even make any attempt to try to compete with the masters on any subject related to history. My intention here is to draw attention to how the past of the advents of these religions have led us to where we are in Nigeria today. While serving (NYSC) in the northwest about a decade ago, my direct boss startled me, when during a discussion, he said the religion of his people had always been Islam, and though he was much older than me, I wondered how much of history he knew to make such an assertion, when it is widely known that Islam came to those parts (not homegrown) from North Africa, even from the Arabs in the middle-east, and to the untiring effort of spreading the religion attributable to the jihad by the revered Sultan, Uthman Dan Fodio, who established a sultanate in Sokoto, from where he installed his kin as Emirs over conquered swathes of northern Nigeria, even as far as some parts of the west.


On the other hand, Christianity made inroads mainly in the south via the sea of European traders, first the Portuguese then much later the British as they traded with the peoples of those regions. By the time they got to the north, there was already a dominant Islamic culture, that could account for the posture which I stated earlier that my former boss took, concerning Islam as being his and his people's religion. The Christian missionaries didn't let that deter them but forayed further inland, and backed by the subtle coercive powers of colonialism much later, planted seeds of Christianity even in the most uttermost Muslim areas in the north, bringing with them schools, hospitals and churches, though not as widespread and vigorously as they did in and with the south, in order not to rock the boat of an institution they met on ground, that helped them keep the north in check and pliant to their overall rule.


The northern oligarchy and the extent of the caliphate in Sokoto was allowed to maintain and keep the power they had over their people and vassals, because that helped the British colonialists by way of reducing efforts channeled into governance seeing that a de facto  government was already in place. The tiny pockets of several governments and rulership and no governments/"republicanness" in many places in the south, meant that the British must intervene directly and forcefully, and their instruments of coercion extended from the mild and subtle in the many churches, schools and hospitals, to the brutal in police stations, prisons and the likes. They succeeded in even making some of the natives in the south forget and turn their backs on their culture, religion and the likes, replacing such with western ideas, where they could.


Today, the dichotomy in the manner in which Islam and Christianity came into Nigeria, appear to continue to determine how both are being propagated, as well as how they go about their business. The European missionaries passed their Christian message across using schools and hospitals as their main tools, especially in the South, these were mainly free (where fees were charged, there was also scholarships by the church, community or government to aid indigent students), while the community in most cases also contributed human and material resources to see to the successes of such institutions situated within their locality. Today schools and hospitals owned by the big Pentecostal as well as orthodox churches charge fees that are far beyond the capabilities of tithe-paying members whose contributions in the first instance enabled the much, if not all that went into the construction of the edifices that house the institutions, in fact in some cases, these offerings in church continue to fund the running of such institutions as going concerns, while the profit would usually go to owners or so called General Overseers of such churches, who live larger than life existences with the humongous proceeds, literally turning from Men of God to "Gods of Men".

GOD OF MEN, PREACH SPIRITUAL SECURITY TO THEIR FOLLOWERS, BUT ENGAGE PHYSICAL SECURITY FOR THEMSELVES. 

On the other side of things, there seem to be a resurgence in Jihadist tendencies amongst certain extremist Sunni Islamic groups in Nigeria's north, with the aim not only of ridding the north of Christians, animists, and most recently of Shiites, but also of not relenting until the Qur'an is dipped into the Atlantic Ocean in the South. While Boko Haram, like Maitatsine before it are the major anti-Nigerian Islamic insurgencies, more profound are the state sponsored, enabled, encouraged most times, activities of intolerance that bares it's fangs in the north, in the name of operation of the Shari'a law (seen in such parts as superior to the Nigerian constitution), attacks and lynchings of Nigerian, mainly non-Muslims accused of blasphemy, abduction and forced marriages to Emirs and Muslims of Christian underaged girls without the consent of their parents, amongst the general intolerance of people of a different opinion either politically or religiously, but have harm even death visited upon them under the guise of religion. Even more dangerous is the lack of will to prosecute and bring to justice perpetrators of hate crimes upon Nigerian citizens in the north because of differences in religious beliefs, coupled with outright genocide currently ongoing in the north-central region, and of late spilling into some parts of the south, which many suspect is in continuance of the agenda to dip the Qur'an in the Atlantic, using the excuse of herdsmen/farmers clashes, when most of the victims were murdered while unarmed in their sleep in their homes, while at work in the farms, or just being about in their location, by marauding so called Fulani herdsmen. Unfortunately, some of the funding of acts of terrorism within Nigeria and out of it, come from simple donations made in mosques even by moderate Muslims who think only to do some acts of piety in the name of Zakat.  A few even make donations on TV, on some Muslim shows that may look peaceful in outlook, till they start talking about the sufferings of Muslim Ummah in places like Somalia, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, even Nigeria, then ask for donations or those willing to help to call certain numbers via which aid can be pledged, when obviously aid organizations working in many of these places are Christian or western, with a sprinkling of Muslim organizations, some of which face investigations by international financial authorities for money laundering, especially on behalf of international terrorist organizations.

RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IS BECOMING RULE RATHER THAN EXCEPTION IN NIGERIA'S NORTH. 

It's how we have found ourselves in a so called secular state that's no more than a religious state in actual fact, at war with itself. Recently I drew the attention of a colleague to how the two weeks of Christmas and New Year will gravely impact our business because of Christmas and New Year falling on consecutive Sundays respectively, and how Christians would insist on at least two working days after the appointed days, especially in a year when the sultanate wrongly predicted the appearance of the moon, which should signal the beginning of a Muslim festival that normally lasts two days in Nigeria, leading to a situation where it now lasted three days. It is that attitude that makes Nigerian Christians the only of their kind worldwide that go on pilgrimage, even when it isn't a stipulated "pillar" of their religion, which brought about an unfortunate situation recently where in the face of the dwindling fortunes of the Naira before the Dollar, yet it was heavily subsidized initially for Christian pilgrims, then much later for their Muslim counterparts, while Nigeria's foremost tomato puree company teetered on the verge of collapse, as the government continually turned a deaf ear to the pleas of its owner for foreign exchange relief to enable him meet his local and international obligations, amongst several such companies which had laid off staff severally, even shut down operations as Nigeria's economic woes deepens.


When I think about religion in the Nigerian context it's only aches and pains at the hurtful things it's done us than the good it's brought our society that readily comes to mind. The so called good is even such as bordering on selfishness and self preservation, "God-be-with-me-while-others-can-go-to-hell" mentality pervades the land. When the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola delivered a speech at the convocation ceremony of the University of Benin last week, he recounted a story about a professor who knew well to separate church/mosque from state in his mind, and in outlook, and how he as well has managed to do likewise, and though you could fault Fashola, a Muslim on many grounds, as former governor and now minister, you cannot deny the fact that his very cerebral personality, and his accompanying work ethic. Unfortunately, the larger population are still in the darkness imposed on us by religion, that's why metropolitan Lagos is littered, not only with churches and mosques, as against edifice and infrastructure that speak to growth and development, but also (especially at the crossroads) with earthen bowls of sacrificial food, fruit and barley offerings to gods and spirits, so strategically placed by some Lagosians, in the thick of night invoking such "powers" to intervene in trivia that the west have learnt to solve with logic, science and technology. The west having become their own gods, to the abandonment of the ones they sold us in their land, have variously converted the worship places of their gods to museums somewhat, or civic centres, some of which they use as voting centres, as I observed in the last presidential elections in the USA. Abeg, I don taya jare!


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.naij.com/1059328-see-number-security-men-follow-pastor-ayo-oritsejafor-wife-around-photos.html 

MY EVENING WITH LAGOS' RADIO STATIONS

Again, the radio takes over by six o'clock in the evening for another two hours, when I close from work and make my way back from Lagos Island to my home on the mainland. I tune in to INSPIRATION 92.3FM for the news that lasts ten minutes, then follow that with the more comprehensive news of Nigeria's first privately owned radio station, RAYPOWER 100.5FM, that has correspondents reporting as you'd find with the dour reportage of most  government owned stations, complete with static in the background. What I miss in the first ten minutes, I will hear again when the news is being recapped. By six-thirty I flip to CLASSIC 97.3FM's fifteen minutes of news, which feels like an elaboration of exactly what I've heard on Inspiration FM already at six (with more sound bites), but hardly as concise as Raypowers'. News on Radio Stations in Lagos is more like the News Agency Of Nigeria, NAN distributing the same content to the different media houses to do with it what they wish. It's so bad sometimes that you'd hear the same news, with the same lettering and wordings from different stations, especially the private ones, without even an attempt at rephrasing it. The next fifteen minutes before seven, and the other fifteen after seven I spend listening to what other stations have to offer, or go back to my soundtrack for the day to get inspired for the night.


I used to listen to SHARING LIFE ISSUES with CHAZ-B, immediately after the six o'clock news on INSPIRATION FM, while he was alive but it was becoming ridiculous, both topics and solutions provided for problems, that I was skipping episodes already weeks before he died. The attempt to keep the program alive in his memory, in my estimation has failed, especially with constant  movement of the program from one station to the other. Presently, I can't even say off my head now, which station is airing it, that's even besides the mediocrity on display with the new hosts and crazy callers to the program who come up with the strangest of problems that are never theirs but of their friends, as if even if that was true, it was right to backbite or gossip about their friends' emotional challenges, especially of a sexual nature and demons on radio.


J-A-J's TOP SEVEN JAMS AT SEVEN, on RHYTHMS 93.7FM used to cut it for me at some point, in fact it used to be where I go to for the latest in hip-hop, and I can't really place my hand on the real reason why I stopped spending thirty minutes listening to that program, even though that part where the host (aka The Mega-Don) inserts his eternal rap skit towards the end of the show, was beginning to get boring. Nowadays, it is only by chance that I fall on the program, just to probably lighten up the evening before I tune-in to KUBANJI DIRECT on RADIO CONTINENTAL 102.3FM, hosted by a CITIZEN JONES (USEN), veteran journalist in memory of the pioneer host, the late Momoh Kubanji (just like what was later attempted with Chaz B to not so much of a success) who died a few years back.

CITIZEN JONES IN THE STUDIO.

Radio Continental, like some other radio stations in Nigeria, is owned by a politician. It isn't surprising therefore that the narrative is usually skewed in favour of the political leanings of the owner of such media houses, hence radio stations like Raypower and Rhythms carry news that favour the People's Democratic Party, PDP while Radio Continental favour the All Progressives' Congress, APC. Nowhere else is the corrupting influence of a politician affecting reportage and even the discuss on radio more prominently than at Radio Continental. It is as if the news is vetted by the Lord owner before it goes on air, in fact in the sister TV station (TV Continental), you can see the eyes of presenters doting behind the cameras like they're receiving reprimands when they seem to stray from the political line issued them for onward projection on screen. The name of that one-hour program with four women, one of them a Muslim woman with hijab on TV-Continental skips me now.


That's how a beautiful program like KUBANJI DIRECT became one sided, shutting it's ears to opposition, now that the party it promotes is in power, unfortunately at the hands of a veteran journalist, who should know better. It is so bad that even as lately as last night, a contributor via Twitter accused the host of his bias, in favour of the ruling APC, just like I did weeks back trouncing the program for lacking intellect backed discourse, and was surprised to

hear my tweet read on the program, of course with the host brushing off my observations with a wave of his hands, and one of his minions rushing to attack and start a Twitter war with me. Interestingly, now that his paymaster appears to be at loggerheads with the echelon of his party, time will tell how long he can continue to back a directionless  government that he and his likes helped foster and continue to goad on, in spite of the truth staring them in the face.


Despite the heavy journalistic misnomer that that program represents, I still listen to it. Yes, with the wide eyed, unrepentant protagonists of the present Human Rights abusing, economy debasing APC, and President Buhari sycophants like Alester Wilcox and Professor Chris Nwokobia guesting most times. Men who can't see anything wrong in a government that's driven the country to the precipice in less than two years. Once a while "Citizen Jones", will bring fair minded Nigerians to contribute and present alternate views, only to continuously shut them down, and even going ahead to express his own views when he shouldn't have one, at least while he sits as umpire in his program. It is with that program that I gauge the thinking of those who sold Nigerians a bad deal in the last elections, standing now to make excuses for a  government that has done nothing but fail to deliver on ALL its election promises, without missing any opportunity to put the blame on previous governments, even for mistakes that every rational human being can see was at the behest of the present government.


So, unfortunately my mornings aren't bettered by my evenings on radio. I wish I could have BBC on FM and not have to listen live with data, as it's embarrassing, except when I'm in the north of Nigeria, to go about with a transistor radio, scanning the shortwave at different times of the day for the signals of the RADIO STATION OF THE WORLD. I might just listen to music, but even the so called "more music, less talk" radio station is fast losing its signature brand with OAPs angling to hear their "fake accented" English most times they come on air, breaking sweet music just to vomit the most mundane of thoughts from the recess in their head. Sometimes, I just give up hope on political discourse on radio on weekdays and look forward to weekends, which again is more of the same when it's about politics, as you shall see when I dissect that also, to give you a peek into how radio goes with me on weekends.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://mobile.twitter.com/RC1023FM/status