₦airaland Forum

Young Presidential Aspirants, please listen

Few days ago, the older politicians in Nigeria, the rich, most experienced and the super connected politicians all came together to agree on working together to produce one presidential aspirant that will confront the incumbent president.

In spite their wealth, experience, connection and human resources, they understand the need to keep their personal ambition aside in the interest of achieving a common purpose.

They understand that, no matter what they do individually, it would not be successful like what they do collectively.

Some of these people are past presidents, vice presidents, governors, senators, ministers and lots more, yet they understand that only when they work together, with even people they disagrees with, can they stand a chance of truly being successful.

Yes, we may call them all sorts of names, but the truth is, they know what they are doing and what they need to do.

The real question is, do you also know what you are doing and what you needed to do to get the presidential ambition purposeful?

By this time, I expect the likes of Omoyele Sowore, Mathias Baba, Fela Durotoye, Ahmed Bee, Jaye Gaskiya and other young presidential aspirants to be meeting, discussing and working together with the aim of producing an alliance of young presidential aspirants.

This, to my understanding, is the best way to put up a strong showing in the 2019 election and stand a chance of winning.

I therefore urge you all, most respectfully, to come down from your high horses, and begin to work together to produce an alliance that will unite the youths of Nigeria and inspire them to vote.

Yours Sincerely

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

lol

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I understand that Fela na baba, but even 2face sef na 2baba.

Fela is a legend who took Nigerian music to the world, but 2face also did the same by being first African to receive several international awards.

The issue is not to diminish either of the 2, but to hear your views on who among the 2 took Nigerian music further to the world.

Over to you.

Note: i understand that we often diminish those living, but we can try to do justice

Check out this trending picture of a protester at NASS

Credit: MrRightsng

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Our ruling class maybe failing and may have failed to provide leadership to us as a people, for our country, and for our continent; The quality of leadership provided by this ruling class may have been declining precipitously since independence, it is true; And as a consequence of this failure of leadership, we may have continued to be plagued by a perennial crisis of the failure and even near collapse of governance; as well as a being confronted with the phenomenon of State Failure.
Nevertheless, our crisis is also infinitely compounded by our own lack of confidence in ourselves, by our own lack of trust in our capacity and ability, not only to throw off the yoke of this failed class, but to also provide the sorely needed alternative – ourselves!
Added to this is our impatience to deal with knowledge, to interrogate and stay with an issue to its logical conclusion; our short attention span. We want answers, but we are not willing and able to undertake the rigour that comes with solution finding.
In reality, with our attitude, what we want is magic, not even miracles, and certainly not solutions to our pressing problems. It is why the ruling elites continue to take us for a ride.
So take for instance, We say things are not working well, and that we need fresh ideas as well as new personalities to lead us into the next phase of our development. And this is good, it is the direction to go.
But what do we do? When we are presented with ideas, we say they are too long; and we instantly demand for SoundBites and Bullet Points! When those ideas are reduced into soundbites, we again ask for a full program? And thus we keep going on endless meaningless circles.

We are looking to be Mesmerised not to be informed; to be trend followers, not to be organisers; for sensationalism, not for mobilisation.

Yet, if the truth must be told, if we must stop agonising and start organising; then, we must realise that a Slogan is not a program; a Soundbite is not a vision; and sensationalism is not a measure of capacity; nor are bullet points substitute for deeper reflection.

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/06/the-trouble-with-us-by-jaye-gaskiya.html

Part
https://mrrightsng..com/2018/06/ibb-had-no-respect-for-sycophants-col_10.html

Part 2
https://mrrightsng..com/2018/06/ibb-had-no-respect-for-sycophants-col.html

If you are are a lazy person who doesn't want to improve on his/her knowledge, this series may be too long for you read. But you need this perspective from one of the heroes of June 12, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a June 12 fundamentalist and an IBB acolyte who resigned his commission in the army because he disagreed with his boss over the annulment of the election. Enjoy it.

THE DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS

For the records, my pro‑democracy activism started well before the June 12 crisis. When towards the end of 1992, I came to the painful realization that Gen. Babangida was being ill‑advised to once again postpone the transition to civil rule, I decided, in consultation with some of my colleagues, to advise him to save Nigeria from an unnecessary political crisis. The letter part- reproduced below was part of the efforts at getting him to fulfill his promise of handing other power to an elected government. In that letter which was written October 1992, I had said inter alia: "Mr. President, it truly pains me any time 1 read in the newspapers and magazines speculations on your sincerity in handing over in January 1993 as the Transition Programme provides. I am pained because of the implied questioning of your integrity..... I beg you to resist any temptation from any quarters whatsoever to become another Mobutu or Eyadema. You have bidden official farewell to both the OAU and ECOWAS and I can tell you that I was personally proud of that action… I stand to share, no matter how infinitesimally in any encomiums that history may pour on you. I equally stand condemned if history judges you otherwise... About all my suggestions, in the name of Allah, I beg you, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to leave this stage while the ovation is loudest."

I spoke to most of IBB's close associates to help dissuade him from any further delays. Gen. Sani Abacha was one such people. The general assured me that he would do everything possible to prevail on IBB to complete the transition by the end of 1992. He told me how worried he was that the military was fast losing credibility on account of the glaring insincerity in the implementation of the Transition Programme. He appealed to me to try and assist in sensitizing officers, particularly of the armoured corps, to realize that not all of us were in support of the delays in the programme. He confessed that he was already in touch with other officers who were equally concerned.

With hindsight, I may be accused of naivety but one needed the gift of clairvoyance to correctly appreciate Gen. Abacha's dubious designs. The general's leadership limitations were all too glaring and who would have thought that he could harbour the desire to take over political control of the country at its most turbulent period? The nation was united in its opposition to any further delay in the military's handover to a democratically elected government and the international community had taken a firm stand against military regimes. How then could a general of Abacha’s calibre hope to command the loyalty of Nigerians and gain the support of the international community, especially since he was such a key player in the IBB regime?

I convinced myself that we could use Abacha to achieve our aim. I brought in more officers, including those that would only grudgingly pay compliments to the general as their military duty. Col. Sambo Dasuki was one of such officers who kept asking me whether I was sure that Abacha was truly the nationalist I wanted to convince him he was. I pleaded with him to come along. The group enlarged so fast. We decided to meet weekly to review the situation. Gen. Abacha served as a kind of Trojan horse in government. He reported back on his many dialogues with IBB and some officers who he claimed were against a transfer of power under the prevailing political crisis and our low economic state. He kept painting a hopeless situation in which IBB had become impervious and incorrigible, a hostage of a clique.

It was not difficult for most members of the group to believe him because the Transition Programme, which had originally been meant to terminate in 1990, continued to suffer further setbacks. The primaries of the political parties were cancelled on the pretext that they were plagued by malpractices. Reforms that saw the adoption of the Option A4 formula were carried out. All these added to their skepticism.

I decided to meet IBB directly to find out the true situation. I came out with a different picture. He assured me that for real, he would keep faith with the handover. Any changes to the transition programme were only necessary measures that would guarantee the survivability of democracy. I gave him further indications of his constituency's growing distrust and restiveness, such that no one could guarantee the support of the entire military in the event of civil uprising, which was imminent.

I felt free to warn IBB of the possibility of a military coup if he decided on self‑succession as some of his senior officers were speculating. Being the commandant of the armoured corps and a truly loyal subordinate, I had no doubt that my observations had significant impact on the President and perhaps contributed to his decision to step aside as some convenient exit point. Having said this, I was under no illusion, that a coup against IBB would be an easy task, not with his sophisticated security network, which was reinvigorated after its embarrassing failure to detect Orkar’s attempted coup. I believe it is his sense of total control of the military that informed his often- quoted statement that he dominates his environment. Also he operated one of the most generous welfare programmes the military ever had. All the same, self‑succession was not on the cards, he assured me. I left him more confused. What I heard was in sharp contrast with Abacha’s conclusion. My attitude was to give IBB a chance but at the same time, keep in touch with the Abacha group.

The SDP and NRC primaries were held, with MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa emerging as their respective presidential candidates. Although security reports scored them as worse than the previous party primaries in the manner of their fraudulent conduct, the government expressed satisfaction with then conduct. In fact, IBB endorsed the emergence of the two flag bearers when he opined that the nation could not hope for better presidential candidates. I did not share these sentiments but I was satisfied that the transition was making progress. In our subsequent meetings with Abacha, I drew attention to the positive development and urged him to sustain the momentum. He expressed pessimism. I will now fast forward to June 1993.

A few days to the 12 June presidential elections, Justice Bassey Ikpeme (now late) of the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) a previously unknown political pressure group, an injunction stopping NEC from going ahead with the conduct of the elections. I met the President and pleaded with him to set aside the court ruling on the strength of an existing law that ousted the powers of all courts to interfere with NEC's conduct of elections and also because of its cataclysmic potential. He agreed and immediately summoned NEC chairman, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu and asked him to go ahead with preparations for the election.

Before I left Aso Rock, I met Brig. Gen. Akilu who told me that the President had just briefed him on my position which he supported. He added that the nation was fast losing faith and that we should support IBB to hand over and leave a good legacy like Gen. Obasanjo had done in 1979. I thanked him. On my way out, I met a group of officers, including Gen. Abacha, making their way to the President's office. I was later told that their mission was to urge IBB to respect the court's ruling, their reason being that neither Abiola nor Bashir Tofa was acceptable to the military. Furthermore, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) had not started yielding the much expected dividends and civilians could not muster the political pluck to sustain it. I really didn't know whether Abacha shared these views or was simply carrying the message of a group which he felt was politically influential in the scheme of things. Whatever the truth was, I became skeptical of Abacha's sincerity.

The presidential elections were held on June 12 as scheduled. They were adjudged as the freest and fairest by both NEC and local and international observers. I phoned the President from Bauchi to congratulate him on the peaceful election. He sounded relieved. Results started trickling in and from all indications, MKO Abiola was leading by a wide margin and one could safely conclude, an unbridgeable margin.

But then, rumours started flying that NEC was after all, not satisfied with the conduct and was about to recommend total cancellation to the government. About one week later, I met Mr. President and confronted him with the rumours. He denied but added that NEC was still in the process of collating the results, which would be announced in due course. I went back to Bauchi , satisfied that all was well.

We had earlier discussed with Baba Gana Kingibe, who was Abiola's running mate, against the wish of IBB according to him. He told me that the president expressed misgivings about a Moslem‑Moslem ticket but had to let go when Abiola assured him that he would have no problem with the Christian community. Baba Gana visited me on my return to Bauchi. He was agitated. He was as usual very blunt when he warned that they had information about government's plan to annul the June 12 election results. He added that should that happen, Abiola would fight the annulment. I assured him that no such thing would happen. I told him that I was in touch with IBB who assured me that there was no truth in the wicked rumours.

He left, definitely feeling reassured. I got the impression that Baba Gana was more concerned about the dire consequences of an annulment to national stability than losing an opportunity to serve as the Vice- President.

A couple of days later, I was summoned to Aso Rock by Mr. President. He was presiding at a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council when I arrived. He came out on break around 1pm and called me to his office. Looking tired and angry, he said to me, "I am really fed up with all this. I am going to quit this thankless job and allow you guys to find a solution to your problems” or words to that affect. I expressed surprise. He then told me about the security reports he received to the effect that the military was against the election results and that some middle- ranking officers had vowed to topple the new government as soon as he handed over. Some senior officers had become apprehensive of the decision to hand over immediately.

I was shocked by this revelation and assured IBB that such reports were baseless. They were the creation of senior officers who did not want to retire from service. I told him that my reading of the situation was that Abiola did very well in the barracks and most officers I spoke to expressed satisfaction with the results received so far and were happy that the military was after all relinquishing power. He looked unsure.

Well, I beseeched the President not to even contemplate annulment. It was already evident that Abiola had emerged the winner after the results of 29 states were already known to NEC. Abiola's win was an added bonus because it would achieve the much desired power shift to the south. He agreed. Before taking my leave, I informed the President that I planned to retire from service as soon as he found any need to annul the June 12 election. I also informed him that some newspapers had that morning mischievously and falsely identified me as the leader of a group that met and recommended that the President should annul the result of the election. He was very sympathetic. I took leave.

On my way to the ADC's office, I met the Chief Press Secretary, Chief Duro Onabule. Knowing how very close he was to the President, I pleaded with him to encourage the general to accept the results of the elections. He promised to do that. At the office of the ADC, I met the NEC chairman who was looking rattled. I took Prof. Nwosu aside and said to him. Mr. Chairman, I know you are a good Christian, I beg you in the name of the good Lord to follow the path of honour and justice by doing what is right; any misstep on your part could spell doom for the very existence of Nigeria. He assured me that he was conscious of that and would abide by his oath. I left for Bauchi a very dejected and troubled man . I could not fight the thoughts of what terrible fate would befall Nigeria if annulment occurred. Why would officers, some of who had fought in the war to keep Nigeria one, push the nation to the brink? What sort of ambition could cause officers who by virtue of their commission had sworn to defend the territorial integrity of the country and aid in the maintenance of law and order, to deliberately plunge the nation into avoidable chaos? Why was it difficult for brilliant and experienced administrators identify this easy way out of our crisis as the election of Abiola provided? This was God's grace, I reasoned. Why then should anybody reject it?

But again, I recalled the rebuke of one senior officer who once admonished me not to insist that my views or ways were the only solution to problems. So perhaps I should use his counsel in my assessment of the situation. But at the end of this introspection, I made up my mind to quit the service if the election results were annulled. What preoccupied my mind in the rest of the journey to Bauchi was my fate in retirement. Fear of the unknown gripped me and I prayed.

On 23 June at around 10am, an officer rushed into my office and inquired if I had heard the latest news, I asked what it was and he informed me that the BBC had just announced the annulment of the June 12 presidential election. I was shocked and immediately called the office of the president. I spoke to the Principal General Staff Officer (PGSO) who confirmed the news. The president was away in Katsina to attend the burial of General Yar'Adua's father who passed away that morning. I summoned my Staff Officers to a meeting at which I informed them of my decision to apply for voluntary retirement from service.

Soon after, I dispatched my letter to the Office of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), I also copied the Military Secretary. I honestly don't know how my letter got to the print media, which published a copy of it. On hearing about the letter, some officers including some of those I had taken into confidence on my plan, rushed to the president and pleaded with him to court martial me. I was told later that a decision was reached to simply accept my letter and allow me to go quietly. The COAS, Gen. Salihu Ibrahim summoned me to Lagos and expressed regret that events had turned out this way and felt sorry that I decided to go on retirement. He also regretted the leakage of my paper to the press. He informed me that the president had been persuaded to accept my application but would want to see me immediately.

Gen Salihu had been my first commanding Officer. He was a thoroughly professional officer who came through many travails to deservedly rise to the enviable post of COAS against many odds. This is a topic for another day. We reviewed the situation at length. I left for Abuja the next day to meet with IBB as instructed. I was ushered into the president's office by the ADC. I met Gen. Tanko Ayuba who was on his way out. I had hardly sat down when IBB received a call from Gen Salihu. They spent about five minutes and when he was through, he turned to me and asked why I had decided to put in my letter which was leaked to the press without informing him first. I apologized immediately and denied being responsible for the leakage. We reviewed the political situation and I finally told him that I was convinced that it was in my interest to retire. He disagreed and ordered me to return to my station and
remain quiet.

Generals Tanko Ayuba, Salihu and God knows who else, pleaded on my behalf but most importantly, I believe IBB genuinely appreciated the struggle of some of us. I still don't believe that if he decided to send me to jail, heavens would have fallen. Perhaps a one-paragraph explanation if the need ever arose, would have settled my case and consigned me to the list of dismissed officers. That he didn’t do that is evidence of his magnanimity.

I returned to Bauchi convinced of the need for the military to resist this annulment, which was said to have been done on our behalf. I was torn between two loyalties while considering what could be done.

One was my loyalty to IBB, which had just been reinforced by his show of sympathy and kindness in refusing to accept my application for voluntary retirement. The other was my loyalty to the nation. Gen Abacha aided me in reaching the decision to consider easing out IBB through a military coup. (To be continued in part two)

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/06/ibb-had-no-respect-for-sycophants-col_10.html

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has tendered an unreserved apology to Kwara Must Change (KMC) group for the delay in investigating its petition over the gruesome killings of more than 3 youths in Lafiaji town, Edu local government area of Kwara State.

The victims were allegedly murdered by security agents attached to Alhaji Shaaba Lafiaji, a senator representing Kwara North Senatorial district during a peaceful protest to demand accountability from the under-performing senator, who is yet to sponsor any bill at the National Assembly, nor perform his constituency responsibility.

NHRC through the investigative officer in Abuja offered the apology to Kwara Must Change during the week, when a delegation by the group led by its President, Abdulrazaq Hamzat visited the headquarters of the commission in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The commission also assured the group that it would do its part to get to the root of the matter and ensure justice is served.

Kwara Must Change president, Abdulrazaq Hamzat informed the commission that, more than 6 months after the group had submitted a petition; the people of Lafiaji are still waiting for justice on the matter.

He stated that, up till this moment, the Kwara State government is yet to acknowledge the unfortunate incident; neither did show any sympathy with the families of the victims, adding that to the government, keeping quite will make the matter be forgotten.

However, he assured the commission that Kwara Must Change is really interested in getting justice for the victims and the group will not rest, until justice is served.

In November 2017, Kwara Must Change (KMC) had submitted a petition, urging the commission to investigate the gruesome killings of more than 3 innocent youths shot by security agencies in Lafiaji town on 17 November 2017. The group also urged the Nigerian Police and other security agencies to arrest and prosecute senator Lafiaji for supervising the atrocity.

Recall that the Senate President of Nigeria, Dr Bukola Saraki who was alleged to be shielding senator Lafiaji from prosecution was stoned and chased out of Lafiaji town on March 3rd 2018.

During a political visit to the Emir of Lafiaji after the local government election, senator Saraki had requested to meet with the family of some of the victims, a demand out rightly rejected by the family. When the senator attempted to force himself on the people, youths of the town subsequently stoned and chased him out of their community.

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/07/nhrc-apologize-to-lafiaji-victims.html

Judgment is your language
Judgment, some of you calls it your opinion. Some of you believe your opinion deserve to be heard every 5 seconds of everyday, especially on social media. You comment on everyone’s comment on what you think, and the fact that you think what you think is always right, and you are judging every other person all the time, hoping that no one ever judges you. This is your language. This is the social media age, the total rhetoric that every day tears people down, all in the name of free speech, your opinion.

Because your opinion matters, all the time? About everything, to everybody? Even when you know nothing about the subject, to you, your opinion matters and you speak so ignorantly with so much audacity. You are creating cracks in people. You are creating this little tiny sliver of pain that never goes away. The heart will always remember where it has been broken. And every time you give your opinion, every time you give your judgment, most especially, ignorantly and carelessly, you hurt a soul.

I love your judgement
But there is something you should know; your judgment doesn’t hurt me. It makes me stronger. Every stone being thrown makes me stronger. I pile them up and I climb up higher. I love your judgment, because with it, I can show the world, you see, the world can throw stones at you, but you don’t have to die. You can pile them up and climb up higher and higher.

You can’t kill me with your stones, not with your judgment, not with your opinion and you can no longer create crakes in me, I am fortified. But there are people out there who aren’t as strong as I am. I speak for those people. But guess what? Most of you are those people that I speak for. Most of you can’t survive stones thrown. Most of you can’t pile them up and you are hurt. Somebody told you are too poor, you are low life, nobody, too black, too ugly, you are fat, too tall, and you are too skinny, not good enough for something or someone. Somebody created cracks in you.

Judgment of a sinner against other sinners is invalid
Judgment is your language, but the judgment of a sinner against other sinners is invalid. Your judgments are invalid. Your opinions on someone else are invalid because you are not any better. There are no good sins, your sins are not better than my sins, my sins are not better than your sins, no body’s sins are better than the others, we are all sinners. So, your opinions on other people are invalid, but you give them so freely, you create these cracks and now you have all these wounded people. You are all wounded because, hurt people, hurt people.

Hurt people hurt people
And then, a hurt person goes out to the world in a perfect condition for predators to prey. An abuser can see a crack a mile away, and he can smell blood from water circle. But you broke them down first, remember. You have all these stuffs to say, but you make this person feel as if they weren’t good enough for you. Because who are you? Who are you to satisfy? Who have you ever satisfied, to expect others to satisfy you?

Which one of you is God? Please stand up.
Nobody is standing, was stand, and so I am supposing everybody is mortal. That’s good to know. Now, you have sent this hurt person out because hurt people hurt people, and so you hurt someone with your judgment and you send them out the world not feeling good enough. And an abuser comes along and say, this person doesn’t love themselves very much because probably somebody tell them every day, why are you wearing that, why do you look like that? Why did you do your hair like that? You aren’t cute, you can’t sing, you are not that beautiful. Everybody has judgment. Now you meet this abuser, and this abuser has these cracks and this abuser slitters in under the armor and they begin to dismantle this person piece by piece, bit by bit, breaking them down to their smallest molecule and the next thing you know is that we have larger and harsher abuses happening. Verbal, emotional, sexual, financial, digital, and stalking and we are all aware of the physical abuses that show signs. Many have heard their lips busted, nose busted, some bleed all over a new born baby when the man beat his wife, some have been beaten since the day they were born.

When we learn abuse
It started in those formative years, between birth and age 5. We learn certain things. We learn alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors. We learn to tie our shoe lasses, bath by ourselves. During this period, 90% of who you are going to be, your personality begins to be formed. 90% of your brain forms between birth and age 5. This is when most people learn abuse.

You think that it’s being punched in the face. You think that it’s being thrown out from up stairs, you think its bloody and the bruises involved, you think abuse works in a certain way. You think abuse is domestic violence or rape, you think it is killing or marginalization, you think it is political and economic mismanagement, but no, it is more than that. It is your experience, when you knew nothing. Between the age of zero and 5, someone taught you something that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Someone said something about you and it hurt you. It could be another kid. It might be an adult. Maybe you weren’t as pretty as your sister, as smart as your cousin, maybe you just couldn’t run as fast as your brother, but someone planted a seed of doubt into your mind and you didn’t think it was an abuse. Every time someone tells you, you aren’t good enough; they are abusing your mind. They are diminishing a part of you and it happens every day. Abuse is so silent; it happens so easily and often goes undetected. That external rhetoric then becomes the internal rhetoric and you say to yourself, maybe am cursed because I am black, the black man is cursed. So you wish to be white or struggle at all cost to travel abroad or even if you didn’t, you hold in your mind that the whites are better. Oh, my hair is too nabby, I got bad hair. Or I am too black and yes, I wish I were a little lighter like Toke Makinwa, so am going to stay out of the sun. Oh, I am not that smart because I don’t get best grades. My sister does better than I do and I can’t just compete. I am not good enough for this course, it’s only reserved for certain kind of people and you don’t realize you are being abused and then you could see someone else, maybe it is your best friend, and you say you are just too fat, or you are not clever. Now, you are abusing your best friend and you call it your opinion.

Abuse is a language
And it’s a language. Abuse is a language. It’s something we are taught in our formative years that we never let go. And now that we are in a social media age where everything is so open, everyone wants to share their taught every 5 minutes of everyday without realizing we are abusing each other and goes from being familiar to being societal.

You are running around judging people without ever asking, what has happened to you? But wait, what if someone asks you, instead of judging you? What has happened to you? Who did what to you? Who said what to you to make you how or who you are today?

When parents fight each other, beat each other, bunch of people fighting each other in the present of children, nobody ever bothered about what it would be doing to the baby, the kids.

Abuse is a language. Our parents taught us abuse is normal, it couldn’t be wrong, can it? So when we go into other relationships, every single last one of them more abusive than the next.

When people are being abused, especially domestic violence, the usual question is, why don’t you just leave? Why don’t you just end that relationship, that marriage? Why don’t you just leave? But the simple answer to that question is that, abuse is a language. It’s built in to our DNA, as much as part of us as the language we speak. It’s how we speak, how we communicate, its how people communicate with us; it’s how we find each other. As an English speaking person, you walk into a foreign country, let’s say you are in France and you don’t understand anything. Who is the first person you are going to look for? Someone who speaks your language right. Okay.

None Violent is a foreign language
I saw a video recently when some ladies in UK are being asked for the kind of man they wanted and I wasn’t shock by their responses. None of them wanted a gentleman. They said they want a tough guy who can be tough on them when they needed to be toughed on, someone they can’t disrespect because of the consequence. According to one of them, ‘’ I need someone that can tell me to shut up and sit down without me reacting because of fear of the consequences’’. To them, that is being confident as a man, being man enough. The ability to abuse them is what they consider as being man enough. So in a foreign country, you go about asking, do you speak English, do you speak English, it’s the same thing with abuse. Do you speak this violent language of mine? Do you? Because none violent is a foreign language and when you are raised with this language, you don’t know how to speak any other language and when someone says why don’t you just leave an abusive relationship, the answer is, why don’t you just speak German, Swahili, Italian, anything else? Right now, don’t learn the new language; just speak it, just do it. You cannot do it, because it is not your language, you haven’t learned it, you haven’t acquired it, you haven’t practiced it, you haven’t used it, you haven’t created a life around it.

It might take years to learn a new language. So when people ask why don’t you just leave, why didn’t she leave, why didn’t he leave the abusive relationship, the answer is, why don’t you just speak another language. These are two people who speak the same language in a foreign country. We have to stick together, me and you. I don’t understand what everyone else is saying, what do you mean none violence.

Abused and abuser are victims
So, the abuser and the victim are speaking the same language only the two of them understand. They recognize each other no matter where they are. Another thing here is that, abusers are victims too, because someone taught them this. Someone taught them to be this way, and they need to be saved also. They need to be looked after also, they need to be taught another language also, because if you save an abuser, you can save 10, 20, God knows how many victims. Let’s not leave them out for condemnation because they are the aggressors, they are the monsters, let’s not just look at them and say you are a bad person, we are going to put you in jail, we are going to help this woman, or this man who was the victim. Because that aggressor is also a victim, someone taught this person that abuse is okay. Most abusers were victims at some point. Abuse comes silently, but it often doesn’t leave that way. It starts out with your judgment; it starts out with those cracks. It starts out with thinking and saying someone isn’t good enough because of what?

Don’t break people
Most people you come across would not be this strong, they will not be this strong because society doesn’t make them that way. We are living in a world that would tell you, you are not good enough every minutes of everyday; it is designed that way. You are been flooded with images that are telling you that your life is worth nothing. Do not compound that by abusing the person next to you, by telling someone they are not good enough, by judging someone, because judgment from other sinners is invalid. No one is better than the other, abuse starts with your judgment. Do not prime someone for an aggressor, do not get them ready, do not send them into the world broken and ready for someone to even do more damage.
It took me a long time to come into this body right here, to be this secure, this strong, unbroken, and unbreakable. Be careful what you say to others and watch what people are saying to you. Abuse starts there. Don’t send yourself out into the world prime for bigger abusers, and don’t send anybody out there that way. And before you judge, before you say another word, before you use the language of violence, of abuse, ask a question. What has happened to you? What happened? Tell me about you.

Listen and Talk
Share your stories, listen to others. Tell the world who you are, let them know that you are here. Leave proof of life, because your life does matter, what you go through matters, find out why you are on this journey, it all matters. Don’t be ashamed of your pitfalls, of your mistakes, as if God doesn’t have a bigger plan for placing that so called mistakes in you. Regret nothing, don’t be ashamed. And don’t shame other people. Don’t break people down, by trying to shame them for living there life the way God has allowed them to live. Everybody’s path isn’t your path; everybody’s truth isn’t your truth.

As from today, you should know that, your judgment of other people can be the seeds of abuse that can change, chain or even end their lives. Uplift each other, please. Be responsible for each other please.

A transcribed and edited speech of Karin Steffans by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

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2019 Presidency
Nigeria almost a disaster under Buhari, says Olawepo-Hashim

Politician and businessman, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, says Nigeria is almost a disaster President Buhari.

Frontline politician and businessman, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim says Nigerians are tired of the two dominant parties in Nigeria -- the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Olawepo-Hashim, was founding member of the PDP and a former deputy publicity secretary of the party.

Addressing select journalists in Abuja at the weekend, the politician and business mogul noted that the APC and PDP will not win the presidential seat in the 2019 elections.

He said that Nigeria under the President Muhammadu Buhari is “almost in a disaster” due to some actions inactions of the government.

“Both political parties (APC and PDP) are in disarray,” he announced. “The truth is that Nigerians are tired of both the APC and the PDP. They are not the place to be for a serious minded Nigerian who wants to effect the need change and liberate our country from its current challenges.

The PDP had been demoralized and the APD is in deep crisis in almost all the states across the country. The state and ward congresses is a testament to this fact. In 2019, a new party, the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), will take over power from these two political parties because Nigerians are tired of the same crop of politicians.

“Quote me anywhere, both parties will be defeated in 2019.” Olawepo-Hashim declared.
‘The 2015 mistake’

Like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Olawepo-Hashim advised Nigerians not to make the ‘mistake of 2015’ by re-electing President Buhari.

He described the 2015 election as a referendum against the then President, Goodluck Jonathan.

He, however, cautioned that Nigerians “must not vote anyone but Buhari” but a credible leader in 2019.

“In 2015, there was no election. We had a referendum against Jonathan where people said any idiot was better than Jonathan. There was this general feeling in 2015 that ‘Jonathan must go’. There was this feeling that just anybody but Jonathan was good for the nation. That notion must change.

“Just like what we are facing at the moment, just anybody can be worse than Jonathan. According to the data from the Federal Bureau of Statistics, when Jonathan was leaving, unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, but now there is 600 percent increase in unemployment rate. We are almost in a disaster on the economy.

“This time around, it cannot just be anybody. We must interrogate to be sure who we want as the president. It must not just be ‘Buhari must go’ because anybody can as well be worse than Buhari’’, he stated.

‘The corruption toga’

Olawepo-Hashim, a former governorship aspirant in Kwara state, expressed displeasure at the politics of division employed by most Nigerian leaders adding that most Nigerians are not corrupt.

“There are values that must guide our leaders. Nigerians are people of integrity. Mindless looting is not who we are. We are a decent people. Our leaders should be able to champion our positive values.

“There are leaders who talk down on the country, that Nigeria is corrupt, and they think they can increase their political value by debasing and demeaning the country and talking down on their people. That’s not the business of leadership.

"The business of leadership is to inspire change with the greatest value and the history of the people and propel them on the path of national reconstruction. Our people are people of values and that is the country that I grew up to know,” he added.

He blamed the country’s economic challenges on the “mismanagement and poor of leadership quality” of “those sneaked into power”.

Olawepo-Hashim, a presidential hopeful also disclosed plans to officially declare his intention to contest for position of Nigeria’s top job in the coming days.

http://www.pulse.ng/news/politics/nigeria-almost-a-disaster-under-buhari-gbenga-olawepo-hashim-id8482406.html

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Why APC, PDP will lose in 2019 – Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim

A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has said that neither the PDP nor the All Progressives Congress, APC, will ‘sail’ through in 2019.

Gbenga, a successful businessman and chairman of Oil World Limited said that both political parties lacked the requisite structure and individuals that should lead the country out of its near-disaster stage.

Addressing some select journalists in Abuja, the former student unionist said, ‘’Never again, will Nigerians allow people to sneak into politics.’’

Speaking on the current leadership, he said, ‘’In 2015, there was no election. We had a referendum against Jonathan where people said any idiot was better than Jonathan. There was this general feeling in 2015 that Jonathan must go. There was this feeling that just anybody but Jonathan was good for the nation. That notion must change. Just like what we are facing at the moment, just anybody can be worse than Jonathan, because if I look at the data from the Federal Bureau of Statistics, when Jonathan was leaving, unemployment rate was 6.4, but now there is 600 percent increase in unemployment rate. We are almost in a disaster on the economy. This time around, it cannot just be anybody. We must interrogate to be sure who we want as the president,’’ he said.

Speaking on the chances of the PDP and the APC in the coming election, he said, ‘’ Both political parties are in disarray. Quote me anywhere, both parties will be defeated in 2019. In APC, we have fascists everywhere. Some of them are very small (diminutive) yet they are fascists. These people are more dangerous than Buhari. They have more media attention than even Mr president. These are people who have lost their credibility, old people who are no longer capable of being in leadership positions. So it must not just be ‘Buhari Must Go’ because anybody can as well be worse than Buhari.’’

Speaking further, he insisted that the leadership must be changed, and that those who must be handed over the leadership role must first look at the intangible things, stating that, ‘’it’s the intangibles that propel the tangibles.’’

Gbenga said, ‘’There are values that must guide our leaders. Our people are people of integrity. Mindless looting is not who we are. We are a decent people. Our leaders should be able to champion our positive values. There are leaders who talk down on the country, that Nigeria is corrupt, and they think they can increase their political value by debasing and demeaning the country and talking down on their people. That’s not the business of leadership. The business of leadership is to inspire change with the greatest value and the history of the people and propel them on the path of national reconstruction. Our people are people of values and that is the country that I grew up to know.

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We must change the context within which politics is being played in the country so we can have a sane conversation on the way forward,’’ he said.

http://dailypost.ng/2018/06/08/apc-pdp-will-lose-2019-gbenga-olawepo-hashim/

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Won't both parties be present when judgement of such high magnitude is being made?