War and Violence

The Nigerian Military Vs The Rest Of Us In A Pseudo-democracy

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The Nigerian Military Vs The Rest Of Us In A Pseudo-democracy

By Adeola Aderounmu (Today is 11 years l have been on this BLOG, THY GLORY O’NIGERIA..!)

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(A recent tv-program claiming that there is starvation in parts of Africa including Nigeria. This is the type of shame that Nigerian politicians bring to their families, fathers and mothers and the rest of us. How can a country so blessed be populated by starving children and jobless people?)

 

There are pockets of problems in Nigeria. The most visible in recents days is ongoing in the Eastern part of Nigeria as the Nigerian Military started show of might in some parts of Nigeria.

According to the military, these exercises are staged in a number of geographical locations in Nigeria. There is no external aggression against Nigeria so it suits the Military to oppress the civilians/citizens.

Sadly the exercise in the East is causing commotions and deaths because of the clashes between the Nigerian military and the members of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB).

There have been a lot of arguments back and forth on who is to blame for the deaths and clashes. One person that l know stated that two wrongs does not make a right. Oh well, two shades of madness does not make a sense to me as well.

If your enemy is planning to roast you, you do not rub palm oil on your body and then start dancing near the fire (or python). At the same time, the one who does not let a sleeping dog lie would be bitten and may die of rabies.

In the year 2017, there are so many options open to agitations bothering on secession and independence. In the 1990s we saw the effect of war and stupidity as Bosnia and other nation went up in flames because people refused to talk. Way back in 1967 Nigeria herself went up in flames and the rest is history. How easily can history repeat itselt? Too easy as humans never learned. Humans are passionately foolish.

For BIAFRA, my opinion is that IPOB and MASSOB need to find a common ground as a starting point.

For as long as IPOB and MASSOB have differing views on how to achieve the BIAFRA AGENDA, the Igbo people are just deceiving themselves. Secondly, and after they have achieved a common front, they now need to get the support of the generality of the Igbo people including their politicians at home and at Abuja.

In order to be qualified for REFERENDUM, the Igbo Nation, as in all of Eastern Nigerian must be united in seeking the referendum in which those in support and those against BIAFRA can make their votes count. In asking for a referendum, it does not mean that all Igbo people are in support of BIAFRA, it only means that they will have a chance to test the popularity of the opinion.

A Referendum will not be achieved by violence and hate speech for which Nnamdi Kanu is a champion, sadly. A referendum will never be achieved as long as Igbo Ministers and Igbo politicians in Abuja are rubbing minds and asses with the rest of the country. It is not as if they need to come home to settle to Biafra, but their inputs are needed in achieving and testing the referendum. A majority outcome is the future of the Igbo Union.

Not even getting to that point makes a useless mess of the agitation of either IPOB or MASSOB. A war will consume them like a thuderous fire no matter the external or internal support. IPOB must understand the dictates of war. It is beyond street violence as the Nigerian Military as shown by their tiny operation in the East in recent days.

True it appears the Nigerian Military is controlled by the North. True, it appears that Buhari is a sectional ruler and a ruthless, thoughtless dictator… THEREFORE not playing by the rules of achieving a referedum makes it easy for him as a ruthless ruler to excercise military might.

To confront any ruler or government in Nigeria, any region or section that is willing to secede must first follow the books. To go to war with Nigeria means that the government of Nigeria have refused to listen to the voice of reason after every requirement for referendum or eventual secession have been achived. It would then be logical to accuse the Nigerian government of genocide or tribal killings (for which the military is already an expert, so don’t get me wrong). I am not in support of any military action or excercise in any zone in Nigeria. It is absolute nonsense and a provocative act.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. In my opinion a referendum is the way forward for the BIAFRAN AGENDA. It will be a very, very long and unwindy road to get to the point of a referendum.

Violence, war and forming local militias is not the way. History shows us that lives will be lost, the innocent will be massacred and the purpose will never be achieved. Only the manufacturers of weapons will smile to the banks.

So again, let IPOB or/and MASSOB come to the table and forge a way forward. Greed and thirst for power may eventually suffocate both groups. Get your people together, not necessarily because you think you are right to form BIAFRA but to vote against or for your call for the republic of BIAFRA.

Let everyone be prepared to accept the result of the referendum and let’s see where we go from there. Remember that as long as your Abuja politicians and state governors are singing a different tunes, then there will be no referendum, talk less of a BIAFRA that many people around the world belived died in 1970.

I am not an expert on this issue, l am just a blogger offering my opinion because l would hate to see a people suffer genocide in the hands of the one-sided Nigerian military.

However l am super convinced that if it were to be a country-wide revolution where all the people in the country (more than 150 m) pour to the streets at the same time for several days or weeks, the government will be totally crippled and changes including the emergence of new nations or the re-establishment of the old ones will emerge.

I amd also thinking about what will become of the IBADAN DECLARATION in the coming days. I wonder if it was an empty show where some people are also seeking for attention.

I am thinking loud about the major problems in Nigeria, a country so blessed yet so deprieved because of the greed of a few people who sadly are still in power no matter the political affiliation.

I am thnking about: IPOB, MASSOB, ODUDUWA REPUBLIC, AREWA YOUTH, MIDDLE BELT REGION, MEND, HERDSMEN AND BOKO HARAM.

There is an urgent need for a political solution. With or without the IPOB uprisings, this country cannot hold for too much longer. We postpone the major evil days while the people experience taste of evil daily. This is not sustainable.

These are just my my unedited random thoughts in these days of uncertainty, lies, power vacuum and a propaganda machine in the hands of a very wicked style of government. The Buhari led APC government now ranks among the most useless government in Nigeria. It is the most hypocritical in the history of Africa. It is basically at par with the Jonathan government with regards to the number of criminals in its ranks from the president to the senate leader to the governors and the local government. It’s the same old sh*t.

Toying with this type of heartless criminals the way IPOB is doing is mainly suicide. There must be a way round…

 

Echoes Of Idiaraba

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I was born after the civil war.

When l was growing up and in my formative years there was no one-teachers, counsellors or psychologists-who told us the reasons for the things that happened in northern Nigeria. Many of those things were unheard of or forbidden in western Nigeria.

The massacres, the beheading and the bloodletting just happened and became part of my/our history.

The other stories from the north like getting married to children as young as 8 years old blew my mind away forever!

Echoes Of Idi-Araba

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_March

Intro

When micro-ethnic wars break out in Nigeria, they are sometimes quickly subdued and swept under the carpet.

That (being swept under the carpet) is going to be the fate of the recent micro-ethnic war at Mile 12 in Ikorudu, Lagos.

The Nigerian government is a master of this game-pretending as if everything is alright at the surface until the next riot or violence breaks out. The response will be the same-quench it and sweep it under the carpet.

Nigeria remains a volatile country because successive government continues to push forward the days of reckoning-that-is when to actually sit down and discuss a viable and long-lasting political solution regarding the colonial debacle called Nigeria.

We have come to the realisation that Nigeria, though with the potentials of a giant, ironically remains an under-developed country as a result of several factors, not least the dearth of leadership at the center and across the states.

 

The Northern Syndrome

My phobia of the north (of Nigeria) developed when l was still in my early teenage years. Now, with the established terrorism in the north (that may soon spread to other places) and recent news of filtering in, in different forms and shades, my phobia may be incurable.

It’s sad but it’s true.

This is not the first time l’m expressing my fear and phobia of the north.

Sometimes people take your experiences and life stories with a pinch of salt. They even argue and bet that you’ll change your mind as if they are you.

The trauma of the teenage years lingers. I may go through my life cycle without ever steeping my foot on the northern part of Nigeria.

When l was growing up and in my formative years there was no one-teachers, counsellors or psychologists-who told us the reasons for the things that happened in northern Nigeria.

Many of those things were unheard of or forbidden in western Nigeria.

Did we even have counsellors or psychologists? Where were they?

The massacres, the beheading and the bloodletting just happened and became part of our history.

The other stories from the north like getting married to children as young as 8 years old blew my mind away forever!

 

The Echoes of Idiaraba

l learnt about the aberration in Yorubaland. I mean, I became more confused when several of the riots in western Nigeria were propelled by disagreements between the men from the north and local indigenes. The question of one Nigeria was laid to rest several decades ago.

So when l was studying at the postgraduate level at the College of Medicine in ldiaraba, there were some days I looked over my shoulders because of the tension between the indigenes and the men from the north or beyond the north. We found out later that Chad and Niger also invaded western Nigeria.

Sometimes l felt that the gods were with me because l’d been home when the massacres took place. But what about those whose lives were taken away just as if one was blowing up fumes from cigarettes?

The episodes have just been repeated at Mile 12, with precision!

When l served in lbadan, there were some places l never dared to disembark from the bus to even look around because my traumatic mind told me that l could be stabbed to death by the herdsmen or a collection of rioters with mixed identities.

Such was the height of my phobia.

For me, as a young boy, and then a young student, the echoes of Idiaraba are the echoes of northern Nigeria and they still make me sick.

I am aware of the pockets of violence even amongst indigenes or local gangs. They just added to the heap of confusion in the lives of an innocent teenage mind.

Sometimes l think about the post-civil war Nigeria and all the unhealed wounds. These thoughts diminish my hope for Nigeria. I am convinced that the ever-fresh Biafra struggles are closely tied to unfinished businesses.

Indeed in my adulthood l have learnt about the unusual constellation of Northern Nigeria but too sad that that the constellation won’t drive away the fears and trauma. It may be too late to help me. I don’t know.

In fairness, considering that the only place where l feel safe-western Nigeria-is under siege from time to time from herdsmen and the foreigners who have failed to respect, revere or reciprocate the hospitality of the locals/indigenes, my trauma can still be aggravated.

One can argue from now to eternity about the underlying factors that brought me to this dilemma. We can sweep issues under the carpets. We can take sides and apportion blame.

Aren’t we expert in these areas?

Our common vision reveals to us what is on the surface. They are mis-governance, poverty, ignorance, deprivation, lack of education and sometimes mis-education of the minds. The list can be grown.

Still reappearing below the surface is the complete failure of nearly all the regimes and governments of Nigeria. There also lie the fundamental questions of the political and physiological structures of Nigeria.

The failure of “governance and politics” in Nigeria is monumental!

What next?

The echoes of Idiaraba are not going to leave Nigeria soon. They reverberate with different tones along the landscape.

They resonate from Idiaraba, to Sabongarri, to Mile 12, to Sabo and everywhere across the country.

No. they won’t leave soon.

In some places these echoes are already the drums and sounds of terrorism and war.

With the drastic curtailing of the Mile 12 episode, the day of the next massacre just got pushed forward.

The usual politics may one day send Nigeria to her ultimate demise. It will be a sad day for Africa, for humanity.

The advocates of regional government or self-determination are not totally wrong. Nigeria needs a lasting and permanent political solution.

The other day, Nigeria’s almost foreign-based president, Mr. Buhari was rooting for the Palestinian agenda. I don’t know if that is contradiction or pragmatism.

One who does not propose a referendum for the Biafra state should not support the Palestinian agenda.

Anyway, there was a road Nigeria did not take. Hence we will never be able to evaluate the roles that proper governance and good leadership could have played in Nigeria as it is today.

We will not be able to answer the question: had Nigerian been governed by sensible people and responsible government, where would the country be today?

Could we have moved beyond ethnic massacres? Could we have moved beyond racial profiling within the country? Could we have relegated imported religious beliefs and local cultural differences to the background in favour of humanity and common sense?

We will never know the answers because up to this day in 2016 Nigeria is ruled by greedy, selfish, myopic and extremely wicked souls.

Nigeria is led by politicians who will acquire the latest cars in the middle of the worst economic situation in the country’s history.

Call them fools, call them idiots, call them what you like, they don’t care anymore. The redemption point got exited long, long time ago!

They’ll even loot more when you say stop. They’ll build more houses and tell you to live, fight one another and die on the streets, you wretched citizens!

I don’t know who to turn to.

But l’ll try the Lagos state government and the custodians of western Nigeria: please take major proactive steps to ensure the safety of lives and property of all the citizens of Nigeria living in your domain.

Some short films emanating from the recent micro-ethnic wars revealed a lot about the extremely low standard of living and poverty in that part of Lagos.

Please do what you can to provide more employment opportunities, basic education, basic housing, basic infrastructure, possibilities for sport and other extra-curricular activities. They are urgent steps that could avail much.

Don’t forget that the farm settlement schemes will be a big boost for western Nigeria! Please start and develop it in earnest, or boost the existing ones, both private and public.

Youth empowerment, community-based mentorship and leadership programs should not be overlooked.

In our hope and dream of a better Nigeria based on integrated regionalism and a greater Africa the peaceful coexistence of the people will play a pivotal role.

Maybe if the right leadership comes someday, the future generation will radiate the ancient glory of regionally integrated Africa.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation (Part 2 of 3)

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In the 16 years of PDP rule, all ethnic groups, including the Igbo, have defrauded Nigerians by claiming to represent their ethnic groups in office when, in fact, they represent their self-interest.

By Guest Writer Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

The new agitation for Biafra was propelled by the arrest and detention of one Nnamdi Kanu the Director of Radio Biafra and leader of “Indigenous People of Biafra.

He was arraigned before an Abuja Municipal Magistrate Court on October 19, 2015 and charged for Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Intimidation, Managing and Belonging to Unlawful Society contrary to Sections 97, 97b and 397 of the Penal Code.

Before he could fulfil his bail condition, the DSS on the 10th of November 2015 in a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/873/2015, obtained an order from the High Court to detain Kanu for ninety days for the purpose of investigating him for terrorism and financing terrorism.

The entire Southeast exploded in demonstration for his release and later, it was reported that bus convoys transported protesters from Aba in Abia state to Port-Harcourt in Rivers State to demonstrate not only for his release but the excise of Biafra out of Nigeria.

Similar protest was staged in Asaba, the Igbo speaking capital of Delta State. But who is Nnamdi Kanu?

I first came across the name Nnamdi Kenny Okwu Kanu, in an article published in the Nigeria Village Square on the 17th of April 2014. The article was written by Uzochukwu Ugbani.

The article was captioned: Brute Noice – Radio Biafra London. Mr. Ugbani who had listened to Kanu’s broadcast wrote, “In his recklessness, we have heard Mr. Nnamdi Kanu call ninety-nine per cent of Igbo women prostitutes on his daily broadcast. He constantly laments the importance of an immediate war in Igboland and will prefer to destroy Nigeria or see her look worse than Somalia, if necessary to actualize Biafra.

According to him (Kanu), as soon as this (Biafra) war is over, he will forcefully subject all Igbo to DNA test and those discovered to possess foreign genes or with mixed parents will be eliminated or face deportation.” Ugbani warned in Igbo thus, “Oji oso agbakwuru ogu, amaghi n’ogu bu onwu,” meaning “Those who run to war with smile on their faces, will certainly be greeted with the miseries of war.”

From the above, it can easily be deduced that Kanu’s Biafra is not only a xenophobic country that hates non-Igbo ethnic goups in Nigeria but a Biafra that celebrates the Nazi-like supremacy of the Igbo tribe and scorns other tribes outside the borders of Biafra.

Concerning Kanu’s Pirate Radio Biafra broadcast over Nigeria’s air space, the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, Emeka Mba, said at a press conference on Friday, 17 July 2015 that operators of Radio Biafra in the Southeast had been arrested and transmission equipment captured.

He said further that the seditious activities of the illegal ‘Radio Biafra’ in transmitting hate messages are unfortunately designed to create disunity among Nigerians and to mislead young people in a deliberate act of subversion.

(Source: www.saharareporters.com/2015/07/17/nigerian-broadcast-authorities-arrest-radio-biafra-operators).

Before the arrest of Kanu in October 2015, Nigerian vanguard online reported in September about the clash between pro-Biafra group and the security agents in Anambra, resulting in 3 dead and 20 wounded.

On Thursday, 5th June 2014, a police Sergeant and a civilian were killed when members of a secessionist group, Biafran Zionist Federation (BZF) stormed Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) at 5 am, to declare a State of Biafra.

The leader of the group, Benjamin Igwe Onwuka, who had earlier been declared wanted by the Police for the March 7, 2014, invasion of Enugu State Government House was, however, arrested by the Police along with 12 other suspects while many others escaped. Their trials are still ongoing. (ThisDay Newspaper)

From the accounts rendered above it is obvious that the Biafran agitations precede the coming of Buhari’s Presidency even though the intensity increased after his ascension to power.

According to the President of Eze Ndigbo in diaspora and who is also Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, Eze Nwabueze Ohazulike, the agitatation for a sovereign state of Biafra is due to marginalisation the Igbo have suffered in Nigeria since Independence. (Vanguard Newspaper)

Others have maintained that the marginalisation of the Igbo began after the civil war and added that the Southeast has been treated unjustly because it is the only geographical zone that has five States while others have six or more States.

While directing all Igbo living outside Igboland to start returning home, the National Director of Information of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Mr. Uchenna Madu said, “Nigeria is a state where others are first class citizens but treat the Igbo as second class citizen, a state where others are born to rule but treat the Igbo as perpetual outcasts, a state where State policies deliberately deny Igboland critical developmental infrastructure.” (Vanguard Newspaper)

Whether after Independence or after the civil war, there are concrete evidence that persons of ethnic Igbo have played central roles in governing Nigeria with persons of other ethnic groups in the country.

Let me explain what is meant by ‘persons of ethnic groups.’ In Nigeria, citizens have been indoctrinated to believe that any officer of the Federal government and parastatals, whether appointed, selected, elected or employed, is representing his ethnic group whereas the duty of the officer is to produce goods and services to all Nigerians and not only to the ethnic group of the specific officer.

What Nigerians have always experienced is that, even when the supposedly representative of ethnic group in office has collected salaries and fringe benefits personally, neither his ethnic group nor the entire country received goods and services from the officer.

Any criticism of the officer for not delivering goods and services for which he/she has been paid to produce and deliver is twisted to imply an attack on the ethnic group of the officer.

In the 16 years of PDP rule, all ethnic groups, including the Igbo, have defrauded Nigerians by claiming to represent their ethnic groups in office when, in fact, they represent their self-interest.

At independence, the NCNC formed a coalition government at the centre with the NPC.

Although the Prime Minister was Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the government was dominated by the NCNC. Consequently, Chinua Achebe noted that before the coup of July 29, 1966, “the Igbo led the nation in virtually every sector – politics, education, commerce, and the arts (page 66-67, There Was a Country by ChinuaAchebe).”

(Read part 3 soon)

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

 

Hate Crimes in Sweden: Why It May Get Worse

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Hate Crimes in Sweden: Why It May Get Worse

By Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

(A letter written By Salimonu Kadiri to Adeola Aderounmu before the recent terrorist attack by a Swede in the town of Tröllhatan).

Nigerians belong to the black race and with the resurrection of Nazism in Europe and upsurge of neo-third Reich politicians who are not only represented in Parliaments but are in coalition government in some countries, the personal security of Nigerians like any Black person in Europe is constantly threatened. From the Swedish perspective, there is no day the persecution of the Blacks are not discussed both in the social and print media. The persecutions are based, mainly, on the colour of the skin.

After rolling out drums on October first to celebrate 55 years of political and economic backwardness of Nigeria that have culminated in self-styled Diaspora Nigerian in Sweden, let me acquaint you with the threat post to our collective wellbeing and security by neo-third Reich politically oriented sect called Nazis.

In the Swedish Metro Newspaper of Tuesday, 10 February 2015, a regular columnist, Göran Greider, observed to his dismay, on page six, that in the existing racial-ranking order, Black Africans are rated lowest. Then on Monday, 14 September 2015, the Aftonbladet newspaper under the subtitle– Top –S polititician: It is my right to say the ‘n-word’ revealed that the chairman of Lidköping municipal council, Kjell Hedvall was furious against those he called academic blockheads and politically correct maffians who criticized him for calling chocolate-ball negro-ball. According to him negro-ball is not an insult because “for hell sake, we have never had slaves in Sweden.”

The word negro originated from Spanish or Portuguese and it means black. The word *NEGER*  is not Swedish in origin but an adopted and corrupt version of the American word, *NIGGER* commonly used to denigrate  a Black person in America.

In addition the corresponding word for *Black* in Swedish language is *SVART* and not *NEGER.* If Kjell Hedvall had called his granulated cacao formed into ball negro-ball one would have understood him as utilizing the Spanish/Portuguese word to name his delicacy even if to the people of Latin countries, it would sound absurd for anyone to eat Negro testicle.

Well, some may say a negative nickname can only cause psychological and not physical wound, therefore, why bother about being called *NIGGER* or *NEGER.*

However, the front page of the ‘Svenka Dagbladet’ of  Monday, 21 September 2015, had this headline: HATE CRIMES AGAINST AFROSWEDES INCREASE. It confirmed that Afro-Swedes, to a higher extence are affected by violence than other minority groups, 20 years after the murder of a young Ivorian in Klippan. Under the sub-title, on page 10, “AFROPHOBIC HATE CRIMES HAVE INCREASED SUBSTATIALLY,” a senior lecturer at Karlstad University, Tobias Hübinette, said that ‘Reports of Afrophobic hate crimes have increased by about 41 per cent between 2008 and 2014.

The phenomenon is the same in other European countries. Hate crimes often take place in public places, have often element of threat or pure physical violence and the perpetrator is seldom acquainted with the victim.’ To the question, what do you think about why Afro-Swedes are more vulnerable?, Tobias Hübinette replied, “It is awful to say but mostly black men are easy prey.” From the foregoing, Black people are usually persecuted not because they have committed any wrong-doing but because of the colour of their skin. Relative to Nigerians, let me narrate a relevant case out of many incidents.

On Wednesday, 23 April 2014, Swedish Television Channel 1 announced through the electronic and print media that its special program, ‘Scrutinizing Assignment’, in the evening of that day would feature cases of crimes committed by neo-Nazi groups in Sweden without judicial and legal sanctions.

Later in the evening, Scrutinizing Assignment revealed that in the early morning of 7 December 2013, a Nigerian visitor to Sweden was stabbed in the lower abdomen by a gang of four young boys said to belong to a Nazi sect called Swedish Resistant Movement. The Nigerian named, Fidelis Ogu, was on exit from the underground train station, Hokarängen, in the Southern suburb of Stockholm, and while on his way to his temporary place of abode he was stabbed.

He was rushed to Karolinska University Hospital where Doctors battled successfully to save his life. Although this incident happened on December 7, 2013, neither the Swedish public nor resident Nigerians in Sweden was aware of Mr. Fidelis Ogu’s encounter with the Nazi until when he appeared in the Scrutinizing Assignment TV programm where he showed the scar after the stab in his lower abdomen by the Nazi. In spite of the fact that the attackers of Fidelis Ogu were captured by the public surveillance camera, the police declined to investigate the case against the assailants of Fidelis Ogu on the ground that it would not be possible to prove who amongst the four stabbed him.

Due to the video film from the public surveillance camera shown in the TV program, Scrutinizing Assignment, one of the attackers went to the police to narrate that he was only acquainted with one of the attackers and that although he was with them that morning, he was not a member of Swedish Resistant Movement.

He also told the Police who among the four stabbed Fidelis Ogu. Premised on the insider’s evidence, the Police conducted new investigation and the prosecutor charged the three Nazi boys to court for heinous assault and attempted murder on Fidelis Ogu on September 30, 2014.

On October 24, 2014, a magistrate court in the south of Stockholm discharged and acquitted the stabbers of Fidelis Ogu. The court motivated its decision on p. 36-39 which I hereby summarize. Through the films from the public surveillance cameras in Hökarängen’s center, it is established that the accused had been in the vicinity where Fidelis Ogu had been stabbed.

They have namely passed by surveillance cameras both in the time immediate before and after the time when stabbing must have taken place. It can be established that the weapon which was used in the action has not been found. There is no technical evidence either which connects any of the accused to the deed.

The information which two witnesses have given only confirm that the accused were at the scene of the crime; that they have had access to knife and they have quarrelled with another dark- coloured man who they also chased the same morning.

Concerning information given by Fidelis Ogu in police interrogation, its value, the court says, is limited due to the fact that he has not been heard before the court. Moreover, it should be added that the police interrogations of Fidelis Ogu were conducted in English without a translator; at the time of interrogations, Fidelis Ogu was undergoing treatment for his injury whereby at the first two interrogations, at least, he had received morphine and beside had been under the influence of alcohol; and from the police interrogations, the court concluded that Fidelis Ogu had not been able to identify the person that stabbed him.

The only thing in the investigation which directly associated the accused with the crime was the witness account given by a companion (an Insider) of one of the three accused persons. The court said that the ‘insider’ had made credible impression on it. Since the consequence of witnessing against the accused was enormous, the court believed that the insider would not have given those information if they were not true.

Nevertheless, the court rejected the insider’s evidence on the ground that he did not contact the police until after he had seen the picture of himself, together with the three accused persons, culled from the public surveillance camera film and shown on Channel one TV program, Scrutinizing Assignment. His contact with the police, the court believed, could have been a ploy to protect himself.

His witness was not given under oath. The court reasoned that even if it was proved that the accused had access to knife in addition to their Nazi political convictions, those do not constitute any direct support to the claim that they stabbed Fidelis Ogu. In the court’s opinion, the investigation did not give a clear and unambiguous picture of whom or who had taken part in the deed and how. Against this background, the court does not believe that it could be considered as having been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the three accused persons were guilty of the crime the prosecutor wanted them to be convicted of.

To dispute the decision of the court, some facts should be highlighted. When Fidelis Ogu was stabbed in the lower part of his abdomen on 7 December 2013, the police had immediate access to the video film from the public surveillance camera where an identifiable person was seen holding a knife and saying, ‘I got that devil.’ Not only that, two other persons with the knife holding man were known by the police to belong to a Swedish Nazi sect called Swedish Resistant Movement.

Yet, no attempt was made to invite the identified Nazi men for questioning, not to talk of searching their homes for the knife used against Fidel Ogu. If the police, from the beginning, had considered the stabbing of Fidelis Ogu as a serious crime, the interrogation of the victim would not have been conducted in English, by the usually experienced Swedish police, without a translator.

The interrogation was informal because the police had already made up their mind not to take the case to court. This view was corroborated in the Scrutinizing Assignment, relayed by the Swedish TV, Channel 1 on Wednesday, 23 April 2014, as the police told the reporter that investigation on the stabbing of Fidelis Ogu had been discontinued because the prosecutor would not be able to prove who among the three suspects stabbed him.

Since Fidelis was a temporary visitor in Sweden, did the police ask him of his temporary/contact address in Sweden and his permanent address outside Sweden? In the Scrutinizing Assignment program, Fidel Ogu was seen showing the scar after the stab in his stomach. How did the Swedish Television, channel 1 get Fidelis to participate in the program?

The prosecutor claimed that all efforts to get Fidelis Ogu to be present in the court for the trial was futile. What did prosecutor’s efforts entail? Why did the prosecutor open the case in court in the absence of the plaintiff, Fidel Ogu? The Swedish State, granted Fidelis Ogu a lawyer to represent his interest, was the lawyer a specialist in criminal law? Why did the lawyer, allocated to F. Ogu, allow the trial to continue in the absence of his client? How could a lawyer in a criminal court case, represent the interest of a client he/she has never met or talk to?

The court had discharged and acquitted the stabbers of Fidelis Ogu on the ground that it was not proved who among the suspects stabbed him even when one of his attackers was seen holding a knife in camera and saying ‘I got the devil’ at the scene of the crime. This extreme burden of proof proclaimed by the court is not in consonance with the Swedish Criminal Code, BrB 1962:700, Chapter 23 paragraph 4, reviewed in Law 1994: 458, dealing with co-perpetrators of crime. Co-perpetrator in crime is illustrated in legal case file NJA 1980, page 606, with an example.

It states that three men had each armed themselves with wooden rods and with these as weapons attacked some other men who were inflicted with various kinds of injuries. One of the attacked men had lost sight on an eye. All the three attackers were convicted for assault. All the three men were regarded as perpetrators of the crime despite the fact that it could not be ascertained what injuries each of the accused had inflicted on each victim. It was considered that the accused persons, after joint deliberation, had agreed to arm themselves with rods and collectively had made use of them. Each and everyone of the accused persons, of course, fulfilled condition for criminal intention.

Another case where the burden of proof of what an individual has done in a collective crime was the murder of two police men. On May 28, 1999, three Bank robbers, Jackie Arklov, Tony Olsson and Andreas Axelsson, robbed Ostgota Enskilda Bank in Kisa of the sum of 2.6 million Kronor. The robbers were chased by some police patrol vehicles and at a village called Malexander, the robbers opened fire and killed two of the police men chasing them.

Even though there was no clear cut evidence of who amongst the three robbers fired the bullets that killed the two policemen, all the three robbers were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder because of their presence at the scene of crime and their collective criminal intention. Similarly, the three Nazis fulfilled the condition for criminal intention when Fidelis Ogu was stabbed and there was no need to prove who among them stabbed him to find them guilty.

Following the decision of the court, many Swedish Newspapers on Saturday, 25 October 2014, reacted against the discharge and acquitance of Fidelis Ogu’s Stabbers. Reading through page 26 and 27 of the Aftonbladet of that Saturday,  Oisin Cantwell wrote, “IT WAS, I MUST SAY, VERY GENEROUS OF THE MAGISTRATE COURT TO CONCEDE THE RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENCE SITUATION TO THE ACCUSED. AND IT IS REMARKABLE THAT, IN MOTIVATING ITS JUDGMENT, THE COURT DID NOT EVEN MENTION THAT ONE OF THE ACCUSED DNA HAD BEEN MIXED WITH OGU’S BLOOD.”

The practical implication of detecting the DNA of one of the accused in the blood of Fidelis Ogu must be that the accused had physical contact with him through stabbing. Yet, the court concluded that there was no technical evidence linking any of the accused persons to his stabbing with knife.

However, questions that should cause nightmare for every Nigerian (may be every African) in Sweden are: What happened to Fidelis Ogu after his appearance in the Swedish TV 1 program, Scrutinizing Assignment, on Wednesday, 23 April 2014? Was he murdered after his appearance in the TV, which was why the prosecutor could not find him to appear in court in a case that he was a plaintiff?

We don’t know how many cases like that of Fidelis Ogu happen in Sweden everyday and it is only affected individual who knows and until it is your turn you may feel unconcerned. My purpose of writing this is to alert and remind you that the time is ripe for all Nigerians in Sweden to speak with one voice to the authorities in Sweden and Nigeria about our collective security to life and happiness.

It is around this that we as Nigerians and Africans should forget our differences and stop being petty.

S. Kadiri

Nigeria’s Independence, The Military Coups And the Origin of Corruption Nigeria

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Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

Nigeria’s Independence, The Civil War And The Origin Of Corruption In Nigeria

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer On Thy Glory O’ Nigeria..!)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Fifty-five years ago, Nigeria obtained sovereignty from Britain. Consequently, Chinua Achebe recorded thus, literally all government ministries, public and privately held firms, corporations, organizations, and schools saw the majority of their expatriate staff (mostly British) leave.

While this quiet transition was happening a number of internal jobs, especially the senior management positions, began to open up for Nigerians, particularly for those with a university education.

It was into these positions vacated by the British that a number of people like myself were placed …. This ‘bequest’ was much greater than just stepping into jobs left behind by the British. Members of my generation also moved into homes in the former British quarters previously occupied by members of the European senior civil service.

These homes often came with servants – chauffeurs, maids, cooks, gardeners, stewards – whom the British had organized meticulously to ‘ease their colonial sojourn.’

Now following the departure of the Europeans, many domestic staff (Nigerians or black Africans) stayed in the same positions and were only too grateful to continue their designated salaried roles in post-independence Nigeria. Their masters were no longer Europeans but their own brothers and sisters.

This bequest continued in the form of new club memberships and access to previously all-white areas of town, restaurants, and theatres (see p. 48 – 49, There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe).”

It is very important to note that Nigerians who stepped in to fill the jobs left by Europeans and inherited their rates of pay and privileges also played the role of the colonialists. The offices occupied by Nigerians after Independence were designed and meant to serve the interest of Great Britain and they remain so till date.

However, within six years of independence Chinua Achebe asserted that, Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule” where public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth (p.51, There Was a Country).”

As Nigerian public servants and politicians preened themselves in the perfection of the white man’s life, they became extravagant and flamboyant while being conspicuous and spectacular in consumption of imported materials. At that stage, the inherited rates of pay and privileges were no longer enough for Nigerian public servants, employed or politically appointed. That was the origin of corruption in Nigeria.

Exactly five years, three months and fourteen days after Nigeria had obtained sovereignty from Britain and at 12:30 P.M., on January 15, 1966, Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, announced in a broadcast from Radio Kaduna that the Supreme Council of the Revolution of the Nigerian Armed Forces had taken over power in the North.

Our enemies, Nzeogwu said, are the political profiteers, the swindlers, men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten per cent. Declaring a martial law, he listed embezzlement, bribery and corruption among offences that carried death sentences.

Unfortunately for Nigeria and Major Nzeogwu, his comrades in the South had been infiltrated by tribal chauvinists. One of the coup plotters explained that Major Don Okafor and Captain Ogbo Oji had taken a stand against any step that might embody the killing of Ironsi.

Therefore, while the would-be assassins were pointedly making for his (Ironsi) residence he was at the same time heading towards Ikeja (2nd Infantry Battalion) to enlist support to quell the rebellion of the Majors. Major John Obienu who was to come to Lagos from Abeokuta with armoured cars in support of the Majors’ rebellion renegged and linked up instead with Major General Ironsi at Ikeja (see p. 125 – 126, NIGERIA’S FIVE MAJORS; COUP D’ÉTAT OF 15TH JANUARY 1966, FIRST INSIDE ACCOUNT BY BEN GBULIE).

It is noteworthy that Captain Ben Gbulie fought on the side of Biafra during the Civil War. In Enugu Major Chude Sokei and Lieutenant Jerome Oguchi of the 1st Infantry Battallion were assigned the role of killing the Premier of the Eastern and Mid-western Regions, Dr. Michael Ihenokura Okpara and Denis Osadebey respectively, but the would-be assassins had turned pacificists that did not like to see bloodshed (see p.136 of Gbulie’s book).

Two hours after Nzeogwu broadcast in Kaduna, Major General Johnson Thompson Umunakwe Aguiyi Ironsi caused Radio Lagos to broadcast at 14:30 P.M., that in the early hours of this morning, 15th January 1966, a dissident section of the Nigerian Army kidnapped the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and took them to an unknown destination.

The General Officer Commanding (Ironsi) and the vast majority of the army remained loyal to the Federal Government and are already taking appropriate measures to bring the ill-advised mutiny to an end. On Sunday, 16th January 1966, when General Ironsi announced his taking over of power in Nigeria at 23:50 P.M., fifteen casualities of the Majors’ coup included the Prime Minister of the Federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh; the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola; Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari; Brigadier Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun; Colonel Kuru Mohammed; Colonel R. A. Shodeinde; Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema; Lietenant-Colonel Yakubu Pam and Lietenant-Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe. Just as Ironsi did not take over power to fight corruption in Nigeria, so were those who overthrew him towards the end of July 1966.

Since 1985, and especially in the last 16 years, corruption as observed by Major Nzeogwu in January 1966 had grown from 10% to 200%. Political elites in government and civil servants, including the judiciary are accustomed to using their offices to share power and the resources of Nigeria among themselves.

Money budgeted for road constructions, hospitals, education, power supply, potable water, housing, turn around maintenance of oil refineries and even pensions have been looted by political elites, civil servants in the ministries, departments, parastatals and judiciary.

The main core of the Nigerian economy, oil which in the constitution of Nigeria is the property of all Nigerians have been appropriated by the elites to themselves through the issuance of oil blocks to one another.

Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

The treasury looters in Nigeria give birth to unemployment, armed robbers, kidnappers, drug traffickers (even to countries where the penalty is death sentence), ethnic insurgents and Boko Haram while they force others to look for means of livelihood in exile.

(to be continued)