OUR STAND ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF DILMA ROUSSEFF- GOVT OF ECUADOR
The Government of Ecuador condemns the political events that have occurred in the Federative Republic of Brazil, which in recent hours have resulted in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
We discourage the blatant subversion of democratic order in Brazil, that we consider an overlapping coup d’état. Political opponents and other opposition forces conspired against the democracy to destabilize the government and remove President Dilma Rousseff from office illegitimately.
The spurious procedure of dismissal carried out by the legislative body, which culminated in the decision of her removal, failed to meet the fundamental requirement of proving that the President has committed crimes accused of.
We cannot ignore the fact that a significant number of decision makers in the process of political trial against the President are under investigation for acts of corruption.
In the face of this painful event, the Government of Ecuador has decided to recall for consultations to its charge d'affaires to the Federative Republic of Brazil.
This unfortunate event is unacceptable in the XXI (21) century, and poses a serious threat to the stability of our region and constitute a grave setback in the consolidation of the democracy that so much effort and sacrifice has meant to our people.
Journalist wishing to interview the Ambassador should contact Ms. Khoze Clement- Personal Assistant to the Ambassador on Media via Email: fliponclems@gmail.com. Tel: 09054545425/08036467657. Facebook: Ecuatorianos en África Embajada en Nigeria
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Dr. Peterside the current DG of NIMASA has condemned in strongest term the barbaric, nasty and heinous assassination of Barrister Ken Atsuwete in Port Harcourt, Rivers State today. The DG of NIMASA who condemned the killing in a statement today said, "this is perhaps the deadliest of several politically-motivated killings perpetrated in Rivers state in recent times."
The Statement reads: "Ken Atsuwete was a prominent human rights activist, political commentator, fiery critic of bad governance, citizen activist and most recently lawyer to Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, the APC leader held for trumped-up charges.
"Without any doubt, the killers of Ken Atsuwete were driven by the insidious objective of instilling fear in the rank of the opposition, silence every voice of reason and stifle opposition in Rivers State. The killing of Ken Atsuwete is perhaps the height of impunity which is now an everyday way of life in my home state of Rivers.
"I call on the Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of State Security Service and other national security authorities to carry out extensive investigation of this awful incident, bring the perpetrators to book and restore sanity to our dear State.
"The current government in Rivers State owes us a responsibility to protect lives and property no matter the political persuasion of who is involved.
"Indeed, I mourn with the immediate family of Ken Atsuwete, his associates and APC political family on this needless loss of the Voice of Reason."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Being a Textof Press Conference By The R/S Chapter Of All Progressives Congress [APC] On The Assassination Of Barr. Ken Atswete Held on Tuesday, 30th August, 2016 at the State Secretariat, 43 Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port Harcourt
Gentlemen of the press,
Monday morning (yesterday) the Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) received with shock news of the dastardly assassination of popular human rights lawyer and activist, Barr. Ken Atswete at his residence in Port Harcourt.
Further interaction with the staff of the murdered lawyer revealed that it was clearly a case of premeditated murder considering the dimensions of what happened.
We recall that the APC has relentlessly stated that the methods that led to the killing its way to power in Rivers State, the present state government led by Gov. Nyesom Wike cannot stop the violence, killings and maiming that have become part of the everyday chequered lives of the people and residents of Rivers State. In return, we have been called names and conveniently labelled doomsday prophets and naysayers. Today, such deceitful labelling by the PDP and Rivers State government officials has, once again, been proved wrong and we have been proved right.
The APC wishes to be on record that the Rivers State Government and their agents must be held responsible for the killing of Barr. Ken Atswete and the reasons for our charge are obvious and lucid.
Late Ken Atswete was one of the leading counsels to APC chieftain, Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree who is presently incarcerated on trumped-up charges surreptitiously inspired and driven by the Rivers State Government led by Gov. Nyesom Wike. Officials of the state government have variously vowed to teach the APC and its leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi a lesson by jailing one of its most active leaders, Hon. Flag-Amachree. However, Ken Atswete, as counsel to Flag-Amachree, had thrown in everything into the defence of his client to the chagrin of officials of the state government who are the traducers of Ojukaye Flag-Amachree.
Again, late Ken Atswete had not relented in standing with citizens and public servants against the wrongful use of state power. The many cases he has instituted in this regard attest to that fact.
Most importantly, we know that last week, late Barr. Ken Atswete threatened while on a radio programme that he would [this week] expose how the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Rivers State, Samuel Nwanosike, obtained a forged court order restraining INEC from releasing Tai rerun election results – a court order the PDP has been parading. Late Ken promised to present proof that such a court order did not exist and that the judge that purportedly gave that order was not a vacation judge as she had been on vacation in the US.
Unfortunately, they ensured he never saw this week and therefore cannot now expose those characters. They may have stopped Ken in his track but they cannot stop God from exposing them.
The APC also recalls that late Ken Atswete complained severally to close associates that he was being sent threat text messages, phone calls and sometimes physically attacked by those he suspected were agents of the state government for speaking out on topical issues that made the government and its officials ostensibly uncomfortable.
The APC is further shocked that reports reaching us indicate that officials of the Rivers State Government have since yesterday inundated editors of national and local media houses to subdue the story of the dastardly killing of Barr. Ken Atswete. We remind you gentlemen of the press to ignore such pressures and courageously publish the truth for the benefit of the people and the good of our society.
The APC hails the Rivers State Police Command for saying that they have promptly commenced investigation. We want to believe that the Police will rise to the occasion this time around by swiftly unravelling the circumstances of the gruesome killing of Ken Atswete and quickly bring the culprits and their sponsors to justice.
We call on the Nigerian Bar Association [NBA] to rise up to the challenge of prevailing on the relevant authorities to unravel this heinous crime. If a lawyer handling cases for the opposition in Rivers State could be this cheaply assassinated, who knows who will be the next victim.
The APC also calls on the Rivers State Police Commissioner, the State Director of Department of State Services [DSS], the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General, DSS and all security apparati in the land to quickly solve the riddle surrounding the murder of Ken Atswete and ensure the eventual prosecution of all those who may directly and indirectly be involved in planning and execution of this heinous act.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
About a week ago when I petitioned the National Security Adviser on behalf of our client citing Cyberstalking as a crime contained in our extant laws, the security agents were brought alive by this revelation. Some arrests not even connected to the said petition were made. Since then some persons have gone to town with the yarn that arresting persons for Cyberstalking is a systematic infringement on the Right to Freedom of Expression.
Well, they are those whose stock in trade is to put a political colouration to everything; I am not that skilled. But as one of the first legal practitioners, if not the very first, who petitioned the National Security Adviser on the offence of the Cyberstalking and pointing public consciousness to this crime, I think I owe the public some sort of adumbration on this issue.
Here it is.
I have always maintained that the problem we have in Nigeria is not a dearth or lack of laws and policies. No. We have very good laws. But we lack a system that is capable of executing or enforcing these laws. A couple of months ago there was hoopla about a proposed social media bill. Apart from some ungodly aspects of that bill we didn’t even need it, not because there were no offences in our cyberspace to curtail but because we already had a law to deal with cyber offences; the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015.
“The Act provides an effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria. This act also ensures the protection of critical national information infrastructure, and promotes cybersecurity and the protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights.” The intendment of this piece is not to do a general analysis of this Act; that is already the business of a book I am working on. Now, let’s get to the section that provides for the crime of Cyberstalking.
Section 24 of THE CYBERCRIMES (PROHIBITION, PREVENTION, ETC) ACT, 2015 defines, describes and penalizes a crime known as Cyberstalking. This is what the said section 24 says: “Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that –‐ … (b) he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent: commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7, 000, 000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) Any person who knowingly or intentionally transmits or causes the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network — … (c) containing any threat to harm the property or REPUTATION OF THE ADDRESSEE or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse… commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction– … (ii) in the case of paragraph (c) … of this subsection, to imprisonment for a term of 5 years and/or a minimum fine of N15, 000,000.00 “.
Reading the provisions of section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act, one will wonder how enforcing this law infringes the Fundamental Human Right of Freedom of Expression encapsulated in section 39 of the 1999 Constitution as amended that says: “(1) Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”
Freedom of Expression or Speech is not the same thing as “… knowingly or intentionally send(ing) a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that –‐ … (b) … (is) false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another … (2) … knowingly or intentionally transmit(ing) or caus(ing) the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network — … (c) containing any threat to harm the property or REPUTATION OF THE ADDRESSEE or of another or the reputation of a deceased person …”
You can criticize. You can rant. You can hold an opinion. You can blog. You can receive and publish intel from a source without revealing your source. You can damage anybody’s reputation with THE TRUTH. I repeat with the truth. But not with lies.
But when you “… knowingly or intentionally send (publish, blog, share, update, hashtag, twit, vblog, etc) a message (article, write up, audio, video, etc) or other matter by means of computer systems or network that –‐ … (b) (YOU) know to be (FALSE), for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent; (THEN YOU) commit an offence(CYBERSTALKING) under this Act (CYBERCRIMES ACT) and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7, 000, 000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) (IF YOU) knowingly or intentionally transmit or cause the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network — … (c) containing any threat to harm the property or REPUTATION OF THE ADDRESSEE or of another … commits an offence(CYBERRSTALKING) under this Act(CYBERCRIMES ACT) and shall be liable on conviction– … (ii) in the case of paragraph (c) … of this subsection, to imprisonment for a term of 5 years and/or a minimum fine of N15, 000,000.00 “.
It is this simple. The offence of Cyberstalking is not an infringement of the Right to Freedom of Expression or Speech unless you are saying that to propagate falsehood or tell fabricated lies on social media is what you understand as Freedom of Expression. Even if that is your understanding, that is not the understanding of the law.
Finally, let me clear two points. One. Be careful of what you share on social media or your blog. You can be arrested and prosecuted for Cyberstalking for just sharing even if you are not the one that wrote the original post or article. By sharing you are liable for the same offence as the original author.
Two. Recently a blogger was arrested for Cyberstalking by the EFCC and some people were asking whether the EFCC has the powers to arrest for this offence. Though I don’t know the details of the activities he engaged in that warranted his arrest for Cyberstalking but the answer is yes, the EFCC has the powers to arrest under the Cybercrimes Act generally and for Cyberstalking.
Over 70% of cybercrimes are financial in nature. A casual scan of the Act will show that most of the offences provided for are financial in nature. Section 42 of the Act and the First Schedule established the Cybercrimes Advisory Council and listed EFCC as member respectively.
It is possible that someone could “… knowingly or intentionally send (publish, blog, share, update, hashtag, twit, vblog, etc) a message (article, write up, audio, video, etc) or other matter [OF A FINANCIAL NATURE] by means of computer systems or network that –‐ … (b) he knows to be (FALSE), for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another…” Thereby empowering the EFCC to arrest and prosecute under the EFCC Act and the Cybercrimes Act.
Freedom of Speech is sacrosanct, no one should stand by and watch it infringed. But Freedom of Speech is not the same thing as freedom to fabricate lies and disseminate falsehood. Those who fight to uphold the Right to Freedom of Speech should also be seen fighting to defeat those who fabricate lies and propagate falsehood. We cannot enjoy Freedom of Speech when falsehood is allowed to reign supreme.
First Baba Isa (FBI) is a Legal Practitioner and writes from Abuja. @firstbabaisa 07037162029
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Just a few days after the just concluded Rio Olympics, Mariam Usman, a Commonwealth medallist, said she has lost the urge to represent Nigeria at international events. She was the only weightlifter that represented Nigeria in Rio, where she competed in the +75 category and amassed 265 kg. She finished 8th in her group. Her words: “It is painful to come to the Olympics and see people who are your contemporaries perform better than you; not because you lack the ability but because you were not prepared like them….I can only consider going to another Olympics if things change for the better. But if the status quo is maintained, I don’t think I will go to another Olympics again. Olympic gold medal (or any medal for that matter – my own input) doesn’t come cheap. It is painful that one has to suffer and when competition comes they expect you to win a medal with your blood. The people you have to compete with had everything they needed: training grants, competitions and are exposed to the most modern equipment. I had nothing. You don’t expect such people who have invested so much to lose to one who don’t even train adequately.”
Only four years ago, in Nigeria, the top leaders of sports were at a Presidential Retreat to discuss London 2012 debacle and to lay a solid ground work for Rio 2016. Sometime in 2013 the media showed the top echelon of sports administration hunkering up to create a high performance programme for Nigerian sports and therefore deliver medals for Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but because of politics and power play at the upper echelons of government as well as reported strong resistance by the top civil servants to this Bolaji Abdullahi-led initiative, all these efforts, as we have now seen happen, turned out to be in vain. It's time to start planning for Tokyo, and hopefully there will be some sense this time.
However, for those urging and hoping that Nigeria would start preparing for Tokyo 2020 Olympics immediately, we may already be too late. Nigerian officials, whether sports or in other areas of our governance, are not built for preparedness – readiness is an alien activity to them. If they are ready, there will not be money to mismanage or divert, and nepotism to be effected. The British Olympic Association (BOA) has already visited and inspected prospective preparation camps in Tokyo three times in the past one year and will be finalizing arrangements in October this year. Also the developmental cycle for BOA is eight years, meaning that they will this year identify and begin to groom athletes that will represent Great Britain in the 2024 Olympics. In other words, for Tokyo 2020, the BOA started 4 years ago!!! That is what is called PREPARATION TO SUCCEED.
BOA invested for twenty years to achieve their leadership position at number two at Rio 2016. Nigeria has not started at any rudimentary level yet, so four years is nowhere near enough in a system so suffused with corruption and measured maladministration; that puts square pegs in round holes; and that places mediocrity over merit every time and that is always engaging in “fire-brigade” and “last minute panic” approaches to everything it does, even in governance. The rest of the world invests, commits and continues to move on in a 21st century which has no place for the 19th century. This has been said over and over again and we keep saying it. The problem is that the people who are "at the top" either don't understand or are deliberately unwilling to actually turn sports around in this country, or both and more. Unfortunately for us, these people, these top dogs civil servants are virtually untouchable. They are the Alpha and Omega of sports in Nigeria; they call the shots; and even the politicians placed above them to “minister” over them, are scared stiff of them.
It is unlike us to ever start in time. We always like crisis management in a world that's daily perfecting scientific long-term management by the day. Our result at the Olympics was so woeful but that is not unexpected with zero planning and the reported vanishing of appropriated funds over the years. That will not be unlike us. It's garbage in garbage out. It is difficult, if not outright impossible, to get the right answer from the wrong input. The name of the game is a well-considered enduring plan and honest finishing. This is the only thing that will attract sponsorship by corporate organizations. As things stand, there is nothing to show that we have begun to come to terms with the problems talk less the solutions. Unless and until we do, the Jamaicas of this world will excel while we will still come back, year in, year out to make up the numbers and then bemoan our problems and failures.
But look ahead we must! We must look at what Britain did after Atlanta ‘96. We cannot politicise sports and expect professional results. Neither can we have complete mediocre and charlatans running our sports and expect to do well at international sports events. Mediocrity and charlatanism will always breed corruption, which ends up affecting preparations for major sports events.
UK Sports has done very well since the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA. I can't describe what they have done here. Funded mostly by the National Lottery, funding of its athletes has increased almost 400%, talent hunting and catch them young, local or grassroots sports was funded and encouraged, more facilities provided, etc. That is a country that went for it. They have never had it so good since they realized from what they achieved in Beijing 2008, what was missing in their sports and decided to correct them. For the second position that Team GB took at the Rio Olympics, they worked for every medal, they paid for every medal; according to Team GB and UK Sports, every medal they won was worth four (4) million pounds sterling; being the amount they invested in the athletes that represented Britain at the games.
I don't see Nigeria doing that. Nepotism, favouritism, corruption, hypocrisy, square pegs in round holes and cultural inhibitions will not let us do it, despite the fact that we used to do it before, an example being you yourself as a product of when we were serious and focused.
So why did Nigeria fail, or rather, why didn’t Nigeria win more than just the one bronze medal in the soccer event? Unfortunately, it had precious little to do with the Sports Minister Dalung! He is just the man who inherited a sabotaged and already sunk boat as I discovered…we have deeper problems than the beret wearing activist! In fact, recent revelations revealed that the Minister did his best to alleviate the problems faced by the athletes, but at every turn, he was sabotaged by both the Sports Ministry officials and the Nigeria Football Federation, including the coach of the bronze-winning football team himself (I refer to the Atlanta hotel accommodation fiasco and the airplane debacle).
“Research shows that investment into sport in developing countries is much less than in developed countries, as sport development is usually not a top priority in the national budget or in the education system of most developing countries. Studies show that a ‘vicious cycle’ is emerging as a result of the underdevelopment of sport in developing countries, in which lower investment in sport decreases the potential for athletes to build their talent. It also means that there are fewer prospects for athletes to continue their sport training or pursue professional sport careers in a developing country. In turn, the lack of talent-building opportunities in a developing country leads to less return on the little investment put into local talent, further debilitating local sport development structures and sport career pathways. Less developed countries are unable to utilise the talent of their strong performers and/or tend to lose them to more powerful nations in global sport. Sport regulated by global processes can thus contribute to the underdevelopment of a developing country’s talent”.Underdevelopment of sport in developing countries – http://www.sportanddev.org/en/learnmore/sport_and_economic_development/underdevelopment_of_sport_in_developing_countries/
To his credit, ex-President Jonathan funded a high performance structure that was established in 2013. The chaps at the corruption-ridden, indolent and mediocre-packed National Sports Commission ensured its death. They worked against it until it ultimately failed. They drove the then Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi out. They strangulated the programmes of the various identified sports federations; the usage of the billions earmarked for the project cannot be explained; they didn't pay the foreign experts on time and hardly followed their advice. They didn't build and utilise the high performance centre projected as at when due. They refused to fund the preparatory programmes of the sports federations even after asking them to submit their 2016 Rio Olympic roadmaps. Many sports presidents are said to still be owed monies for international programmes they had to raise money to attend dating back many years. To top it all, the defunct NSC and now Ministry of Sports routinely hijacks the role and powers of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC in preparing and disbursing funds for the major events. They did not do this for altruistic reasons or to save funds for other projects, but mainly and solely to divert the money into other purposes. Where are the billions said to have been set aside for Rio since 2013?
Frustrated, in November 2015, the hired American High Performance Director, Angie Taylor predicted that Team Nigeria could record a disastrous outing at the 2016 Olympics Games scheduled for Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, maintaining that no proactive step was being taken by NSC leadership to avert a fresh no-medal show during the 2016’s most glamorous sporting showpiece, adding “You go and ask the leadership how prepared they are because with what I can see, there is no preparation in place. Nigeria will have to qualify first before talking about going to the Olympics. You have to ask them why they couldn’t make the athletes go for qualifiers which they ought to go since early this year.”
The NSC it seemed was made up of powerful and untouchable Civil Servants who are very much opposed to new ideas, and do not tolerate reformists. They don't like anyone getting in the way of their business as usual pipelines. Even at the Presidency it was rumoured that Minister Dalung's request for funding for Rio 2016 was "delayed" for several weeks until he could see President Buhari in person. What this indicates is that those who corruptly benefit immensely from the previous government’s style of “see me first" are still at the upper echelon of civil service.
Various committees that were established to prepare for the Olympics were all scrapped one after the other by succeeding henchmen at the defunct NSC who the media says would have produced the goods, and the new Ministry of Sports continued in like manner.
In most of the countries that excel in sports, especially football, it is business. In countries where there are restrictions or the sports are in rudimentary stages, individuals of those countries look abroad and invest in other countries' sports. Examples are Chinese, Russians, Middle East sheiks who have invested heavily in the English Premier League. However, the problem in Nigeria is the centralization of everything. Sports should be taken out of the hands of government somehow (I will admit there is a lot of business risks involved here), but with government creating an enabling environment, erecting and providing infrastructures and providing incentives to private investors.
The truth is: it is Government's responsibility to show the way. Three sports ministers in three years and a lack of financial independence of sports federations are hardly confidence-giving. When, as occasional as it happens, they get private or corporate sponsors, it is still government account that the corporate or individual sponsors will pay this money into, and the elected president is not a signatory to the money, so he chases the civil servants up and down to get access to the money; in most cases they don’t get it, or if they do, only in trickles which negates the effective use of such funds. There is therefore a system where Government doesn't fund sports yet controls the funds raised externally. However, for the big Games it is Government's first responsibility to finance the preparation and participation of athletes and teams. Britain spent £4million for every medal they won in Rio 2016! That's reality.
The role of governments in sports development in every country in the world is well documented, easily available and adaptable to our special circumstance, but the challenges the government should address are as follows:
1. How to address the recent decline in sports performance excellence in the country, and deliver a long-term sustainable increase in participation and success at international level;
2. What type(s) of sports areas should be encouraged and how should they be measured;
3. How to ensure that funding goes to those who can best deliver results, and not corruptly mismanaged;
4. How to specifically target under-represented and under-privileged groups across the country;
5. How to develop, encourage and sustain grass-root sports as well as “catch them young” programs;
6. Understanding the role of the private sector, and how public sector bodies, sports federations and other sports bodies should work with the private sector to help deliver sporting excellence or improvement;
7. How to best support new and/or non-traditional sports and activities;
8. How to maximise the potential of new technology to increase sports performance;
9. How to use the power of sport to achieve broader positive social outcomes and whether some funding should specifically be spent for that purpose.
So, can we hope we will start preparing for future international tournaments and games? We can only hope. LikeBobby Knight, coach of the U.S.A. men's basketball team that won the 1984 Olympic gold medal said “The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”
We need dedicated and totally incorruptible officials; we need knowledgeable and skilled officials; we need motivators; we need funding and very heavy investment from the federal government; we need the federal government to be very much interested in sports and the benefit and goodwill it brings to them, as a government and to the people of this country; we need to separate sports from politics, tribalism and religious intolerance; we need infrastructures to be rehabilitated or constructed; we need to start treating our athletes and other sportsmen and women right; we need to start identifying the right people to run sports in this country and not allowing opportunists and charlatans from getting into the sports federations; we need private and corporate sponsors who will be given all the incentives and conducive environment to enable them recoup their investment or at least, be appreciated nationally for doing so.
We need grassroots sports to be revived or invigorated – schools sports, national sports festivals, university and polytechnic games, corporate-sponsored sports tournaments, etc.; we need overseas scholarships for potentially successful athletes; talent hunting and management of sportsmen and women in areas of sports that we want to concentrate and excel on.
The Ijaws and Ilajes are known for their swimming prowess; why don’t we talent-hunt them, pick the best, educate and train them in the finesse and skills of international swimming? The Igbos are supposed to take wrestling as a virility test for men; can’t we exploit this talent and potential? The Hausas are known for their ability to fight with their feet, so why not pick some at a local festival; and train them in taekwondo? Edo and Delta boys are good footballers; I don’t care if the entire Nigerian teams are made up of them, as long as it is Nigeria that is written on their kit.
Nigeria used to excel or at least perform creditably in sports like table tennis, football, wrestling, boxing, weight-lifting, taekwondo, and used to occupy the top international rankings in themen’s and women’s 100, 200 and 400 meters; let us concentrate on these sports that we can excel in or has reasonable chances of winning laurels, and let’s fund and motivate them. Kenya and Ethiopia discovered a long time ago that long distance running is their forte, and they concentrated on providing the world’s best athletes in this area of athletics. This is what UK Sports and the British Olympic Committee have been doing to get them their recent success. They rated each sports area and measured their chance of success in each and funded them accordingly. For example, they went for these three events – swimming, sailing (rowing) and bicycling events – funding the athletes and facilities more heavily than some other sports, and they got many medals of various colours to show for their investment. The next sports they funded more heavily were in athletics, and only in selected events.
I might sound so optimistic or perhaps, unrealistic here – where is the money, where are the facilities, where is the commitment, where are the officials, where are the athletes, etc.? But, we have to start somewhere; something we are always saying we are going to do, but never does.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
-Give us weapons to defend ourselves against these Fulani herdsmen from northern Nigeria-
.The fact.
May be you have not heard. May be you don’t deem it as serious as it is. May be it doesn’t interest you more than stories on oil prices. Or maybe you are simply an accomplice. An accomplice of the massacre of countless Nigerians, mostly Christians, and from the middle-belt and southern regions of Nigeria, by Fulani herdsmen, the butchers from the North!
You International Media and the entire International Community, why do you close your eyes to a real case of genocide and ethnic cleansing going on in Nigeria now under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB)? What then is your role of the mouth-piece of the masses? Is it to support the maiming and killing of innocent people, the raping of women and children, and the tactical ethnic cleansing of the middle-belt and the southern parts of Nigeria, under the pretext of looking for grazing fields by the nomadic terrorists, by your silence? The worst scenario is the amount of impunity with which these crimes against humanity are being perpetrated. What is the source of such audacity? Isn’t it because President Buhari is the leader of this nomadic militia group, and through whose executive power (as Nigerian president), has added to the barbaric powers of his tribe’s men to install fear on defenceless Nigerians from other parts of the country? This is the current state of affairs in Nigeria but you all keep quiet, making yourselves both accomplices to this crime, as well as sympathisers of this terrorist militia.
You the International Community and the International Media, with all your powerful network of information-gathering, will you also claim ignorance of the recent mayhem that took place in Enugu state, precisely in the village of Nimbo, and recently on the 24th of August in the village of Attakwu, all in Enugu state? Here, a seminarian and a six-month pregnant woman were butchered at night by these blood-sucking kinsmen of President Buhari, called the Fulani herdsmen. Why? Simply because, having brought their cattle to graze in the homes and farm lands of the village, the owners of the village, precisely some women and children sounded the metal gong which caused to fleeing away of their herd. Shockingly, they Fulani herdsmen returned at night about 2am as they had promised and unleashed havoc on the helpless villagers who were asleep, during which the seminarian Lazarus Nwafor residing in one of the houses in this village for his apostolic work was gruesomely killed, alongside a pregnant woman whom they cut her intestines into pieces. So many others were critically injured as well. What a horrific image as seen circulating on the internet since then! And similar cases have been recorded in several other towns and villages in the south-east of Nigeria. It has almost become a daily phenomenon. Yet the government of Nigeria remains dead silent because it obviously aligns with the political strategy of conquering opponents by all sorts of intimidating strategies. If not, why haven’t the government security forces been able to intervene up till now to at least arrest and prosecute these vampires?
.The scenario.
The scenario represents an ugly picture, which happens to be the truth of the Nigerian state of the nation today. The truth is that the evil (of these crimes of impunity) comes from two primary sources of motivation (as described by Fani Kayode in Vanguard newspaper of 28th August 2016): “the first is the forceful and bloody quest for Fulani supremacy, ethnic hegemony and racial domination in Nigeria, at all costs. And the second is the morbid obsession by the radical Muslims of core northern Nigeria to shed innocent blood, to take life in the name of their god, to effect jihad against those that do not share their worldview, to wipe out Christianity, to enslave Nigerians and Islamise Nigeria”. That unfortunately is the hard truth which has played out very flagrantly even in the political appointments made by President Buhari since his one year in office, against Christians and especially against the people from the southern part of Nigeria.
This same plot had started with the other Islamic monstrous terrorist group also from the same northern Nigeria, called Boko-Haram, which got affiliated to ISIS. With their long-term project designed and fabricated by the northern Nigerian political elite, they succeeded in their plan to discredit the former president Goodluck Jonathan in the eyes of the International Community, simply because he hails from the South and doubles as a Christian. Having realised this first step in their heinous project, the next step is taking the Islamisation agenda even at the cost of innocent lives to the other parts of Nigeria, leading into a gradual and silent genocide and ethnic cleansing. Yet, the International Community stays silent on this grievous issue; the International Media doesn’t take any interest in revealing to the world the ongoing crime against humanity in Nigeria right now, in order to denounce this tragedy.
.An urgent plea.
As a concerned Nigerian, pained by this unfortunate state of my country, and even with my status as a catholic priest, I beg the international community to release weapons to the people of the middle-belt and southern parts of Nigeria to defend their lives and properties under urgent threat of total extermination by Fulani herdsmen. Note it clearly that it is not in the interest of President Buhari and his government to stop what is happening, let alone to protect the southerners. Since this government in place is championing this agenda of ethnic cleansing, it doesn’t make any sense for it to do anything to bring it to a halt. I strongly believe that under the UN resolution of protection of the civil population under such conditions, precisely the resolution of 1894 (2009) of the UN Security Council, such a gesture will not only be considered most appropriate, but also will be largely appreciated as a timely humanitarian act.
This is in no-way an apologetic of violence for violence, but it is simply the only language that the Fulani herdsmen terrorists of northern Nigeria can understand. Joining my voice to that of Fani Kayode, “I would urge all those that still love and support this government to take a long hard look at the pictures that are strewn all over the internet of their fellow Nigerians that have been mutilated and carved up like Christmas turkeys and sallah goats. This is the work of Buhari’s kinsmen, the Fulani militias and herdsmen. He has refused to arrest any of them let alone bring them to justice. Instead he has ruined our economy, impoverished and destroyed the lives of our people and aborted their God-given destiny, divided our nation on religious and ethnic lines, demonised us before the international community and labelled every Nigerian, apart from himself, as being incompetent and corrupt” [Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/the-butchers-from-the-north/].
With his skilful propaganda mission against corruption in Nigeria, I strongly feel President Buhari has succeeded in hypnotising you all and blindfolding the International Community against the crime of genocide that his government is quietly perpetrating in Nigeria through the connivance with his Fulani herdsmen brothers. By their strategy of silence and “allow-them-kill-them-all”, the Nigerian government under PMB is not ready to rescue the helpless southerners from being extinguished from the map of Nigeria. Therefore, please give us weapons to defend ourselves against the Fulani herdsmen-terrorists!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
May be you have not heard. May be you don’t deem it as serious as it is. May be it doesn’t interest you more than stories on oil prices. Or maybe you are simply an accomplice. An accomplice of the massacre of countless Nigerians, mostly Christians, and from the middle-belt and southern regions of Nigeria, by Fulani herdsmen, the butchers from the North!
You International Media and the entire International Community, why do you close your eyes to a real case of genocide and ethnic cleansing going on in Nigeria now under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB)? What then is your role of the mouth-piece of the masses? Is it to support the maiming and killing of innocent people, the raping of women and children, and the tactical ethnic cleansing of the middle-belt and the southern parts of Nigeria, under the pretext of looking for grazing fields by the nomadic terrorists, by your silence? The worst scenario is the amount of impunity with which these crimes against humanity are being perpetrated. What is the source of such audacity? Isn’t it because President Buhari is the leader of this nomadic militia group, and through whose executive power (as Nigerian president), has added to the barbaric powers of his tribe’s men to install fear on defenceless Nigerians from other parts of the country? This is the current state of affairs in Nigeria but you all keep quiet, making yourselves both accomplices to this crime, as well as sympathisers of this terrorist militia.
You the International Community and the International Media, with all your powerful network of information-gathering, will you also claim ignorance of the recent mayhem that took place in Enugu state, precisely in the village of Nimbo, and recently on the 24th of August in the village of Attakwu, all in Enugu state? Here, a seminarian and a six-month pregnant woman were butchered at night by these blood-sucking kinsmen of President Buhari, called the Fulani herdsmen. Why? Simply because, having brought their cattle to graze in the homes and farm lands of the village, the owners of the village, precisely some women and children sounded the metal gong which caused to fleeing away of their herd. Shockingly, they Fulani herdsmen returned at night about 2am as they had promised and unleashed havoc on the helpless villagers who were asleep, during which the seminarian Lazarus Nwafor residing in one of the houses in this village for his apostolic work was gruesomely killed, alongside a pregnant woman whom they cut her intestines into pieces. So many others were critically injured as well. What a horrific image as seen circulating on the internet since then! And similar cases have been recorded in several other towns and villages in the south-east of Nigeria. It has almost become a daily phenomenon. Yet the government of Nigeria remains dead silent because it obviously aligns with the political strategy of conquering opponents by all sorts of intimidating strategies. If not, why haven’t the government security forces been able to intervene up till now to at least arrest and prosecute these vampires?
.The scenario.
The scenario represents an ugly picture, which happens to be the truth of the Nigerian state of the nation today. The truth is that the evil (of these crimes of impunity) comes from two primary sources of motivation (as described by Fani Kayode in Vanguard newspaper of 28th August 2016): “the first is the forceful and bloody quest for Fulani supremacy, ethnic hegemony and racial domination in Nigeria, at all costs. And the second is the morbid obsession by the radical Muslims of core northern Nigeria to shed innocent blood, to take life in the name of their god, to effect jihad against those that do not share their worldview, to wipe out Christianity, to enslave Nigerians and Islamise Nigeria”. That unfortunately is the hard truth which has played out very flagrantly even in the political appointments made by President Buhari since his one year in office, against Christians and especially against the people from the southern part of Nigeria.
This same plot had started with the other Islamic monstrous terrorist group also from the same northern Nigeria, called Boko-Haram, which got affiliated to ISIS. With their long-term project designed and fabricated by the northern Nigerian political elite, they succeeded in their plan to discredit the former president Goodluck Jonathan in the eyes of the International Community, simply because he hails from the South and doubles as a Christian. Having realised this first step in their heinous project, the next step is taking the Islamisation agenda even at the cost of innocent lives to the other parts of Nigeria, leading into a gradual and silent genocide and ethnic cleansing. Yet, the International Community stays silent on this grievous issue; the International Media doesn’t take any interest in revealing to the world the ongoing crime against humanity in Nigeria right now, in order to denounce this tragedy.
.An urgent plea.
As a concerned Nigerian, pained by this unfortunate state of my country, and even with my status as a catholic priest, I beg the international community to release weapons to the people of the middle-belt and southern parts of Nigeria to defend their lives and properties under urgent threat of total extermination by Fulani herdsmen. Note it clearly that it is not in the interest of President Buhari and his government to stop what is happening, let alone to protect the southerners. Since this government in place is championing this agenda of ethnic cleansing, it doesn’t make any sense for it to do anything to bring it to a halt. I strongly believe that under the UN resolution of protection of the civil population under such conditions, precisely the resolution of 1894 (2009) of the UN Security Council, such a gesture will not only be considered most appropriate, but also will be largely appreciated as a timely humanitarian act.
This is in no-way an apologetic of violence for violence, but it is simply the only language that the Fulani herdsmen terrorists of northern Nigeria can understand. Joining my voice to that of Fani Kayode, “I would urge all those that still love and support this government to take a long hard look at the pictures that are strewn all over the internet of their fellow Nigerians that have been mutilated and carved up like Christmas turkeys and sallah goats. This is the work of Buhari’s kinsmen, the Fulani militias and herdsmen. He has refused to arrest any of them let alone bring them to justice. Instead he has ruined our economy, impoverished and destroyed the lives of our people and aborted their God-given destiny, divided our nation on religious and ethnic lines, demonised us before the international community and labelled every Nigerian, apart from himself, as being incompetent and corrupt” [Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/the-butchers-from-the-north/].
With his skilful propaganda mission against corruption in Nigeria, I strongly feel President Buhari has succeeded in hypnotising you all and blindfolding the International Community against the crime of genocide that his government is quietly perpetrating in Nigeria through the connivance with his Fulani herdsmen brothers. By their strategy of silence and “allow-them-kill-them-all”, the Nigerian government under PMB is not ready to rescue the helpless southerners from being extinguished from the map of Nigeria. Therefore, please give us weapons to defend ourselves against the Fulani herdsmen-terrorists!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
