Thank you, Sir, Big Brother A.B. I appreciate your empathy on this matter. I wonder why anyone could look at the matter any other way. In my book, evil smells evil, regardless of the linen in which it is wrapped. Thanks for calling up the memory of "Operation Weeti e." Two of my neighbors' homes in the village were set ablaze right in front of all of us in the village and one of them never survived. People were roasted alive all over the land, to the cheers of heartless crowds. BUT that was five decades ago; AND this is the 21st century. What we are witnessing is not a "Sankofa" model, where we learn from the past; but alas, our people are moon-walking back to our darkest past! You wonder why a land that used to flow with milk and honey now flows with the blood of innocent lives. We have met our enemy, and alas, it is us – pure and simple. So sad indeed! May the tears of genuine people like you heal our land . . .
Michael O. Afolayan
On Tuesday, November 22, 2016 8:01 AM, "Assensoh, Akwasi B." <aassenso@indiana.edu> wrote:
Brother Michael:
All the points you have marshaled in your brief but potent response below are simply superb and majestic!
You see, many Nigerian brothers and sisters today forget that similar acts of lawlessness and human depravity led to the first Nigerian coup as well as the unfortunate subsequent civil war. In fact, I was very proud of the unbiased manner in which Brother Okey Ndibe, two nights ago, described the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in his brilliant C-Span interview with the legendary Brian Lamb.
As a young Journalist in Nigeria, working for WEST AFRICA Magazine and DAILY TIMES newspaper in Lagos, I still remember that there was something callously called "Operation Wetty", which also involved dousing gasoline or petrol on a human being (a political opponent) and setting him or her ablaze in Nigeria. I also remember that Peter Pan, the indomitable Journalist, writing a column to caution his fellow Nigerians against lawlessness, titled "Before Darkness Falls". And truly, darkness did fall in Nigeria on January 15, 1966 as well as barely two years later when the "bloody" civil war erupted, in which hunger was prescribed by the Nigerian side as an effective weapon of war! Wow!!
This morning, Brother Michael, I cried like an innocent baby, as I read your potent sentence: "Any society where jungle justice is an acceptable form of sanction has a major problem." How true! Many thanks, indeed!!
A.B. Assensoh.
From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 6:55 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - No seven-year-old boy burnt in Lagos Police
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 6:55 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - No seven-year-old boy burnt in Lagos Police
BUT granted that the so-called 7-year old was not seven after all but seventy. Granted that it was not gari that he stole or attempted to steal but a car or even something more valuable, are we now so morally depraved to the extent that lynching, or any other form of extra-judicial punishment to a human-being - son, brother, nephew, uncle, father, friend of someone is a normal judicial process in our culture? I still don't get it! Any society where jungle justice is an acceptable form of sanction has a major problem. We need to address that. We seriously do!
Michael O. Afolayan
On Tuesday, November 22, 2016 1:16 AM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
No seven-year-old boy burnt in Lagos – Police
Police have refuted the news of the lynching of a seven-year-old boy for stealing garri in the Badagry area of Lagos state.
Reports and videos making the rounds on the social media indicate that the boy was set ablaze after being beaten up.
ADVERTISING
The reports caused outrage on the social media with many Nigerians calling for an investigation into the incident and an end to jungle justice.
However, the Lagos state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni has confirmed, according to a reliable source that the said lynching of the seven-year-old boy over garri theft is untrue.
Police complaint unit, headed by Mr Abayomi Shogunle, in its twitter handle @YomiShogunle, said there was no truth in the purported lynching.
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
104 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment