picture courtesy of viewphotos.org
Friday, 28 November 2014
Kano central mosque bomb blast - update
The reported bomb blast at the Kano central mosque today in Kano appearing to target the Emir of Kano who traditionally leads Jumah prayers seems to be a coordinated attack. Reports says five different mosques were the target including one in Maiduguri. Four of these bombs were successfully defused but we were not so lucky with the one that went off at the Kano mosque. many are feared dead and casualty figures expected to be high. I will update you as i garner more information.
Bomb Blast in Kano Central mosque - Developing story
Unconfirmed reports says there has been a bomb blast at Kano Central Mosque. Today being a Friday means throngs of worshipers would be at the mosque, many are feared dead. Casualty figures could be high. The Emir of Kano usually leads prayers on Fridays at this mosque. Check back for more details as we get them.
picture courtesy of viewphotos.org
Thursday, 27 November 2014
MUSLIM AND ANGRY….AT MUSLIMS – Opeyemi Oduwole
MUSLIM AND
ANGRY….AT MUSLIMS – Opeyemi Oduwole
As a
British-African Muslim that has worshiped at Friday Jumah services in
a number of mosques in almost 2 dozens countries, I have encountered
several appeal for donations for many charitable courses.
Since 9/11,
there had been upsurge in the number of appeal funds to
help Muslims that are victims of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and more recently Syria. There are also many charity organisations that
request for funds for the poor, needy and internally displaced people in the
Middle East. Requests for aid to the people of Gaza has been perennial for as
long as I could remember.
There are
several verses in the Holy Quran that point to the importance of charity and
alms-giving as one of the 5 main pillars of Islam but Chapter 2 verse 215 summarizes it by saying “Say, "Whatever you spend of good is [to be] for
parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler. And whatever
you do of good - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it."
I have pondered
on this verse so many times and tried to see if there is any insinuation of any
sort that gives the impression that ‘needy’ means ‘Arab needy’. And the reason
for my pondering is the disturbing snobbery of
the Islamic charity organisations towards the Ebola epidemic ravaging
and savaging countries in West Africa. This outbreak of the Ebola virus has
killed almost 8,000 people in such a short time and has been described by the
WHO as the most disastrous natural disaster know to humanity since records began.
I
personally believe that this number of about 8,000 deaths recorded may not be
anywhere near accurate as it is a known fact that there is no reliable record
keeping in this part of the world, coupled with the fact that it is reported
that families of many victims of ebola kept the ailing and dead away from
government and health authorities – hence there are many unrecorded cases and
deaths. In my opinion, it wont be far fetched to put the the fatalities from
the ebola epidemic at more than 15,000.
What
amazes, annoys and infuriates me as a Briton, an African and ultimately a Muslim is that since this savaging outbreak, I have not come across one major
Islamic charity organisation that has established or prioritised an appeal fund
for the victims of the virus in West Africa. Since the outbreak of this
epidemic about 8 months ago, I have had the opportunity of visiting 9 countries
and worshiped in mosques for Friday Jumah services and not even on one occasion was I approached to give to the Ebola cause. More annoyingly, 4
of these countries were fellow African countries!!! I however saw posters and volunteers for the ‘usual suspects’ like Syria Appeal Fund, Palestine Appeal
Fund etc.
The quran
did not make any assertion whatsoever that Islamic aid should only go to
the Arabs, nor did it say Muslims in the Middle
East are above Muslims from other regions. In fact, the act of
alms giving, according to the Quran, is devoid of colour, race, ethnicity and
religion. Q2:215 clearly says ‘the needy’ and not ‘the middle-east needy’, nor
the ‘muslim needy’. This brings me to the belief I have always held dear to my
heart that we, as human, as muslims, as xtians, even as
obatala/orunmila/ogun/sango followers have a common duty to give to the needy
irrespective of where they hail from, what they look like or the faith they
choose to follow.
I do hope
that the very popular Islamic charity organisations like The Islamic Aid UK,
The Red Crescent, Da’wah Foundation etc can, as a matter of urgency, make
their presence felt in the global effort to curb this EVD that
threatens our common existence. As this virus do not choose it victims based
on colour, race or faith!!
The anger
in me has made me resolved not to give a dime to the more 'popular'
Islamic funds indefinitely, an action I have dutifully and regularly
performed for years and this resolution of mine genuinely hurts me. However,
I cant deny the fact that the Islamic world has snobbed the people of
West Africa when we need them the most.
For those
that would love to give their widow's mite to the cause of Ebola eradication, I
have added the following links for the UN's Global Ebola Response and Disasters
Emergency Committee DEC's Ebola Crisis Appeal.
FG Approves N9.2bn Contract For Purchase Of 750,000 Stoves, 18,000 Wonder-Bags
Now i know we have a useless old generation
bent on destroying younger generations with their actions.
How else do you explain the use of 9.2bn
naira to purchase stoves, supposed wonder stoves from a foreigner? Why cant we
buy just one sample and produce our own here if its that dire?
In these days of looming austerity due to
dwindling income.
Their first response was to say they would
increase taxes, the taxes they dont pay!
we pay more taxes and the next important thing is 9.2bn for stoves?
like Olamide the musician would say, am I
mad?!
Before Doyin okupe quotes patents, nigeria
is not bound to obey patents filed in south africa because I know SA wont
respect that done here. They said the country stand to gain 50 per cent subsidy
of the price through the carbon credits that would be generated. Please who
even understands what rubiish is being spewed? China that has smogs perpetually
in their country are they concerned about carbon credits?
Why would a responsible government choose
such a time for such monumental rubbish?
its as if they are goading us, seeing how far they can push us before we
revolt.
Fellow Nigerians, when are we going to stop these pigs feeding
fat on the farms resources, they walk on two legs and tell us to walk on four,
is this an animal farm?!
The stove wasnt invented by the south
african afterall! see link
what she is credited with is the wonder
bag.
Moreover I watched a documentary years ago in which such a tech as wonder
bag was used to slow cook food for hikers!
the wonder stove has been around since 2003
and was invented in sierraleone! see
video here! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7hU8L3CsSvU
see what a wonderbag is and justify if we
need waste money
The 9.2bn stove is a scam, resist it!
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan - The last Nigerian President?
2015 election myth or reality?
GEJ the last Nigerian president?
I have always been watching the Nigerian
political scene but rarely commenting partly because I see a sea of selfish
ambitions in garbs of service to the nation but focused on looting.
Even at that, I still believed there was going to be
an election in 2015 especially with the vigor that pro Jonathan campaigners
started the preparations for the 2015 presidential election using various
groups.
I also watched as the North East slowly
slipped a town at a time into absolute anarchy; when boko haram campaigned
picked up after the death of President Musa Yaradua, I watched as stuffs we
hear happening in far away countries started happening here. I naively believed
a Nigerian could never be a suicide bomber it was the Arabs who could do such
things until I started hearing of bomb blasts all over the north east and Abuja.
When it turned into a war, I had so much
confidence in our soldiers to rout out these insurgents going by their track
record of stopping the war in Liberia and Sierra Leone. I believed the army
just didn't want to appear brutal but alas I was wrong!
Instead, the blame game started; as people
died the politicians played the deaths for maximum political gains. The religious bodies were not left out each
group pointing accusing finger whilst ardent of all faiths got slaughtered.
Through this entire macabre din, the
electoral dance began, not like it ever stopped but it picked up in tempo going
higher daily. Then reached a crescendo
with the NASS brouhaha at which point I stopped! And viewed the whole system
with my macroscope and realized, it looks like we are all just being taken for
a huge ride, a long con; there can’t possibly be an actual plan for any
presidential election to take place in 2015! Not with all these signs
Let’s go back to the days of SDP and NRC in
which baba Maradona himself Gen IBB took us all on a merry go round of a
phantom transition to civil rule.
I remember he first said people should form
their parties which they did, after awhile he found an excuse, created two
parties, drew up manifestos for both, built party offices throughout the
country, organised primaries, there were even debates on national TV which
culminated in the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria and a
Yoruba man defeated Alhaji Tofa in his own state in the north!
Chief Abiola emerged the winner after 7
years of the long con only to die in prison because Gen. Babangida was actually taking
us all on a ride! He planned for all to fail wasting resources to sell us that
illusion.
Through this long ride, Chief Gani Fawehinmi
was the lone voice who insisted and fought right from the start of the phantom
transition saying Gen Gen. Babangida had no plans to leave power.
Ever since the aftermat1h of June 12, I
haven’t seen Nigeria this tensed up over elections with the major opposition
party threatening fire and brimstone and the ruling party using federal might
it almost borders on impunity.
Do you see signs President Jonathan may have
no plans for any presidential election holding in 2015 or is it just me reading
meanings into this cacophony?
1. 1. Insurgency in the NE. The
government body language towards the wanton bloodshed has been disappointing.
Reports constantly stream out that soldiers are given orders to stand down when
these insurgents invade. At other times soldiers lead the vanguard of people
fleeing! We also get reports of soldiers ordered to leave areas hours before
boko haram fighters strike! We also hear of poor motivation of our soldiers
which means these men aren’t paid enough to encourage them put their life on
the line despite the billions of dollars gone down the prosecution of this war.
We can divide that body
language into two, that of the federal government and the state governments own. The state
governments resisted the imposition of a state of emergency in their states to
combat the threat early on, this I construed to be succinct support for the
insurgents, even at a time, notable Nigerians called for amnesty and
integration of these killers into the society, now we are all wiser.
The federal government on her own showed a government doing just barely enough to contain the insurgency leaving
the area perpetually under siege. How will elections be conducted in these
areas when a war is ongoing there?
Some will argue that the
CIC effort is being sabotaged and say President Jonathan is weak, but his response
when it comes to political affronts paints a totally different picture!
His political foes have so
many bruises to show for their affronts, states brought down to their knees,
titan governors forced out of PDP, of recent the violation of our hallowed
NASS!
He possibly can’t be weak
and strong at the same time which means whatever he is doing is by design!
So, Is there a design to keep Nigeria in a perpetual state of war and uncertainty which will make it impracticable to hold elections?
See section 135 of the
Nigerian constitution with focus on sub section 3.
135.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a person shall
hold the office of President until -
(a)
when his successor in office takes the oath of that office;
(b)
he dies whilst holding such office; or
(c)
the date when his resignation from office takes effect;
or
(d)
he otherwise ceases to hold office in accordance with the provisions of this
Constitution.
(2)
Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the President
shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of four years commencing
from the date, when -
(a)
in the case of a person first elected as President under this Constitution, he
took the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office; and
(b)
in any other case, the person last elected to that office under this
Constitution took the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office or would, but for
his death, have taken such Oaths.
(3)
If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically
involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold
elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four
years mentioned in subsection (2) of this section from time to time; but no
such extension shall exceed a period of six months at any one time.
2. 2. INEC distribution of the permanent
voter’s card. Despite the tens of billions of naira gone down the coffers of INEC, the
distribution of the PVC which is supposed to be used for elections just weeks
from now has been dismal. Blurred pictures, myriads of complaint, slow
distribution, lost data! So who will vote when more than half of registered
voters can’t vote because they don’t have their voter’s card?
Yet within the next few weeks
we are supposed to hit the polls, remember the constitution stipulates elections
must be held between 60days to a minimum of 30days before hand over. And all those registered to vote..., shall be entitled to vote.. (see sub section 5 of section 132 below)
See section 132 of the
Nigerian constitution below
“132.
(1) An election to the office of President shall be held on a date
to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
(2)
An election to the said office shall be held on a date not earlier than sixty
days and not later than thirty days before the expiration of the term of office
of the last holder of that office.
(3)
Where in an election to the office of President one of the two or more
candidates nominated for the election is the only candidate after the close of
nomination, by reason of the disqualification, withdrawal, incapacitation,
disappearance or death of the other candidates, the Independent National
Electoral Commission shall extend the time for nomination.
(4)
For the purpose of an election to the office of President, the whole of the
Federation shall be regarded as one constituency.
(5)
Every person who is registered to vote at an election of a member of a
legislative house shall be entitled to vote at an election to the office of
President.”
To be continued
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
President Jonathan flags off 16 billion naira great green wall project for the north today
President Jonathan some few minutes ago flagged off the great green wall
project for the north in Kebbi state.
The Great Green Wall initiative is a
pan-African proposal to “green” the continent from west to east in order to
battle desertification.
Its an audacious project which aims at tackling poverty
and the degradation of soils in the Sahel-Saharan region, focusing on a strip
of land of 15 km (9 mi) wide and 7,100 km (4,400 mi) long from Dakar to
Djibouti. Simply put for Nigeria, its a tree
planting exercise spanning Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi,
Gombe, Katsina, Adamawa and Borno states a distance over 1500kms.
For this 16 billion naira has been released
to fund the project till 2015.
President Jonathan in Kebbi today
Road to hell
Road to hell
Paved with love and guided with history,
Advertized as pleasure and shown a
necessity,
Such is the road to hell, beautiful in presentation
A terrible bumpy ride that has zero
survival rate.
A wicked creation with the first ending in
disaster,
To satisfy urges the lie was born to keep
order,
This is the highway to death, divine in
appearance
A man eating contraption that finishes all
adventurers.
Love is such a terrible reason for taking
decisions,
No matter how swooned a lion is, a lamb
remains a tasty meal,
That is the reality of lies, deceptive in
intentions
The life of one should not be in that of
another!
Bring out the books and let witnesses bear
testimony
Till death do us part when you know all it
takes is an argument,
Thus the generational myth was born,
sustained by silence
I thought it was said all liars would go to
hell!
Please tell me, why live imprisoned and
bask in euphoria?
Isn't self deception the gravest of all
offences?
Who gains from a union of sworn enemies?
The war mongers or the perprtuating voices?
To be me is not easy, to be understood so
daunting,
An out may not be a door, the window sometimes a better escape
Who
jumps from high rise building without a chute?
Those who need to live and have to leave.
Stop lying to me please, hell is a duet not
a solo!
- yomi lawal
sept 7, 2014
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