Category Archives: Terrorism

My Random Reflections @ 47. Niger-Area: An Expired British Colony.

As you read my reflections, let me tell you what will happen before you get to the last sentence. A group of terrorists called herdsmen will kidnap a man/woman probably in western Nigeria and demand for a huge ransom. Another group of terrorists, also called herdsmen will move their cattle into another man’s land probably in Eastern Nigeria or in Edo state and destroy the farmland. They will never be apprehended, and they will never be prosecuted.

 

My Random Reflections @ 47. Niger-Area: An Expired British Colony.

By Adeola Aderounmu

 

img_20190303_133811_210127886083964445314.jpg

This should be my 12th annual random reflections. I wrote the first edition of this series when l turned 36. I celebrate my earth day on July the 12th. Let’s see how long Olodumare carries me for.

There is so much to write about this year as in the previous years. This sounds a bit contradictory considering that l published an article on July 13, 2007 titled: Nigeria, what more to write? The article is online at the Nigerian Village Square (NVS).

Despite the fact that there is so much to write about, it would also be impossible to highlight everything in my random reflections. Nigeria, the country is overstretched and Nigerians, the people-at least 100m of them-are broken physically and psychologically.

The country Nigeria as it were today, or as defined by the colonial thugs who merged non-similar, non-familiar entities until it formed the Niger-area colony, has outlived its usefulness to the citizens/indigenes. It is clear that Nigeria is no longer functioning as a country and all the fears genuine writers and real social commentators expressed especially in the last 2-3 decades have matured and overtaken us. Niger-area is likely living on borrowed times.

As writers, we yelled! We screamed! We warned! We suggested, we gave advice. We proffered solutions, we wrote volumes upon volumes of articles. We gave our time, our energy, our resourceful thinking and many gave their lives. We are living and carrying on with heavy hearts after the demise of our beloved brother and crusader Pius Adesanmi. In him, we lost one of Africa’s most illustrious sons. In his honor and for the sake of the unborn generations we must carry on and be ready to give our lives too.

All we did in the last 2 decades fell on wrong ears. As you read my reflections, let me tell you some of the things that will happen before you get to the last sentence. A group of terrorists called herdsmen will kidnap a man/woman probably in western Nigeria and demand for a huge ransom. Another group of terrorists, also called herdsmen will move their cattle into another man’s land probably in Eastern Nigeria or in Edo state and destroy the farmland. They will never be apprehended, and they will never be prosecuted.

Many travelers will cancel their road trips from Kaduna to Abuja and from Benin to Lagos because of terrorists called bandits. Some terrorists called bandits will kill a few dozen men, women and children, probably in southern parts of Kaduna State. The terror attack will not make the mainstream news and the terrorists will chase away the natives forever.

Boko Haram may decide to expand their 15% ownership of Borno to 30% and overrun another Nigerian army barracks as they always do.

Also, before you finish reading my random reflections, a few other despicable things would occur elsewhere on the expired British colony called Niger-area. For example, a handful of lazy young men in Western Nigeria would have killed a couple of girls for rituals and some would have stolen some underwear for the same purpose. A number of lazy, disoriented people would be at Lagos lsland or seek out a fake mad man asking for where/how to buy human body parts.

Some psycho politicians and politicians to be will be at a shrine, not to worship their ancestors as they should, but to solicit for supernatural powers that would blindfold the people and bring them ill-gotten wealth. Even some pastors to be are looking for human sacrifices to bury at the foundation of their churches.

I can tell you a lot more things that would happen in advance in Niger-area. The kind of things you go to night vigils in churches and mosques to listen to. Road accidents, preventable diseases and inexplicable illnesses will claim thousands of lives in the next 24 hours and more than 90% of them will not make the news.

You can’t stop these predictions because Lagos roads for example, are the worst roads in the world and millions of people in Nigeria have drivers’ licenses without learning how to drive. Some cannot read and some have bad sights. Many have cars/vehicles without brakes. The public hospitals are ill-equipped and not every sick person can afford treatment.  So these things will happen, as usual in a failed system, the Niger-area.

Still, I can predict that fuel tankers will explode, there will be boat mishaps and there will be flood in Lagos disrupting residential and business areas. The flood in Jos is not receiving any attention and efforts will never be made to prevent a repeat.

I can tell you that it is not only the herdsmen that are problems in Edo. That state is ravaged by cultists and the young men are fast disappearing so much that even those s/elected into the political positions in the state are still in hiding, afraid to resume offices. The states in Nigeria are not viable, many of them were DOA.

Should l continue to tell you the one million reasons why Niger-area is an expired colony?

We are totally lost as a group of diverse people. Our focuses are on the wrong things and distraction is our common middle name. We are all about “self/me” because we lost the plot and some of us lost our minds. Our brains, and subsequently our reasonings were sort of destructively infected by the way the government was/is managed. The crudest survival of the fittest was re-introduced to us after the exit of the colonial thugs in 1960.

We entered a self-destruct mode, something l had earlier described as a form of human necrosis in an article many years ago.

Whilst all these mayhem and elements of civil war are going on, the criminal politicians continue to sign cheques and award one another salaries that are the highest in the world. You won’t find criminals worse than these gangs in Nigeria on planet earth.

One of them will be arguing with the others on why he has the right to beat women in a sex toy shop whereas he and the others like him should be tied in chains in a psychiatric ward for serious evaluations and eventual medication for the rest of their lives. What happened to “aro” and “yaba left”?

The ruler of the pack whom they call Buhari has lost touch with reality and suffers permanent dementia. The rest of us will suffer dementia also to varying degrees as we age or near death, so it is not a personal illness of Mujahedeen Buhari.

To him, West Germany still exists and Ambode was a former governor of Edo state. In fact, he handed over the presidential ticket to another man at a recent rally. All the traits that should earn Buhari a disqualification elevated him as typical of Niger-area, an expired British colony. Buhari belongs to the archive but now he may face the war crime tribunal for all the crimes and killings under his watch. He should.

Boko Haram may decide to expand their 15% ownership of Borno to 30% and overrun another army barracks as they always do. 

Still, Nigerians are following a man whose only consciousness is about the lives of cows and the expansion of the Fulanis from neighboring West African countries to the shores of Lagos lagoon, a sort of jihad.

All our warnings about the useless unitary system that continue to produce extremely useless rulers from APC and PDP are still falling on deaf ears. Some of us continue to argue that we must depart from this useless unitary system of government or the road to perdition is guaranteed for the next generation too.

One of the major reasons Western Nigeria fell behind countries like the France and the UK in the race for development was as a result of the eradication of the Western Region and the senseless introduction of the unitary government following the murderous coup of January 1966 and counter murderous coup of July 1966. The fallouts and the other reasons can be debated.

Why are we shy of the facts that led to the civil war and the gradual de-civilization of the prosperous regions within Niger-area?

For, no political system in the world will be rid of corruption and greedy politicians. It is the reason for the law and the judicial systems as checks everywhere in the world. When Nigerian politicians became corrupt and greedy under the regional system in the 60s, performances still outweighed their greediness because no region wanted to be behind in the development race.

Indeed, it was the appropriate democratic institutions regulating the law, the police, the judiciary and indeed the people that needed to act democratically. Nigeria was destroyed forever by the lucky bastards in khaki!

Even since 1999, Obasanjo and Buhari have come to represent these tropical gangsters, the juntas. When we compare one evil with the other rather than sacrifice our lives if necessary to rid ourselves of all evils, we enthrone kleptocracy, nepotism, ethnicity and even tribalism above common sense, above the good of all. Systemic necrosis becomes inevitable. Our predicament seems incurable under a useless form of system called unitary system.

It has led to more than 40 years of misrule, the introduction and propagation of hope through foreign religions at the expense of equality and social justice. The useless unitary system and the senseless federal character  led to diversion from hardwork /dignity of labor towards ostentatious lifestyle, grave nepotism and cancerous tribalism. The dirty celebration of ill-gotten wealth also crippled Nigeria further.

Today, the sum of all evil culminated in the existence of two criminal organizations called APC and PDP with the same agenda/goal. The total eradication of these two monsters will be a valid first step towards hope for a better federation. Nigeria needs a restart button, some sort of reboot to reset and begin again. Until freedom comes and until true independence is achieved, the agitations from the various regions would remain permanent.

Sadly, Nigerians will likely remain the poorest people on earth as long as this arrangement stays. Pray all you want: Niger delta will remain polluted, almajiris are forever, roads will remain death traps, public schools/universities will never rise again, primary/public health care will remain almost non-existence and the few successful learned people/experts/professionals (including sportspeople) will continue to seek other countries, making the world a better place and Nigeria (the producer of the brains) a shit-hole.

Truth is bitter but constant.

There is nothing happening in Nigeria today that we have not highlighted in the last 2 decades. Personally, l have put pen to paper about these issues since 2002. Dig the archives of the Nigerian Guardian and read my article in 2002 titled: Why Politicians Steal.

The more you think things we change, the more they stay the same or get worse. We unite and rally round the wrong things. We bring our best brains into a stupid political system and they join the useless circus called unitary government. Nigeria’s (useless) unitary system is government of the elites, by the elites and for the elites.

The day the rest of us are ready for freedom is the day we shall rally round the things that matter to us. We will unify on the way forward for all the different ethnicities trapped in this expired British product called Niger-area (Nigeria).

Those who will suffer most under this elitist system are our children and our children’s children. If they are in Nigeria, when the time comes, they would fight for their freedom. If they already became slaves again, even on home soil, and therefore hopeless, they will curse our graves and make sure they are unmarked.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Follow me on twitter @aderinola

Catch my daily political blog on Instagram @thygloryonigeria

Private instagram @aderounmu

 

A Country Called Nigeria (Part 1)

A Country Called Nigeria (Part 1)

Written By Adeola Aderounmu

20190117_204111.jpg

The rest of the world is making giant strides and the rate of global development is amazing. It is like a race to perfection, a sort of paradise on earth. Nigeria is not having the same goals as other developed countries of the world. This can be expressed and proved in more than a million words.

It is this same sad story that we have been writing about since time immemorial. But it appears that for some of us, we have to keep writing about it. For so many other people, the happenstance called Nigeria is the only life they know. What if they knew better? What will become of Nigeria if the people who write about the ills in that relegated country stop writing? How low can Nigeria descend?

Politics and Elections.

Politically, Nigeria is backward. The so-called president of Nigeria in the person of Mr. Buhari is an epitome of the decay and outright foolishness that is displayed as politics in Nigeria. Buhari has almost no education, forged a certificate to contest, and in the last 4 years (2015- 2019) have shown that he is more interested in power than in performances.

The 2019 presidential election conducted under his watch is nothing but a disgrace to the human race.

The elections in Nigeria are disgraceful for so many reasons. The ruling party, the APC cheated. The main opposition, the PDP, also had been involved in electoral frauds since 1999. The policemen and soldiers were active and played decisive roles in the outcome of the elections. The greatest disappointments in electoral matters in Nigeria lie with the electoral body called INEC and the electorates-the people who have also become zombified by a largely fraudulent system.

INEC executed a manual system that is ridiculous and laughable. In the 21st century approaching the 22nd, Nigerians cannot count themselves in a successful census and Nigerians cannot line up and be counted on elections days. They have not even dreamt of an automated system based on the social security number system. Nigeria is far from civilization where it mattered most.

 

Infrastructure: Roads, Water and Electricity

I have been running this blog since 2006. One of the biggest issues on this blog is the dearth of infrastructure in Nigeria. How can anyone believe that there is no electricity in Nigeria? How can you reckon with the absence of water that should be provided by state and federal governments? Do you know that some of the worst roads in the world are in Nigeria? Go and check out Badagry-Oshodi expressroad or Agbara road linking to Ogun state.  These are not even roads anymore, they are the longest stretch of deathtraps l have seen in my entire life.

One day l was reading through an old post where l reflected on the speech of Mrs. Clinton during her short visit to Nigeria. In her words, she said “when you hear Nigeria, you think wao! everywhere is electrified!”. But sadly, many years after her visit, Nigeria is still not electrified by electricity. The country is electrified instead by evil, kidnapping and terrorism. Then you start to think, “what kinds of morons are running the country”? Where is their shame? Where are their senses? Do they even have brains?

 

 (To be continued. Part 2 coming up soon).

 

Follow me on twitter, @aderinola

Follow me on instagram, @thygloryonigeria

 

 

 

The Nigerian Genocide Under The Watch Of Buhari

If you defend yourself, you can live to tell the story. If you do not defend yourself, other people will tell your story and they will not tell the true story.

The Nigerian Genocide Under The Watch Of Buhari

By Adeola Aderounmu

There is a lot of massacre going on in Nigeria. The people of Nigeria need to react and start nationwide protests (where/if necessary). The rest of the world should stop acting dumb and deaf. All the groups that are under siege depending on their ethnicity and religion need to start defending themselves properly. In some situations, we have seen Christians (and non-Christians) massacred senselessly, and I think it is about time they took up arms and defend themselves. If you defend yourself, you can live to tell the story. If you do not defend yourself, other people will tell your story and they will not tell the true story.

screenshot_20190523-213750_facebook7450379345053228607.jpg

The terrorists are enjoying massive support and logistics from the APC government.

The terrorist activities of Boko Haram are well documented. They are controlling a substantial part of northern Nigeria, probably up to 15% or more. When Buhari said in 2015, through his minister of information, one notorious liar called Lai Mohammed, that Boko Haram had been technically defeated, (false) optimism was raised.

Today, in 2019, Boko Haram is one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the word having free movements and free flow of arms and weaponry into Nigeria through the undefined and unprotected borders. The Nigerian army has been severely disgraced and defeated several times by the terrorists.

But the rage of genocide in Nigeria under the watch of Buhari has grown massive tentacles.

Rather than label all terrorists as terrorists, the Buhari government developed fanciful and distractive names for them. Names like bandits and Fulani herdsmen have emerged. Even Miyeti Allah.

In reality these are all terrorist organizations and they found great fertility under the APC-Buhari mandate since 2015. Nigeria is in a serious soup as the jihadist movements expanded greatly in the last 4 years. Several communities in the middle belt of Nigeria that were originally occupied by predominantly Christians have been sacked and transformed to Islamic communities. In extreme situations, the names of some communities have changed.

Under Buhari, several communities have been wiped away or displaced and the level of outrage has been disappointing. Several reasons can be responsible for this muted acceptance or state of silence locally and internationally. But the evil cannot be swept away under the carpets, not for long though.

In Nigeria, the government has been so irresponsible that in the eyes of the people, there is no government. Since the existence of the people have been reduced to survival of the fittest, there are no more outrages as people’s state of mind have returned to the barbaric stone age.

When Buhari said in 2015, through his minister of information, one notorious liar called Lai Mohammed, that Boko Haram had been technically defeated, (false) optimism was raised.

So it’s like the acronym, all man to himself and [God] for us all. But this is sad, that the security of lives and property lost its nomenclature and became nationally declassified.

As it is in Nigeria today, staying alive is a miracle and no longer a right. I will not be able to highlight all the atrocities and anomalies that terminate lives daily in Nigeria. But the recent (2019) elections where several lives were lost because invariably the elections became a show of force and in some cases an open war between the ruling party and the oppositions, tell a lot.

The police brutality, the army brutality, the road accidents, the collapse of buildings, kidnapping, assassinations, daylight murders, cult wars, and several vices that ought to be abominable and condemnable have disrupted the normal psyche of the average Nigerian. Fighting for one’s personal survival have become the first law of living in Nigeria.

So, if Boko Haram razed down a whole community in Maiduguri or if Fulani Herdsmen shot dead 50 people in Plateau including pregnant women and children, the people in Ogun State will go to church and give thanksgiving that they are alive. But now the genocide has moved south and the people of Ogun are also bracing for the murders ahead.

Quite undeterred, the terrorists either as Boko Haram or Miyetti Allha will continue with their Islamic agenda, razing down one community after the other. Some states like Benue are worst hit! The people who have not been hit are still giving thanks. Soon they will learn to take arms to defend themselves. That is the only way to survive a terrorist situation when the government appears to be the sponsor.

Soon, Nigerians will know that staying alive is not about being at the right place at the tight time or the wrong place at the wrong time. Staying alive when the government is in support of terrorism will soon become a regional battle and the breakup of Nigeria may become inevitable, unless the APC- led government of Buhari and Osinbajo stop the herdsmen and BH.

 

Over the years, education has been truncated. I mean public education where it should be compulsory and basic. More than 15 million Nigerian children may be out of school. In government, criminals are over represented making the case for education less attractive. Buhari is not educated and so are several persons across Nigeria occupying sensitive and public positions. People of low mentalities, sometime zero mentalities are leading Nigeria to the gutters.

Today the security of Nigeria is heavily tilted, with nearly all the service chiefs from the core north of Nigeria. Buhari is the most dangerous nepotic person alive in the world today. The ruling party is a sham and a complete disgrace to humanity and the case for freedom, democracy and development of the human mind. Rather than wage a war of terrorism, the service chiefs are getting fatter on contracts of weapons that never buy. They are building and buying properties in Dubai. This country, Nigeria, is cursed from beyond!

Where do we go from here?

Buhari needs to be stopped. He can’t rule Nigeria for the next 4years. In terms of security and the protection of life and property, which is the first duty of any government, this APC government is not working. The people of Algeria recently forced their president to resign totally from politics. The same fate should be meted to a man as incompetent as Buhari.

 

The terrorists masquerading as herdsmen must be stopped. They are not herdsmen if they carry weapons. They are not herdsmen if they can re-group at short notice and overtake other people’s communities at will. This is Jihad. The Nigerian Christians must equip their people and churches to resist further Jihadist expansion. They must fight to reclaim the stolen lands and villages. Beyond religion, every ethnic group in Nigeria owes it to their ancestors and future generations to protect their heritage and future. These are non-negotiable acts of existence.

The people of Nigeria need to renegotiate their collective existence. That is the best way to get rid of Boko Haram totally. When the problem becomes the problem only of the North, l am sure they will strategize to either defeat Boko Haram or incorporate the organization as its legal army. This cat and mouse game must end someway. It should not cost the East, West or South a dime. The Northern elites invented Boko Haram the same way the Southern elites invented the militants. In a separate and self-determining system, every region would either deal with its problem or perish with them

All these stupid talks about weapons from Libya would be stopped if the North is going to be consumed by it. But when it is used as an expansionist agenda to take over the middle belts and probably subdue the rest of Nigeria under a unitary system of government, the north care less. When we are separate, we will be readier to defend out territories.

 

But before then, from now, the rest of Nigeria needs to take up arms to defend itself because the BUHARI government is not going to do that. It has never done that, it will never do it.

There are many ways and many opinions on these issues and of course many think that Nigeria should remain as one country. But if you have tried something from 1966 to 2019 and it didn’t work, what is the probability that it will ever work? As a mathematician and a scientist, my opinion is that both empirical and practical issues must go hand in hand and for Nigeria the outcome of a unitary system of government remains a disaster.

It is time to renegotiate Nigeria, peacefully. The jihadist movement will not work. It did not work before, it will not work now or in the future. And when the dust is settled, Nigerians must make haste to prosecute all the military men under whose watch genocide have been perpetrated unabated. You know them, we know them.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Twitter @aderinola

Instagram @thygloryonigeria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeria 2019 Elections

Nigeria 2019 Elections

By Adeola Aderounmu

20190117_204111.jpg

Nigeria 2019 Elections

On february 16 2019 Nigerians will have a chance to chart a new course for their lives.

The saddest thing about this 2019 election is that even the international community regard it as a tussle between the 2 criminal organisations called APC and PDP.

In a widely accepted international perspective, Mr. Atiku who is running on the platform is regarded as an international criminal. So the question is, why is a criminal running for the position of the president in the first place? Is he not supposed to be cooling off in prison in Nigeria or the United States where his partners in crimes are serving jail terms or have served their terms?

The incumbent, Mr. Buhari is a hardcore tyrant who has no respect for democratic principles. He is unintelligent, unschooled, brutal and very corrupt. All the criminals in the opposition party PDP who crossed to APC had their sins forgiven according to the party chairman, one Adams Oshiomhole who is also alleged to have stolen monies from the government office in Edo State.

It is very sad that Nigerians and the world made this a contezt between 2 criminals leading 2 criminal organisations. The verdict is that Nigerians will become poorer if either wins and corruption will rise to a new height in the country.

How can a country that prides itself as the giant of Africa continue to parade criminals in government? Why are the people so passive and reluctant to carry out a revolution either though the ballot or in another way? Why is it impossible to remove the immunity clause that allow these criminals to enjoy their loots and even persist in government to carry out more stealing? Is it a curse to be a Nigerian?

It would have been more rewarding for the international community to spread their search light on the 3rd largest party in Nigeria which is the AAC whose candidate Omoyele Sowore through the #takeitback movement is vying for the office of the president as well. There are other candidates that could have been given the coverage like Fela Durotoye and one Kingsley Moghalu who served in the Central Bank under the wasteful PDP regime.

It would be a shame if APC or PDP wins on Saturday because Nigerian youth ought to be well organised and ready to take the country into the future. Buhari and Atiku have been around, stealing and looting for too long without consequences and they ought to be shown the way out.

Why are Nigerian youths not using the power of youth?

The roads are long to freedom.

First, Nigeria needs a new set of people in government. The country needs people who are young, vibrant and without criminal records like the prominent APC and PDP politicians.

Secondly the country is in dire need of a new system of government. The regional system of government that was truncated un 1966 promoted development and growth for Nigeria. The unitary system of government is senseless and useless and it will continue to promote corruption, unemployment, ineptitude, useless federal character and the promotion of mediocrity above common sense and merits.

So it is a long road for Nigeria that is more than 200 years behind the civilised world. 200 years because electricity is absent in Nigeria. There are no good roads (in the places l live and travel in western Nigeria), there are no public schools and the health facilities are near zero.

With more years for APC and PDP, Nigeria will get worse and the people will remain the poorest people in the world.

If Nigerians fail to dismiss APC and PDP this february especially at the presidential elections, they would have chosen to remain slaves in their own country. They would have chosen to remain under the oppressors and the cabals who see Nigeria as an entity to be captured and milked to death.

Terrorism will rise and insecurity will reach a new height. Unemployment will remain rife. It will never be well for nigeria as long as APC and PDP type of politicians dominate and rule the land. How these realities are not obvious to the general public is a worrisome development.

We have been on this issue since 1960 and latest since 1999 when we thought we found a new democracy.

We will be back here in 2013 writing about these same issues in exactly the same way if we stick with the same ways of doing things. We have the opportunity to write about these things in another 4 years if we elect new people with new ideas. The choices are crystal clear.

If Nigeria does not kick our APC and PDP this february, the world will be seeing the greatest tragedy of the 21st century after the world wars coming into full bloom.

follow me on instagram @thygloryonigeria

on twitter @aderinola

Mail: aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

 

The Dangers Of Hypocrisy

I am still looking for those who resigned and blew the whsitle when Jonathan and his crew (both in PDP and APC) were looting the treasuries. I am now looking for those who are going to leave the Buhari government and blow the whistle (both in the APC and PDP) as a result of the budget padding and scandalous national/state security situation. Mr. Buhari himself should have resigned along with Lai Mohammed for misleading the world when they stated at the end of december 2015 that they had defeated Boko Haram.

The Dangers Of Hypocrisy By Adeola Aderounmu

20180505_0938061486851600.jpg

Adeola Aderounmu

There are no limits to the repercussions of hypocrisy. It is worse when the hypocrisy runs parallel with lies and propaganda. Two other dimensions that can worsen the situation is the spread and the acceptance of hypocrisy as a trait or norm within a political structure or among the people of a country.

As you read this essay the banks in Switzerland are still sending more and more of the monies stolen by one famous Nigerian criminal called Sani Abacha. He was unfortunately a former dictator in Nigeria whose death remains a subject of controversy.

Despite the fact that his loots are finding their ways back to Nigeria (since the regime of Obasanjo), Nigeria’s current president Mr. Buhari is yet to acknowledge that Abacha was in fact a criminal. This hypocrisy is dangerous and heart wrenching. This singular denial also shocks me when people say Buhari is not corrupt. I don’t understand how people don’t see the links.

Invariably the act of being a hypocrite extends to hangers-on of political associations. It cut across and destroys the consciences of both the enlightened and the disenfranchised as well as the educated and the ignorant. If Nigeria finally implodes, hypocrisy will not be left out as one of the diseases that sunk her.

If you listen keenly to Femi Adeshina you will find an example of a person who lost his mind and threw away his conscience to the lagoon all in the name of having a job and earning a mega pay. There were (before him) people like Reuben Abati, Reno Omokri and Segun Adeniyi. With him is a guy called Ogunlesi who thinks the rest of us are ordinary lower animals.

In my exposure to other countries where several of these spokesmen have also lived or visited before relocating to Aso rock, there is always a limit or threshold to how long an aide can defend a boss or get enveloped in the same cycle of ignobility.

What happens to the ability to resign or walk away to save one’s good image? Invariably my conclusion is simple: it takes a rogue to defend a rogue in matters of public accountability. It also takes selfishness and wickedness to turn blind eyes to the realities on ground in the daily existences of Nigerians.

Like l mentioned above, the realm of hypocrisy in Nigeria is massive. Therefore it is unforgiving that even professor Osinbajo lately said APC is not a corrupt government. But he is fully aware that APC integrated into its fold former PDP looters and existing APC looters. Their common saving grace is the unforgiving failure of the justice system in Nigeria. I always maintain that Nigerian laws remain useless as far as criminal politicians continue to rule Nigeria.

Osinbajo also said that APC is more honest than PDP. Since when did accountability to the people become a relative term? APC is confused. When the spree of murders and genocide escalated under this regime, APC stated that more people died during Jonathan’s PDP regime. My understanding of that conclusion is that the Nigerian life is worthless. Why else would number of deaths be comparative?

Late afromusic king Fela warned us many years ago about all those that do bad things in the names of their religious lords. We did not listen. We are still not paying attention.

Today l am neither for the APC nor for the PDP. I will go for a new orientation. It is about time people understood my stance nearly 12 years into this act of blogging. I stand for good government only. My inherent hatred for corruption and lack of independent reasoning have no bounds and it has no connection to religious or non-religious morality.

By a manner of another perspective and changing lanes, when next you read a criticism of the Buhari government from Reno Omokri, help me ask him where he was when Mrs. Jonathan and Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke where emptying the Nigerian treasury under the watchful eyes of Jonathan. Of course he would call it propaganda.

It is the same way everything was propaganda in the eyes of Segun Adeniyi of the Yar Adua regime. Now all you read here is propaganda for Mr. Adeshina. Wait for him to be out of the corridor of power. We saw Reuben Abati out, in and out again.

My take on some hypocrites is that they actually have their criminal minds before participating in all these serial governments of looters. How many more hypocrites and pretenders are going to emerge in 2019 if we don’t break this cycle of national madness?

I don’t even appreciate the headlines from people like Ngozi Iweala. Anyone that has been part of the governments in Nigeria and under whose watch or in whose presence massive looting had taken place is a bloody hypocrite.

I am still looking for those who resigned and blew the whistle when Jonathan and his crew (both in PDP and APC) were looting the treasuries. I am now looking for those who are going to leave the Buhari government and blow the whistle (both in the APC and PDP) as a result of the budget padding and scandalous national/state security situation. Mr. Buhari himself should have resigned along with Lai Mohammed for misleading the world when they stated at the end of december 2015 that they had defeated Boko Haram.

Mr. Donald Trump it appeared had no balls afterall. A straight talk would be to inform Mr. Buhari of his primary duty as the president of Nigeria. Buhari has failed and he is still failing to protect Nigerians. He, as well as the looters in the Nigerian senate, is failing to see the need for the immediate restructuring of Nigeria and the introduction of state police.

The hogwash in the White House led to increase in attacks in Nigeria. The long term consequences of the dangers poised by national and international hypocrisy and the passiveness of the drained Nigerian people are yet to be evaluated. But the signs are already very, very bad.

I can understand to some extent the feeling of party affiliation. What l cannot understand is the lack of will to stand with the truth. But l know many people are predictable in their love for money, power and position. Many people always discard the essence of public service because they want to remain relevant in the (dis)order of things in Nigeria.

These people look forward to recognition, gains and consolidations when the ocassion arises. So they cannot give up their hypocritic garments for honourary ones.

And since this is the way things work in Nigeria, the country dips deeper in national crises. We argue unnecesssrily on issues of common sense and we are a country left behind. We are sick. We need healing.

If a few good men and women are given the task of redirecting Nigeria back to the place where we were in december 1965, and if these men and women are honest and have no spirit of hypocrisy, if they are not concerned about getting rich or owning mansions in Dubai, America or London, or sending their children to schools in Ghana or USA, in less than 8 years (2 terms) Nigeria will be back again as one of the best places to live in the world. The people must be orientated about the dangers of hypocrisy and they must be ready to stand with these few good people. That is the hope of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Follow me on twitter @aderinola

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Terrorist Of Trollhättan

We teach kids that the pen is mightier than the sword.

We also teach värdegrund-basic values so that love-(and not religion or race or skin colour) will be the universal basis of our existence.

The Terrorist Of Trollhätttan

By Adeola Aderounmu

On Thursday the 22nd of October, Sweden experienced what has now gone down in history as the worst terrorist attack on her soil in over 75 years. Everybody seems to agree on that postulation.

Anton Ludin-Petersson

Anton Ludin-Petersson

Truly, there are definitely other tragedies that occur in trickles in the last 75 years that we have chosen not to discuss. The media controls us, in no small measure.

Still, the terror attack in Trollhättan, west of Sweden must be stated clearly as it was.

Children attending a grade 1-9 school left home that fateful morning. They hugged their parents and guardians goodbye as they have always done. They went to a safe place where their co-actors-the teachers and staff meet them daily, Monday to Friday.

The teachers, the staff, the resource persons and all the other people that are working together to make sure that the future is secured and better were on ground. They were playing their roles in building Sweden.

Teachers everywhere in the world are working hard not only to teach science and social studies but also what we call värdegrund-basic values so that love-(and not religion or race or skin colour) will be the universal basis of our existence.

It is at school that we-the teachers also teach about democracy and freedom. We teach children how to find happiness by choosing wisely among the options that life provides and to always remember that outside the four walls of the educational institutions, there are laws to follow and there are principles to guide them. We do our best, everyday.

It was in one of such schools, the one called KRONAN in Trollhättan that a young terrorist posed as a halloween celebrant and unleashed mayhem and terror that have now destroyed some lives forever.

A young man actually gave his life so that others might live. He was a young student assistant. His name was Lavin Eskandar. He died of the wounds from a sword attack. Yes, a sword!

The terror attack happened in the environment where we taught kids that the pen will always be mightier than the sword.

A student identified as Ahmed was also racially targeted and murdered by the terrorist of Trollhättan. May they (Ahmed and Lavin) rest in peace and may their families find the fortitude (and love from all of us) to bear the loss.

Let me be clearer, the Swedish media will call the terrorist gärningsman which means the perpetrator. That tag will not be substituted for terrorist in the major media that is controlled by those who tell us what they think we want or deserve to hear.

Incredibly a resistant group of activists and people with liberal minds have helped the Swedish media to correct that nonsense impression by rightly referring to the man who killed 2 people and seriously injured 2 others as a terrorist for that is what he was.

Incidentally as l was putting this story together, l got a message that a formal protest will take place against the Swedish Television in the coming days.

Sadly too there will be a lot of mis-information and propaganda from the mainstream media on how the late 21-year old terrorist had been a loner, a misfit, a psychopath and all kinds of forged tags that can be used to rationalise his crimes. Again, as we now know the guy was simply a terrorist.

The crimes committed and not where the criminal comes from must be the basis of the classification of criminals.

Meanwhile 24 hours hours after the attack, l had continue with my job and definitely with my life full of concealed anger. l am a professional, one of those in the category of the targets of this dead terrorist. l have to pretend that everything is alright when l am at workplace.

Who said teachers can’t be good actors? Isn’t that what we do everyday? Everyday we lay down our lives-to some extent that is-so some young children and even adults can have their dreams come true.

Tragically the terrorist was shot dead by the police. He was dressed in black and wearing a mask at the time. With a sword in hand he was clearly a danger to the lives of the police who arrived at the school to end the massacre that was in progress. The police said they acted in self-defense.

Anton posing with some students at the crime scene

Anton posing with some students at the crime scene

Obviously Anton Ludin-Petterson’s death is a sad loss to his friends and families and to all those who knew him. He was born a free man but chose to die a terrorist.

In my view as a social critic and as a public commentator, no amount of sugar-coating or media-misrepresention should be allowed to justify any act of terror no matter who the perpetrator is/was.

Anton was a young man who had his whole life ahead of him. But on this sad day in October he died a terrorist after taking the lives of 2 innocent people he knew nothing about except that they had foreign backgrounds. He wounded 2 others whose lives remain in danger.

At 21 a free man in any lawful society is accountable and liable for his actions. Anton is not available to defend his actions. The task of defending him will be valueless. Yet, care must be taken.

However, as we take different stands, we must never forget that the justification of terror attacks by looking for excuses and reasons to do so have had only one effect in history and that is the repetition of similar unfortunate events by copycats.

Unfortunately the Swedish media is trying to find a connection between the terror attack and a previous report about safety and security concerns at the school. Even the national school inspectors were quick to jump on the bandwagon. They bought the bait and this is so unfortunate and actually very sad.

Nobody in their right mind should do such a connection. It will provide an avenue for haters, copycats or terrorists to look for more schools where security concerns have been expressed and where people of mostly foreign backgrounds get their education in Sweden. Such schools will become easy targets if we allow our reasons to be marred by sentiments.

In my opinion Anton was wrong to chose the school-KRONAN irrespective of whether there are security concerns there or not. No one will be justified in terrorizing other people based on any factor at all.

I work with children everyday. I have been doing that since 1990. I see children and l see hope, laughter, dreams and aspirations. Then one day one man walked into a certain school and decided to end the hope, dreams, laughter and aspirations of the young children. I will never subscribe to his reasons or motivations. I condemn all acts of terrors no matter the cowards who did them.

The terrorist of Trollhättan has reminded Sweden that her status as a free society is under fire. It has been under fire for decades and the cover ups have been massive.

Here is a surprising fact people are hiding from in Sweden: the rise of extremism is massive at the same time that public outcry against racism and injustice has been rife.

The racist party is slowing and gradually rising to power. This means that there is something that does not add up beneath the surface. Who can explain this? What is now obvious is that we live in a society full of racists, haters and pretenders.

What happened to all the värdegrund (basic values) that we have been teaching at our schools in Sweden? Oh, they are gone with the wind..!

In recent weeks, months and years, a lot has happened that showed the deepening hatred and threats in the Swedish society. We-the foreigners-have our different battles that we confront daily. But commonly the burning of asylum and refugee residences is the latest and ongoing onslaught on openness and freedom.

These problems can no longer be swept under the carpets because the consequences will explode soon, right before our eyes.

The days of pretense are over.

The time is now for Sweden to show the political will to correct these anomalies.

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Ignorance Of Jonathan On Poverty And The World Economic Forum

By Adeola Aderounmu

If the forum goes ahead as planned, there will be tight security all around Abuja while the conference last. The security will be heavy and water-tight at the Sheraton Abuja Hotel, Transcorp Hiton Abuja and the Abuja International Conference Centre.

Somehow this conference in Abuja will showcase the low cognitive mentalities of some African rulers. The government of Nigeria will ensure the security and safety of foreigners. It is the same government that has not been able to protect her own citizens and is yet to issue any official statement on the circumstances surrounding the missing school students in Northern Nigeria.

WEF_Adeola

Who abducted the girls? How many of them were abducted? Who are the gangsters responsible for this human trafficking? What efforts are being made to curtail or prevent a re-occurrence of mass kidnap of children, men and women? Why was it possible to carry our double terror attacks at the same spot at such a short interval of time? The answers to these questions lie with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, men of the armed forces and the investigative arm of the security agencies, not with some “money-siphoning committee”. Silly!

The other angle to the economic forum came as a bang on the 1st of May 2014. The ruler of Nigeria revealed himself as one who has no sense of economics and growth measurements. What benefits is Nigeria getting from the WEF when poverty is measured by the number of people appearing on Forbes list of rich people or by the number of people who flew private jets to Kenya? Jonathan does not get it; his level of reasoning is so kindergarten and appalling. Now we know how Nigeria’s economic has overtaken that of South Africa-it is by private jets and Forbes report.

Poor Nigerians! They are in a permanent mess! With his line of reasoning, like a mad king, there is no way out. All those comments about Aliko Dangote, private jets and giving money to a Nigeria shows that Nigerians have thrown away their hope of a better future with the type of rulers they get at all levels of government. The relegation of intellectuals and the elevation of agberos and touts across all strata of governance in the affairs of Nigeria are revealing very devastating consequences.

When some people argue about not blaming the ruler of a country for the lack of security in the country then I don’t know who is going to accept the blame or responsibilities. Somebody must take responsibilities for the security breakdown in Nigeria and that person whom the bulk stops at his table is the ruler of the country.

It was not the South Korean PM who tilted the ship that capsized yet he took the blame and the responsibilities and stepped aside instead of finding blame or passing it around. So, I am sorry the security problem in Nigeria is for the government to solve irrespective of whether the government knows the sponsors or not. Innocent people are dying everyday! Children and women are kidnapped and used as slaves and sex objects.

Let me hasten my essay, Boko Haram successfully bombed a car park area in Abuja twice in a period of less than one month. The group vowed that it would remain in Abuja to unleash more terror attacks. Nigerians are asking for the arrest and prosecution of the sponsors of Boko Haram because Mr. Jonathan has mentioned several times that he knows the sponsors.

What investigations have been done by the police and the other security agencies? When will the arrest or interrogation of suspected Boko Haram terrorists begin? Is the judiciary independent enough to run these cases if this government gets the “liver” to start this show? Are the skeletons in Mr. Jonathan’s cupboard the hindrances to the end of terror in Nigeria? Who or what is he afraid of?

Who are those in his government that he said are “Boko Haram” members? Why is the Nigerian Army playing a double role in this whole deadly drama? People are asking the Nigerian army “if you can lead and win in Liberia and Sierra Leone, why is it impossible to lead in ordinary Northern Nigeria? Who controls the Nigerian Army today? What is in their way? Why are they being killed and slaughtered by Boko Haram so easily?

The WEF is ill-timed. Nigerians are asking about missing students and several murders and senseless killings by Boko Haram terrorists. Nigerians are asking for protection, they won’t get it! Nigerians do not have security for their lives and property. The luxury of security will be given to foreigners and coincidentally to Boko Haram terrorists who said they are already in Abuja. Are they lodged at the various expensive hotels in Abuja?

If this World Economic Forum conference is rolled away from Nigeria, the consequences and embarrassment (if this government ever get embarrassed) might help to start finding answers to the several unanswered questions that now include the global #bringbackourgirls campaign.

Who knows? The implications might be heavy enough to wedge stricter security measures to keep all Nigerians (and foreigners) safe while not ignoring the effects of the appropriate use of the rule of law as short term palliatives.

On the long term, it would be of historical and educational significances to look at the circumstances that led to the rise and success of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria especially the role of underdevelopment, ignorance, poor education and outright failure of governance in the region notwithstanding the several years of hold on power by the selfish rulers from the Northern Nigeria. The lessons learnt can be useful for the future generations. Two post-independence generations of Nigerians are already wasted! Tragic!

aderounmu@gmail.com

[photo, world economic forum and AFP photo]