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No reason to be enthusiastic over Buhari or Atiku, says Onaiyekan

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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No reason to be enthusiastic over Buhari or Atiku, says Onaiyekan

THE Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Archdiocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, says Nigerians have no reason to be enthusiastic about the choice of either the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari or his challenger, Atiku Abubakar, going into the 2019 general election.

Onaiyekan said this during a speech at a voters’ sensitisation event over the weekend, titled “The Church in Politics, Towards Election Year-2019”. While not mentioning Atiku and Buhari by name, it was obvious they were the people being referred to in the speech.

He described the two men as “two well-known undesirable candidates”, adding that the situation was a “great dilemma” and a “horrible tragedy” for the country.

The cleric also expressed disappointment that smaller political parties that could have joined forces to produce a better alternative, were not able to do so due to ego and selfishness.

“My dear brothers, our country is deeply in a great dilemma as we move towards the 2019 general elections,” Onaiyekan said. “It would appear that we are faced with horrible tragedy of a choice between two well-known undesirable candidates.

“This is not only because both of them are Muslims but because we have seen both and we have no reason to be enthusiastic that they will do wonders.

“But this does not mean that we will completely give up interest. If we do, others are busy working. All it takes for evil to thrive is for the righteous to stay quiet and do what they call minding their own business, which means doing nothing.

“It is a pity that whereas there are over 90 political parties, there seems to be no viable alternative to the two mega parties that have failed us. Where is the alternative? It is a pity that they cannot come together to form a viable alternative.”

“In my opinion, this is mainly because of their selfishness. Everybody wants to be president and wield power. No one wants to step down and join hands with others of like minds. We need to pray that there will be a way forward. We need to seriously tackle the devil of selfishness.”

Onaiyekan, ostensibly, was referring to the failed coalition attempt between some presidential aspirants of upcoming political parties, including Omoyele Sowore, Kingsley Moghalu, and Fela Durotoye, among others.

The initial plan had been for the aspirants to come together and adopt a single candidate who would stand a better chance of running against the political heavyweights in the forthcoming election. The attempt, however, failed, after Durotoye emerged winner of the process but the others felt there was no fair play.

An open letter to a citizen trapped in the Port Harcourt rubble

Editorial
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An open letter to a citizen trapped in the Port Harcourt rubble

By Pius Adesanmi

DEAR Citizen X,

IT is tough to know which tense to use for you, present or past. The earthquake in Haiti and the Thai cave disaster are pointers to the fact that you may very well still be alive nearly ten days after Nigeria happened to you – she happens to us all except the one percenters, doesn’t she? – and that seven-storey building collapsed and trapped you. Nearly two weeks after the earthquake, victims were still being pulled out alive in Haiti. The Thai boys were rescued after 18 days. This gives me hope that you are still alive; that you are still with us; that you are still of us.

No matter how hellish its earthly address, the human spirit does not sever the ties easily. So, let me write this letter in the present tense in the hope that you are still here with us. If you are still alive, you are most probably dehydrated and unconscious, hanging on by a thread. Also, one cannot speak to the condition of your body. After all, a seven-storey building collapsed on you and a gory mix of smashed concrete and shattered metal has been your underground home now for ten days. Therefore, I must write gently.

I am so sorry that this has happened to you. I also feel for your relatives and loved ones who, like you, are alone in this moment of great anguish and tragedy. I mention hellish addresses on earth. In wishing that you are still alive, I am a little bit conflicted. Nigeria, being one of the world’s most hellish man-made shitholes, wishing that someone hangs on here a little longer when they are already one leg outta the door is an ethical dilemma and a moral impasse.

“They’ve gone to be in a better place” is a metaphorical ointment rubbed on the grief of relatives of dead people in other climes. In Nigeria, it is dangerously and tragically literal. It is not a metaphor. To be alive in Nigeria is to cope with 24 hours of avoidable hells every day and to celebrate to high heavens and cut ribbons over development milestones they started taking for granted more than a decade ago in Chad, Lesotho, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Eritrea.

Dear Citizen X, I know you already guessed it, but it bears repeating: We do not know how many of you are down there in that rubble in Port Harcourt. You know that Nigeria can be defined as a sadomasochistic way of taking pleasure in resisting progress and civilisation. We did not know how to count before you went under ten days ago. Ten days are sadly not enough to learn how to count. My suspicion is that the British hoarded mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, data, and such other things from us, never mind that those originated in Africa.

You know that we don’t even know how many of us are here alive. The population of Nigeria depends on who is playing politics and for what ends. We are around two hundred million; we are roughly 180 million; we are an estimated 160 million. Different government offices and institutions could give you different versions of these guesstimates at any given time.

I doubt if we know exactly how many people work in the Nigerian Presidency. Recently, a fine gentleman we put in charge of counting things for the country, one of our finest, Dr. Yemi Kale, screamed that he has no money to do any counting. That is Nigeria happening to him and turning him to someone who does not know what he is doing. If Nigeria happens to Albert Einstein, he will fail JAMB. May Nigeria never happen to you.

Those for whom counting the living in the 21st is rocket science, do not bother about the business of accurately counting the dead, the wounded or, in your tragic case, the trapped and dying.

Not knowing how many of you are down under, dear Citizen X, is sadly not the worst news. It would interest you to know that nine days after you were buried alive in that rubble, your president, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, jetted out to Poland. As he and my amiable state governor, Yahaya Bello, flew over waters and mountains, they took selfies that were released to us as they were in flight. I saw your smiling president and thought about you under that rubble: Bloodied, broken bones, charred flesh, running out of oxygen in your confined space.

Dear Citizen X, I wish I could tell you that on reading this letter, your president’s supporters would do what they usually do but that would be peine perdue because we know them and could write the script of their herdish thinking for them. They’d compound your victimhood and tragedy by saying: What has the president got to do with this? Is this not the responsibility of the local authorities in Rivers State? Is this not Wike’s business? And bla. And bla. And bla. And patati. And patata.

The connection between things and the organic linkages in a body politic called a state are beyond their purview. So, they will not understand that world leaders cut short foreign trips precisely because of what happened to you. They will not understand that a seven-story building collapse in any part of civilisation would have made any of the leaders assembled in Buenos Aires to abandon the summit and rush back home. They will not understand that the local authorities in Rivers State may be the jackasses we know them to be; you, under that rubble, are evidence of a vast architecture of national incompetence and insouciance supervised by the leader of the Nigerian federal state.

Dear Citizen X, your journey to that rubble – and perhaps to death – started four years ago. Every detail of your four-year journey has been choreographed and enabled by the Nigerian state and her institutions. Four years ago, a building owned by Prophet T.B. Joshua collapsed in Lagos and killed hundreds of people. Most of the dead were South African citizens. To this day, it is the single largest number of South African dead ever recorded outside of South Africa.

South Africa went into shock. As they mourned across South Africa, the Nigerian authorities were more worried about Pastor T.B. Joshua. He is one of them. He is a Nigerian one percenter. So, the machinery of state solidarity moved in around him. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola and President Goodluck Jonathan (Ambode and Buhari would have done the same thing) paid T.B. Joshua highly publicised “condolence visits”. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was truly disgraceful. Here was a criminal who had violated building codes and should have been immediately arrested being condoled and treated like the victim by a governor and the president!

The Nigerian authorities went further to protect T.B. Joshua. The South Africans wanted answers. In Nigeria, you could buy and muzzle the media. However, the South African media was a different proposition. Many TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers wanted to send teams to Nigeria to investigate the incident and, most importantly, talk to T.B. Joshua. I am quite well connected in South Africa. I have visited and lectured annually in South Africa since 1997. Friends in South African media began to whisper to me: “Pius, the Nigerian authorities are making it difficult for South African journalists to secure visas. Do you think they are shielding prophet T.B. Joshua from the South African media?”

Every Nigerian knows the answer to these questions. Outrage eventually made the Nigerian authorities pretend to be doing something about T.B. Joshua. The Lagos state authorities filed some useless, perfunctory lawsuits designed to fail. To this day, those law suits are dragging. T.B. Joshua has never even bothered to honour the courts with an appearance. Nigeria rolled on from that incident, leaving the South Africans to gnash their teeth without closure for the affected families.

Dear Citizen X, there were no consequences whatsoever for what happened four years ago. This culture of lack of consequences runs in a straight line from Lagos to Port Harcourt and is further compounded by the colossal irresponsibility of the Nigerian media. I wish I could tell you that Nigerian media editors have trended and maintained you in the headlines. Sadly, because the Nigerian authorities buy them en masse to bury embarrassing stories – I hear it is buy one media executive and get the second one free – you are not trending anywhere in Nigeria.

Your only chance of becoming a national issue now, worthy of more than a perfunctory social media statement from the Presidency, is if Reuters, AFP, Al-Jazeera, and BBC somehow sustain the focus on you beyond their initial run of your story. This will force the hands of the local media and make the Nigerian authorities talk to their Ogas at Shell and Julius Berger to move in heavier equipment.

If President Buhari also thinks that coming to the site of the rubble for photo-ops straight from Poland would help 2019 electoral optics, then you may be lucky if you are still alive. However, I won’t hold my breath, no pun intended. As commander-in-chief, it took him more than five days to acknowledge the loss of more than a hundred troops and he did so with characteristic reluctance and only after his continued callous silence had become politically costly. I am aware that they issued a hollow statement after the wife of the opposition visited Port Harcourt. I am afraid that may be all.

Citizen X, your country failed you. Your president failed you. Your state governor failed you. Your institutions failed you. However, if you do not make it out alive, I want you to go happy in the knowledge that your relatives and ordinary people did not abandon you. They are the lone, unheard, and unheeded voices screaming on social media because of you. And at the site of that rubble, you may not be able to see them, but I have seen video clips of ordinary, everyday Nigerians, wielding hammers, hoes, cutlasses, many of them shirtless and shoeless, risking their lives digging, searching desperately for you.

I have wept quietly as I have seen them. If you do not make it, this is the last image of us I beg you to take with you to the great beyond: with nothing, left to our own devices by our irresponsible leaders, we did not forget you. We are there in Port Harcourt, digging with our bare hands and looking for you. We are a good people.

Sail on, Citizen X, sail on to your maker or back to us as your head decides it.

Your helpless compatriot,
Pius Adesanmi

Pius Adesanmi, a professor of English, is director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Canada. He tweets @pius_adesanmi.

Ten days after, ‘dozens’ remain trapped in Port Harcourt’s collapsed building

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Ten days after, ‘dozens’ remain trapped in Port Harcourt’s collapsed building

ALL hopes of finding any other survivor in the building collapse incident that occurred in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Friday, November 23, are gradually fading away, ten days into the unfortunate incident.

The seven-storey building, which was still under construction when it collapsed, is situated along Woji Road in the Government Reserved Area of Port Harcourt.

Governor Nyesom Wike has ordered the arrest of the owner of the building, the engineer handling the construction, and the state officials that gave approval for the building to take off. He said that approval ought not to have been given for a seven-storey building in that area of the city, as it violated the city’s original master plan.

The Rivers State police command has confirmed that all the people involved in erecting the building have been taken into custody, but they would not name any names.

“The owner of the building has been arrested. He’s with us helping with investigations,” said Nnamdi Omoni, spokesperson of the Police in Rivers State.

“We also have with us the site engineer, the architect, the builder himself. We have been able to get statements from some of the survivors, sharing their accounts of what has happened.

“Investigations are discreet. We have also deployed our Anti-Bomb Unit. Our men are probing to also try to see other possible angles, like if there was any sabotage.”

Victims still trapped

The building before it collapsed

But beyond the issue of trading blames with regards to who is to blame for the collapse, there is the pertinent issue of how to rescue the people who are believed to still be trapped in the building.

About 60 persons – consisting of construction workers, building material suppliers, and petty traders – were said to have been inside or around the building  when it collapsed.

The South-South Zonal Director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ejike Martins, told The ICIR on Monday that 39 persons have been brought out of the building so far; 31 dead and eight alive.

Some of the survivors sustained serious injuries, one had one of his hands amputated.

One of the victims yet to make it out of the collapsed building is Morgan Ihionu, a supplier of scaffolds who had gone to collect his payment when the collapse occurred.

“We were at a stone throw, The Boss Club, playing snooker when Morgan was alerted that money had arrived to pay workers and suppliers,” the victim’s cousin, Chimezie Ihionu, narrated to Vanguard Newspaper.

“Shockingly, someone called less than five minutes later that the building had collapsed and Ekene (Morgan) was inside. We have stayed put at the scene since Friday. Ekene was calling us among others trapped inside. This morning (Saturday, December 1), his phone is no longer reachable.”

As at Monday morning, Morgan, together with many others, was still trapped in the building, according to Benjamin Obidegwu, the President General of Obodoukwu Town Union, where Morgan hails from.

“I spoke with the Chairman of PH branch earlier today. Our dear Morgan remains trapped in the collapsed building. Sad. Very Sad,” Obidegwu, a legal practitioner, wrote on Monday.

NEMA doing its best

Ejike Martins, the NEMA official coordinating the rescue efforts, told The ICIR that officials on the ground are doing their best to get to the people in the building, most whom are believed to be trapped in the basement.

He explained that the agency has equipment which they deploy during search and rescue operations, but the Port Harcourt incident was unprecedented and required heavy equipment. However, the needed equipment has since been deployed to the site of collapse by some international oil companies operating in the state, as well as Julius Berger construction company.

“We are here, trying to coordinate, working with the ministry of special duties and assisting them wherever the need arises,” he said

Asked whether there was hope of getting any other victim out of the collapsed building alive, Martins said his experience as an emergency worker had taught him never to lose hope. He added, however, that everything possible would be done to get the trapped victims out whether dead or alive.

Martins also said he could not put a definite date to when the trapped victims would be reached, as the building was a massive one and there are lots of iron rods hampering the speed of work.

“They (the rescuers) are using machines to cut the iron rods before they do another round of excavation. It’s a technically difficult operation,” he said.

Ejike also urged the general public to disregard the “wrong information” being peddled about by several people about the rescue efforts at the collapsed building. He reiterated NEMA’s commitment to continuing with the operations until all trapped victims were brought out.

Commissioner resigns

Following the incident, the Rivers State Commissioner for Urban Development, Reason Onya, has tendered his resignation.

“After due consultation with my family on the collapsed seven-storey hotel building under construction, I have decided to ‘step aside’ as the Honourable Commissioner for Urban Development and Physical Planning on 28/11/2018 during the State Executive Council Meeting,” Onya wrote.

“The building plan was approved on 18/7/2014 and revalidated by me on 14/9/2018, because the file was missing.

“To those that lost their loved ones, I am pained, so pained that each time I visit the site, my heart bleeds; each time I hear news of it, I am perturbed. I am sincerely sorry for all the pains you all have gone through in the cause of this that my official assignment is involved.”

It is not clear yet whether further actions will be taken against the commissioner, especially given the Governor’s claims that approval for the collapsed building was against the original master plan of the city.

FACT CHECK: Did North Korean president ask to recolonise Nigeria, Ghana?

'Kunle ADEBAJO
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FACT CHECK: Did North Korean president ask to recolonise Nigeria, Ghana?

THE North Korean President Kim Jong Un boasted that he could transform Nigeria and Ghana into first world countries if he were allowed to colonise the two countries, according to a news report going viral on the social media.

The report has been shared by over 80, 000 by users, especially Nigerians on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp — with many users taking the post as the gospel truth.

The 158-word news published by Abia Pulse says Kim described Nigeria and Ghana as the backbone of Africa because “they have all the natural resources in abundance to make them the most important and sought-after countries in the world but corruption is a major problem and a curse to them”.

It quotes the North Korean leader as saying: “Give me just a year and I will transform these two countries into first class countries that will attract businesses all over the world. Nigeria should give in, Ghana should give in and let us colonize them for the second time so they will eventually learn how to run a country.

“These two countries are on a mission of proving to the whites that blacks are only good at crimes and having the power of having long-lasting sex. Sit up Africa, Sit up Ghana and sit up Nigeria or just sell the countries to us.”

The blog post, as though extracted from a press statement, was signed off with the words “North Korean President Kim Jong Un” and the blog additionally stated “Al Jazeeera W/A [West Africa]” as the source of the news. It provided neither information of where nor when the quoted statement was made.

“Nigeria should reason with Kim jong un,” goes one of the many comments on the web page, written by Rabi MK, “because we will never get a good opportunity like this one. So our shameless politicians should sit with guy that is trying to help us out and start the process before 2019 election or if he is ready before the months ends [sic]please. Kim jong, may God bless your heart for helping us sir.”

“I agree with Kim Jong about Nigeria but have my doubts about Ghana,” wrote M.C. Nwafor, to which William Kwasi, a Ghanaian replied: “What do you mean for Ghana you doubt? Are you insinuating Ghanaian leaders are on track and corruption-free? Ghana and Nigeria are all bullshits. We need change. We don’t need partisan politics.”

Viral blog post, authored by ‘media aide to former governor’

The post was authored by one Ugochukwu Nwankwo, who describes himself as “an Abia-based seasoned journalist, poet and media consultant of repute and currently the Chairman of Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (OMPAN), Abia State Chapter”.

According to his profile page, “he is also the CEO of Rhino Media, a media aide to the former Governor of Abia State, a human right activist and social critic”.

Unlike most other publications on the website, this particular post, according to statistics on the page, has been viewed up to 256,199 times, has been shared close to 88,000 times, and has garnered 159 comments on the website alone.

A look on the news blog’s Facebook page also reveals that it was shared there up to 65 times, while most other posts were not shared at all or were shared only once.

Fake news from an unverified page

It is true that the report is not the original content of Abia Pulse News and was sourced from “Al Jazeera West Africa”. Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based news network, does not, however, have a West African branch, according to checks by The ICIR. The regions on the organisation’s website include only: Africa, Asia, US & Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Search engine tools show that the report is not on any credible news organisation’s website, whether local or international. Sources that have republished include Happy Ghana, Daily Advent Nigeria, Ghana News Aid, among others.

Nevertheless, findings also show that Abia Pulse’s report can be traced to a Facebook page passing off as the West African hub of Al Jazeera, under the name: Al jazeera West Africa. Its about section says: “All the west African News on one portal”.

This page is, however, evidently fraudulent for a number of reasons. First, it is the only page purportedly belonging to Al Jazeera that is not verified as authentic by the Facebook management. Also, the initial “j” in Al Jazeera is spelt in a lower case, as against the norm with other pages.

The page username/URL address, @thewestafricanhub, is also a discrepancy with the name; and posts on the page do not actually link to the authentic Al Jazeera website. They consist mostly of a few poorly constructed paragraphs, a feature image, and dramatic headlines such as: “FBI in full gear to investigate if Nigerian president is a replica”, “RUSSIA PRESIDENT, Vladimir Putin Says: Africa Is A Cemetery For Africans”, and “Robert Mugabe On African Development”.

All three of these reports could not be traced to any trustworthy sources or reputable media organisations and were evidently fabricated by the owners of the Facebook page.

Reviews on the page include one by Ibrahim Mu’azzam Ahmad who warns that the site is fake and unauthentic, and another by Akwasi Ossei Nkrumah who also says it is a fake page and describes its activities as “very shameful”. A long list of similar reviews on the page have not been addressed by the administrator(s).

Al Jazeera West Africa is not verified, compared to other Facebook pages operated by the media organisation
North Korea is friends with Nigeria, Ghana

Further dealing a blow to the authenticity of the speech allegedly made by the North Korean president is the fact that Nigeria and North Korea presently enjoy friendly bilateral relations — a relationship that dates back to 1976. This was confirmed in March when Jong Yong Chol, outgoing Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic to Nigeria, praised this Nigerian government’s support for improved North-South relations.

In February, Chol had assured of North Korea’s readiness to partner with Nigeria in ensuring peace and security, at a ceremony held in Abuja in honour of late Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. “We hope to build on the traditional relationship and cooperation between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Korea,” he had said. “We hope to consolidate and sustain the existing peace and security.”

North Korea is similarly a friendly country in relation to Ghana, not only having an ambassador in the country but exporting cement to and importing cocoa and gemstones from the country. There is also a Korea–Ghana Friendship Association established for the purpose of promoting cultural exchange between both countries.

Similar report was made about Trump

It is not the first time a false report has made the rounds claiming that a head of state recommended that African countries be recolonised.

In October 2015, a report emerged that US President Donald Trump (then a Republican presidential candidate), while in Indianapolis, “expressed his deep disgust for Africans by referring to them as lazy fools only good at eating, lovemaking and thuggery”.

“In my opinion, most of these African countries ought to be recolonized again for another 100 years because they know nothing about leadership and self-governance,” Trump was quoted to have said.

The report, just as the latest one about the North Korean leader, did not provide any context for the quote. The event attended was not mentioned, neither was the date.

Snopes, a reputable fact-checking website, has confirmed the report to be spurious. The Republican candidate was not in Indianapolis at the time of the report and no American political websites reported the statements. Other statements about Africa attributed to Trump around the period were similarly found to be false.

Verdict: Not true

The report is not only suspicious, but it is also untrue and cannot be substantiated by content from credible sources. The existing friendly relations between North Korea, Nigeria, and Ghana also make it unlikely for the Korean leader to make inciting statements credited to him.

When The ICIR contacted Nwankwo, the founder of Abia Pulse, to confirm the source of the blog’s report, he replied that it was obtained from the “website of Al Jazeera”. Asked for the link to this report, he eventually directed our reporter to the misleading Facebook page: Al Jazeera West Africa.

After arresting Adeyanju, the Police still think they’re not politicians?

Editorial
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After arresting Adeyanju, the Police still think they’re not politicians?

By ‘Fisayo Soyombo

FOR a moment, it appeared the Police had a case against Deji Adeyanju, the Convener of ‘Concerned Nigerians’ whom it picked up on Wednesday just at the start of the ‘Police Not Politicians’ protest to raise public awareness of the apparent Police bias for the ruling party. There were at least two reasons: the identity of its latest victim, and the occasional vulgarity of his campaign.

Background information: until early 2017, Adeyanju worked for the Peoples Democratic Party, as Director of New Media, handling the party’s social media platforms. It’s a dent on his recent claims to activism; if you’ve worked for a party, you can’t claim to be an activist without being questioned, and you won’t have that full-scale public sympathy typically enjoyed by the out-and-out, non-partisan activists during their enforced ‘visits’ to the police cell or prison. Adeyanju’s motives for doing what he does are debatable, and activism — as practised by the likes of Gani Fawehinmi, Omoyele Sowore, Beko Ransome-Kuti — is not one of them.

Adeyanju’s style of ‘activism’ can sometimes be offensive. Inasmuch as the hypocrisy of the Muhammadu Buhari government’s anti-corruption campaign is there for all (who have eyes) to see, all criticism should be civil and intellectually marshalled. If, for any reason, anyone must write on social media that the country’s Vice President is a “thief”, that person must be in possession of incontrovertible evidence. “Osinbajo Oleeeeeeeeeeee, Osinbajo Oleeeeeeeeeeee, Osinbajo Oleeeeeeeeeeee, Osinbajo Oleeeeeeeeeeee, Osinbajo Oleeeeeeeeeeee” is not a tweet anyone should be proud of posting. Neither are many others containing such terms as “motherf**er Buhari”, “bastard Buhari”, “only bastards and cursed people support Buhari” or “mad man, idiot Buratai.” But Adeyanju got this uncouth, and for it, the Police could have facilitated his trial for defamation.

Unfortunately, as with every right move steeped in the wrong intentions, the Police ruined it. And the first evidence: some of Adeyanju’s offensive posts were made three days before his arrest. If those posts were the genuine reason for which the Police wanted to pick him up, the arrest would have been made before the protest. In essence, had Adeyanju not protested, he wouldn’t have been arrested regardless of his allegedly defamatory social-media posts.

The Police are yet to provide screenshots, as it did with Adeyanju, of the offensive social media posts of Daniel Abobama and Boma Williams, the other two protesters arrested with Adeyanju. It does appear that Abobama does not even have a Twitter on Facebook account, while Williams, if he does, is largely anonymous. This leaves us with no doubt: the Police are offended that the protesters have accused them of political bias, which is the truth anyway.

On the merit of recent happenings, is there sufficient reason to worry about the tendency of the Police to side with the ruling party at next year’s polls? Absolutely. I am in complete agreement with Adeyanju — even though his Fayose example is inapposite — that someone needs to remind the Police that their allegiance is to civilians and not the rulers. As we saw with the Osun State governorship election, if next year’s election will be rigged, it will be with a helping hand from security agents. The unifying theme among journalists who physically covered the election, particularly the rerun, is that security agents were complicit in the disenfranchisement of voters by intimidation to the advantage of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In a normal democracy, it wouldn’t be a problem that Adeyanju and co hit the streets of Abuja. Asides providing cover to ensure the protest doesn’t get messy, the Police had no business interfering with proceedings.

The Police have levelled roughly 10 allegations against Adeyanju and co; nine of them are not only laughable, they are a mockery of the institution of policing. But there’s one — criminal defamation — where Adeyanju might be in trouble. At the moment, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is not a “thief”. Ali Isa, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, has stated clearly that the report being latched on to by the likes of Adeyanju was not targeted at Osinbajo. “There was nowhere in our report that we said we indicted the vice president or even mentioned the name of Prof Yemi Osinbajo,” he told Leadership in an interview.

“We only asked questions about the approval, release and the utilisation of N5.8billion when he was Acting President. There are questions that people feel the Vice President, when he was Acting President should answer on the process that was used to release the money.” This is clearly a procedural matter rather than embezzlement; therefore, Adeyanju has a real task on his hands proving how the VP stole this money.

But until then, he should be released. Much as I’m no fan of anyone who can’t express dissent without hurling insults at a fellow human, Adeyanju should be released. Yes, let him have his day in court. Heartiest congratulations to him if he succeeds in convincing the court he has done no wrong. But to keep him in detention with stringent bail conditions, when he hasn’t committed rape or murder, is an overkill. At the moment, the law recognises Adeyanju’s innocence; he should be set free. No one, not even me, needs to like Adeyanju to advocate his freedom. Humanity and equity — not affinity — are the principles at play here.

In any case, Adeyanju is not the only one who periodically spews vitriol on social media, and the irony of it all is that the ruling party is populated by such people. Before he got into government, Tolu Ogunlesi famously tweeted that then President Goodluck Jonathan was a “bloody sadist” for having Lagos on lockdown during an official visit — never mind that he suddenly lost his voice when the scenario recurred during Buhari’s reign. Only a little over two months ago, Lauretta Onochie, Buhari’s social media aide, attached the photos of Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Atiku Abubakar to a tweet about the “sponsors of the Fulani herdsmen killings”. If the Police didn’t go after Lauretta, Ogunlesi and the numerous vulgar supporters of the President, arresting Adeyanju is hypocritical. If Adeyanju is tried for defamation, his ilk in government or close to government must face the music, too. Unless that happens, the Police will have to live with the truth they don’t want to hear: they’re no different from politicians; they’re Siamese twins with the APC government that fights corruption in the opposition but pampers corrupt elements in its own house.

Soyombo, former Editor of the TheCable and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), tweets @fisayosoyombo

Khashoggi murder: WhatsApp messages may offer clues to killing

Jennifer UGWA
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Khashoggi murder: WhatsApp messages may offer clues to killing

MORE than 400 private WhatsApp messages sent by Khashoggi last year to a fellow Saudi exile may offer fresh clues to the killing of the dissident journalist.

In his conversation with Canada-based activist Omar Abdulaziz – accessed by CNN – Khashoggi describes  Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince also known as MBS, as a “beast” and a “Pac-man” who would “devour all in his path, even his supporters”.

“Arrests are unjustified and do not serve him [logic says], but tyranny has no logic, but he loves force, oppression and needs to show them off. He is like a beast ‘Pac-Man’ the more victims he eats, the more he wants. I will not be surprised that the oppression will reach even those who are cheering him, then others and others and so on. God knows,” Khashoggi wrote.

Omar Abdulaziz believes Saudi authorities intercepted private messages between him and Jamal Khashoggi. (Photo Credit: CNN)

The messages shared by Abdulaziz with CNN include voice recordings, photos, and videos. The conversation reveals the two were planning an online youth movement.

Abdulaziz believes the messages between him and Khashoggi were intercepted by Saudi authorities in August, two months before the journalist was killed by Saudi nationals inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.

Abdulaziz said he plans to join a lawsuit against an Israeli company that reportedly invented the software to hack his phone.

He made strong claims saying that the phone’s hacking “played a major role in what happened to Jamal”.

“The guilt is killing me,” he said.

Qatar exits OPEC, to focus on clean energy

Jennifer UGWA
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Qatar exits OPEC, to focus on clean energy

QATAR  intends to withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to focus on its natural-gas development, its energy minister said Monday.

The decision comes as the organization is set to meet Thursday to decide on output, as it struggles with major challenges such as U.S. pressure from U.S. President Trump and tensions between members.

Saad Al-Kaabi, Qatar energy minister said the country would withdraw from the organization by January 2019 at a press conference Monday, state-run company Qatar Petroleum said on its Twitter account.

An official at OPEC’s secretary in Vienna confirmed it was aware of the decision.

The decision “reflects Qatar’s desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production from 77 million tons per year to 110 million tons in the coming years,” he was quoted as saying.

The withdrawal comes as Doha has faced an economic blockade from OPEC’s kingpin and neighbour Saudi Arabia over allegations it finances terrorism—which it has denied.

Qatar is one of OPEC’s smallest producers, with an output of about 800,000 barrels a day, making its impact on the group’s market share limited. But while members such as Indonesia have left in the past, the Emirate is one of the group’s oldest participants, having joined OPEC in 1961, and one year after its creation.

But Qatar’s pull-out after 57 years also comes as the organization is facing significant headwinds. President Trump has criticized the group for increasing prices and threatened to support antitrust legislation against the OPEC.

‘This is real me,’ Buhari tells Nigerians

Ajibola AMZAT
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‘This is real me,’ Buhari tells Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari has debunked the news gaining currency in the social media that he is being cloned, describing it as “ignorant rumour”.

The president went further to assure Nigerians that his personage is not being usurped by another person.

He made this disclosure today in Krakow, Poland where he is currently attending Climate Change conference. Tweets of the president’s speech were posted on his Twitter handle.

“One of the questions that came up today in my meeting with Nigerians in Poland was on the issue of whether I‘ve been cloned or not.

“The ignorant rumours are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead. I can assure you all that this is the real me,” he tweeted.

The President said he is going strong despite the rumour of death, and told the audience of his 76th birthday that would be celebrated later this month.

A number of high-profile public figures in Nigeria, including a former government minister, have claimed President Muhammadu Buhari is dead and is being imitated by a man called “Jubril” “from Sudan”.

This claim has gone viral on the social media, and several news websites have also reported it.

CrosscheckNigeria, a collaboration of newsrooms in Nigeria, which includes The ICIR, reported on Friday that there is no evidence to support the claim that Buhari was cloned or has a body double.

 

FG applies no-work, no-payment rule to ASUU over strike

YEKEEN Akinwale
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FG applies no-work, no-payment rule to ASUU over strike

THE Federal Government has directed Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities in the country to ensure that members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who are currently on strike are not paid their salaries.

The directive was contained in a letter issued by the National Universities Commission (NUC) sighted by the ICIR at the weekend.

According to the letter dated November 29, 2018, signed by Ramon Yusuf, the NUC Director of Research, Innovation and Information Technology and addressed to Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities and Directors of Inter University Centre, the universities are to pay the salaries and allowances of only non-teaching staff.

The Federal Government in the document warned that it would amount to a violation of the extant law to pay the salaries of lecturers on strike from any source.

ASUU began this current round of strike action on November 5. The lecturers said they will not return to the classrooms except the government implemented the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the union in 2017.

President of the union, Biodun Ogunyemi recently called on the general public, especially students of the various universities in the country to show understanding with the lecturers who are currently on strike because the struggle is for their (the student’s) good.

He expressed fear that the strike may not be called off any sooner as there has not been any concrete headway in the negotiation between ASUU and the federal government.

He called on the students and their parents to show understanding with the lecturers in the struggle.

“The whole essence of this struggle is to ensure that our students get worthy and deserving certificates that they will be proud of anywhere they may find themselves in the world,” Ogunyemi has said.

 

We will take legal action over false reports of recent Boko Haram attacks, Nigerian Army warns

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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We will take legal action over false reports of recent Boko Haram attacks, Nigerian Army warns

THE Nigerian Army says it will take legal action against media organizations and individuals that spread fake news about the recent Boko Haram attacks on some of its locations in the North East. 

The new Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Kukasheka Usman, made this known in a statement on Friday, adding that the “deliberate and concerted efforts to mislead the public by some people through misinformation” has become a matter of great concern for the leadership of the Nigerian military.

Usman, who had been removed as the Army spokesman earlier this year and replaced by Texas Chukwu, was reinstated to the position last week.

“Most of these inaccurate, false reports and fake news were aimed at denigrating the leadership of the Nigerian Army,” Usman stated.

“This is a deliberate attempt to demoralise the Nigerian Army which would have devastating consequences on troops’ will to discharge their constitutional duties especially in the fight against terrorism and insurgency, thus affecting national security.

“We have, however, identified the few unpatriotic harbingers of the fake news on the attack at Metele and would take appropriate legal actions against them.

“This is to ensure that the Nigerian Army is insulated from propaganda and ulterior motives of destabilising the country. The Nigerian Army is quite aware that the perpetrators through these acts are covertly supporting terrorists and their activities in Nigeria with a long-term objective.

“We are also aware that they want to use insecurity to scuttle and subvert the democratic process in the country.”

Usman warned journalists and media platforms to be professional and accurate in their reportage, and also warned persons he described as “mischief makers” to keep the Army out of their politics and mischief.

“The achievements of the Nigerian Army within the last three years are glaringly obvious, therefore, whatever recent temporary setbacks we experienced in the course of the fight against terrorism and insurgency should not be the yardstick for condemning these laudable three and half years’ accomplishments,” he said.

“We, therefore, need the continued support, encouragement, and understanding of well-meaning Nigerians as we deal decisively with the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists hibernating at the fringes of our borders with contiguous countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.”

Usman reiterated the Army’s commitment to the defence of the territorial integrity of the country. He assured that the army would continue to be professional in its assigned roles and remain apolitical at all times.

Militia camp at NYSC camp

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has ordered for a thorough investigation of the discovery of militia camp at NYSC Orientation Camp, Nonwa Gbam, Tai Local Government Area (LGA), Rivers State.

The 6 Division Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt toldthe News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday it has discovered an illegal militia training camp inside a Rivers community.

The army authorities in a statement on Friday said it had arrested ten of the operators of the illegal militia camp comprising the camp Commandant and nine officials, and had handed over to the Rivers State Police Command.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to reiterate that it would continue to remain professional and apolitical in the discharge of its Constitutional duties. We reaffirm our determination to be responsive to the defence and safeguard of democratic institutions in this country and remain non-partisan in all our undertakings,” the statement read. 

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