gidgiddy: It's a very rare thing in Igbo land to see teenagers getting married. Most families will not allow such. The very rare times this happens, it's either caused by pregnancy or that the family has only one son who they rush into marriage so as to preserve the name of the family
It only happens when the kid is the only child of the family. So the family sees the need to keep the family name going by getting them married early for fear of losing them through death.
Suddenly, we are waking up to the realisation that our nation is mutating from fatherland into a monstrous beast which threatens us. To threaten citizens is to undermine the democracy many sacrificed their lives for and to erode the very foundation of the nation, after all, it is we -citizens – who give meaning to democracy “as government of the people, by the people, and for the people”, and as a form of social and political life which recognises the moral imperative of choice as the bedrock of democracy.
Without the citizens, the nation is a mirage. To be sure, the nation exists as “one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God”, as the constitution supremely proclaims, to provide form and substance to citizens’ experiences and realities. In turn, the citizens preserve and perfect the nation, so the nation can know itself, as Emmerich De Vattel expressed in his masterpiece, ‘The Law of Nations’: “a nation ought to know itself. Without this knowledge it cannot make any successful endeavours after its own perfection. It ought to have a just idea of its state, to enable it to take the most proper measures; it ought to know the progress it has already made, and what further advances it has still to make”.
One enduring legacy of democracy is will to power, the empowering strength democracy gifts to all citizens to speak truth to power and define their destinies as they deem fit. For citizens to think and act according to their will and power, the nation must be secured against the beast that threatens it. There are no safe houses for citizens (and for democracy as well) in a nation in which the president, like a bull in a china shop, rages and wrecks everything in sight, including the nation itself.
Once this happens, as we are presently experiencing, two things are bound to happen. First, the nation begins to alter itself – a mutation – as a natural consequence of the pressure exerted on it to accommodate the beast. Permanence is not a gift every nation possesses. It either contracts or enlarges itself, depending on the size of the beast at any given time, or, worse still, reinvents itself and assumes the nature and character traits of the beast. Second, citizens return to their ethnic enclaves to either seek protection from the rampaging beast or seek ethnic solidarity against the beast. Here, the civic duties and loyalties of citizens to the nation are lost.
Unity is a cheque we have always cashed and we have never done a poor job of cashing it in our small corners. Then, Buhari happened. The thread that held us together began to loosen, unravelling our unity.
We once had a nation of flourishing liberties and freedoms, promising democracy. We once had a nation built around the moderating politics of compromise, even where such moderating frameworks of rotational power and federal character were tokenistic, they somehow addressed our concerns over representation and domination. We had a rich history woven with the fine tapestries of our memories. Ours was a Tower of Babel; but we found ingenious ways of melding into the melting pot of peace. No more. Today, that moderating politics of compromise has given way to the zero-sum politics of alienation. The Buhari presidency happened and the pillars which held the nation firmly collapsed, opening up the mausoleum of our old rifts. How so?
Buhari is the culprit behind the obsequious transformation. Are you surprised? Here, we are dealing with the return of history. As that famous thinker, Marx, rightly observed, “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historical facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first as tragedy, the second time as farce”.
Buhari mirrors the tragic and farcical personages of history who walk with the democratic deficits and contradictions of a bounty-taker and bask in the glory of their feats – taking bounties. The distress of their victims doesn’t matter to them, so far their interests are advanced. He is a cross between the Orwellian tyrant who “recognizes no other duty than that of advancing his interests” and deploys repressive instruments that shield him from criticisms, by the fires of torches and the force of the baton; and the inverted Manichean who sees only evil and places it above good.
His first incursion into power in 1983 was not only Orwellian but was also truly Manichean. He was the Big Brother who kept a watchful eye on everyone. Evil triumphed. Like the character, Joseph K, in Franz Kafka’s dystopian novel, ‘The Trial’, citizens, who came under his gaze, were arrested and detained for unspecified crimes. His enforcer, Lawal Rafindadi, was more brutal than Kafka’s character, Inspector. Ask Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson.
Buhari’s sins were forgiven in later years. So it appeared when he was elected president in 2015, and re-elected in 2019. While many showed forbearance and generosity toward him, he has persisted in his old ways of destroying the civic space and turning democratic practices into dictatorial practices.
Like yesteryears, there is no respite. He is still taking bounties. The number is growing. His democratic deficit and contradictions are increasingly getting sharper. He is unraveling; even as the nation mutates and democracy deforms, turning into another byword for do-nothing. Think of his government that has a majority in the National Assembly but which cannot push for meaningful legislative change. Think of the reversal of the democratic gains we had secured from years of struggle. See, you don’t have to out-Darwin Darwin to understand the nature of this mutation.
“I’m not going to make the mistake of attempting a third term or whatever term. Besides the age, I swore by the Holy Book I believe in that I will go by the constitution and the constitution said 2 terms.”
Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow in Journalism at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and an expert on the Middle East and Islam, appeared on Thursday's afternoon's edition of CBN's Newswatch to talk more about Turkey's alleged ties to Islamic terrorism.
Turkey is clearly a terrorist state with a broad reach, according to an Egyptian television news program.
Ten.tv reports Turkey is supplying weapons to Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Ten.tv host Nasha't al-Deyhi reported on a leak confirming an intercepted phone call from a few years back – confirming the action.
He reported in part: "Today's leak confirms without a doubt that Erdogan, his state, his government, and his party are transferring weapons from Turkey to – this is a shock, to where you may ask – to Nigeria; and to whom? – to the Boko Haram organization."
Raymond Ibrahim is the Shillman Fellow in Journalism at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an expert on the Middle East and Islam. During an interview Thursday on CBN's Newswatch, Ibrahim said he's not surprised by the Ten.tv report.
"The tape was made in 2014 or 15 and it was reported widely in certain areas, in the US and the west not so much and not much came out of it," Ibrahim said. "The reason I think is that (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan didn't have his fingers so much in Islamist politics outside of his own nation."
"But now that we've seen Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS Islamic state caliph that was killed recently, and he was found just three miles from the Turkish border, which is, in fact, the last bastion of jihadi-so-called 'freedom fighters' attacking the Syrian government," he told CBN News.
"It has brought it up again, he (Erdogan) is supporting ISIS," Ibrahim noted. "Now we're remembering and that was I think the point of the Egyptian show, we're bringing back to see that there's some continuity here. He's involved with some of the worst Islamic terror groups. If you remember, Boko Haram, whose name loosely means 'western education is forbidden', (Haram) was basically doing what ISIS was doing and is notorious for – years before ISIS was doing it.
"One of the things international observers have been noticing, especially increasingly, is that their armaments, their weapons are very sophisticated," he continued. "It's even spilled into the Fulani tribesmen in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. For example, in Burkina Faso, also in western Africa the attacks on Christians have become horrific in just the last few months."
As CBN News reported, a senior State Department official said last week that Turkey is backing forces in Syria who have the same radical ideology as ISIS.
"The problem is that the people doing the fighting are these ill-disciplined Arab militias, some of whom we've worked within the past when we were arming the opposition, but many of whom are (a) ill-disciplined, and (b) relatively radical, and their ideology is essentially Islamic ideology," the official said.
A fragile government in northern Syria called the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAA) released a statement on Tuesday saying that Erdogan seeks to subjugate them through radical Islam.
"Erdogan plans to turn are free, democratic region back into turmoil under radical Islamic occupation," the government said.
Critics of Erdogan's invasion say he is trying to revive the Ottoman Empire and establish a new caliphate.
"Their open intention is to restore the original caliphate which was disbanded in 1924," said Dalton Thomas of Frontier Alliance International.
Recently Turkey's defense minister posted a map to his social media that shows portions of Greece, Syria, and Iraq as part of a greater Turkey.
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar posted a message alongside the map: "We have no eyes on anyone's soil. We will only take what's ours."
The map reflects the 1920 Ottoman National Pact that includes lands Turkey believes it deserved at the end of World War I.
The Rice mills are hoax. Y'all don't understand its just a front. We have more rice mills but have very little rice farms. Top officials are hiding behind these mills and smuggling rice through the northern borders and repackaging them for sale in local bags in those mills. Them go use all of una make money this Christmas
Foolish government. Coal we should have been using since but they will be listening to western intellectuals who advice them to move to cleaner energy while the same people still use coal. China is building a coal plant in 2019 already.
Jose Mourinho has been spotted walking around Chelsea for the first time since his shock appointment as the new Tottenham manager, replacing Mauricio Pochettino
New Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has been pictured strolling around London for the first time since securing his Premier League return.
Mourinho was unveiled as the new Spurs boss on Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.
He took his first training session on Wednesday afternoon and held his first press conference on Friday.
Now, he has been seen strolling down the street in the Chelsea area where he lives, donning a full Spurs tracksuit complete with navy gilet as he carried a small suitcase in his left hand.
Mourinho's appointment has not gone down well with Chelsea fans after he had previously said he would never manage their rivals.
But he had no qualms with walking around the area in the gear of his new club after a whirlwind few days as he took time out to sign a shirt for a fan.
Patrioticman007: Your mumu never do ?. All the slavery & conversion to Christianity that colonial masters did to your ancestors is not enough ?. The little asset that will benefit, Nigerian government, you want it, to be repatriated to USA, due to your extra ordinary mumuism. I trust PMB won't return the money to USA.
Individual business owners were scammed. Colonialism has to do with countries oppressing another. Here individuals are involved. Don't blame an innocent American for the sins of her government in the past. I will not blame a Yoruba man on the street for the role awolowo played during the Civil War
Thief thief government. Opportunity to reloot. They should allow FBI to conclude their investigations as the wealth belongs to foreign government and not the Nigerian govt.
Rohr is a very humble and loyal guy, He brings stability to our team. But man should improve on his tactics, he's very predictable with his subs as he keeps making like for like subs during games. Man should switch it up a Lil bit and be dynamic with his formations. He should also stop calling up that NEPA pole called Paul Onuachu, i don't know which person in the NFF that is collecting money from him to always include him. Ahmed Musa should also be dropped, i don't see how someone playing in Saudi Arabia should be called ahead of olayinka, Dennis and okereke that play in the uefa champions league.
johndoexxx: Federal government will shut it down...watch out and see. Ambode shut his terminal based on order from above. He pleaded, pleaded, satisfied every excuses to open it back, for where. He lost billions! Before they knew it, he open another one in Rivers, they couldn't believe he survived it. They(anti Igbo forces) are after him, he knows it!
Funny enough it's not even federal government, it's the Lagos cabal who see him as a foreigner cornering all the business they would get. They put ambode there so ambode would do exactly as told. The other Igbo woman that built a gas manufacturing plant and went into partnership with the Nigerian army, just wait till oando goes into same business and watch them shut her down. Same goes to Emeka Offor
Why would anyone invest such amount and abandon the property?
I think whoever bought Naija should come and help us oh..
Help gịnị? Britain help you? The Royal Niger company bought Nigeria and the company its still around today but only with a different name called UNILEVER
Health › Re: 3D Design Of Kano Cancer Centre (Photos) by gaetano: 6:00pm On Nov 28, 2019
