Daily Archives: May 23, 2014
NIGERIA: FG Grants Nat’l Conference Four-week Extension
NIGERIA: Lagos Holds Special Tribute for Otedola
Soyinka Says He Has Never Referred To Patience Jonathan As “Illiterateâ€
He has also never linked President Goodluck Jonathan's governance with his wife's educational attributes or lack thereof, he said in a clarification sent to SaharaReporters and other online media on Wednesday concerning what he called the “disgusting career” of a fabrication on the subject.
He also said he intended to take whatever legal steps are available once the source of the objectionable material has been traced.
“It commenced over a year ago, I seem to recollect, as a telephone text, 'tweet' or whatever it is called, died away after strong rebuttals, and is now being provided renewed life by some faceless cowards with their own private agenda,” Professor Soyinka said in a statement. “Let me state quite clearly that literacy is no indicator of intelligence, even though we all believe (I hope) in universal literacy. From childhood I have interacted with so-called "illiterate" men and women, sipped from their innate intelligence, and learnt much from them outside formal schooling.”
The literary icon said he was therefore repudiating the statement that could only have stemmed from “an ignorant clod” he dismissed as being additionally devoid of the moral courage of his or her own untenable convictions.
“Your readers may wish to know that when I first encountered the statement, I was sufficiently appalled to send a personal message to Patience Jonathan dissociating myself from such a base sentiment. The associated commentary on the president's decisions – I have no idea which decision, if any – is equally outrageous and disgusting. To attribute to me the slightest interest in the choice of a spouse by man or woman is a complete travesty of my near obsessive belief in the sanctity of private relationships.”
According to Professor Soyinka, a similar shameless telephone posting was inaugurated some weeks ago, with his name attached to it, urging the public to rise and do something or the other.
“Let me take this opportunity to announce yet again that I do not tweet, blog or whatever goes on in this increasingly promiscuous medium,” he stressed. “I do not run a Facebook, even though I am aware that one or two serious-minded individuals/groups have instituted some such forum on their own, for the purpose of disseminating factual information on my activities. I neither contribute to, nor comment on the contents of their "calendar".
Speaking generally, he expressed concern that Internet abuse is getting to be a universal plague, one that goes beyond personal embarrassment and umbrage, and called for collective, professional action to protect the integrity of the medium, and save it from becoming “a mere vomitorium” for unprincipled scallywags who may or may not have a particular axe to grind.
“Such a trend is fraught with outright danger, and should not be underestimated,” he warned.
NIGERIA: Women’s Group Condemns Abduction of Schoolgirls
Soyinka: I Never Said Patience Jonathan Is An Illiterate
In the wake of Mrs Patience Jonathan’s vilification in the media, on account of her insensitive response to the abduction of the Chibok school girls, Soyinka’s alleged abuse has resurfaced.
From his base in California, Professor Soyinka has sent yet another rebuttal. In it, he appeals to all well-meaning online editors for their intervention in terminating what he describes as “the disgusting career of the fabrication”.
In a disclaimer titled “To All On-Line Media” signed by Prof. Soyinka he wrote:
“I appeal for your intervention in terminating the disgusting career of the fabrication contained in the above on-line posting. It commenced over a year ago, I seem to recollect, as a telephone text, ‘tweet’ or whatever it is called, died away after strong rebuttals, and is now being provided renewed life by some faceless cowards with their own private agenda. Let me state quite clearly that literacy is no indicator of intelligence, even though we all believe (I hope) in universal literacy. From childhood I have interacted with so-called “illiterate” men and women, sipped from their innate intelligence, and learnt much from them outside formal schooling.
He noted that: “While I have on occasion found myself compelled to publicly chastise Mrs. Jonathan over unacceptable conduct, I have NEVER referred to her as “illiterate” nor linked President Jonathan’s governance with his wife’s educational attributes or lack thereof.
“I therefore repudiate this statement that could only have stemmed from some ignorant clod, who is additionally devoid of the moral courage of his or her own untenable convictions. Your readers may wish to know that when I first encountered the statement, I was sufficiently appalled to send a personal message to Patience Jonathan dissociating myself from such a base sentiment.
“The associated commentary on the president’s decisions – I have no idea which decision, if any – is equally outrageous and disgusting. To attribute to me the slightest interest in the choice of a spouse by man or woman is a complete travesty of my near obsessive belief in the sanctity of private relationships. I intend to take whatever legal steps are available once we have succeeded in tracing the source of this execrable material.
“A similar shameless telephone posting was inaugurated some weeks ago, with my name attached to it, urging the public to rise and do something or the other. Let me take this opportunity to announce yet again that I do not tweet, blog or whatever goes on in this increasingly promiscuous medium.
“I do not run a Facebook, even though I am aware that one or two serious-minded individuals/groups have instituted some such forum on their own, for the purpose of disseminating factual information on my activities. I neither contribute to, nor comment on the contents of their “calendar”.
“I shall appreciate your immediate help in this matter. To speak generally, Internet abuse is getting to be a universal plague, one that goes beyond personal embarrassment and umbrage.
“I strongly recommend collective, professional action to protect the integrity of the medium, and save it from becoming a mere vomitorium for unprincipled scallywags with, or even with no particular axe to grind. Such a trend is fraught with outright danger, and should not be underestimated.
Second Mutiny In Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri As Soldiers Manhandle New Commander
Several sources in the barracks told SaharaReporters that the soldiers’ second act of mutiny in two weeks began around 3:00 p.m. (Nigerian time). The angry soldiers blew a whistle, and most of the rank and file gathered at a spot before they marched en masse to the 7th Division headquarters building where the GOC’s office is located.
The sources said the sources shot in the air as they marched and chanted “We no gree oh, we no gree!” Our sources said the protesting soldiers were upset about the army’s failure to pay their outstanding allowances. They were also annoyed by the decision of the newly posted GOC to ban motorcycles as a form of transport within the barracks. The new GOC reportedly banned motorbikes known as Okada and tricycles known as “Keke NAPEP” from operating within the vast barracks. The soldiers wondered why the new commander would prohibit the use of the only affordable means of transport they have when he knows full well that the base covers a huge area and that few soldiers own cars or bike.
“If no okada [motorcycles] are allowed, then our small children have to walk to school and our wives will walk to market,” one of the soldiers told SaharaReporters. “Are we not suffering too much already?” he added.
Once they arrived at the GOC’s office, the protesting soldiers decided to give him a dose of the experience of navigating within the barracks without motorcycles. They ordered Major General XYZ to come outside the building, pushing and shoving him. Then they forced him to trek all through the barracks.
The angry soldiers also demanded the payment of their N100, 000 furniture allowance which, according to them, was long overdue.
Last week, frustrated soldiers at the same barracks demonstrated and shot at the car of their erstwhile GOC, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed. The soldiers felt that General Mohammed’s operational orders were responsible for the death of close to 100 soldiers who were returning from an operation in Chibok, the town where members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, kidnapped 276 high schoolgirls near midnight on April 14. The abduction of the girls, who remain missing, has sparked outrage in Nigeria and around the world.
Military authorities in Abuja decided to remove Major General Mohammed a day after the first mutiny.
One of the soldiers who spoke to SaharaReporters stated that he and his colleagues want military authorities to be more focused in their approach to the war against Boko Haram. “We can finish them [Boko Haram] without difficulty, but the commanders don’t give us enough weapons for operations. And they send only a few of us to fight hundreds of Boko Haram fighters,” he said.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, has been the flashpoint of numerous bloody attacks by Boko Haram.
FRSC Suspends Enforcement of New Number Plate, Licence
Russia, China sign deal to bypass U.S. dollar
The so-called Agreement on Cooperation — signed in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on a visit to Shanghai — was followed by the long-awaited announcement on Wednesday of a massive natural gas deal 10 years in the making.
“Our countries have done a huge job to reach a new historic landmark,” Putin said on Tuesday, making note of the $100 billion in annual trade that has been achieved between the two countries.
Demand for the dollar, which has long served as a safe and reliable reserve currency in international transactions, has allowed the U.S. to borrow almost unlimited cash and spend well beyond its means, which some economists say has afforded the United States an outsize influence on world affairs.
But the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a bloc of the world’s five major emerging economies — have long sought to diminish their dependence on the dollar as a means of reshaping the world financial and geopolitical order. In the absence of a viable alternative, however, replacing it has proved difficult.
For its part, “China sees the dominance of the dollar in international trade transactions as a remnant of American global dominance, which they hope to overthrow in the years ahead,” said Michael Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. “This is a small step in that direction, to reduce the primacy of the dollar in international trade.”
Some have been tempted to view Tuesday's deal in the context of Putin's showdown with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. After the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, Putin may have finally made good on promised retaliation against what he views as Western hegemony in Russia's near abroad.
“Breaking the dominance of the U.S. dollar in international trade between the BRICS is something that the group has been talking about for some time,” said Chris Weafer, a founding partner of Macro-Advisory, a consultancy in Moscow. “The Ukraine crisis and the threats voiced by the U.S. administration may well provide the catalyst for that to start happening.”
To be sure, the Russia-China bank deal is mostly a symbolic step. Liza Ermolenko, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London, said that the deal was still “a very small one, in the grand scale of things,” and that it wouldn’t change Russia’s reliance on the dollar “overnight.” Most of Russia’s export contracts in the oil and gas markets are still priced in dollars, she noted, and on a wider scale, replacing the dollar with the ruble is much too risky to even consider.
Likewise, even though China has agreed to the gas deal, which could see over $450 billion of Russian natural gas flow from eastern Siberia into China over the next 30 years, Russia is not in a position to abandon its ties with Europe.
"From the commercial standpoint, Europe is the most profitable market for Gazprom,” said Mikhail Korchemkin, the founder of Eastern European Gas Analysis, who has consulted for Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas company. "Exports to China can generate a small profit, [but] only if the government makes it free of taxes and duties.”
But the bank deal is another indicator that Russia and China are in the middle of a wider rapprochement, which analysts say is premised not on ideological alignment but on a mutual desire to undercut the U.S. in their respective spheres of influence.
Both countries are wary of President Barack Obama’s “pivot east,” a recalibration of U.S. foreign policy away from decades of war in the Middle East and toward the fast-growing economies of the East. Cynical observers have interpreted the shift as an effort to contain China.
"This is a marriage of mutual strategic interests, not a marriage of love," said Klare. “China wants energy and weapons from Russia, and Russia wants diplomatic backing and cash. It’s a quid pro quo.”
Yet even if China feels threatened by U.S. encroachment, it is Russia that is desperately pursuing closer ties with China.
Putin may have gotten the better of the Western powers in the showdown over Crimea, but at the cost of growing geopolitical isolation. Under intense pressure to demonstrate Russia's avowed independence from the West, he has repeatedly threatened that he could simply shut off its natural gas pipelines to Europe and find new markets for Russian energy exports.
Separate from that political posturing, the Russian imperative to find new markets for its energy exports is nonetheless very real. Energy demands in Europe have plateaued and may even decline in the long term because of stringent environmental regulations.
“If Russia wants to continue to be a petrostate, it has to shift marketing of its exports to Asia," said Klare, who noted that Western energy conglomerates like ExxonMobil have begun doing the same.
“We don’t want to push this too far and see it as a formation of a new, global anti-American bloc that is starting a new Cold War,” he added. "This is market-driven more than it’s political."