naptu2: I wanted to make a post a month ago about the events in the south-east, but I haven't had the time. Part of that post is about the similarities between events in the south-east at the moment and events in the north in the past.
And now there's another similar event.
Some politicians in the north used the polio vaccination programmes as a political tool in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They claimed that the vaccines were designed to sterilise northern muslim kids in order to reduce the population of northerners and muslims in Nigeria. They claimed that the plot was orchestrated by the "Christian south and western countries".
And now there's a similar propaganda campaign in the south-east.
In late August the Nigerian military announced that they were going to carry out Operation Python Dance II in the south-east in September and October. They said that the operation was tailored to train soldiers in internal security duties, provide joint training with civilian security services (police, civil defence, etc) and combat kidnapping, violence (like the Ozubulu killing), violent secessionist groups and prepare to support the civilian services in providing security for elections in the south-east.
The military also said that fresh troops that will be trained during this exercise might be integrated into the various states' security apparatus.
One of the components of the exercise that was announced in August was the free medical outreach.
The medical corps of the armed forces have been conducting free medical programmes for decades. In the past this was usually done on Army Day, Navy Day, etc. or when a new military facility was being commissioned.
Since 2010 the military has also conducted medical missions when on internal security duties, as a way of winning "hearts and minds". The medical missions show the people that the military is made up of human beings not monsters and that the soldiers are approachable. These medical missions have been held in the Niger-Delta, the north-east and around the country.
Ipob do not want the military to be seen as humans. They prefer that the military should be seen as monsters (this is one of the reasons why youths attacked a convoy of soldiers with stones and petrol bombs early in September). So you have a propaganda war between the military and Ipob.
Ipob prefers that the medical missions fail and what better way to make them fail than to ensure that nobody shows up for it? The best strategy would be to use the very same programme with which the army wants to win "hearts and minds" to ensure that they lose hearts and minds.
So they started a crazy rumour that the military is forcibly injecting kids with "monkeypox" and used this to create panic and pandemonium.
Nigerians are very emotional people (we often replace reason with emotions) and we love rumours (the crazier the better), so the rumour spread like wildfire.
This reminds me of Amebo in the Village Headmaster. This is the kind of ridiculous and crazy rumour that she often created and it's the same kind of panic that she often caused.
Army denies rumour that ‘soldiers force injections on pupils’
NWAFOR POLYCARP 11 OCT 2017
Panic overshadowed the commencement of the Nigerian Army free medical outreach for civilians in Anambra on Wednesday, following social media reports that soldiers were injecting school children with dangerous substances.
Newsmen learnt that the report, which is apparently false, forced schools to send pupils and students home while parents rushed to schools to pick their children and wards out of fear.
However, the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Joseph Akabuike, while dismissing the social media reports, explained the pandemonium was caused by fears of monkey pox disease, currently reported in some parts of the country.
“We rushed down immediately we heard the rumour. All the instruments being used by the army for the free medical mission are all life-saving instruments.
“So we want to allay the fear of the public. They should not be afraid; rather we should count ourselves lucky to receive such free treatment.”
Akabuike commended the army for the gesture, assuring that the State Government would provide needed support to make the outreach successful.
In a remark, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division Enugu, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Abubakar, explained that the exercise was part of Operation Python Dance II in the South-East.
Represented by Brig.-Gen. J.O. Ugwuoke, the GOC said the exercise had taken place in Enugu, Imo, Ebony, Abia and was now in Anambra.
Abubakar advised members of the public to discountenance the rumour that soldiers were forcing injections on pupils from school to school.
He said the one-day medical mission had already benefited over 300 patients, who were being treated for various ailments with drugs provided free.
“The presence of community leaders and State Government representatives signify that there is nothing harmful about the exercise.
“We are here purely on a noble mission of free medical service.
“In addition, we are giving grants and food items to the people, who are in need of them.
“These are rumours and I think as Nigerians, we need to desist from peddling rumours because it will not do us any good,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Ikenna Ofodeme, the Transition Committee Chairman of Ekwusigo Local Government Council, commended the army for locating the free mission in the area.
Ofodeme urged members of the populace to turn out for the free medical service in their own interest.
Eminem is no fan of Donald Trump, and he let everyone know about it with a dynamite rap cypher that went out during Tuesday night’s BET Hip-Hop Awards.
The prerecorded rap goes by the title “The Storm," but it's more like a hurricane as Marshall Mathers takes down the pres for his obsession with athletes taking a knee, his twitchy button finger and his luxury lifestyle. And a whole lot more.
The hip-hop star calls Trump “a kamikaze that’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust,” says "racism's the only thing he's fantastic for" and belts out the line: “When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that/Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada/All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather/Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers/Then says he wants to lower our taxes.” Kaboom!
Eminem dissed Donald Trump in a new cypher called The Storm which was shown at the 2017 Billboard Hip Hop Awards last night. The cypher is trending on social media and has elicited responses from many stars including Lebron James, Colin Kaepernick and Snoop Dogg. Several people have stated that they will keep vigil on Twitter as they await Donald Trump's response.
This the calm before the storm right here Wait, how was I gonna start this off? I forgot Oh, yeah
That's an awfully hot coffee pot Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Probably not But that's all I got 'til I come up with a solid plot
Got a plan, and now I gotta hatch it Like a damn Apache with a tomahawk I'ma walk inside a mosque on Ramadan And say a prayer that every time Donald talks She gets a mop--ahh, I'ma stop
But we better give Obama props 'Cause what we got in office now's a kamikaze That'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust And while the drama pops and he waits for shit to quiet down He'll just gas his plane up and fly around 'til the bombing stops
Intensities heightened, tensions are rising Trump, when it comes to giving a shit, you're stingy as I am Except when it comes to having the balls to go against me, you hide 'em 'Cause you don't got the fucking nuts like an empty asylum
Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for 'Cause that's how he gets his fucking rocks off and he's orange Yeah, sick tan, that's why he wants us to disband 'Cause he can not withstand The fact we're not afraid of Trump Bleep walkin' on egg shells, I came to stomp That's why he keeps screamin', "Drain the swamp" 'Cause he's in quicksand
It's like we take a step forwards, then backwards But this is his form of distraction Plus, he gets an enormous reaction When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers Then says he wants to lower our taxes Then who's gonna pay for his extravagant trips Back and forth with his fam to his golf resorts and his mansions? Same shit that he tormented Hillary for and he slandered Then does it more
From his endorsement of Bannon Support from the Klansmen Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that's black And comes home from Iraq And is still told to go back to Africa
Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa Who keeps ignoring our past historical, deplorable factors Now, if you're a black athlete You're a spoiled little brat for tryna use your platform or your stature To try to give those a voice who don't have one He says, "You're spittin' in the face of vets who fought for us, you bastards" Unless you're a POW who's tortured and battered 'Cause to him, you're zeros 'Cause he don't like his war heroes captured That's not disrespecting the military
Bleep that, this is for Colin, ball up a fist And keep that shit balled like Donald the bitch "He's gonna get rid of all immigrants" "He's gonna build that thing up taller than this" Well, if he does build it, I hope it's rock solid with bricks 'Cause like him in politics, I'm using all of his tricks 'Cause I'm throwing that piece of shit against the wall 'til it sticks
And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his I'm drawing, in the sand, a line You're either for or against And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split On who you should stand beside I'll do it for you with this: "Bleep you!" The rest of America stand up We love our military, and we love our country But we fucking hate Trump
naptu2: The earthquake took place between 1998 and 2000 and this was the situation by 2003. (Note: Jaguar stopped making the DS420 in 1992). Question: Why buy a Maybach when you can buy an S-Class Pullman?
naptu2: Someone has done what Mercedes Benz should have done!
The late 1990s was an exciting time in the super luxury car segment. Toyota unveiled a new Toyota Century in 1997, Volkswagen bought Rolls Royce in 1998 and there was talk that Jaguar would make a new Daimler DS400.
BMW was angry that Volkswagen had bought Rolls Royce (BMW had supplied engines to the company since 1995 and they thought that Vickers would sell it to them). The families of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce also did not want Volkswagen to get the Rolls Royce name because the original Volkswagen Beetle was a car for the masses (folks wagon), while Rolls Royce is the car for the elite, so it was eventually decided that Volkswagen would get the company and the Bentley name, while BMW would get the Rolls Royce name (and use it to start a new company).
There was also talk of a new Zill (which never happened) and a new Hong Qi (which was eventually made in the mid-2000s).
Mercedes Benz had to respond and I thought that they would respond with an incarnation of the iconic 600. The Toyota Century looked like the 1960s Century, Jaguar were talking about making a new version of the iconic car, so it was a no brainer, Mercedes must make a new 600.
Well, Mercedes did respond, but their response was disappointing. They launched a new car called the Maybach with much fanfare in 1999. The car was actually flown over the Hudson River in New York! But, the car looked very much like a regular S Class. What were they thinking??
So of course the car ended up competing against the S Class and of course it lost. Why get a Maybach when you can get an S Class Pullman? They should have made a new version of the 600!
Well, someone has done it. It's like a combination of the 600, W110 and the SLR. It's the Mercedes 600 Royale.
It seems that many people do not understand what type of car this is. I've seen people comparing it to cars like the Lexus LS series.
The Toyota Century is basically a rare 4 door limousine. Very few are made and it is not meant to be flashy. The original Toyota Century which was first produced in 1967 was modelled after the 1964 Toyota Crown and its design remained unchanged until 1997 (30 years). The second Toyota Century was first produced in 1997 and it remained largely unchanged until now.
The Toyota Century is not produced for export and it is only sold in a few selected Toyota stores.
The Toyota Century is not in the same class as the Lexus LS, Mercedes S Class, BMW 7 Series or Audi A8 (i.e. the luxury class). Rather It is in the same class as the Nissan Prince Royal, Bentley Mulsanne, Rolls Royce Phantom, Daimler DS420 and Hongqi L9 (i.e. the super luxury class). Mercedes Benz tried to get into this class in the 2000s with their Maybach models but they weren't succesful.
The Toyota Century has been produced for 50 years, but most people have never seen one. The Nissan Prince Royal wasn't even sold commercially. It was made exclusively for the Emperor of Japan. The Toyota Century succeeded the Nissan Prince Royal as the imperial limousine ten years ago.
Soviet/Russian leaders rode in Zil limousines until Boris Yeltsin became president in the 1990s. Yeltsin preferred to use Mercedes Benz cars. However, when it was revealed that Vladimir Putin liked old Zil limousines, the company decided to make a limousine for him. They hoped that the Kremlin would once again use Zil limousines as the number 1 state car. Unfortunately for them, Putin continued to use Mercedes Benz cars.
Foreigners often say that Hongqi cars are immitations of European, Japanese and American cars. They say that the first Hongqi was a clone of a Russian Zil limousine and that this car, the Hongqi L9, is a clone of a Rolls Royce.
The original Toyota Century was made in 1967 and it was it looked like a larger version of the 1967 Toyota Crown. The Century is very rare and it's mainly used by members of the royal family and the richest Japanese businessmen. The first model of the Century was not officially exported by Toyota.
The Century's main rival was the Nissan Prince Royal. The Nissan Prince was sold commercially, but the Nissan Prince Royal was only made for the Emperor.
There are many similar cars around the world. Stalin gave Chairman Mao a Zil limousine and the Chinese reverse engineered it to create the Hong Qi (Red Flag) limousine. When US president Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, the Secret Service asked for permission to fly in his Cadillac limousine, but Chairman Mao refused and said that the Chinese had enough Red Flags to cater for his needs.
Omofunaab2: So proud of Aruna Quadri, He made history at the 2016 Rio Olympics by becoming the first African to reach the Quarter finals of the table tennis single event. . He is currently ranked number one in Africa and he will represent Africa at the ITTF World Cup in France
Yorubas are the Masters when it comes to table tennis in Nigeria and Africa at large... Only the Egyptians are competing with us... Many of our Athletes have represented Nigeria in the Olympic games and won many laurels for Nigeria both at the common wealth and the All African games.
From the legend Segun Toriola, bode abiodun, bose kaffo, our own Monday Merotohun from Ogun state, Olufunke Oshonaike, Atanda Musa, kareem nasiru, Sule olaleye, Abiola odumosu and others.
I like the fact that we have young talents who will replace Aruna Quadri and funke Oshonaike.. The likes of Esther oribamise and Azeez Solanke are both tipped to do that.
Esther oribamise has qualified for next year's junior Olympics in Argentina, azeez lost in the semi final
Out of the ten players selected to represent Nigeria at the Africa junior table tennis championship in Tunisia, eight were yorubas
We have so many Table Tennis tournaments here in the West
We love Table Tennis in the West.
.
It's good to see that we have good young players that can replace them. There was a time that I was afraid that we would lose our crown as the best table tennis playing country in Africa because I couldn't see enough young players coming through. I'm glad to see that I was wrong. I wrote this back then.
naptu2: Nigeria has dominated the table tennis scene in Africa for a very long time, but I fear that we are about to totally lose our crown and what happened in athletics after the year 2000 is about to happen in table tennis.
We currently have Aruna Quadri, who was declared the star of 2014 by the International Table Tennis Federation, but we have nobody else challenging him. In the past, when we had the great Atanda Musa, there was also a Yomi Bankole to keep him on his toes. When we had Sule Olaleye, there was also a Segun Toriola, but now, all we have is Aruna Quadri.
This is a far cry from the past when there were all Nigeria finals at the African Championships and All Africa Games and we won several Commonwealth titles (Atanda Musa and Segun Toriola).
It's worse in the women's section. Cecilia Effiong is good, but I do not think that she is nearly as good as the Funke Oshonaike, Bose Kaffo, Kuburat Owolabi, Kehinde Okenla and Olawunmi Majekodunmi that we had in the past. And there's no one else besides her.
The Asoju Oba of Lagos, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas played a massive role in the development of table tennis in Nigeria. The Asoju Oba table tennis championships, which was created and funded by Chief Okoya-Thomas, was the biggest table tennis tournament in Nigeria. All the big names in table tennis in Nigeria played at the tournament. The prize money was mouth watering and Atanda Musa famously beat Yomi Bankole in the 1984 edition to win a Peugeot 504 (Chief Okoya-Thomas always had close links with french companies. Hewas the chairman of CFAO Nigeria, which had a division [CFAO Motors] that sold Peugeot cars. He was also awarded the highest national honour by the french president). Old Man collaborated with Chief Okoya-Thomas on the Asoju Oba competition (I still have a picture of both of them, that was taken at one of the tournaments, but I'm not sure what year), which probably explains why he was at Old Man's funeral. Chief Okoya-Thomas ran that competition for almost 40 years.
Chief Okoya Thomas was also heavily involved in tennis. He sponsored the Lord Rumens Tennis Classics after the death of Lord Rumens, was the vice chairman of the LLTC and was involved in bringing Venus and Serena Williams to Nigeria in 2012.
Unfortunately Chief Okoya-Thomas died in 2015. The Lagos State Government has promised to continue funding the Asoju Oba tournament, but I don't think that will last. I expect that the tournament will also die very soon.
Another person that greatly developed the game in Nigeria is Babatunde Obisanya. This former national team player became the greatest coach Nigeria has ever had and he coached great stars like Atanda Musa, Kasali Lasisi, Ayo Bankole, Segun Toriola, etc.
List of African table tennis champions. 2006 MEN TORIOLA Segun NGR (champion)
kannymoore: It was called Muslim Teacher Training College that has presently metamorphosed into present day Obele Community High School situated at Randle Avenue, Surulere Lagos.
I know cos I once attended that Obele and I remember vividly when Hakeem Olajuwon donated some Basketballs to the school back in the mid 1990's.
School allowed us use only one basketball. And since we had no court, the ball itself couldn't last up to a single school term before it burst due to endless bouncing on the bumpy uneven terrain of the school compound. Lol!
He also donated a lot of equipment to the Nigerian Basketball Federation in the 1990s, but I discovered (a year later) that the equipment was left to rot at the port because the NBBF said that they didn't have enough money to pay the port charges.
JamesReacher: His name stayed the same. Is it a crime to go to where they have better standards?
I don't understand what you mean. What does his name staying the same and going "to where they have better standards" have to do with my post and how is it a crime?
And he actually did change his name (from Akeem to Hakeem) in 1991, but what has that got to do with my post?
napoleonbaba: Nigeria had no basketball team in his days
Of course Nigeria had a basketball team. Hakeem was discovered by the great Ganiyu Otenigbagbe (who played for and coached Nigeria) while he was at Muslim Secondary School and he actually played one game for the Nigerian national junior team before he went to the US.
Politics › Re: Army Denies Rumour That ‘Soldiers Force Injections On Pupils’ by naptu2(op): 5:40am On Oct 12, 2017
