GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Showing posts with label a Northern Nigeria hero is a mass murderer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a Northern Nigeria hero is a mass murderer. Show all posts

Monday, October 9, 2017

MURTALA MUHAMMED: ASABA MASSACRE AND THE NIGERIAN QUESTION - CHARLES OGBU

For the people of Asaba, Delta State, October 7, 1967 remains a day they will forever rue, for that was the day the Nigerian state executed one of the worst forms of savagery against them. 

As I sat listening to a number of survivors narrate their experience at Grand Hotel, Asaba, venue of the 50th commemoration of the massacre, I was left wondering if those men and women were narrating scenes from some horror movie they had just watched. But as it happens, I wondered wrong, for they were actually narrating event that had happened a few steps away from where we were all seated. 

In the early days of the Biafran war in 1967, it happened that Nigerian troops had entered the town of Asaba in pursuit of the Biafran soldiers who had retreated into the core East. On getting into Asaba on the 4th of October, 1967, the Nigerian soldiers led by Col. Murtala Muhammad with Col. Taiwo as his deputy, wasted no time embarking on the indiscriminate killing of men and boys in the town on suspicion of being sympathetic to the Biafran soldiers. 

After two days of such killings, the leaders of the town had gathered all their people, both young and old, to the village square to officially welcome the federal troops and pledge their allegiance to #OneNigeria. Dressed in the customary white cloth (akwa ocha) signifying peace, they all marched before the Nigerian troops, singing #OneNigeria. 

But for Col. Murtala Muhammad and Ibrahim Taiwo, nothing short of total annihilation of all boys and men in the town would suffice. Those two military men would gather all the boys and men to one side before ordering their soldiers to shoot them all at a very close range. At the end, not less than 1500 people lay dead, according to survivors of the massacre who spoke at the 50th anniversary. Murtala Muhammed and his men would later remain in the town where they raped many women and girls and forcefully married some. 

Now this is not even the biggest tragedy of October 7. The biggest tragedy here is that the Nigerian state would later reward, not punish, those two murderous military commanders. 

While Taiwo Ibrahim would later become the military governor of Kwara State, Murtala Muhammad did not only become head of the Nigerian state, a foremost international airport, Lagos airport, still bears his name till date. His face dons the twenty naira note. Asaba people use this airport the same way they have no choice but to look at his murderous face each time they spend the twenty naira note. 

As for Yakubu Gowon, the Commander-In-Chief under whose watch this unconscionable act took place, he is busy gallivanting from one church to another with some prayer group known as The Nigeria Prays. 

Fifty years after this clear case of barbarism was committed by a body that calls itself a nation, there has been no restitution of any kind, no explanations, not even a recognition, not to talk of attempt at reconciliation. 

If Nigerian soldiers could do this to civilians in Asaba even after pledging allegiance to #OneNigeria, is it not safe, logical and reasonable to assume that civilians in the core East must have been gifted with a fate more cruel than that during the Biafran war? 

How can anyone feel proud to be associated with a country that does not just murder her own unarmed citizens but equally celebrate the murderers? How can I love a country that is deaf, dumb and blind to the sanctity of the lives of the same citizens she exists mainly to protect? How does one show patriotism to a country that has no conscience, no sense of morality, no nothing? Just kill everything and everyone WITH IMPUNITY! 

A country that feels she is too big to apologize to her own citizens! A country where some people can commit all sort of unimaginable crimes and their names and religions would be all that would be required to ensure they are rewarded instead of being punished. How can anyone just wake up and claim that the so called unity of such a murderous entity masquerading as a nation is non-negotiable? 

It is understandable if a people chose to lie to themselves. What is neither understandable nor excusable is for a people to choose to swallow their own lies as the gospel truth. Sadly, this is the terrible situation of Nigeria today. 

This country has progressed in error for far too long. Unless she turns back from this suicidal route, she can never get to her destination. It does appear that for Nigeria as a country, the night beckons with a knife. Will she bend to escape this knife or will she be cut to pieces? Your guess is as good as mine!