Tayo Demola: Is Aso Rock Under A Curse?

Hello people, this is actually an article I wrote sometime in March 2017. I've brought it to you once again as I feel the issues therein are still very much relevant. Pls sit back, relax & enjoy. Let's hear what you think as well!

At this moment of our national life where Nigeria has been plunged into avoidable economic hardship and the living standard of many Nigerians instead of improving, has gradually deteriorated below poverty level, many Nigerians are shocked by what they got from the Buhari government which has failed to make any positive change in the lives of the people. And with the way we are all astonished as to how a government that promised us heaven could turn around to give us hell instead, many Nigerians have wondered if that Presidential Villa, Aso Rock is truly a blessing to Nigeria or a curse. 

Is the President even aware that many Nigerians are killing themselves due the hardship and suffering brought about by his incompetent government? Does he even know that an average Nigerian is so disenchanted with his government that Nigerians are now even ashamed to call him their President? Does he even know that due to the high expectations Nigerians had of him when he was sworn in, that Nigerians now regret voting for him in the first place? But the President knows all these, he cannot pretend not to know but the activities of praise singers and the enemies of Nigeria who would tell him that all is well would not make him realize the magnitude of the public disenchantment and disconnection of his government from the masses of Nigeria and from the reality on the ground. 

The Nigerian government has undoubtedly been hijacked by a certain selfish cabal who are no doubt enemies of Nigeria and who would do anything possible to entrench their own selfish agenda on Nigeria. People like the President’s Special adviser on Media Mr Femi Adeshina would always tell him that all is well and that Nigerians are wailing wailers. And talking about wailing wailers, Mr Femi Adeshina has introduced another vocabulary into the Nigerian political arena which we shall make reference to from time to time.

But let’s look at this critically. Does Mr Femi Adeshina have any right as a political appointee who is paid with the Nigerian taxpayer’s money to even call Nigerians who are complaining about bad government as wailing wailers? Does he not know that the Nigerian masses have the ultimate power to choose whoever should lead them and after choosing such person the people have every right to complain about the government if their expectations are not met? Does he not know he is a public servant and that his duty is to serve the interest of the people and that it is completely disrespectful to call the people of Nigeria wailing wailers? 

If as a government you have failed the people and you failed to meet up with the expectations of Nigerians, then don’t expect Nigerians to be happy with your government. It is completely unacceptable to continue to take Nigerians for a ride after we have voted you into power and instead of you to improve the lives of the people, you ended up increasing their sorrow. What sort of government is that? I noticed that every Presidential candidate or political party in Nigeria would always come with sugarcoated mouth and promise heaven and earth during campaigns and the people will be so deceived into voting for them thinking they would change their lives for the better but as soon as they get power, they would not fulfill such deceitful promises to the people. 

It looks as if there is something in that Aso Rock that twists the head of every President that gets there and makes him forget all the promises he made to the people. It looks as if that Aso Rock is jinxed against the Nigerian people. It seems to me Nigeria may never make any meaningful headway until that Aso Rock is completely disbanded to pave way for the building of another Presidential Villa by a Godly and properly elected Nigerian leader who would lay a good foundation for the building of that new Presidential Villa.

It is very clear that there are many forces militating against the performance of any Nigerian leader who enters that Aso Rock. It is very possible that our lovely Aso Rock which we built with a lot of money during the military era may actually be the problem of Nigeria. If not, why do leaders suddenly turn against the masses as soon as they’ve taken over the mantle of leadership? Why do they say one thing and do the complete opposite of what they say? Is there not something mysterious about that Aso Rock?

The one thing that also amazes me is how the President allows certain people, praise singers and cabal to hijack his government without standing up to the occasion for the sake of Nigeria. Is the interest of Nigeria not above any selfish personal interest? The level Nigeria is now economically shows clearly that this government is either unprepared for leadership from the onset or completely incompetent and therefore does not deserve to lead Nigeria any more. Nigerians were even better off during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan and things were not so bad. We are tired of promises that will never materialize, we want action. We want an action government that will ameliorate the suffering of the masses of Nigeria within a reasonable period of time and better the lives of Nigerians and any government that cannot do this should be shown the way out of Aso Rock for another government to take over. 

Nigerians have never had it so bad and even during Jonathan’s government, the economy was not so harsh on Nigerians. Despite all the efforts of Jonathan, we called him clueless because he could not meet up with a whole lot of our expectations. He didn’t fight corruption and he exhibited a lackadaisical attitude to the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents who destroyed countless lives and property in the Northern part of Nigeria. But while Jonathan could not do any of these and Nigerians hated him so much and voted him out, we now have a President who we think is fighting Boko haram and corruption but the people are dying of hunger and committing suicide on a daily basis due to the excruciating economic hardship in Nigeria. 

But under Jonathan Nigerians could still afford to eat what they wanted and the cost of things in the market was never so outrageous. We called Jonathan clueless but I bet you many Nigerians are so disappointed now that they don’t even know what name to call the Buhari government. But this government is worse than clueless because if in a clueless government the people are better off and in a supposedly ‘‘non-clueless’’ government the people are suffering, then what is means is that the Buhari government is worse than clueless. And it is very clear that things were quite better for an average Nigerian under the Jonathan government and despite his supposed ‘‘cluelessness’’, Nigerians even wish they never voted him out in the first place.

If at all you are fighting corruption and Boko Haram, this is never enough if the people are suffering. And what manner of corruption is the government fighting in the first place? Is the corruption fight all encompassing or is it only against some perceived opponents and enemies? Is it only against certain people while some sacred cows are left off the hook? What about those in the President’s cabinet and those in the current government who have been indicted and who should have been investigated and prosecuted if found wanting? Now we can see that it’s the usual ‘‘paddy-paddy’’ government which our all-time legend Fela told us from time immemorial. The fight against corruption can never be holistic if certain people who are indicted for corruption and tainted are still in this government without being shown the way out. It would be hypocritical to do so and that would mean taking Nigerians for granted. 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently told us that President Buhari is not good with the economy. Now some Nigerians might take that statement with a pinch of salt but that is the plain truth. If Buhari was good with the economy, if he were a good manager of the economy, by now the Nigerian economy would not have gone from good to bad and now to worse. This clearly tells us that we made a great mistake for voting in the Buhari government into office in the first place since he is not a good manager of the economy. It’s just like someone who doesn’t know how to cook and you ask him to go and manage the kitchen and get a good meal out of that kitchen, how possible is that? He will only go there and turn the kitchen upside down and get you a badly prepared meal that will turn your stomach upside down. That is what you get when you make the mistake of voting in someone who doesn’t know how to manage the economy. 

But mind you, former President Obasanjo cannot be wrong on this statement because we can all see how the Nigerian economy is being badly managed with all sorts of trials and errors that keep impoverishing the masses the more. And the funny thing is that the President acts as if he has all the time in the world to make the change that we Nigerians desire. 

He acts with so much slow pace and reckless abandon as if he has ten or twenty years more to lead Nigeria. He has forgotten that he has only FOUR YEARS to make any impact and nothing more because it is very clear that Nigerians will never vote for this APC government in 2019 except if Buhari is not the Presidential candidate of the APC. The people want change and we want it in record time and not endless promises. You don’t have to make things worse before you make it better. Any government that makes things worse for the people with a promise that things will get better is an incompetent government that should be removed from office. Infact Nigerians were already tired of this government as far back as 2016 when it started to inflict pains and suffering on the hapless masses.

We were promised that the fuel price which was increased will gradually come down but nothing of such has happened. We were told that kerosene will soon get cheaper but instead of getting cheaper, it now even costs more. And every commodity in the Nigerian market is beyond the reach of an average Nigerian. 

So with all these failed promises and with 2019 around the corner when the government will come up with another set of deceptive and dubious promises, we must all ensure we obtain our voter’s cards and vote out this government since it is clear it cannot take us anywhere. We must change this government before it finally destroys Nigeria. Is it when everybody dies of hunger that the change we all clamoured for will come? 

By Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist

Commuter Loses Arm in Accident: An Appeal for Urgent Assistance from Well Meaning Nigerians (With Pictures Attached)

A young man named Sunday Anyanwu from Abia State has lost his right arm in an accident which occurred around 8.30pm on 13th April 2018 at Amje Bus stop, around Tollgate on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway. According to the 34-year old Sunday, he boarded a BRT bus from Oshodi where he worked to Sango but when they got to Amje bus stop, the BRT driver lost control and rammed into a stationary Dangote truck that was packed beside the road and since he was sitting by the side of the bus, the impact was so great that it instantly cut the BRT bus and cut off his right arm. 

He was unconscious and later admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where he was treated but the bills were too much for him and his family to pay as they could not afford it, so he was discharged from the hospital when he could not continue to pay the mounting bills.  His story was equally published in the Saturday Punch newspapers of July 14th 2018 at page 36. 

The hospital said he needs to undergo surgery on the severed arm to remove some broken bones in the severed arm and in order to avoid his condition from deteriorating further and the cost of the surgery was put at three hundred and fifty thousand naira (N350, 000) and this was as at April 2018. Ever since he was discharged from LASUTH since he could not afford to pay for the surgery, he has been visiting the Igando General Hospital for the dressing of the arm every two days and spending money and since last week he has not been able to go to the hospital to dress the arm because he doesn't have money again. 

Right now what Sunday Anyanwu needs is to go for the surgery at LASUTH which will take care of his situation once and for all instead of going to dress it at Igando every two days and spending money which he cannot even afford. He has been abandoned by the BRT bus owner who claims she does not have money to spend on him anymore even when she is supposed to take care of the surgery but they keep deceiving him everyday and his situation is really critical as his health is in serious danger.  We seriously feel pity for him and that is why I have decided to share his story with all well meaning Nigerians to come to his aid as we have taken keen interest in his story to ensure he gets the medical care he needs and also for him to get justice on this matter in the long run. 

We are seriously appealing to all well meaning Nigerians to please as a matter of urgency come to his aid in whatever form you can by donating towards the surgery of the victim Sunday Anyanwu so that he can proceed to LASUTH as soon as possible for the surgery. We also appeal for whatever assistance you can render in that regard because not only the surgery, he needs total rehabilitation even after the surgery because he is now handicapped. 

We also seek the assistance of the Lagos State government and all well meaning Nigerians to prosecute and bring to book the owner of the BRT bus which caused the accident leading to Sunday Anyanwu losing his right hand and thereby making him now handicapped. This is for abandoning the victim and refusing to take care of his surgery at LASUTH which has now necessitated this urgent appeal. 

Please Nigerians let's join hands and be our brother's keeper. Please let's not allow Sunday to continue to suffer and die because right now he is in pains every day as his severed hand is currently oozing out offensive odour every two days the moment he is unable to go to the hospital at Igando General Hospital to dress the hand. But he requires about N5000 every two days to dress the hand at the hospital and his family have exhausted all they have on his treatment. 

Pls kindly share this story till it gets to the right person who is willing to assist this young man out of this situation and who has the means to sponsor this urgent surgery which he needs right now. You can equally donate any amount you have towards this surgery and for the total rehabilitation of Sunday Anyanwu. 

For donations and to get our corporate account numbers, please contact us by mail only. Send a mail to tayodemola@gmail.com and we shall forward the account numbers to you. 

God bless you as you respond and save a life.

For further details, kindly contact me by sending me a mail at tayodemola@gmail.com. 

For media enquiries and further details or clarifications, kindly send a mail to the above email address.

God bless you all. 

Other contacts: 

Email: tayodemola@gmail.com 

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Examining Femi Adesina's Irresponsible Statement On Cattle Colony -By Tayo Demola

I have always said it that no responsible government will fold its hands and watch while its citizens are being slaughtered and massacred in their numbers. No responsible government will subtly encourage the killing of its own citizens just to achieve its premeditated agenda of cattle colony. No responsible government will value cows and animals above human life. But now it is very clear to all Nigerians the hidden agenda of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is very clear that Nigerians made the greatest mistake of their lives by voting Buhari to manage the affairs of Nigeria. 

The recent statement credited to the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina with respect to cattle colony on a program on AIT is really  unfortunate. It shows that Nigerians have been taken for granted for too long and these people will continue to take us for a ride and for fools if we don't show them the way out of office by our collective will as Nigerians. When injustice thrives in the land and the just fold their arms and do nothing, the unjust will automatically believe that the injustice they perpetrated is right and would continue in their acts of injustice. That is the situation we have found ourselves in Nigeria. 

Now let us take a look at that statement by Femi Adesina: “Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter? The National Economic Council that recommended ranching didn’t just legislate it, there were recommendations. So, if your state genuinely does not have land for ranching, it is understandable. Not every state will have land for ranches. But where you have land and you can do something, please do for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”.

This type of statement by Femi Adesina simply shows that he is reckless, senseless, insensitive, wicked and heartless to the sufferings of Nigerians in his quest to satisfy his pay masters and it is very clear that he is part of the callous cabal that has held Nigeria hostage all along. But as they say, like master, like servant. It is unfortunate that the government of Buhari has brought untold hardship and suffering to millions of Nigerians who thought that a messiah had come but alas we were wrong. Thousands of innocent people have been gruesomely murdered since Buhari took over office with empty promises to tackle insecurity for which he was voted into office but he has failed to tackle the menace, rather Nigerians have been massacred in their numbers in Benue and recently in Plateau state as well as in other parts of the nation. But I'm not surprised because that is their usual tactics; because election is coming, so they would allow the killings so that they can use it to campaign for another election, with another set of empty promises to Nigerians to tackle the menace which they will never fulfill. That is their game plan. It is a vicious circle. Their game plan is perfectly understood. 

By that reckless statement from Femi Adesina, the Presidency has shown Nigerians clearly that they they are indirectly in support of the mindless killings of innocent Nigerians by fulani herdsmen across Nigeria. They have shown us that these killings are premeditated in order to force Nigerians to accept their idea of cattle colony and force its bitter pill down our throats in order to satisfy their inordinate and sinister motives. But what is ancestral attachment that Femi Adesina talked about? Every Nigerian has an ancestral heritage in either tangible or intangible assets or possessions resulting from their lineage and these assets cannot be merely encroached upon or annihilated by any intruder because the people will resist such illegality. You cannot force people to accept what will in the long run be detrimental to their well-being and then turn around to hoodwink us to believe that you are doing us good, no, the people know what is good for them. 

Now when you look at that statement properly, you will see desperation written all over that statement. You will see a Presidency that is not only cunning but desperate to force Nigerians to either accept the idea of cattle colony or be prepared to die! That is the import of that reckless statement. Although we should not be surprised by Femi Adesina's statement because he is fond of taking Nigerians for a ride and making provocative statements. Remember it was the same Femi Adesina that told us that we are wailing wailers. He rubbed it in the face of all Nigerians, yet nothing happened, so it's not surprising he has now come out again with yet another utterly disgusting statement by asking Nigerians to either choose cattle colony or death. 

Sometimes I wonder if these people know the gravity of whatever they say and the damage such statements can cause in the minds of millions of Nigerians. Sometimes I wonder if they know the delicate and highly exalted position they occupy as public servants where they are supposed to refrain from making reckless statements and aggravating an already bad situation. Because thousands have been killed and Nigerians did nothing, and the families of these people have resigned to their fate since they know the government cannot protect them, and since Nigerians are so good at forgetting so easily, so that is why they could come up with another denigrating verbal rhetoric just to cow us into accepting to relinquish our ancestral heritage to some marauders who call themselves fulani herdsmen and who have now become sacred cows in Nigeria just because their man is at the helm of affairs of the nation and is covertly encouraging them to continue to kill and maim in order to annihilate territories for themselves and their sacred cows. 

So by that statement by the Presidency, it clearly shows why Buhari has done little or nothing to stop these mindless killings in Nigeria. It shows the mind of the president because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It shows that if we refuse to accept their idea of cattle colony and ranching, they are prepared to kill as many Nigerians as possible just to achieve their sinister agenda. But really is this a government? A government that does not care if its citizens are killed in their numbers? A government that is so tribalistic, myopic and inept that it sits down and fails to take action while the people are being hacked down in cold blood? Is this a responsible government? It only shows one thing. It only shows Nigerians that we don't deserve this type of government because Nigerians are much more sophisticated and politically enlightened to be boxed into a corner with this type of government that instead of ameliorating the pains of the people, it rather increases their sorrows. No this is not the type of government we want as Nigerians. This is not the type of legacy we want to leave for our children and generations yet unborn. 

Mind you that statement by Femi Adesina should not be taken lightly by Nigerians. There is more to that statement. It is not ordinary. It is a well thought out, well planned and well crafted statement by the Presidency and sooner or later, they will back that statement up with actions that will surprise many Nigerians as it is very clear that these people are desperate to entrench their evil agenda on hapless Nigerians. They are ready to destroy our ancestral heritage and take over our lands and Nigerians must resist any form of internal colonization. Nigerians must immediately resist and reject the likes of Femi Adesina and his misguided, myopic and arrogant postulations and cabalistic hegemony because if he is willing to destroy his own ancestral attachment in order to satisfy his tribalistic pay masters, which I know he would never ever contemplate, we as Nigerians would never contemplate such destructive tendencies to the collective posterity of our common heritage on a platter of political patronage, irrespective of the circumstances. 

It is now clear that the chickens have come home to roost and Nigerians now know the type of leaders they have. By their fruits you shall know them. We now know that it was a mistake after all to have allowed this type of government that takes its citizens for a ride and continuously rubs denigrating statements on our face every now and then and since they feel we can't do anything to them, they keep making more belittling and provocative statements to all Nigerians. But we can do something because the power is in our hands. We can take action and we must take action and our action is our vote which we must ensure that it counts at the next election. We must never make the mistake of ever voting in someone who would subtly conspire to kill innocent Nigerians just to achieve his ethnic jingoistic ideals. Nigerians say no to impunity. Nigerians say no to clueless leaders. Nigerians say no to obnoxious conspiracies against the collective patrimony of our common good. Nigerians say no to the annihilation of our collective ancestral heritage in the name of some sacred cows. No, no, no and no we say! 

TAYO DEMOLA 

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST 

tayodemola@gmail.com

The Nigerian Police & Pidgin English Mentality -By Tayo Demola

Have you ever wondered what language can do to a person? Do you know that the language a person speaks and the culture associated with such language can influence that person's way of life and particularly the way such person behaves?

Now there are a whole lot of questions we need to ask ourselves and try as much as possible to find answers to them if really we want to solve a lot of problems confronting Nigeria. These issues may sound funny but they are really serious. Sometimes it is those issues we ignore and feel they are not important that are often the underlying reasons why certain people behave in certain ways. For us to know why some people often exhibit certain behavioral tendencies, we need to properly examine a lot of things about them and including their language. There is no doubt that a lot of human traits are associated with language or the type of language a person speaks. 

Now let me ask Nigerians these pertinent questions. Why should the average Nigerian police man always speak pidgin English even among themselves? Why can't police men communicate in good English even when they actually understand English but they chose to communicate in pidgin English? When you go to the average police station in Nigeria for a case, what common language do you hear police men communicating among themselves? What is pidgin English and how did the language come about? If pidgin English is an adulteration of the standard English and since Nigeria has chosen the English language as an official means of communication, then why can't our police officers speak good English to us when we get to the police station? 

When an average Nigerian police man stops you on the road and asks for your vehicle particulars or asks you any other questions or when you have any other encounter with an average Nigerian police man and you try to politely explain certain things to them in English, why is it that they often make statements like: "This one na grammar im dey speak", "Your grammar too much", "So you wan show me say you go school abi, you think say me I no go school too"? Why do we have police men in Nigeria with this type of mentality? Do we really deserve these type of police men in the first place? In advanced climes, a police man will politely ask you questions and expect you to explain yourself and would readily listen to you while you try to explain. They would not query you over the type of grammar you speak but would only be interested in knowing if you have committed a crime or not or to wholeheartedly carry out any investigation they need to carry out on you. In Nigeria, a police man would find fault with you just because he is looking for a way to extort money from you or to make you bribe him for an offense you committed instead of either applying his discretion and letting you go if he needs to, or bringing you to book according to the law.

I have often said that Nigeria can never succeed without a good police force. In fact no nation can develop without a good and dependable police force and who must be incorruptible and impartial at all times. Also, Nigeria can never develop with the present crop of police force where impunity, lawlessness, corruption and brutality reign supreme. What is the educational level of the lowest rank or the lowest Cadre of the Nigerian police? What type of training does the average Nigerian police man receive at the police training colleges? Who are those that actually train these officers and can we proudly say that the average Nigerian police man is adequately trained on weapon handling and on the proper ways to relate with the civilian populace with the necessary exhibition of civility and proper conduct? If our police men are properly trained and given the right orientation, why do we have so many cases of police brutality, accidental discharge and brazen extortion as well as flagrant breach of the law by the police that are supposed to be shinning examples to the people and are supposed to enforce the law? Is it not an unfortunate irony that the police that is supposed to enforce the law and protect the citizens are now the ones breaking the law and brutalizing the very people they are paid with tax payer's money to protect?

Let us examine another issue. If for example the lowest rank in the Nigerian police force is a university graduate and you meet him on the road while asking for your vehicle particulars or he stops you at the checkpoint, will such police man be offended by your polished English and tell you angrily that you are speaking grammar? If that police man carrying that gun at the checkpoint passed through the four walls of a university and after spending a minimum of four years in the university, he proceeded to do another one year national youth service, after which he joined the police, would he not be more refined and polite in treating people than someone who never went through all that education? Will he suddenly release his gun and shoot an innocent person dead at the checkpoint just like the youth corper lady that was shot dead in Abuja yesterday just because she didn't stop at the checkpoint? If she didn't stop at the checkpoint when you asked her to stop, does that warrant you killing her? If she didn't stop or if she committed any crime, is killing her a way to apprehend her for such crime?

So I really wonder the type of training our policemen receive at the training colleges because the rate of extra judicial killings, brutality and impunity in Nigeria is so glaring that every day we hear one story of brutality or the other. But the bitter truth is that Nigeria can never develop unless the entire police force in Nigeria is sacked and disbanded for a fresh set of police men and women who would be properly trained, groomed and given proper orientation on what policing is about and how to relate with the people. Do you think this is not possible? It is very possible to systematically sack the entire police force of a nation and gradually move the personnel into another institution or government agency and then while also gradually recruiting freshly trained and properly orientated men and women with integrity to man the police force. This may take several years to achieve and would also require massive capital investment but it is possible. 

Only a Nigerian leader with vision for this country can do this and I'm afraid we may not be able to achieve this in our present generation except the government has the will to take this drastic action that will be a turning point in the history of Nigeria. When we talk about restructuring Nigeria, it cannot be done unless we have a strong and reliable police force. The government should stop the recruitment of people with school certificate into the Nigerian police force. This may sound funny and unachievable but it will go a long way to reform our police force for better crime detection and crime fighting. The minimum educational qualification the government should allow into the police force should be the Diploma or its equivalent or even a degree. Recruitment into the police should not be based on nepotism, tribalism or ethnic considerations. It should be based purely on merit. When a person is properly educated, enlightened and exposed, it is certain that his behavior, orientation and attitude will definitely change and this will affect people around him as well as affect his community.

Nigerians are good people and law abiding people. Yes we are suffering and smiling according to the legendary Fela and that is why there is so much brutality and impunity by our security agencies against the very people they are meant to protect, yet they feel they are doing us a favor by protecting us but this should not be so. This is simply because the mentality of many of the Nigerian police men is not properly channeled towards protecting the people as the primary reason why they are given that uniform. So they need to be reorientated on the core values of policing. 

Another issue worthy of consideration is that every police station in Nigeria should be headed by a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who must have a Masters degree. The police should not continue to rely on experience and other considerations alone in appointing police officers to manage police stations or divisions. While experience must count, the level of the officer's education should equally be very important. I have heard of a DPO who has personally come to the bus stop to arrest market women trying to make a living for themselves but as if that was not enough, one of the women told me the DPO even personally slapped her several times. Yes if they have breached the law, bring them to book but why assault them in the cause of doing your job? Nobody is supporting crime but even the police itself is not above the law while carrying out its duties and in fact the police should be the number one institution in Nigeria to obey the law and they are not above the law. What about the DPO in Agege, Lagos who personally shot and killed a protester some years ago in one of those extra judicial killings and brutality by the police?

But would a police officer who spent all those many years in the university before obtaining his degree or masters degree ever involve himself in such atrocity knowing fully well the implications of his actions? Will he not even be ashamed to speak pidgin English to you knowing fully well that it could be degrading for him considering his level of education and exposure? If he is properly educated and enlightened, will he get offended or jealous of you while at the checkpoint just because you spoke good English to him or because you drive a big car? 

If a young man is well polished in his manners and well dressed with a fine car and speaks good English and also knows his rights as a citizen of Nigeria, does that mean SARS or the police should tag him a yahoo boy or a fraudster? Is that part of the orientation of the Nigerian police and is that their own way of detecting crime? In saner climes, the police could be monitoring and studying or putting a suspect in surveillance for several months or even years before eventually apprehending him if they are sure he has a case to answer but in Nigeria, by mere seeing a person the police will tell him he looks suspicious and that alone to them is enough to arrest him and illegally clamp him into detention. This is wrong and we must stop this type of barbarism and wickedness if Nigeria must move forward.

Pidgin English is a language of the streets and of the market. It is a debased form of the English language. It is not our official language so I see no reason why the average Nigerian police man you meet at the police station should stick to pidgin English and if you are not willing to speak that pidgin with them, they will tag you an "over sabi" person. The Nigerian police should stop embarrassing every person who speaks good English or every person who knows his or her rights as a citizen of Nigeria. The police must realize that it's primary duty is to protect lives and property and to maintain law and order. The Nigerian police must focus on this and refrain from behaviors that could bring its name into disrepute. God bless Nigeria. ​

Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist

Sack These Incompetent Security Chiefs Now! -By Tayo Demola

For several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with hostilities. We have now lost count of the number of killings that have taken place. We have now lost count of the number of innocent Nigerians that have been killed in one of the most dastard and mindless killings in the history of Nigeria. I can't believe that this is happening in our own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till now! It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm because I'm yet to see any drastic step taken by the President to address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security challenges. 

President Muhammadu Buhari should realize that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare of the people. The government has failed to provide for the people. The government has failed to protect the people of Nigeria. It now seems as if there is no government in Nigeria. It now seems as if the people of Nigerian have been left to protect themselves and the government has abandoned its responsibility of protecting the citizens. The president by his lackadaisical attitude to this continuous blood letting and his inability to curtail these crises all these years has shown us that he does not value the life of Nigerians. He has simply failed to uphold the Nigerian constitution and his electoral promises. Nigerians are tired of these empty promises and his inability to tackle Nigeria's mounting security challenges which was one of the focal points of his campaign that made Nigerians to give him a chance to solve these problems.

One of the reasons Nigerians jettisoned former president Goodluck Jonathan's government was his inability to tackle these security challenges and we thought president Buhari would do better but what do we have now? Nigerians are now being massacred in their own country even when we have a government that should take decisive action and stop these mindless killings. Benue state has been a hotbed of hostilities for sometime now. The notorious fulani herdsmen have killed several people in Benue including men of God and shed the blood of innocent Nigerians, yet we have a government that has continuously failed to fulfill its statutory responsibility of protecting the people. So it is very clear that the security agencies in Nigeria are not really up and doing and are not equal to the task in tackling these security challenges. The whole security apparatus in Nigeria needs to be overhauled since they cannot tackle Nigeria's security challenges. 

When you continue to apply a technique that continues to fail you, then you must change that technique or else you will continue to fail. There must be an urgent change in Nigeria's security ideas or else these killings can never be tackled. The sponsors of these dastard killings must be fished out and punished. The president should personally address Nigerians and publicly condemn these evil acts and come out strongly against these people who want to make Nigeria ungovernable. These people must not be treated with kit gloves. They must be identified and brought to book or else we would only be paying lip service to these issues. The recent Plateau killings as well as the recurring killings in other parts of Nigeria is highly condemnable and the president must urgently rise to the occasion to solve this problem once and for all. We cannot continue to witness these type of premeditated attacks on our people across Nigeria even when we have a sitting president and the Service Chiefs who seem helpless in tackling the menace. The blood of the innocent people killed in different parts of Nigeria would cry out for justice and until justice is done and the perpetrators fished out and brought to justice, Nigeria may never know peace. 

Since these crises have continued unabated, it is very obvious that the security chiefs are not only incompetent, but they lack the solution to these problems. It simply shows they don't know their job and should be immediately disbanded by the president for a new and fresh set of security chiefs with fresh ideas to tackle these mounting security challenges Nigeria is facing at the moment. The president must listen to the voice of reason and urgently restructure the security architecture in Nigeria and bring in people who are capable of tackling these problems and people who have the solutions to these problems or else these killings might never stop and might even get worse because it is obvious that these killers are hell bent on destabilising Nigeria. The president has a duty to ensure there is peace in Nigeria because that is why Nigerians gave him the mandate in order to improve the lives of the people. But if on the other hand the president fails to do this, he should honorably resign and vacate office. Nigerians will no longer accept lack of performance from the government. If the president cannot remove these obviously incompetent security chiefs and overhaul the security architecture of Nigeria and replace them with more competent hands, then the president should be ready to tender his resignation letter if these mindless killings of innocent Nigerians continue. 

This anarchy must stop. This conspiracy of silence against Nigeria must stop. This wickedness must be brought to an end and it can never stop if we don't take drastic and decisive actions to stem this tide of anarchy and blood letting. It is very clear that the security chiefs have run out of ideas on how to tackle these security challenges and therefore they must immediately be sacked by the president and replaced with a new set of security chiefs who can rise to the occasion and solve these perennial security problems that have threatened the existence of Nigeria. 

This is the the immediate solution to the current quagmire we have found ourselves as a nation. But if on the other hand the president decides not to sack these security chiefs and these crises continue, he must resign and vacate office for a more competent leader who would be able to solve Nigeria's challenges. But if he fails to resign, he must be prepared to be disgraced out of office through the ballot box by the citizens of Nigeria for failing to live up to the people's expectations and for failing to fulfill his promises to the people. Nigerians say no to incompetent leaders. Nigeria must work. Nigeria must know peace. Nigeria must succeed no matter the circumstances and no matter the many obnoxious conspiracies against the corporate existence of Nigeria. 

TAYO DEMOLA 

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

What's Wrong with Medical Doctors? -By Tayo Demola

 Please read this article and share your views below. Let me know what you think about these issues.

I read with dismay and total shock in the Punch newspapers of June 22, 2018 the story of a nurse Dorcas Adeyera who was brutally attacked and humiliated by a medical doctor, Dr Emmanuel Okolo at the Awoyaya Hospital and Maternity Centre, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State. I still find it hard to believe that there are still some educated people in Nigeria in the calibre of this so called medical doctor who could throw caution to the winds and still behave in this barbaric manner. So what is the essence of their education in the first place? And this makes such person's claim to being educated really questionable.

But what really caused this issue between the nurse and the doctor? Let me quote from the Punch newspapers: "... Okolo and Adeyera’s misunderstanding stemmed from the treatment of a patient rushed into the medical facility in the early hours of Monday. Okolo was alleged to have frowned on the admission of the accident victim without his consent, blaming Adeyera for the action. The medical doctor allegedly summoned the 23-year-old into his office and ordered her to kneel down. When the victim refused, 35-year-old Okolo was alleged to have dealt her several slaps and also flogged her with a belt." Can you imagine that? Can you imagine this type of cruelty? Has the medical profession in Nigeria now become a breeding ground for thugs who pretend to be medical doctors and who now brutalize nurses at the slightest provocation? What happens to decorum and synergy between medical professionals in the treatment of patients and why should a doctor arrogate to himself to the status of god or a know-it-all in medical profession?

The duty of the doctor to urgently save lives and to save an accident victim who needed urgent medical attention and who was probably dying was done by the dutiful and caring nurse and just for not informing the doctor or waiting for him to handle the admission of the patient himself, he had the guts to order the nurse to kneel down, slapped and flogged her! This is unbelievable and I think this type of medical doctor does not deserve to be called a medical doctor because he is a complete disgrace to the medical profession in Nigeria. This type of doctor needs to be properly examined to know if he is psychologically balanced because many of these so called medical doctors who parade our hospitals and claim to be doctors actually need medical examination themselves because they don't conduct themselves in the least noblest of ways that behoves of a doctor. A doctor who treats another person should first and foremost be sound health wise and psychologically too, but if on the other hand he is psychologically imbalanced, so what type of treatment is he going to give to others and how will he be able to properly treat an ailing patient?

We all remember the medical doctor who went all the way to the third mainland bridge in Lagos in 2017 and committed suicide. The memory is still fresh in our minds. But do you know the psychological issues he had that led him to commit suicide? Do you know the many patients who must have passed through him and who might have suffered from lack of proper care or treatment due to his inability to come to terms with his own health and well-being? This is one of the many problems of our health sector in Nigeria. If a medical doctor could slap a nurse for such flimsy excuse, if he could drag her on the floor and also flog her with his belt just because she did not take permission from him before admitting a patient, then it shows clearly that our medical profession in Nigeria has been seriously endangered by quacks and charlatans who parade themselves as medical professionals.

But this type of lackadaisical attitude by doctors is common in many of our hospitals. They treat patients with levity and disdain. They expect you to beg them and cry before they can admit you or your relatives. They will give you a high bill you can't afford just to make sure the patient dies and is denied medical attention. They will insist that you deposit a huge amount of money before they even treat you and the moment you are unable to pay such money, they will abandon such patient to die. They take precious life with levity as if they too will not die one day. That is the problem with our health sector in Nigeria and our hospitals need a total overhaul because the medical professionals there don't seem to understand the concept of saving lives first as a sacrosanct medical concept which should be adhered to by all medical professionals irrespective of the financial condition of the patient.

So it was the prompt response of the nurse in admitting the accident victim that angered the doctor because left for the doctor he would have perhaps treated the accident victim with levity and demanded for a huge deposit before he could treat him or her. In other instances, these doctors would subject an ailing patient to all sorts of horrendous and psychological trauma and even add more to their problems before treating them. Sometimes they would require an ailing patient who can barely walk to go round different offices in the hospital to fill different spurious and irrelevant forms just in order to properly extort the patient of his hard earned money even at the expense of his health. Sometimes before such patient finishes going through all these cumbersome processes in the hospital he might even collapse and die. But do many of these doctors really care?

I see a lot of anger and pride in some medical doctors in Nigeria in the course of carrying out their duties. This is very wrong. If you know you can't function as a medical doctor, why go to school for all those years and then come out to vent your anger and frustration on hapless patients? I see many medical doctors that are so pompous and condescending in their attitude to people. So I begin to wonder why they behave that way or whether they were trained to be that way. Sometime in 2011 at the Navy Town Reference Hospital in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, I took a relative to that hospital and she was already in serious pains. She had a six months pregnancy and was referred there for the evacuation of the fetus because it was already a miscarriage and there was no hope on the baby anymore. Although the doctors at the previous hospital didn't tell us the baby would be evacuated but from what they wrote in the reference letter, they had already communicated this to the reference hospital at Navy Town. But that is not even the issue.

The issue is that despite this woman was in serious pains and lying critically in pains at the reception for over one hour, they didn't even attend to her despite all my pleas and they kept tossing me from one office to the other to make one payment or the other but left her in serious pains. As if that was not enough and to add insult to injury, while I was in the office of one of the doctors pleading with him to treat her case as urgent (which he knows it was urgent) and to attend to her, the doctor got angry and threatened to slap me and in fact he ordered me out of his office. He was actually a naval officer doctor because I can clearly remember he put on navy uniform as a naval officer. I was put through so much pains by the medical personnel at that Navy Town Reference Hospital just to make sure I save her life and to make sure the baby was evacuated. The funny thing about many Nigerian medical doctors and medical personnel is that many times they add to the sorrow of patients by their nonchalant attitude to patients who are in pains and who are supposed to be cared for.

But can a medical doctor of this calibre who brutalized a nurse in the course of her duty and who belittled such nurse and regarded her as insignificant ever save a life? This type of behavior by this medical doctor is crude, barbaric, wicked, disgusting and highly condemnable. This type of behavior is not only primitive but shows that such medical doctor is not qualified to be called a medical doctor in the first place. It shows that he has no regard for women. It shows that he is hot tempered and not qualified at all to be a medical doctor in Nigeria. It shows that if he could brutalize that nurse, he would most probably be a wife beater because he has no iota of respect for women and all women in Nigeria should rise up against this type of barbaric and uncultured behavior by this primitive medical doctor and defend this nurse who was unjustly brutalized by this so called medical doctor. All Nigerians should rise up and speak against this type of injustice. We must never allow this type of behavior to continue unchallenged else it would become the norm. We must bring to book perpetrators of this type of crime against women and against any other person in Nigeria to serve as deterrent to others.

This issue should be thoroughly investigated and if found culpable, the medical doctor should not only be banned from practising as a medical doctor in Nigeria, but he should equally face the law and be charged to court for assault as a deterrent to others who might want to do likewise. By his apparent display of insanity, it is very clear that he is not fit to live among sane people. It is so appalling and unthinkable that some medical doctors in Nigeria are so pompous and proud that they arrogate themselves to the status of gods to be worshipped by patients just because they feel that these patients have no choice because they are ill and need urgent medical attention. But these medical doctors failed to realize that they have an oath and a sacred duty to save lives no matter the circumstances. They are not meant to vent their anger or frustration on anyone but to do their job according to the law and save lives. Saving lives is the primary duty of medical personnel and any doctor who cannot live up to this expectation should be shown the way out of the medical profession. 

Tayo Demola
Human Rights Activist
Email: tayodemola@gmail.com

Crime, SARS & the Pains of That Bullet -By Tayo Demola

I saw that bullet wound in his right arm: The bullet actually put a hole in his arm. It was deep, disgusting and breathtaking.  I also saw the blood-stained cotton pads on his hospital bed and I imagined the amount of blood he must have lost while battling to save his life from those bullet wounds. I imagined the pains he must have gone through after that attack and I pray that may God save his life.

He is an officer of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) identified as Yusuf Adamu based in Nassarawa state and who recently came under heavy attacks alongside with his colleagues as they were attacked by armed robbers after they encountered these hoodlums during an operation. He has been battling to save his life at the hospital even after undergoing the first surgery and is billed to undergo another surgery on his bones that got shattered by the bullet. Imagine the pains of that bullet!

Now here we go. This police man was attacked in the line of duty while fighting crime. And it is commendable that he and his team actually had an upper hand and subdued these bandits in the process. If we keep getting this type of news about actual combat of men of SARS with bandits, showing that they are actually doing their job and facing their core responsibilities of fighting crimes instead of terrorizing and extorting money from innocent people, no one in Nigeria would clamour for the disbandment of SARS. We have read countless accounts in the newspapers on a regular basis of the experiences of many innocent Nigerians with SARS operatives which resulted in brutality, extortion and even deaths of these people and this is totally condemnable in a sane democratic nation.

The primary duty of SARS is to fight and curtail armed robbery and violent crimes in Nigeria. They are not meant to stop young and innocent boys on the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Warri, Port Harcourt, Enugu or any other place in Nigeria for that matter and harass, intimidate or extort money from them. No, that is not the job of SARS. So if they do their job accordingly, no one would clamour to end SARS but if on the other hand they use it as an avenue to harass innocent Nigerians, then people will continue to campaign against them. The moment any organization deviates from its responsibility and primary duty and perverts injustice, then the people will surely resist such tendencies and clamour for the scrapping of that organization no matter how good and effective it has been before. That is the problem with SARS. It started well but in recent times the complaints from Nigerians about the brutality and high handedness of SARS officials have been so overwhelming to be overlooked.

But will disbanding SARS be the ultimate solution to this problem? What about the good ones among them? If SARS is eventually disbanded, what viable alternatives will be available to fight violent crimes and armed banditry in Nigeria just like this officer did and got himself wounded by these armed robbers? Would it not amount to throwing the baby away with the bath water? I live in Lagos and although I've travelled to other parts of Nigeria, I've not had any experience with the SARS operatives, good or bad, but I can't discountenance the negative experiences of many Nigerians who have had series of complaints about the brutality and extortion of Nigerians by SARS officials in many parts of Nigeria.

Is there not a possibility that these SARS officials who perpetrate these brutality and extortions are the bad eggs among them? Is it not possible that these bad eggs are latching on the fact that since SARS has now become popular and having considerably fought crimes in Nigeria, they now capitalize on this and now turn it into an avenue to enrich their private pockets through intimidation and brutality? The end SARS campaign may be justified considering all the alleged atrocities by them, but we must still be careful in ending SARS without providing a better alternative because we all know how deadly and daring armed bandits operate across the country even when SARS is tackling them let alone if SARS is disbanded. The Offa bank robbery which happened in broad daylight is still fresh in our minds and we all saw how these criminals killed scores of people including several police men just to achieve their aim of robbing the bank.

As we work towards reorganizing SARS, the bad eggs should be uprooted from the system. There should be a total restructuring of SARS to meet up with the current realities. I see no reason why SARS should leave its main duty of fighting violent crimes and then deviate and start terrorizing, extortion and killing innocent citizens of Nigeria. If there are too many bad eggs in SARS, then there should be a complete overhaul of the organization and injection of new hands into SARS for better service delivery to the people. When SARS stop innocent young boys who are struggling to make a living, they check their phones and tag them yahoo boys. But are all these boys actually yahoo boys? And is it the duty of SARS to check people's phones? Is it not invasion of privacy for the police to check people's phones without any formal complaints against such person? And why are they now using this as an avenue to extort money from this boys and also use it as an excuse to clamp innocent people into detention cells? This is barbaric, disgusting, condemnable and can only happen in an uncivilized nation and we should not allow this type of injustice in Nigeria or else we would continue to be a laughing stock to the outside world.

The Nigerian police force should take it as an urgent priority to train and retrain SARS officers and give them proper orientation about fighting crimes and about their actual duties to check these incessant harassment of innocent citizens whom they are meant to protect in the first place. If this is done and if eventually we see a change in the activities of SARS for the better, then by then we would heave a sigh of relief. Ordinarily it should be the armed bandits that should be scared when they hear of SARS and not innocent citizens going about their daily activities and trying to make a living for themselves that are now living in fear because they are scared that SARS might harass them on the way. Enough of SARS harassment. Enough is enough. 

Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist 

tayodemola@gmail.com

Now That Abiola Has Been Honoured By Tayo Demola

When I saw that certificate of honour signed by President Muhammadu Buhari honouring Chief MKO Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12 1993 Presidential election, I was happy that it was a dream come true for us as a nation. I was happy for the Abiola family. I was happy for the masses of Nigeria who came out enmass on that fateful June 12 1993 and lined up in the rain and sun and voted for their own choice of a leader. I was happy for the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as for the Lagos State government and the entire South West for a dream come true because despite it took a long long time to achieve this recognition, it is better late than never. Finally after all these years MKO Abiola has been given his rightful place in the Nigerian polity despite all the irreparable injustices done to him and the entire masses of Nigeria all these years.

Now Abiola will smile in his grave not only because he has been honoured but if and only if he sees that the life of an average Nigerian has improved and not deteriorated. Abiola will only be happy if he sees that the current crop of leaders in Nigeria do better than what he planned to do for Nigeria before his mandate was stolen by some selfish cabals. But these people who stole Abiola's mandate, then locked him up and eventually killed him thought they were doing evil to Abiola but they never realized they were doing greater evil to the entire Nigerian people and generations yet unborn. For several years successive Nigerian governments have ignored talking about or recognizing Abiola. But can we write the history of this country without dedicating a special chapter to Abiola? Absolutely no! It is now clear to even the uninformed that Abiola played a pivotal role in the history of this country despite how successive governments refused to recognize him. But for how long can they suppress the will of the people? Can evil triumph over good? No way!

But where are all those who conspired against Abiola? Where are they now? Do they think they will go scot free? Do they think they will escape God's judgment? No way. But these people thought they were conspiring against a single individual, but no, they actually conspired against the corporate existence of Nigerian as an entity. For over two decades since that coup against the Nigerian people, has Nigeria recovered from that brazen theft of the will of the people? Has Nigerian been able to make any meaningful headway? How have we fared as a people? Have we not all suffered the inexplicable consequences of the careless decision of a select few decision makers whose indiscretion has plunged us into this avoidable cesspit of inglory as a nation?

But really where are these people who put us into this backwardness? Are they supposed to be smiling and enjoying themselves now when Abiola who paid the ultimate price by laying down his own life for Nigeria rots in the grave? These people who conspired and stole the people's mandate from Abiola and ended up putting Nigeria through several years of hardship should be shamed and made to face the public condemnation and the law. They should be put in their rightful place in history because the are thieves for stealing the people's mandate. They should not be honoured because they don't deserve such honour because they have put Nigeria and the masses of Nigeria to shame. They should tender a public apology to Nigeria and be put in their rightful place in the minds of the people.

For too long the will of the people has been subverted in Nigeria. For too long the will of the people has been swept under the carpet but we say enough is enough because power ultimately belongs to the people. It is not enough to honour Abiola, what matters is how the people he so much fought for are faring. If he were alive, would Nigeria be the way it is now? If he were alive, would Nigeria still remain backward the way it is now? If the people's mandate given to Abiola was not aborted by these enemies of Nigeria and he was able to lead Nigeria for at least a term in office, would Abiola not have transformed Nigeria by now or at least laid a solid foundation for Nigeria? Would he not have solved a lot of problems for us instead of these crop of incompetent and clueless leaders foisted on Nigeria over the years and who have ended up creating more problems for Nigeria?

It seemed like yesterday but no, twenty-five years have just passed away since that people's mandate was given to Abiola. A child born that year by now should have perhaps graduated from the university and now working, yet it seems like yesterday and it still seems to me like a dream that our popular will was stolen and our messiah killed to suppress the wishes of the Nigerian people. But let's live with the consolation that he has been recognized at last. Let us hope that as he has been so recognized, the ideals he lived for would propel us to greater heights as a nation. Let us hope that one day God will give us a messiah greater than Abiola who would turn Nigeria around for good. Let us not give up as a nation for if Abiola could make so much impact on the Nigerian polity from his grave even when he never actually lead Nigeria even for a day, then imagine what he would have done if he were alive and if he were able to preside over the affairs of Nigeria? This is a great lesson for us as a nation. Never again should we allow a select few selfish and greedy individuals determine the affairs of this country. Only the wish and the will of the people should prevail.

For me it is not enough to give honour to Abiola when the bulk of the Nigerian masses live in abject poverty. It is not enough to honour him when the lives of the people whom he so much fought for and died for have not improved the way Abiola would have loved if he were alive. Abiola was a man of the people. If he were alive he would have given his last kobo to make sure a hungry man on the street does not go hungry. He would not fold his arms and do nothing when he hears that Nigerians are committing suicide for lack of food. He will rise to the occasion. He will not fold his arms and watch when he hears that Nigerians are throwing themselves into the third mainland bridge because they can no longer feed themselves, no Abiola will do something to help the people. He will not fold his arms and do nothing when he hears that Nigerians are selling and exchanging their children for a bag of rice, no I'm sure this will never happen if Abiola were alive. It will be an abomination to him if he were alive and he would never allow such to happen. In fact he will do something to stop it.

But come to think of it. Will Abiola allow Nigerians to buy fuel even as an oil producing nation for N145 per litre even without any commensurate improvements in the lives of the average Nigerian? Would he have allowed this injustice to prevail? Would he have allowed injustice, brutality and human rights abuses if he were alive and if he were the president of Nigeria? Would the Nigerian economy be in such a bad shape with many companies relocating out of Nigerian if Abiola were the president of Nigeria? Would he allow such to happen? Would he not have fixed the economy by now with his dexterity as a successful business mogul an international business man? Would he not have fixed the recurring problems of power by now? And lastly, would Abiola not have by now laid a solid foundation for the nation and generations yet unborn instead of the pillaging and daylight robbery of Nigeria by successive governments? Abiola would have no doubt performed the magic but the will of the people was subverted. Never again should we allow the will of the people to be subverted in Nigeria. Let your vote count. God bless Nigeria.

TAYO DEMOLA

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Twitter: @TayoDemola