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@Reno Omokiri... Read!

The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor’s doubts over the chemical attack The Independent
Robert Fisk; The Independent16 April 2018...

This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks – and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world’s most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There’s even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down in the very same clinic, cheerfully tells me that the “gas” videotape which horrified the world – despite all the doubters – is perfectly genuine.

War stories, however, have a habit of growing darker. For the same 58-year old senior Syrian doctor then adds something profoundly uncomfortable: the patients, he says, were overcome not by gas but by oxygen starvation in the rubbish-filled tunnels and basements in which they lived, on a night of wind and heavy shelling that stirred up a dust storm.

As Dr Assim Rahaibani announces this extraordinary conclusion, it is worth observing that he is by his own admission not an eyewitness himself and, as he speaks good English, he refers twice to the jihadi gunmen of Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] in Douma as “terrorists” – the regime’s word for their enemies, and a term used by many people across Syria. Am I hearing this right? Which version of events are we to believe?

By bad luck, too, the doctors who were on duty that night on 7 April were all in Damascus giving evidence to a chemical weapons enquiry, which will be attempting to provide a definitive answer to that question in the coming weeks.

France, meanwhile, has said it has “proof” chemical weapons were used, and US media have quoted sources saying urine and blood tests showed this too. The WHO has said its partners on the ground treated 500 patients “exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals”.

At the same time, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are currently blocked from coming here to the site of the alleged gas attack themselves, ostensibly because they lacked the correct UN permits.

Before we go any further, readers should be aware that this is not the only story in Douma. There are the many people I talked to amid the ruins of the town who said they had “never believed in” gas stories – which were usually put about, they claimed, by the armed Islamist groups. These particular jihadis survived under a blizzard of shellfire by living in other’s people’s homes and in vast, wide tunnels with underground roads carved through the living rock by prisoners with pick-axes on three levels beneath the town. I walked through three of them yesterday, vast corridors of living rock which still contained Russian – yes, Russian – rockets and burned-out cars.

So the story of Douma is thus not just a story of gas – or no gas, as the case may be. It’s about thousands of people who did not opt for evacuation from Douma on buses that left last week, alongside the gunmen with whom they had to live like troglodytes for months in order to survive. I walked across this town quite freely yesterday without soldier, policeman or minder to haunt my footsteps, just two Syrian friends, a camera and a notebook. I sometimes had to clamber across 20-foot-high ramparts, up and down almost sheer walls of earth. Happy to see foreigners among them, happier still that the siege is finally over, they are mostly smiling; those whose faces you can see, of course, because a surprising number of Douma’s women wear full-length black hijab

I first drove into Douma as part of an escorted convoy of journalists. But once a boring general had announced outside a wrecked council house “I have no information” – that most helpful rubbish-dump of Arab officialdom – I just walked away. Several other reporters, mostly Syrian, did the same. Even a group of Russian journalists – all in military attire – drifted off.

It was a short walk to Dr Rahaibani. From the door of his subterranean clinic – “Point 200”, it is called, in the weird geology of this partly-underground city – is a corridor leading downhill where he showed me his lowly hospital and the few beds where a small girl was crying as nurses treated a cut above her eye.

“I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night – but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived. People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a “White Helmet”, shouted “Gas!”, and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning.”

Oddly, after chatting to more than 20 people, I couldn’t find one who showed the slightest interest in Douma’s role in bringing about the Western air attacks. Two actually told me they didn’t know about the connection.

But it was a strange world I walked into. Two men, Hussam and Nazir Abu Aishe, said they were unaware how many people had been killed in Douma, although the latter admitted he had a cousin “executed by Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] for allegedly being “close to the regime”. They shrugged when I asked about the 43 people said to have died in the infamous Douma attack.

The White Helmets – the medical first responders already legendary in the West but with some interesting corners to their own story – played a familiar role during the battles. They are partly funded by the Foreign Office and most of the local offices were staffed by Douma men. I found their wrecked offices not far from Dr Rahaibani’s clinic. A gas mask had been left outside a food container with one eye-piece pierced and a pile of dirty military camouflage uniforms lay inside one room. Planted, I asked myself? I doubt it. The place was heaped with capsules, broken medical equipment and files, bedding and mattresses.

Of course we must hear their side of the story, but it will not happen here: a woman told us that every member of the White Helmets in Douma abandoned their main headquarters and chose to take the government-organised and Russian-protected buses to the rebel province of Idlib with the armed groups when the final truce was agreed.

There were food stalls open and a patrol of Russian military policemen – a now optional extra for every Syrian ceasefire – and no-one had even bothered to storm into the forbidding Islamist prison near Martyr’s Square where victims were supposedly beheaded in the basements. The town’s complement of Syrian interior ministry civilian police – who eerily wear military clothes – are watched over by the Russians who may or may not be watched by the civilians. Again, my earnest questions about gas were met with what seemed genuine perplexity.

How could it be that Douma refugees who had reached camps in Turkey were already describing a gas attack which no-one in Douma today seemed to recall? It did occur to me, once I was walking for more than a mile through these wretched prisoner-groined tunnels, that the citizens of Douma lived so isolated from each other for so long that “news” in our sense of the word simply had no meaning to them. Syria doesn’t cut it as Jeffersonian democracy – as I cynically like to tell my Arab colleagues – and it is indeed a ruthless dictatorship, but that couldn’t cow these people, happy to see foreigners among them, from reacting with a few words of truth. So what were they telling me?

They talked about the Islamists under whom they had lived. They talked about how the armed groups had stolen civilian homes to avoid the Syrian government and Russian bombing. The Jaish el-Islam had burned their offices before they left, but the massive buildings inside the security zones they created had almost all been sandwiched to the ground by air strikes. A Syrian colonel I came across behind one of these buildings asked if I wanted to see how deep the tunnels were. I stopped after well over a mile when he cryptically observed that “this tunnel might reach as far as Britain”. Ah yes, Ms May, I remembered, whose air strikes had been so intimately connected to this place of tunnels and dust. And gas?

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html

It is always heart breaking when you see innocent lives lost due to some judicial murder! One wonders where the Nigerian Embassy and the Ambassador were in all of years the guy was incarcerated! Where is the government of Nigeria that was sworn to protect Nigerian lives home and abroad? If that guy was innocent, my heart bleeds!

I have just seen how shallow these generation is! The guys wasn't speaking about the girls, the text was directed at GUYS who mistreat their girls. GUYS like you all out there who think they are the sun! And to all you stupid girls longing to hang (out with) the guy, read again!

@oyalegee, pls see downloadable pdf version of study here,

http://sanat-o-tijarat.org/Feasibilities/239PetroleumFeasibility.pdf

Source of this was an email from a friend but I felt obliged to share with NL, PLS ENJOY!!!


(In the compound of a sprawling mansion in Lagos. Riotous singing and drumming
by aso ebi-clad supporters)

A ti nreti re, ka’abo se dada lo de
A ti nreti re, ka’abo se dada lo de

Winner o o o winner
Winner o o o winner
Lagos Boy you don win o winner
Patapata you go win forever
Winner

Odale se se se oju ti won o eh
O ma se oju t’elegan o
L’oju a mo koko bi kile o d’amo
O ma se oju t’elegan o

“Madam Roli, Madam Roli, can you tell our people outside to reduce the noise? I
am trying to have a word with Bode on behalf of the elders’ caucus of the PDP.
We need to debrief your husband.”

“Ok, Baba, I will tell them. I hope your people are fine in Otta sir”

“O kare iyawo wa. Well done, our dear wife. Ku afoju ba once again. Your husband
is looking younger even after the enemies have done their worst.”

“Em, Baba, Roli is my wife o. Not our wife. I’m still alive abeg. I only went
to jail. Anyway, Roli, se awon supporters won yen ti jeun? They’ve eaten? Good.
Tell them to reduce the noise like Baba said. Tell them we are expecting twelve
more trailers of cows tomorrow for distribution to each ward. The remaining five
trailers of aso ebi should be reserved for the women’s delegation coming from
Abuja.”

“Bode, once again, ka’abo. You are welcome. We thank God. Where are the traitors
behind your travails today? Awon da loni? One languished in a hospital in Saudi
Arabia before returning home to meet his maker. The rest of that rude and power
drunk cabal is history. They did all this to you just to get at me. Awon afore
su ni se buruku.”

“Baba, e ku ile once again. I am so happy to be back with you and I am moved to
tears by all the support from our people. Our convoy could hardly move through
the crowd of supporters. We even performed better than when Alamsco returned
from London to the warm of embrace of his people in Akwa Ibom. God has really
honoured us. But where are Gbenga and Ayo? They came to the church and should
have followed us home in the convoy.”

(Baba laughs)

“Why? Am I missing something?”

“Ah, Bode, see what prison has done to you. God soda Yar’Adua’s mouth wherever
he is. I thought they allowed you to read newspapers and watch TV in the
presidential wing of kirikiri that we arranged for you?”

“I still don’t understand what I am missing here.”
“Well, all lizards lie prostrate. How to tell the one with a bellyache?”

“Meaning?”

“Haba, Bode, you no longer know the meaning of all lizards lie prostrate? A ni
gbogbo alangba lo danu de le. Just because you saw Gbenga Daniel and Ayo Fayose
in church does not mean that they are still with us.”

“O ti o. Those are our boys now”

“Ah, Bode, things happened while you were away! Iya je mi! You won’t believe
that Gbenga became so power drunk and arrogant that he started pointing in the
direction of Otta with his left hand!”

“Haba, Baba, Gbenga cannot do that to you. He cannot do that to us! Mo j’eri e.
Gbenga is a river that came into being before our very eyes. How can its
currents sweep one away?”

“That’s what my eyes saw o, Bode, but I still dey kampe sha.”

“So Gbenga is truly misbehaving? What happened? We were around when that boy was
born. Oju wa na se bi. We even watched him grow up. Awa la wo d’agba. How can he
turn against you, Baba?”

“That is life for you, Bode. Osoba won that election but we did our usual do and
gave Gbenga egusi soup but he has now drenched his chest with palm oil. But
Gbenga’s own is even small o. The arifin I have been receiving from Fayose is
worse”

“Ehn, Ayo Fayose too?”

“Yes o, I don’t even know the mouth with which to tell that one’s story. That
bastard saw me in Okuku and called me a father of bastards.”

“Eewo! Abomination! Fayose said that to you?”

“Look, Bode, today is not the day to talk about all these useless boys that we
picked up from the gutter and made governors. We have work to do. We have so
much lost territory to reconquer. We lost most of the southwest in your absence.
And Fashola has been behaving here in Lagos like the rat that became a landlord
in the absence of the cat.”

“This is all so depressing, Baba. How did we lose Ekiti, Ondo, and Osun? Where
was Goodluck Jonathan?”

“Jonathan? Bode, please don’t mention tails in the presence of frogs. I have
been trying hard to use patience in my dealings with that man.”

“And it’s not working? Didn’t they say that she controls the man?”

“Who is talking about his wife? I mean one needs patience to deal with Goodluck
because of his perpetual sme sme. He has been misbehaving on the do-or-die
front. He is not delivering at all. For instance, he was supposed to have
announced a presidential pardon for you as part of a process of national healing
before our convoy arrived here from church. That is what we instructed him to
do. We also asked him to upgrade your national honour to GCON. Once your
rehabilitation is complete, I am thinking of retiring and handling over the
mantle of Founder of Modern Nigeria to you.”

“That is true o. I am surprised that he hasn’t announced my presidential pardon
yet. Maybe he wants to announce it when I join him for breakfast in the Villa
next week.”

“He has surrounded himself with too many drunken fishermen sailors who are
talking nonsense and making him wobble and fumble through every assignment we
give him. Just imagine what he did with our winning formula for the April
elections.”

“What’s the formula, Baba?”

“As you know, we are going to win the election the usual way and we expect
Buhari, Ribadu, and Utomi to go to court as usual after addressing press
conferences with my friend, Jimmy Carter. We know what will happen when they get
to the Supreme Court because the judgement to be read by Katisna-Alu and
supported by Ogebe will be written by some of my boys in Otta. In fact, we
already have anticipatory drafts and Katsina-Alu will be in Otta to practice
judgement delivery next week. Our only problem is the Court of Appeal where
Justice Ayo Salami has refused to play ball so far. We asked Goodluck to take
care of that problem.”

“That’s a small problem now.”

“That’s what we thought. Jonathan outsourced the assignment to Katsina-Alu and
they somehow bungled it. The whole thing exploded in our faces, causing untold
embarrassment. Now, the man is still there as President of the Appeal Court and
that could cause a lot of problems for us in April.”

“That’s true Baba. That is one problem we need to solve immediately. Why didn’t
they just use the Esa Oke protocol? Didn’t anyone think of that?”

“Of course we thought of the Esa Oke protocol. One of my boys even mentioned it
to me again recently during Oyinlola’s birthday thanksgiving in Okuku but after
careful consideration we decided to just leave that option on the table for
now.”

“That’s good, Baba but I hope that Anenih, Andy Uba, Ahmadu Ali, Babangida, and
all our other people are aware that we may need to put that option to good use
after April, ”

“Yes, our people are fully aware of that. Let’s talk serious business jare.
Bode, tibi nko?

“Tibi?”

“Yes, Bode, what about tibi? Where is tibi?”

“Baba, I don’t understand the tibi that you are talking about o.”

“Bode, you just love to joke with serious matters. Abeg, talk better jare. The
day is far spent. A o r’ojo mu so l’okun. I still need to get to Otta today.”

“Baba, I’m serious o. I don’t understand the tibi that you are talking about.
Unbind me. E tu mi nle.”

“Bode, are you serious?”

“Baba, I’m not joking o.”

“Bode, you are starting to annoy me. Must I speak with the full complement of my
mouth?”

“Baba, I honestly don’t understand what you are talking about.”

“I am talking about the eighty billion naira.”

“Eighty billion?”

“Bode, you are misbehaving o. Did the judge who sent you to prison ask you to
refund kobo? Look at what happened to Tafa Balogun, Lucky Igbinedion, and
Cecilia Ibru who all went through the injustice of having to refund a small part
of their jibiti to the Nigerian state. You think your head is different from
theirs? When did monkeys start boasting of a better destiny than gorillas?”

“Baba, ”

“Don’t baba me at all Bode. Did Balogun, Igbinedion, and Ibru offend God? No.
But they were asked to refund various sums of money. Who do you think worked the
miracle that allowed you to keep all of your own tibi and to return to it and
all the interest accumulated after thirty months in prison?”

“Baba, ”

“I am still talking, Bode. Who do you think worked that miracle for you? Enoch
Adeboye? David Oyedepo? Chris Oyakhilome? No, my friend. Some of us pulled a lot
of strings during your trial. The judge didn’t wake up and allowed you to keep
eighty billion naira just like that.”
“But Baba, ”

“No need to argue any further, Bode. Here is what you will do. You will do
omoluwabi to me with five billion naira; you will do omoluwabi to the
Jonathan/Sambo campaign with five billion naira; you will do omoluwabi to the
PDP national secretariat with five billion naira; you will earmark another five
billion naira for omoluwabi to other deserving stakeholders, elder statesmen,
and chieftains of the PDP. That still leaves you sixty billion naira and
interest accrued. Go and sin no more with that one.”

“Haba, Baba, you won’t even let me rest before, ”

“Bode, Bode, Bode, how many times have I called you? Farida Waziri has been a
very good girl since Ribadu was booted out of the EFCC. She has been a very
useful girl. If you now need outsiders to explain omoluwabi to you, I can get
Jonathan to activate Waziri.”

“Baba, all I am trying to say is that the money is, ”

“O-r-d-e-r-l- y!!!!!!”

“Sah!!!!!!”

“Tell the driver to get ready. We are leaving for Otta right now ,

DRILLmaster, what has brushing the teeth got to do with the quetion? The question is SHARING, not BRUSHING. Everyone who shares, brushes but not necessarily everyone who brush shares. Its about the sharing, dude.

see, at the time of necking, rubbing, kissing and saliva (and rest of its kind) exchange, all the germs are transform into jam and marmalade by the god of kini - but in the morning, hmm - the bathroom get plenty of them o!

Mrs.Chima:
If you men see us women just kitty and mouth, we, women see you guys just dicks and couch lifters.

seems we complement one another with our assets, Mrs, 

@Mr Cork! Puh! dont dangle that cork here!, u no dey read?

roymary:
We shouldn't turn this to a religious debate. I might not be right in all situations but i sure have reasons for my views. See you at the religion section soon. Women were not created for the fun of it; they play a vital role when it comes to marriage. Its a vast scenario and i hate religious debate; a Pastor would be better at it.

yeah, like send us all into this labourious kittyful spankful world. I remember it was a woman who was with adam the 1st time. my dear, the only gud thing there na that kittypot, walahi.

macjives, wetin happen she no wan lose any of them? na win-win? whc one sabi do the thing pass? e be like dia is somethink the ex sabi wey current bobo neve sabi? no bi so?

walahi, i no wan post just yet but s'body mis-jived (apologies to better crafted macjives) here,

roymary:
A good woman will support your projects and come up with valuable ideas. If you are a believer, God tend to answer womens prayer a lot faster than mens; so if she prays for you; it speeds up your progress and success. Understanding the true importance of women comes with age and adequate life experiences.

I could bash women morning till night but hey the women specie is truly a man's life support.

prayermonger, why God never send down 1 woman prophet all the time he was busy sending down Abraham, his siblings and breathren?