We will NEVER FORGET the Brutality of the Spanish Police.

Osamuyia Aikpitanhi, 23 years old Nigeria killed by the Spanish Police.

A Nigerian dream extinguished at its prime.

The Agony of a Family

Aikpitanhi Osamuyia’s father. osai10.jpg

His mother, osa4.jpg

May the gentle and peaceful soul of Aik rest in Peace.

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!

By Adeola Aderounmu. 

Fire is burning down your house! You are so lucky not to be in the house. None of the members of your family was at home too. You do not know the cause of the fire and at this moment, you don’t care about the cause. As you watched helplessly at your house burning, you remembered that there are fire service stations in your locality and you have been so fortunate to have entered the numbers to these stations on your mobile phone.

  

You called the fire stations and got through to one after 15 minutes. The response was good and the firemen arrived 3 hours after you placed the call. They could not come earlier than that as all the trucks in their possessions are without petrol. They have stopped by at the nearby gas station but due to scarcity of fuel, they had to drive around a while before they were able to finally find a station that has petrol.

  

You thought arriving late was better than never; perhaps they could savage a few things that haven’t burn. You are dead wrong! Two fire brigade trucks had arrived but the firemen came by to ask you a few questions only. When did the fire start? Do you know where it started from? What could have been the cause of the fire? Are there people inside the house or is it empty? Do you have a kerosene stove or a gas cooker? You got tired of the questions and asked then when they will start to work before the fire spread to the next building.

  

Neighbours have gathered and started pouring buckets of water from a distance. The water got nowhere near the burning flames. Some children were getting sand as people wailed in loud voices. Some people were thanking God that there was no one in the house as the whole family gathered nearby. The family in the next house got out in good time. They were lucky with their house, the fire could not penetrate further.

Eventually, the firemen declared their inability to help you in any way as everyone including you watched your house burn to mere ashes. They have brought 2 trucks but there is no water in either truck. They didn’t have the time to verify or check if there was water in the truck or not as the call was an emergency one. They became more confused as there was no petrol in the trucks and even one of the vehicles had 3 tyres in place when the call came. The first one hour after the call was spent looking for a road side mechanic who had not finished the fixing of the tires the day before. The second hour was spent looking for gas (or petrol as we used to say) and it took another one hour to drive to the burning house. 

We are so sorry Mr. Lagbaja. You can bear us witness that we took your phone call and acted promptly but since our reservoir got dried 2 weeks ago, we had simply forgot to refill the tanks on the trucks with water until your emergency call came.

Fire Brigade approach is a common expression in Nigeria. Simply put it means that in Nigeria, people (especially when it comes to public services) always wait until the last minute before they take action on something that they should have done a long, long time ago. In the end, we always try to do things when it is almost late. We rally round, try a few urgent steps and we end up messing up the job.  

Typically, the fire brigade or firemen will arrive when everything is already in ruins. Sometimes, families are trapped in the fire. This could result in death or serious burns. In Nigeria football, fire brigade approach is the norm. Our footballers are usually not well blended before each game or tournament. Some of them will arrive a few hours before crucial games. Fire brigade approach is used in virtually of spheres of the Nigeria life and the result is that things are done shabbily and results are unexpected outcomes.  We usually express surprise or dismay at each outcome most especially when they are unfavourable. 

But it is amazing how Nigerians forget and move on with their lives. Our failures in certain areas or endeavours have not stopped us in any way from adopting the same fire brigade approach time and time over. Fire brigade approach is complex and intrinsic. It is like a web that has formed part of our evil entanglement in Nigeria.

  

You can see it in governance, in sports, in music, in academic endeavours, in our dressing sometimes, in our jobs and other aspects of our lives. We cannot always be prepared for everything but when a larger percentage of our actions are incoherent, the results are bound to be negative.

The fire brigade approach emanates from the unconventional working ethics of the fire stations. Basically, this is their attitude to work. It is their thing. They are always late and never prepared. They are seriously ill equipped. You can compare this attitude to the Nigerian Police in many ways. Sadly, their sickling syndrome has infected many other things in Nigeria and you commonly hear people say “fire brigade approach”. It means they are spending last minutes efforts in trying to solve a problem that has been there forever.  

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!

By Adeola Aderounmu.

Read this:

“Makoju blamed all governments before 1999 for the poor power situation in the country. He attributed the infrastructural decay to lack of planning, the adoption of a fire brigade approach to the problem, evolving ideas and frequent changes without any rationale”.

    -(Makoju is the Senior Special Assistant to the selected President on Power)

Implication: THE 10,000 megawatts target of the Federal Government in power generation by this December may not be feasible after all. (Guardian, Junu 21 2007)

Meaning: Constant Power supply or electricity in Nigeria remains a mirage.

My observations/Questions: If the blame was on all the useless governments before 1999, what about the idiots who misruled from 1999 to 2007?

What we know now is that the situation is worse than it was in 1999 and that billions of naira were spent on this powerless ministry.

Can someone retrace all these wasted funds and bring them out of the pockets or bank accounts of the thieves called Politicians or Ministers?

THE LOGO OF OLD NEPA, NOW PHCH

There are clear blueprints on how to make lights shine in our homes but we continue to put block heads in public offices. People who lack the will to make Nigeria work. People whose only interest is to get rich and run away.

EFCC, please can you do your job and find out how the billions spent on power since 1999 ended up bringing out the worst situation ever in power generation in Nigeria?

May the glory of Nigeria come, soon!

                                  

By Adeola Aderounmu.

My attention was first drawn to the gruesome murder of our dear brother Aikpitanhi Osamuyia through an article written by Sonala Olumhense in the Nigerian Guardian on Sunday 17th June 2007. Am I supposed to be surprised that I didn’t find this important News on BBC online News about Africa? To be sure, I conducted a local search on BBC website. I will not be able to explain why the BBC is quick to report news about drowning migrants trying to reach Europe and not about a migrant who has been senselessly killed by the Spanish Police on a so called deportation flight to Nigeria. Let us imagine that it is one Briton or an American that was killed….I leave the rest to your imaginations. What is the value of an African life, a Nigerian for that matter?

Though news from BBC and CNN are arguably bias regarding Africa, one cannot still explain how they choose what News is priority or worthwhile. Somehow, News organisation and journalists have prejudice for what is News and what is not. They have some funny standards or criteria to decide what to publish and what to ignore.  I mean if you can get breaking News on sinking migrant ship or boat, how can you not get breaking or late News about a deportee who was murdered on a flight especially after the pilot re-directed the flight back to Spain? It is a strange world.

Foreign News Agencies are trying really hard but Nigerians should thank the Home Press like the Nigerian Guardian for example for been the newspaper company that they are; otherwise living in the Diaspora (someone said there is no Diaspora) would have been living in the dark concerning things of true Nigerian interests. With internet and blogs, Nigerians are now not only creating News, they are writing them as well. Thumbs up!

And so Aik Osamuyia was killed by the Spanish police and the incidents as bad as it was did not get global attention. The Nigeriavillagesquare.com appears to be the arrow head in making this injustice known worldwide. Some other Nigerian online News services also devoted some space and reference to the story. Good job!

One more time, I am hereby expressing my disgust for the Spanish police. They discharged their duties beyond the limit of human undertakings and far above the acceptable limits of human error. In trying to deport Osamuyia by all or any means possible, they killed him.

There is a letter that has been signed by thousands of Nigerian across the world on nigeriavillagesquare.com.  The letter and the demands in it will not bring Osamuyia back but it is well thought and necessary. Beyond the letter, we (Nigerians) must begin to look at our existence from all angles irrespective of where we are and what we are doing.

Truly, home is the best! But Osamuyia was not willing to go back home. It will be difficult to see the views of Osamuyia but I would only imagine that, like me, he has seen the obvious disparity between living in Europe and living in modern day Nigeria. He was not willing to return (that much we have read) and he had his reasons.  Only those who are his close friends or families can give us detailed accounts of his entire travails preceding the unnecessary murder.

The most unfortunate thing however, is that he died and didn’t get the chance to fulfill his dreams of a better tomorrow. To ensure that Osamuyia did not die in vain, the Spanish interior minister should resign with immediate effect and the police officers who killed Osamuyia should start preparing for their trials and be ready for a long time behind bars. Anything short of this will mean that the Spanish government as an institution is a huge joke.

The Norwegian Police killed Obiora Eugene last year and they are still going about their abnormal duties. Every year around the world, people of African origin (maybe we should refrain from calling ourselves blacks) are killed senselessly and for nothing. In Russia, in the US, in the UK and other places, we have seen and read true life stories of unnecessary tortures and killings. Does anyone have the statistics of the number of harassments that people from Africa encounter daily globally? 

Back home, the Nigerian government should create the environment that will discourage her youth from running away without the thoughts of ever returning home. When I came to Europe for the first time in January 2002 and went back in November of the same year, I remembered a few people questioning me on “why I returned after only about 10 months”. A friend actually told me that he would never have thought about returning if he was in my position. There are many Nigerians like this, even those that are well established abroad. Some have sworn never to step on Nigerian soil again.

In 2006, I saw boys and men who told me that if they ever travelled abroad, they will not return to Nigeria until they are about 80 years or not at all. It was very difficult for me to explain to them that living abroad is not what they have in mind. The main reason I couldn’t do that was because I will be returning to my new base in Sweden. How can I convince them not to have such a thought about living abroad when I have shifted my base from Festac Town to Stockholm? They see people returning home in flashy cars without knowing how they got the money to buy the cars! They see their friends building mansions without knowing how the projects were executed. In their minds, living abroad is all you need to make money and shine!  But I must be quick to add that some Nigerians are reaping excellent results for their honesty, hard work and perseverance back home. They are too few sha.

I do not blame Osamuyia at all. The last time I visited Nigeria, I virtually ran away after 2 weeks! I am sorry if this statement hurts anyone. The previous times in 2002 and 2003, I actually stayed up to 2 months each. Nigeria is my home and I will always want to be there but the last time I visited, I was sure I didn’t want to stay 2 months. Things were at an all time low points. When I left on December 28 2006, a lot of people were actually heading back as well to the United States and other places. The stories for the sudden rush back were all the same. No light, no fuel, endless queues at fuel station, fear of daylight and dark nighttime sophisticated armed robbery, high cost of living, …., ….., ……, ……..  Fill the gaps.

One day in December 2006 around the time of the oil pipeline explosion near Abule Egba, I woke up and asked my friends why they were all at home with me on a day that was not weekend. One guy told me that that was the “good thing” with Nigeria. “There is no work, so you can stay at home enjoy and relax”. Is that what they call sarcasm? These friends of mine are all graduates like me and we left the University around 1995! Many people still see getting out of Nigeria as a lucky chance. They do not see our struggles afterwards and so for now, they don’t care. They usually say expressions like, “Let’s trade places and let me try Europe for sometime too”.

I wondered what Osamuyia escaped from in Nigeria, but I am sure he didn’t want to return to it. He preferred another life, another chance. He was not lucky. He didn’t get much of the other chance, not for long in any case.

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday yet our cyclic politicians have started sharing loots….wherewithal our eternal hope?

  May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!

Adeola Aderounmu.

Today, I have filed an application for a permit to demonstrate with the Swedish Police. I don’t know when the permit will arrive or when I will be called to pick it up.

We cannot demonstrate or protest here on friday as it is midsummer holiday and everything is closed. 

What I have planned is to tender the famous protest letter at the Spanish embassy in Stockholm.

I am not sure how many Nigerians will leave their jobs on the decided date next week. But I will do all I can to mobilise as many people as possible.

For now, I’ll keep the information flowing by sms and calls as I await the Police Permit to allow us to gather. I should get it anyway, it was paid for! 

It was just today that I learn that another Nigerian named Obiorah was murdered by the Police in Norway recently.

If we don’t stand up to protest now, I think many more of us will die meaninglessly in the Diaspora.

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!