Africa

The Days Gone By….Muamba, Barcelona FC et al

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By Adeola Aderounmu
It’s been almost one month since I wrote my last blog/article. Time flies, things happen, every second for that matter.

I have tabs on several news/event and I even have newspaper cuttings that I’d saved. But now I decided not to look at the newspapers or to even think about the events of the last one month as it were.

I will just write what comes to my mind.

PATRICE MUAMBA

I remember Fabrice Muamba, his miraculous recovery from a failed heart during Bolton’s game versus Tottenham. Fabrice has made tremendous recovery and he will surely be out of the hospital soon.

The survival of Fabrice says a lot about the standard of hospitals in England. This incident brought out the best in the English health scheme and training.

My friends and I remember how Sam Oparaji died at the National Stadium in Lagos in 1989 while playing a tensed game against Angola.

One Nigerian player also died recently in Sudan. These sad occurrences may have been prevented if the health system in Nigeria and Sudan are in top form. But we will never know..! This is just the way some things are, inconclusive.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Yesterday I switch off then I changed the channel to Movie channel after the referee gave Barcelona its’ second penalty against AC Milan.

I cannot imagine watching such a useless game to the end. I don’t think the referee is normal. He needs a medical check up. But many people think that Barcelona is UEFA team.

It is possible. I remembered I didn’t watch the champions league for a whole season after Barcelona were favoured against Chelsea in one game where a Barcelona player had handled the ball and a penalty was not given.

Maybe it’s time to take another break from stupid games where the referees and possible UEFA are cheats. It’s hard to tell, really. And considering also the bettings and gambles behind the scene, then impossible is nothing!

THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA

It’s hard for me to not write about Nigeria. What is also hard is to live with the mentality of an average Nigerian that complaining about Nigeria isn’t worth it. Just try to make it and live with it. It’s a mixed feeling not having to live in Nigeria and then trying hard still to “see” if what I write can help change some situations.

Indeed sometimes what I write about gets through and some positive outcomes do take place from time to time.
Still it is even harder to hide from the reality that corruption and stupidity is the order of the day when it comes to Nigerian politics. The people I write about don’t read my blog and the people who read my blog thinks that it is just another ranting Nigerian.

It always seems that ranting Nigerians are looking for entrances to main stream “looting” Nigerian. And when they do, their lives change like Reuben Abati and Segun Adeniyi.

Sadly, and true 99% of the times-Nigerian public office holders are the same (looters and thieves).
But when the president is a crook-accepting bribe for everything and spending Nigeria’s money as if it is his father’s inheritance, what moral compass are we going to use to gauge the performance of the people and country.

When the senate president is a well-known junta and looter, any expectation of the eradication of poverty is like building a house on sand.

When all those who have stolen are our brothers and sisters and they are free to oppress us with the monies they stole, what legacy are we leaving to the generation after us?

Nigeria is rotten, inside out, from the top to the bottom. It remains an aggregation of familiar enemies fighting for the common resources and looting the proceeds without fear or hindrance.

Nigeria is lost! Boko Haram is an offspring of a lost course. Many more bastard associations will be revealed in the months ahead.

It’s not easy to face anyone in Naija and ask for a change. Almost everyone and everybody in infected with the corruption virus and the cut corner approaches.

School children have failed in national exams in what appears to be the last phase of the collapse of public schools. Nigeria jaga-jaga was an under-statement.

Yet, we remain proud..! It is good to remain nationalistic. But it is almost criminal to pretend that all is well, or that all is going to be well when all the indicators are otherwise.

In federal and state governments, sanity is lost and accountability is akin to shooting yourself in the foot if you ask for it.

I have been constantly reminded that those in governance have only one head. Therefore the time will come for others to be part of government and do their own looting.

Jagajaga, I repeat is an understatement. Everybody is doing anyhow and anything. Government is so far away that hope is like a death sentence.

In addition to the dead educational system, health, and other social infrastructure are like luxuries. Power supply is a forgone issue, it will never happen in Nigeria. Power generation is rubbish..!

Generators will be in Nigeria for several years to come.

All these things are sad and they remind us that even though we claim we are intelligence, the results are telling the opposite.

Intelligent people and intelligent countries have power supply all year round and transient interruptions are due to unpreventable or unexpected circumstances.

GLOBAL MADNESS

THE DAYS GONE by are the same globally. Nothing has changed. Social injustice is everywhere and political groups have created more problems that they have solved. World powers are silly, they fight stupid wars. On one side they fight terrorism, on the other side they install terrorist to lead. Sometimes I just conclude that man is a crazy animal that does not know what he wants.

The Joseph Kony Campaign

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By Adeola Aderounmu

I have watched the campaign video aimed at capturing Joseph Kony before the end of 2012. It is interesting and captivating.

Since it is generally accepted that Joseph Kony is not fighting for any cause or that he has no new ambitions rather than holding firm to his “powers” then many questions should be raised regarding the sustainability of the Resistance Army.

What is the source of income for Joseph Kony and his army (including army of children)? Which countries owned the arms and ammunitions that Kony has used in the past and that he is using now?

If it is true that Kony has no ambitions then which countries or organizations are benefitting from his existence/ existence of his rebel group?

Does the Uganda government want Kony out of the way? Why is it impossible to arrest him?

[It brings to mind the question of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria. Of course the lazy Jonathan government wants Boko Haram out of the way (or not some may argue) but what genuine efforts have been done
in Nigeria to improve the security situation?]

Kony remains a free man because that is what the “world” wants him to be. Otherwise I don’t see why he had been allowed to kidnap children for several years yet remain unspoken about. For all the murders he has committed, it should not require a campaign to hunt him.

It is hard to believe that Kony has no agenda. It is also difficult to live with the reality that Kony’s weapons are probably coming from the same governments that the campaign group depends upon for his capture.

My greater interest and worries are hinged on the unnecessary and senseless wars in Africa-how they have slowed the progress of Africa. My worries include just how easy it is for a group in Africa to become willing tools in the hands of the imperialists or just acting out some independent but likewise evil agenda. Countries like Ivory Coast and (of recent Senegal) come to mind.
I am slightly worried that the campaign did not originate from Ugandans at home or in Diaspora. Perhaps there are Ugandans who have cried about these evils and their cries have fallen on deaf ears.

In that case why the sudden Kony fever based on the fresh campaign? The world is now talking about Kony and it is this fame that is aimed at ending his reign.

For the sake of justice I would like to see a man like Joseph Kony arrested and brought to trial. It would be interesting to hear his arguments about his crimes against children and their families.

The James Ibori Confession

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Adeola Aderounmu

James Onanafe Ibori is a Nigerian convicted for crimes in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom but who later became the governor of Delta State in 1999.

His stories have been well documented the latest being a BBC report on the extent of his criminal records/criminal life (www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17181056)

This story of a criminal who found his way to the highest office in Delta State is not unique or peculiar. Many Nigerian politicians are crooks and thieves before they get into offices. Several others join the bandwagon and became part of the looting syndrome. Dimeji Bankole is a proven classical example.

As I have written several times, the worst thing is that these thieves get away to enjoy their loots. The laws in Nigeria are useless or non-performing. Those who stole big now live big. Even ordinary personal assistants in government offices in Nigeria are thieves.

One way or the other all these crooks find ways to enrich themselves and cart away millions. Sometimes it’s just simply sharing money.

Several people have told me that I will never make it in Nigerian politics if I don’t loot and that I will be brushed aside. Whoever told them that I have a Nigerian political ambition? They have no idea I’d cursed the day I was born if I steal public loot.

Unless Nigerian politicians are executed or beheaded there is no solution for the looting syndrome. All Nigerian politicians will remain thieves as long as the power and privileges they enjoy remain the same. They have one special and stupid immunity clause that makes crime legal. And when they are out of offices, they still enjoy the immunity in 99,9% cases.

Not even a Ribadu-boast in the run-off to the botched third term agenda could ignite a mass prosecution.

The situation will NEVER change because it is accepted in Nigeria that you have to be rich after your political sojourn. It is okay to be a thief and governor or president because that is what your family, community and associate expect from you. It is what the political parties expected. Nigeria is a program invented to fail.

It was Obasanjo who used James Ibori to sponsor late Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan to Aso Rock in 2007. The ring of looters (Obasanjo, late Yar Adua and Jonathan) knew that Ibori was stealing money from Delta State to sponsor a presidential campaign and it was okay.

If the judiciary was effective in Nigeria and if there are no useless immunity clause, the Ibori confession should lead to the arrest of both Obasanjo and Jonathan without further delay. But since Nigeria is program to fail as a result of massive corruption, this will not happen.

Obasanjo and Jonathan have their own individual crimes which are still in progress but these men lead Africa Union negotiations and Nigeria respectively. There is no hope for the future under the present arrangement of things in most part of Africa and locally in Nigeria. We are ruled by gangsters and thieves.

Nigeria under Jonathan is a joke. This guy has taken new loans to finance his personal extravagancy and clueless regime. Nigeria under Jonathan, with the persistent of corruption and the rise in terrorism, is heading for an expected disintegration. Nothing has happened in the last one year to prove otherwise.

The National Assembly is even a bigger joke. Together with the executive these bunch of thieves run the most inefficient yet the most expensive government in history. Despite all complains and agitations they have not seen any reason to cut out their expensive salary and pay packets. The looting continues.

There will be no expectation from Nigerians that their lawmakers should pass a law that looters should be executed because it is tantamount to committing mass suicides. No one will come out alive of the National Assembly and the House of representatives. David Mark would lead the pack of awaiting death sentence if such law is passed today.

This is the severity of the calamities in Nigeria. More than 50 years of executive recklessness and outright stealing and looting.

It will not end because Nigerians are used to it and have come to accept such as norms.

It will not end because Nigerians put their hopes in Gods (Jehovah and Allah).

It remains a tragedy that 160m people think that it is okay. The common prayers have been that everybody’s time to (steal, loot, and benefit) from government should come.

Amazingly the churches and mosques are beneficiaries. Millions of stolen funds are paid weekly as tithes. This makes religious organisations in Nigeria to rank among the most successful business enterprises in Africa and Nigerian pastors especially are ranked among the richest men in the world.

Nigeria is a box of irony and metaphor.

Now and when Nigerians have gone their separate ways through true federation or outright split, it remains a pertinent question of how to solve this social malaise called corruption. Corruption has no tribal marks and it will continue to remain a stumbling block to progress.

Unless something radical is done to all the public servants and politicians who steal and loot, more and more people in that geographical zone will slip below the poverty level and the abundant resources will continue to lie in ruins and waste.

Today more than 100m Nigerians are poor and live day in day out with limited hopes. The situation will be worse if all the Iboris in the local, state and federal houses are allowed to continue to enjoy the useless immunity clause.

Nigerians need to stand up and they can start by asking the blood sucking Jonathan government to stop stealing. They can gather the momentum from the Ibori trial in London and ask the sleeping judiciary in Nigeria to wake up to its responsibilities. It is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than to expect the corrupt Nigerian judiciary to be effective. How did I miss that?

 

Zambia, Champions of Africa 2012

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Adeola Aderounmu

I congratulate the Zambian National Football Team for their exploits in the 2012 African Cup of Nations. They beat Ivory Coast in the final game. After extra time, the game stood at 0-0.

Drogba missed a second half penalty that could have ended the game in normal time. He scored though in the shoot outs.

It was Kolo Toure and Gelvinho who threw away the 6th and 7th penalty. Zambia missed the the 6th but got the 7th in to clinch the title they well deserved.

Well done Zambians and thank you for the good game demolishing Ghana and then stopping Ivory Coast in the semi and final respectively.

Well done for the deserving tributes to the ’93 set that perished in the plane crash.

The Zambian coach has won my respect. He doesn’t wear unnecessary suits to match venues and that makes sense. Highly technical and gifted no doubts, he will win more awards in the future I am sure.

Zambia, once again, accept my congratulations. Enjoy every moment of it. You have now joined the leagues of champions.

One day I hope you will qualify for the world cup. It’s your next big challenge. All the best.

Nations Cup Final. Zambia: A New Shot At Glory

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By Adeola Aderounmu

I remember in 1994 that Zambia played the Nations Cup Final against Nigeria. Nigeria won that final game thanks to the exploits of the likes of Emmanuel Amuneke and Sunday Oliseh. That year was the height of glory for Nigerian football at the senior level. Since then it has been a nose dive.

Zambians will take a new shot at glory. They have to overcome the elephants of Ivory Coast. It will not be an easy game. The likes of Didier Drogba and Kolo Toure are near the end of their international careers. This is probably their last chance to lift the most prestigious cup on the continent.

The two countries are seeking cup glory for the first time. When the tournament started book makers did not tip Zambia to be in the final. On paper therefore it will be easy to say that Ivory Coast will win on Sunday the 12th of February 2012.

But football is not won by bookmakers or by wishes. It has to be decided on the field of play, in 90 minutes.
A team appearing in the final has a 50% chance of winning the game. So Zambia has the same chance as the Ivorians. This is the beauty of football.

What is not beautiful with African football is the over-physical nature of the African footballers. They are too rough in many circumstances. They don’t play like that when they are back in Europe. In the Tunisia-Ghana match for example there should have been at least 4 red cards. But the referee was acting like a timid lamb.

In general the games are rough and untidy.

The games should not be rough or too physical because it is played on African soil.

It must also be pointed out that some players make the game ugly by their filming. Drogba was filming a lot in the game against Mali and the referee even became tired. The referee should have given Drogba a yellow card instead of waving play-on.

The attendances at the competition have been dismay. E-Guinea and Gabon have disappointed when it comes to the promotion of football. I don’t know why the turn outs have been poor especially after the host nations were bundled out but I do know that there are ways to ensure full capacity in competitions of this nature. CAF and FIFA should look into that for future competitions.

In any case kudos to the host nations and may the better side win come Sunday.

Good luck Zambia!