₦airaland Forum

The following are the accounts of photographer Pieter Hugo on his trip to Nigeria to investigate the Hyena Handlers.

The Naraative and pictures are from his book The Hyena and Other Men


[img]http://4.bp..com/-C3Tlj4UG1Fg/VCFXzIfZLMI/AAAAAAAACg0/sYifLvcN9MU/s1600/the-hyena-and-other-men-pieter-hugo-6.jpg[/img]

It all started with the picture above. A friend had emailed photographer Pieter Hugo this bizarre image taken on a cellphone in Lagos, Nigeria. The caption read, ‘The Streets of Lagos’, and a newspaper publishing the photo reported that the men were bank robbers, body guards, drug dealers and debt collectors.

The image went viral online and the myth of these street toughs in Nigeria with Hyenas grew. Pieter was captivated and knew he had to learn more.

Through a journalist friend, Hugo tracked down a Nigerian reporter, Adetokunbo Abiola, who said that he knew the Gadawan Kura as they are known in Hausa (a rough translation: ‘hyena handlers/guides’). A few weeks later, Pieter was on a plane to Lagos.

kayciano: GUDMORNING...
DEFINITELY its USA again...
WE have REAL TOPOGRAPHIES in NIGERIA dat are far better than this...
In DUTSE (JIGAWA) alone ....its beauty upon beauty.

IN DUTSE, u find precious caves and STONES,PEBBLES
with natural DESIGNS...(NIGERIA is BEAUTIFUL but for NIGERIANS I dont know..).
In CROSSRIVER ,,so much more..
OR Is it JOS....?


JUST DAT WHITES have a way of making SENSE out of NONSENSE...but
BLACKS have a way of making NONSENSE out of SENSE..

But you are black. Why dont you stop complaining and start acting.

alotofgrace: shooooooooo!!! for wetin bros

I think say you vex o.

Anyway. All is well sha.

alotofgrace: so what did i say?

i said it casually, u said it corporately....what difference kwa

You don vex.

alotofgrace: yeah! the man was just strolling o....he con shnap am

He was actually driving by, saw the scenery and decided to take a shot. So he came out of his car and took a shot.

Thats how the mind of a professional photographer works.

Do you recognise the picture below? Chances are very high that you would recognise it almost immediately.

Yes, this is the default wallpaper for Microsoft Windows XP which was released in 2001 and has since had more than 400 million copies in use as at 2006 (excluding pirated copies). So we know for a fact that this particular picture has been seen several billion times over the years.

The image is called Bliss it is a real photo of a real place (Sonoma County,California) it is free of any digital manipulation and the photo was taken by photographer Charles O'Rear in 1996.

Microsoft now owns all the copyright to this picture and the photographer, Charles O'Rear cannot say exactly how much Microsoft bought it from him (because of a Non-disclosure agreement) but he would only say that it was an "extraordinary amount" and one of the largest ever paid to a living, working photographer.

http://globalthots..com/2014/09/this-could-be-most-famous-picture-in.html?m=1

addempsea: They only write positive things about those that employ them.

They also attack opponents of their employers.

addempsea: At least it is profitable and u can't go to jail for it.

Libel and defamation is still an offence in Nigeria.

When it comes to providing work for idle minds, the devil seems to have a particular fondness for Nigerian youths, especially around election times.
Most elections conducted in Nigeria over the past decades have been characterised by thuggery.

Politicians turn to the country's pool of unemployed millions to recruit young people who will aid their democratic ambitions.

These youths are then trained and empowered to manipulate the electoral climate.

Their job description includes anything from intimidating political opponents to seizing ballot boxes and clobbering uncooperative electoral officers.
But times are definitely changing.

Rather than supplying them with machetes, missiles and matches, Nigerian politicians are now arming their hirelings with laptops, smart phones and internet connections.

Political thuggery has gone digital.

As Nigeria gears up for the 2015 general elections, squads of young people are being recruited across the nation to storm cyberspace: To harass, intimidate and persecute their employer's opponents or those with views that oppose his ambitions.

For many Nigerian youths, being an "internet warrior" is a full-time job.

Some work from home; others work from an office - many work round the clock.

I spoke to a 28-year-old chemistry graduate who patrols the online war front for one of Nigeria's popular politicians.

Every morning, he gets dressed and embarks on a 20-minute drive to work, where he sits in an office with dozens of other young people on the same mission as himself.

With a burst of laughter, he summarised his job description in three words: "Distort public opinion".

He and his colleagues have about 10 different pseudonyms each for news websites and blogs, but fewer for Facebook and Twitter.

They bombard articles about their politician with positive comments, and blast those of his opponents with negative posts.

"I usually use corruption and ethnicity to attack," he said.
Some months ago, he was engaged in the exact opposite: Maligning his current employer.

At the time, he was working in an enemy camp, but the pay and conditions were not as favourable as those offered him now.

"They had promised us jobs," he said, "but when the time came, they offered all the positions to people from their constituency."

No broken bones

Another young man told me that certain online platforms, especially newspapers, block any comments his team members post in support of their candidate.

Others allow support for his principal, and disallow negativity from enemy camps.

It all depends on whose payroll the newspaper's online editor has been signed.

These internet warriors, while not stealing ballot boxes or bullying electoral officers, are manipulating the electoral climate.
Public opinion is being rigged.

At this rate, the forthcoming elections will be full of many surprises, especially for those who depend on online forums to gauge Nigerians' sentiments on any issue.

Meanwhile, the multitude of Nigerians who actually go out to stand in the rain or sun for hours to vote on election day, often do not have internet connections in their shacks.

Being an internet warrior certainly comes across as a more acceptable form of thuggery than ripping shirts and hurling stones in the streets.

Brain instead of brawn. No bones broken, no limbs amputated, no blood shed, no lives lost.

Broken promises

The pseudonymous adversaries may even be best friends.
At the close of business, they shut their laptops and meet at the pepper-soup joint down the road for a stout, the day's vicious tasks safely behind their screens.

But what will become of all these recruits when the 2015 battles have been lost or won?

Despite the promises that may have been made to them, not all will be given better jobs or government appointments.

The Niger Delta oil militants who terrorised southern Nigeria a few years ago were reported to be thugs used during election campaigning who suddenly found themselves jobless - but adequately armed after the ballots had been cast.

Some of the Boko Haram insurgents currently terrorising the north were also born out of a similarly expired campaign contract.

Increased armed robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in different parts of Nigeria after elections have also been linked to youths with weapons who find an alternative use for them.

I wonder what these armies of young Nigerians will do with their laptops, smart phones and internet connections after the 2015 electoral battle - which many politicians view as Armageddon - is over.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29237507

darlingnuel: The real picture for Leonardo De caprio is wrong! That's not him

Have you seen the movie J.Edgar? If you have not seen the movie, go back and see it and then I am sure your comment will be different.

Or simply do a simple google search for the cast of the movie.

We are not talking about how he looks in real life, we are talking about how he looks in a movie compared to a real-life character.

John Cusack as Edgar Alan Poe(The Raven)

Audrey Taotou as Coco Chanel (Coco Before Chanel)


Tom Cruise as Claus Von Stauffenberg (Valkyrie)

Much more here http://globalthots..com/2014/09/photo-comparisms-of-hollywood-actors.html?m=1

Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs (Jobs)

Will Smith as Muhammad Ali (Ali)

Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl (A Mighty Heart)

John Wayne as Genghis Khan (The Conqueror)

Adrien Brody as Salvadore Dali (Midnight In Paris)

Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK)

Benicio Del Toro as Ernesto Che Guevara (Che)

Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin (Game Change)

Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover (J. Edgar)

Anthony Hopkins as Pablo Picasso (Surviving Picasso)

Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela (Invictus)

Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin ( The Last King Of Scotland)

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady)

Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo (Frida)

Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis Jnr (The Rat Pack)

Ben Kingsley as Mohandas Gandhi (Gandhi)

Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II (The Queen)

Josh Brolin as George W. Bush (W.)

Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles (Ray)

Below is a gallery of pictures in which Hollywood actors portrayed real-life characters.

Hollywood has made a lot of Biopics over the years and you can clearly see from these photos that they have gone to great lenghts to make the actors look like the real characters.

Our dear Nollywood might have one or two things to learn from this.

Hit or miss? You be the judge. Relax and enjoy the pictures.


Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln)

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg (The Social Network)

Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix (All Is By My Side)

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X (Malcolm X)

Enoquin: Eeya...see sacrifices that had to be made

I tell you.

GowonAbacha: Kikikkiki..whewe did u get that photo from? 2pac was never butchered like that tho.M

Autopsy.

Feedmemore: I was wondering too, i disconnected and reconnect thinking t'was my connection.

Op, re upload the pics.

@topic, Amy Winehouse was my favorite among the lot. I was devastated when i heard of her demise.

Which ones are showing? Let me know so that I can repost the others.

banega: Huh, how do you mean??

Death was already standing outside their doors by the time they took the pictures.

aderonila18: It's very telling when the people defending a Pastor always resort to calling people Bastards, fools , maggot and such! What are they teaching in that church?

True.

So ladies cant work for themselves and make money again. Why must you always depend fully on your boyfriends or husbands?

Khalessi: Lesbian playground.

Whats the relation between virgins and lesbians?

Dolemite: Can a lady truely live without sex?

P.S
I can't.

Why not?

snowprince07: ok thanks.and don't 4get to read b4 u quote.

Sorry, Mr Genius.

Missmossy: Eeyah...why be in disguise as a man when womanhood comes with a lot of wonderful experiences and memories?

I really don't support such,i love the feminine gender who get married the right way and procreate and fill up this earth life is too short for all of these!

You are asking why.

snowprince07: yea he did state d benefits or u obviously did not read his post

Next time think before you type.

Early 30's.

2cato: She-he what will they benefit from that.

You obviously did not read the article.

In the European country of Albania there are women who live all of their lives as men. They have taken a vow of chastity (usually at an early age) and becomes Sworn Virgins or Burnesha.

This elevates her to the status of a man and such women usually cut their hairs, wear male clothings and could even change their names. Male gestures, swags and expressions are practiced until they become second nature. All these together with a vow of celibacy turns a "She" into a "He".

This step is usually necessary because of a society that generally maintains an oppressive rule over the female gender. Women are seen as properties of their husbands and the rights to vote, drive, conduct business, drink, smoke and even to swear were the exclusive preserves of men.

This means that a family without a partriach or a male heir is usually in danger of losing everything and so a female needs to come in, be a male and become the partriach.

With modernisation and civilisation this practice is increasingly becoming obsolete, but it is still practiced in not a few places...even till today.


http://globalthots..com/2014/09/sworn-virgins-of-albania-who-spend-all.html?m=1

They should not have released this info this early.

Anyway goodluck and congrats to our boys.

I hope the draw out every useful info from him before they send him off to meet his vigins in hell.