Sent: Tuesday, July 4, 2023 6:49:43 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A PEOPLE BESET WITH BRAIN DARKER THAN UNREFINED CRUDE OIL?
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju:
At least the United States has not made the mistake that Sweden has and would not persist in the folly of providing police escort and protection for some miscreant to burn a copy of the Holy Quran outside a main mosque in Washington DC. or outside Saudi Arabia's Embassy or - also God forbid - the burning of a Torah Scroll, outside the Israeli Embassy or outside a major synagogue in New York City (the Rev. Jesse Jackson's " Hymietown!) not because the United States doesn't have the First Amendment, but because the United States knows that the fallout wouldn't be the kind of joke that they would be able to handle, that in fact it could be the beginning of the end of the United States as we currently know it. I don't believe that Israel would provide some police protection for some rag Jewish settler or holy rabbi to -God forbid -burn a copy of Islam's holiset scripture outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque…
And if it had been a Palestinian that had assassinated Yitzhak Rabin
"terrorism apologist"?
" A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?"
For your immediate attention: Chris Hedges: They Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About Ukraine
I don't suppose that his revelations deserve a place in any of your holy books.
Narrating a sequence of events does not make anyone a terrorist or a terrorist apologist?
The only piece of world history that I know fairly well, is The British Empire Under Queen Victoria, some aspects of the history of the Second World War, and of course the Holocaust.
My Scottish stepfather was a decorated war soldier - of the British Royal Navy - read two to three war novels a week (after which I read them too. I remember Cornelius Ryan's Two Eggs on My Plate and The Longest Day"; I also read D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover - under the cover immediately after he read it, and of course, all the sleaze about the Profumo scandal as reported in the UK press ) but what remains incomprehensible is that he never spoke about the WW2 - except on one occasion and that was during the FIFA World cup final when England was leading Germany 2-1 and just a few seconds to full time, Germany equalised - my brothers and I cheered and he briefly exploded !!!NZ!!!! about WW2
As the saying goes, " he who feels it knows"
By the same token, hopefully, you are not about to refer to Sergey Karaganov as a "terrorism apologist" because of what he has been saying here ?
I suppose you've heard about the terrorism bombardment during the Second World War?
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, you are already forgiven ( by me) so please pray for us in Europe, pray for our salvation….
And by the way, Congratulations, because of you - and because I'm tired of being entirely ignorant about the subject, I'm now reading Transcendental Magic - by Eliphas Levi ( translated by Arthur Edward Waite
how sad
''how with the best of intentions, a good-hearted, good-natured, progressive Islamic movement wholly engaged in peacefully propagating the teachings of the Prophet of Islam, sallallahu alaihi wa salaam, and in the absence of the social welfare state of the type we have had in Sweden all these years, have been doing what they have been religious mandated to do , community social work among the destitute, the disadvantaged, the neglected, the marginalised, the poverty-stricken, the widow, the orphan, all this was sabotaged - violently disrupted by the wicked assassination of their leader Mohammed Yusuf the martyr, and so continues the tragic story that has no end in sight. ''
our leader was killed
therefore we shall bomb and machine gun Christians in packed churches, bomb and machine gun military installations, killing as many as we can, slit the throats of sleeping school children, machine gun children doing exams, adopt schoolgirls and use them as sex slaves and suicide bombers
what else can we do
since our ''community social work among the destitute, the disadvantaged, the neglected, the marginalised, the poverty-stricken, the widow, the orphan''was not appreciated, we need to repay that community in blood and death.''
There are different ways of being a terrorism apologist.
thanks
toyin
On Tue, 4 Jul 2023 at 20:00, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Stockholm
4th of July, 2023 - Congratulations to the US of A
Dear Baba Kadiri,
Kudos and many thanks for dispelling the fog that has been befogging what's finally emerged in your clear as daylight revelations in such punctilious, verified detail, about this vexing issue. Hopefully, in due course of time, as a matter of national urgency, your epistles will be numbered among Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju's holy buks…
Special thanks and appreciation too to Ibrahim Magu for the courageous work he has so dutifully accomplished.
May the Almighty, richly reward him…
That was some sound, well-intentioned advice from Baba Kadiri to JAGABAN Tinubu. In view of " The state of the dedollarisation?" as represented in that short discussion, hopefully, Jagaban will not rush into anywhere where angels fear to tread…and of course, wherever Nigeria plunges, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and little Gambia is sure to wanna follow
Somehow, whenever communicating with you, I find myself in the default mode of proverbs. A default African position, maybe subconsciously trying to live up to Chinua Achebe saying that "the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten." Some words of comfort, wisdom, and truth. Proverbs. Words. And thus the Igbos are appeased. (It's a health issue and we should be careful not only about palm oil but also about olive oil )
One more truism for the journalist who professes the journalism of self-glorification and all those who earn their daily breadcrumbs that way should take due note: an idle mind is the devil's workshop
Be very careful: For the unwary, here are some more propaganda misunderstandings in flux
Where I'm coming from we are all aware that in the absence of correct, clear, and precise information there's always room for doubt, mischief, miscalculation, misinformation, mistranslation, and more often than not, misguided, malicious, even savage speculation by those who have always had an axe to grind with e.g. the Jesus of the New Testament, Goodluck Jonathan, Islam, Presidential Brother Muhammadu Buhari or other good men, including prophets, imams, kings, and judges, in authority.
May they never be satisfied.
"When the wicked rule, the people mourn—The righteous consider the cause of the poor—A fool speaks all that is in his mind—Where there is no vision, the people perish" ( Proverbs 29 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
There's "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" which Adepoju referred to recently, and which is at quite another level and probably incomprehensible to the average non-Muslim Nigerian, bereft of a clear definition of the standard Arabic and equivalent philosophical terms derived from Greek Philosophy texts that were first accessed and made accessible to scholastic Europe through translations of the original into Arabic. My dear Pir Sultan Husayn Tabandeh, Reza Ali Shah, May the Almighty be pleased with him, for example, wrote a treatise/ commentary on Plotinus - another testimony to the relationship between Neoplatonism and Sufism
From the incoherence of the philosophers of yesteryears we can move on to the incoherence and incompleteness of that special class of today's Nigerian political commentators and hack writers , although, on the contrary it's often not so much the incoherence but the obfuscation and the intentional or unintentional distortion through big or great grammar, the eloquence of misapprehension and the eloquence of misconceptions which make it all such a lot worse by adding a great deal of mis-understanding to the ongoing confusion as to how with the best of intentions, a good-hearted, good-natured, progressive Islamic movement wholly engaged in peacefully propagating the teachings of the Prophet of Islam, sallallahu alaihi wa salaam, and in the absence of the social welfare state of the type we have had in Sweden all these years, have been doing what they have been religious mandated to do , community social work among the destitute, the disadvantaged, the neglected, the marginalised, the poverty-stricken, the widow, the orphan, all this was sabotaged - violently disrupted by the wicked assassination of their leader Mohammed Yusuf the martyr, and so continues the tragic story that has no end in sight.
In Hausa : Jama'atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad
Given the Islamic and Arabic roots of the original name of the movement I dare say that we can break it down as follows:
# The meaning of Jama'at : a group of people.
(For instance, I have been on the road in Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom with a dawa group known as Tablighi Jamaat and also to an Islamic conference organised by them in Oslo, Norway, where I met Yahya, the so-called "leader of the Muslims in Australia" (smile) and we were not terrorists)
# The meaning of Sunnah (The sayings and traditions of Islam's Blessed Prophet , sallallahu alaihi wa salaam
# The meaning of Ahl as-Sunnah
The enemies of Islam of course would like to make a big song and dance ( and big grammar) about the word JIHAD being a part of the name of that organisation and immediately see red, see blood, see fire, see holy war, see terrorism, see death and destruction, see treason. About themselves, just like the three wise monkeys they see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, just as their comrades-in-arms, the enemies of Islam, the gunrunners being led by Satan the accursed whilst doing their own thing, spreading mischief and mayhem throughout the earth don't call it terrorism. I was thinking about this last night as I listened to some Israeli propagandists at the Jerusalem Centre For Public Affairs trying to do some damage control about their most recent demonic actions in Jenin. You invade a people, seize their lands, militarily oppress and terrify their entire populations - their old men and women, youths, children, and babies on a daily basis, and when they protest, you call them " terrorists" and "terrorist sympathisers" whilst referring to yourselves as " peacemakers only"
The Prophet of Islam, Sallallahu alaihi wa salam emphasised the distinction between the lesser jihad and the greater jihad
On Monday, 3 July 2023 at 18:30:13 UTC+2 Salimonu Kadiri wrote:
Once again, we are confronted with diversionary discussions about herdsmen and kidnapping of Chibok girls on April 14, 2014, instead of the real subject, the cause of Nigeria's fuel subsidy swindlers. Those who invented fuel subsidy fraud also invented 'Boko Haram' which of course may excuse Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju's muddling and mixing up issues.
As for Boko Haram, what can one say about a person who appoints a strategic Boko Haram enabler as his running mate, now VP? Kassim Shettima has no business in any public office after enabling the Chibok kidnapping by keeping the Chibok School open against the orders of the govt., that schools in such remote districts should be closed bcs of Boko Haram - Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju.
Slogan, the late Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peress, once said that 'slogan is like perfume, it smells good but tastes bad.' What is 'Boko Haram'? It is a name invented by the exploiting gangs in Nigeria to defame an organization whose primary purpose was to work for economic and social emancipation of the exploited people in the Northeast of Nigeria. I have on many occasions on this forum asked for the correct translation of the slogan 'Boko Haram' to English from Hausa language of which I got zero response. As a non-Hausa speaking Nigerian, my commonsense translation into English language of 'Boko Haram' is, Book is Forbidden, Book is Sinful or is an Abomination. But the Western media and their Nigerians stooge's translation of 'Boko Haram' is, Western Education is Forbidden, is sinful or is an abomination. If Boko is a compound word for Western Education in Hausa language, what then is the equivalent Hausa compound word for Eastern Education? Separately, what are the exact words in Hausa language for Western and Education?
What we know for certain is that there was an Islamic religious sect that called itself, "Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad" which, according to all Nigerian newspapers, means, "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad." This religious sect began in Borno in 2002 under the leadership of Muhammad Yusuf as a self-help socio-economic group. The religious sect engaged members in agriculture, skilled trade and moto-cycle means of transportation and taking care of the disabled. The Religious sect was so popular because government had abandoned the masses to their fate. Seeking to corrupt the social movement of the religious sect, the Governor of Borno State then, Ali Modu Sheriff, appointed a member of the Sect, Alhaji Buju Foi, as Borno State Commissioner of Religious Affairs in 2007. As Nigeria's political entrepreneurs use to behave, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff had by 2008 imported a large consignment of head helmets into Borno and got the State Assembly to enact law compelling motorcycle riders to wear one or face penalty of either a fine or imprisonment. Then, on June 11, 2009, a member of Borno Islamic Sect died and a funeral procession trouped into the street on their way to the burial ground on motorcycles to pay their last respect to him. Since they did not wear helmets, police interrupted motorbikes' funeral processions violently leading to many wounded and many dead mourners. The religious sect retreated to mobilize and on July 26, 2009, they launched all-out attack against police stations in Borno State and were in control of the Capital, Maiduguri, for two days. President Umaru Musa Yar 'Adua ordered Army to march in and restore order. Army crushed the rebellious sect and on July 30 arrested their leader, Muhammad Yusuf, who was handed over to the police. He was extra judicially murdered in police custody on July 30, 2009. The constant impression that Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju has always created in the mind of his readers is that the religious sect, maliciously called "Boko Haram" and misleadingly translated to "Western Education is an abomination," originated out of evil design of Northerners who did not want Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to be President of Nigeria. The fact is that Jonathan was Deputy Governor of Bayelsa when the Islamic sect, nick-named "Boko Haram", was formed in Borno in 2002. In 2009 when the crises between the Government of Borno State and the religious sect turned violent, Umaru Musa Yar 'Adua was President of Nigeria while Jonathan was his deputy. "Boko Haram" attacks in retaliation for the murder of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, continued throughout the Northeast especially in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe states until the death of Yar 'Adua. Attacks which were mainly on military and police installations expanded to Abuja in 2013 causing the National Assembly to declare a six-month State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States on Tuesday, 14 May 2013, and later extended to May 14, 2014.
In order to understand how the kidnap of around 300 Chibok School girls could happen in April 2014, one has to know the role played by the Service Chiefs in the escalating war between the religious sect and the Federal government. It is noteworthy that Federal allocated resources to Security apparatuses alone in 2012 was N922 billion, in 2013 it was N1 trillion but was reduced to N845 billion in 2014. These figures did not include armed forces budgets. Despite the huge allocation to security in 2013, Composite Group Air Force Base in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State was attacked by Religious Sect nick-named "Boko Haram" in broad-day light on December 2, 2013 without meeting any resistance from the Nigerian Armed Forces. That was one of the major reasons why President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan replaced all the Service Chiefs with effect from January 16, 2014. Thus, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh replaced Admiral Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim as Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Tobiah Jacob Minimah replaced Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff, Real Admiral Usman O Jibrin replaced Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba as Chief of Naval Staff, while Air Vice Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu replaced Air Marshal Badeh as Chief of Air Staff. All the previous Service Chiefs, except Badeh who was elevated to Chief of Defence Staff, were retired.I will come later to what the Service Chiefs did instead of fighting insurgents, but let us probe first who facilitated the kidnap of Chibok School Girls.
According to Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, Kassim Shettima, former Governor of Borno State and now Vice President of Nigeria, "enabled the Chibok kidnapping by keeping the Chibok school open against the orders of the govt that schools in such remote districts should be closed bcs of Boko Haram." Every literate Nigerian knows that, under normal condition, even if the Constitution of Nigeria puts the Security of each State in the hands of the Governor, the Security apparatuses are strictly under the exclusive control of the Federal Government. The commissioner of Police in each state takes order from the Centre through the IGP controlled by the Federal Government and not from the Governor. The situation of the Governor of Borno State in April 2014 was abnormal because his state was under emergency rule declared by the Federal Government and approved by the National Assembly. However, he was kept in office because the declared emergency was intended to last only a year after which Kassim Shettima would regain constitutional rule over his state without new election. Now, Chibok where the kidnap of the 276 school girls took place on 14 April 2014, contained 66,105 people according to 2006 census. It was not a remote district as wrongly claimed by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. There was no government order, either, to close down schools anywhere in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States because of "Boko Haram." What happened was that the Federal Ministry of Education suggested that all students sitting for the 2014 West Africa School Certificate Examination in Borno State be relocated to Maiduguri the State Capital. This was because the West Africa Examination Council had lost three invigilators to "Boko Haram" in 2013. The suggestion to relocate all students sitting for WASCE to Maiduguri had nothing to do with the security of the students but of the invigilators. Talking about security, Borno State had been taken over through emergency rule by the Federal Government since Tuesday, 14 May 2013. Emergency rule in Borno implied dusk to dawn curfew and 24 hours deployment of army and police to enforce the order of curfew imposed by the Federal government. How then could "Boko Haram" forces march from Sambisa forest located 60 kilometres from Chibok to kidnap 276 school girls and transport them in a convoy to Sambisa forest without being stopped by the Federal forces? It was the presence of the federal armed forces in Borno State under emergency rule and dusk to dawn curfew that made Jonathan, at initial stage, not to believe that "Boko Haram" actually had kidnapped the girls in Chibok. When President Jonathan, retired and replaced the Service Chiefs in January 2014, it was as a result of the intensive activities of "Boko Haram" including the December 2, 2013 attack on Composite Group Air Force base in Borno State. The ability of "Boko Haram" to freely move about without being detected by the security forces, with heavy military hard ware and pass through all military check points under State of Emergency, at will and retreat safely back to their base, certainly gave rise to the question, where were the Nigerian Army and the Air Force?
After President Jonathan's replacement of Service Chiefs in January 2014, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh, was not only retained but promoted as Chief of Defence Staff. At the resumption of Office on January 20, 2014, the Press in Nigeria reported him as saying, "I can say confidently that this war is already won. The security situation in the North East must be brought to a complete stop before April 2014. We must bring it to a stop before April so that we will not have constitutional problems in our hands." The Constitutional problem he wanted to avert was the refusal of the National Assembly to extend the state of Emergency rule in the North East states. In about two months later, March 14, 2014, 12 Hilux pickup trucks containing 200 "Boko Haram" fighters attacked Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. Although the military Barrack was jammed packed with private civilian vehicles, only one malfunctioned tank was visible. "Boko Haram'' withdrew to their base after the attack of which they triumphantly posted the video on YouTube. A month later, April 14, 2014, "Boko Haram" marched into Chibok and kidnapped 276 school girls and transported them in a convoy to Sambisa forest, 60 kilometres from Chibok without being challenged by the Nigerian Army and Air Force. On Monday, 26 of May 2014, the News Agency of Nigeria reported the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh, to have said, "We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force? Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing; we can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back." That was a big bluff revealed when the government of President Buhari retired him in July 2015. During his ceremonial pull out from Service at a Senior Military Barrack in Abuja on Thursday, 30 July 2015, Daily Trust,, Leadership and Punch Newspapers of 31 July 2015 quoted him lamenting that he (Badeh) presided over a military that was ill-equipped and its troops poorly motivated. As investigations carried out by Magu led EFCC, Service Chiefs, including Badeh, diverted funds meant for purchasing Arms and to recruit and train soldiers into their private bank accounts.
On February 24, 2016, a search at No. 6 Ogun River Street, Maitama, Abuja, the residence of the then newly retired Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, $1 million cash (one million US dollars) was recovered along with bank and companies' documents owned by Air Marshal Badeh. It was discovered that from January 2013 to December 2013, when Alex Subundu Badeh was Chief of Air Staff, he was transferring N558.2 million (about $279,000.00 then) every month from the Nigeria Air Force Account after payment of salaries to Air Force personnel, into the account of his private Company named Iyalikam Nigeria Ltd. Through another company of his, named Prince and Princess Multi-Services Ltd, he was planning to buy a Shopping Mall at a cost of N1.4 billion when he was arrested. Between November 2012 and November 2013, he deposited the sum of $900,000 into his personal account in the First Bank where he held a Visa Gold Account. All in all, he was charged to court for swindling Nigeria Air Force the sum of N8 billion while in office. The N558.2 million stolen every month from the NAF account represented ghost Air Force personnel which could have been deployed for reconnaissance and bombardment of insurgents. The EFCC, later announced recovery of N4 billion in cash in addition to forfeited properties from Badeh.The Chief of Army Staff from September 2010 to January 2014, Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika, was discovered to have awarded contracts to Chok Ventures Ltd and integrated Equipment Services Ltd, owned by his brother-in-law, Chinedu Onyekwere. Between March 2011 and December 2013, the two companies exclusively procured various types of Toyota and Mitsubishi vehicles worth N3,658,293,846.94 for the Nigerian Army through 17 split contracts to avoid competitive bidding. Although the entire contract money was paid, there was no evidence of delivery of the vehicles to the Nigerian Army. In all, the EFCC accused him of swindling the Nigerian Army of the sum of N4.5 billion out of which N29 million had been recovered as at April 2018.
Air Marshal Nunayon Amosu was the one that took over from Air Marshal Alex Badeh as Chief Air Staff in January 2014 and he was retired by Buhari in July 2015. By then, he and two others had swindled Nigeria Air Force (NAF) the sum of N21 billion which they laundered through five companies : Right Options Oil and Gas Limited, Judah Oil Limited, Delfina Oil & Gas, McAllan Oil & Gas Limited and Lebol Oil & Gas Limited. Standing trial with Amosu were former NAF Chief of Accounts and Budgeting, Air Vice Marshal Jacob Bola Adigun, and former Director of Finance and Budget, Air Commodore Gbadebo Owoduni Olugbenga. In reality the five companies were not oil companies, as their names seemed to suggest, but Bureau de Changes where money stollen from NAF was sent for conversion into US dollars and returned them to Adigun & Olugbenga. Delfina Oil & Gas and McAllan Oil & Gas Limited paid a chunk of what went through them directly to Solomon Enterprises, a company owned by Mr. Amosu. Amosu's wife, Omolara, one of the directors of St. Solomon Health-care also received N95 million. When Amosu houses were searched, EFCC discovered $140,000 in one of the houses. In an agreement to settle out of court, Amosu returned N2.3 billion through two bank drafts (one with N2 billion and other N300 million) to EFCC. 28 properties and three vehicles were recovered from him and additional N381 million was recovered from his wife. Air Commodore Gbadebo Owoduni returned N100 million.
Lt. General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah succeeded Lt. General Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff from January 2014, the position he held until July 2015 when he was retired by President Buhari. On November 17, 2014, General Minimah registered a Company named, Conella Services Limited which on the same day was awarded contract for procurement of 72 various arms and ammunition that included MRAP vehicles and Mi-17 helicopter to the Nigerian Army at a cost of $125,179,299.10. The same day the contract was awarded, November 17, 2014, Conella Services Limited was paid $36,996,530.00 and on 15 April 2015 the company was paid the balance of the contract in naira which was N2, 209, 582, 296.00. However, the Nigerian Army never received any procurement from Conella Services Ltd, owned by the retired General Minimah. Out of the N13.9 billion Lt. General Minimah swindled the Nigerian Army, the EFCC recovered from him N4.8 billion both in cash and property to settle out of court.
I have left out cases of fraudulent transfer of funds from the Nigeria Navy Account to the private companies of Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba and Admiral Usman O. Jibrin during their respective tenure as Chief of Naval Staff because it did not relate directly to fighting insurgents.
From the above narratives, it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that the kidnapping of Chibok girls had to do with non-availability of soldiers to enforce dusk to dawn curfew imposed in a state ruled under emergency laws because Service Chiefs and Top Police Officers diverted funds allocated to buy weapons, recruit and train soldiers to fight insurgents into their private bank accounts. That was why insurgent's attack on Composite Group Nigerian Air Force base, Maiduguri, of December 2, 2013 did not meet any opposition from the Nigerian Armed Forces. Similarly, when insurgents filed into Maiduguri in 12 Hilux pick-up containing 200 fighters in broad day light and attacked Giwa barracks, Maiduguri, on March 14, 2014, they did not encounter any resistance from the Nigerian Armed Forces, because the Service Chiefs had recruited ghost soldiers armed with ghost weapons. Those events preceded the kidnap of the Chibok girls of which the then Governor Kassim Shettima could not be held responsible. When compared with Nigeria's Gross Domestic Products (GDP), and taking into consideration that millions of Nigerians have zero purchasing power, Nigerian Service Chiefs are overpaid and should not be tempted to steal public funds they are entrusted with. In other climes, what the Service Chiefs did would be treated as treason but in Nigeria, the efforts of EFCC under Magu to get the culprits punished were strongly undermined by the AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the then Chief of Staff to Buhari, Abba Kyari. That was how treasonable state's theft by Heads of Nigeria's Armed Forces ended up in plead bargaining whereby some of the stolen funds were refunded in cash and through forfeiture of properties.
Since previous Service Chiefs were not punished for diverting funds for the armed forces and personnel into their private bank accounts, it was almost certain that Buhari's appointed Service Chiefs would also engage in similar theft. President Buhari's appointed Chief of Army Staff in 2015, Lt. General Tukur Y. Buratai, was an Army Director of procurement under Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika before his retirement in January 2014. It can, therefore, not be said that he had not undergone training under his two previous Chief of Army Staff bosses how to grease once palms with state's funds. Although there is yet to be a financial audit of the Armed Forces Accounts under Buhari's eight years tenure in office, a thorough perusal of information concerning the battle against insurgents would reveal that huge amount of money had disappeared in the name of fighting insurgents. On Saturday, 24 December 2016, President Buhari told Nigerians that the Nigerian Army had raided 'Boko Haram's' last enclave in the Sambisa forest and the insurgents have finally been crushed. He stated, "I was told by the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Tukur Y. Buratai, that the camp fell at about 1:35 pm on Friday, 23 December 2016, and that the terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide." On the night of Friday, 29 December 2016, the Nigerian Army (NA) hosted the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, to Guards Brigade Regimental Dinner. There, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor handed over to the President "spoils of war" captured from the last battle of the long war waged against "Boko Haram" in the North East. The two "spoils of the war" handed over to Buhari were Flag of "Boko Haram" and personal Quran of Abubakar Shekau. On Wednesday, 28 December 2016, Major General Lucky E. O. Irabor himself announced the capture of Camp Zairo which was the main "Boko Haram's" stronghold inside Sambisa forest. As "Boko Haram" attacks became intensive, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Y. Buratai, on July 22, 2017, ordered troops to capture "Boko Haram" leader, Abubakar Shekau, within 40 days. That should not have been a difficult task since his hiding place in Sambisa forest had been overrun by the Nigerian Army in December 2016 and he had no place to hide any longer, but the Nigerian Army never captured Abubakar Shekau.
National Economic Council (NEC) meeting of Thursday, 14 December 2017 approved 1 billion US dollars to be taken from the Excess Crude Oil Account to enable Mr. President fight "Boko Haram" insurgency in the North East. By Friday, February 4, 2018, Major General Rogers Nicholas announced that his troops under operation DEEP PUNCH II, dislodged and occupied the insurgent's tactical ground 'Camp Zairo.' He said, "My soldiers are in the heart of 'Boko Haram' enclave, that is Camp Zairo, the gallant troops have taken total control of Sambisa forest." Whereas the Nigerian Army troops led by Major General Lucky Irabor in Operation Lafiya Dole had captured "Boko Haram's" Camp Zairo in Sambisa forest on Friday, 23 December 2016, the same Camp Zairo was being captured again on Friday, 4 February 2018 by another army troops led by another Major General, Rogers Nicholas, under another Operation DEEP PUNCH II. As if there was need to capture Sambisa forest third time, the online Sahara Reporters of December 3, 2018, reported the lamentation of the then Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Y. Buratai, over non-release of the $1billion cash approved to fight Boko Haram. When the $1-billion arms fund was released to the Service Chiefs is unknown but it must be before President Buhari called all his Service Chiefs to a meeting on Thursday, 18 June 2020, to chide them over the escalating insecurity in the country and telling them, "Your best is not good enough." On Wednesday, 29 July 2020, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State was attacked by gunmen in Baga while on his way to distribute food at IDP camps. Zulum attributed the attack on him to the Nigerian Army which he said has been involved in fish trade in Baga and therefore has a vested interest in prolonging state of insecurity in Borno State. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/08/10/the-stormy-petrel-rattles-the-military/As the country's security situation deteriorated Buhari announced on Tuesday, 26 January 2021, the retirement of his Service Chiefs and appointment of new ones. Speaking in Arise Television on Thursday, 11 February 2021, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who was known to have been walking up and down into the forest to negotiate with insurgents, kidnappers and bandits which security forces claimed they did not know their whereabouts said, "The military doesn't want this conflict to end because of the billions of naira they claim for fighting insurgency. So, the military is not co-operating." The following month, March 12, 2021, President Buhari's National Security Adviser, Ex-Major General Babagana Monguno, asserted in the online Nigeria Premium Times that the $1 billion allocated for purchase of arms to fight insurgents, bandits and kidnappers had been stolen by the Service Chiefs that exited Service in January 2021 as their successors could not find allocated money or arms purchased.
There comes a time in people's history when there has to be a pause, reflections and certain questions are asked on the economic and industrial development of the nation. What kind of a country is Nigeria and what type of people are we when we look at the huge natural resources at our disposal to the progress, we have made compared with many natural resources' barren and disadvantaged countries of the world? Ours is a tragic nation where blind tribalism and fake religiosity have blunted our sense of reasoning. Thus, in our country, Nigeria, where we have four crude oil refineries with installed capacity to refine 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day and managed by Nigerian Directors and Engineers, citizens should not be talking about importing refined crude oil or fuel subsidy. The question Nigerians should be asking is, why have Nigerian Directors and Engineers at the nation's crude oil refineries been, and are still, collecting big salaries and allowances when for many years and hitherto they have not been refining any crude oil? Why are Nigeria's crude oil refineries dysfunctional despite billions of US dollars spent on them for Turn Around Maintenance? In all Nigeria's Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) false intellectuals, false industrialists, make-believe Generals, professional sorcerers and mythologists steal public funds with impunity while pastors, Imams and traditional ritualists who hawk miracles and wonder elixirs attribute sudden wealth of few Nigerians, through looting of national patrimony, to either God's/Allah's blessing or ritual concoctions.
My advice to the new President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is to look into the Constitution of Nigeria and enforce without delay the following Sections :Section 14 (2) (b) says, "The security and welfare of the people (of Nigeria) shall be the primary purpose (duty) of government."Section 16 (2) (c) says, "The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring : that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care, pensions, unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens."Section 17 (3) says, "The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring (a) that all citizens without discrimination of any group whatsoever have the opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunity to secure suitable employment."Section 18 (3) says, "Government shall provide free, compulsory and Universal primary education, free secondary and university education and free adult programme, as and when practicable." In fact, Child Rights and Universal Basic Education Act 2003, in conjunction with the letters of Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution, actually make education free and compulsory for every Nigerian Child up to junior secondary school.S. Kadiri
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: 22 June 2023 18:41
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A PEOPLE BESET WITH BRAIN DARKER THAN UNREFINED CRUDE OIL?
Stockholm
Sweden
21st June 2023 ( just before midsummer
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
On the lighter side, here I am, addressing the whole man, trying to soften him up a little.
The people in this forum that I like to tickle are three
and absolutely unlike the members of the Blessed Trinity:
1. Kenneth Harrow
2. Chidi Anthony Opara ( like Kenny Rogers)
3. Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
Baba Kadiri? I tickle him all the time.
Ojogbon? I dare not….
Kperogi? May the Good Lord save us all from contempt….
My friend Krishna once confided in me that he had stopped sleeping with his wife. I asked him,
no more whoopee,
you no longer like good booty?
."Familiarity breeds contempt", he replied.
Seriously: Consider: Under Gaddafi petrol was free for Libyans, electricity was free, and education and medical treatment were free for all Libyans.
So, with all that oil, why are things so different in Nigeria?
Corruption? Big Booty? Big Population?
The good news is that we don't hear about Fulani Herdsmen or Boko Haram anymore, not even on this website; they seem to have receded into the background or disappeared into the darkness altogether, and, if what you say about the latter is correct - that Nigeria's new Vice-President may be said to be able to have a restraining hand on their trademark terrorism activities, shouldn't you be happy about that? Shouldn't you be happy whether it's Jesus or Beelzebub that has a restraining hand on Boko Haram?
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