Nigeria: #OccupyNigeria New York townhall disruption

On Sahara Reporters

Now, I am not the greatest fan of Sahara Reporters but I realise that in a country like Nigeria the need for a guerilla news agency beyond the reach of government or powerful influences is critical and important.

I have always contended that they need to be more professional with a better editorial policy, an independent funding arrangement and some control of the quality of commentary that accompanies their stories.

As I learnt to my chagrin and annoyance, some two years ago having praised Sahara Reporters on my blog, their editorial team ripped off my article wholesale and posted it verbatim without acknowledgement or attribution and gave the impression I was a guest blogger when I was not at all.

The interesting knowledge gained from that experience was when I eventually got to see the 33 or so comments posted with relation to my write-up only one appeared to comprehend fully what I was talking about, the rest of the comments were redolent of ignorance and a strange pall of illiteracy that put keyboards at the fingertips of cretins.

Some lessons

Recently, the front-man of Sahara Reporters attended a town-hall meeting in New York where the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs was the guest of honour. He successfully disrupted the meeting which was recorded and posted on YouTube and he made some very crucial points that representatives of Nigeria going abroad will pay heed to appreciate and note.

We are well informed of activities in Nigeria and the global cachet of Nigerians is able to project and protest anywhere in the world.

The idea that Nigerian dignitaries can utilise African time when going to events abroad where we do keep to time and are punctual will no more be condoned. In this case the Minister was shamefully 90 minutes late.

We are not in thrall of people in power, if you are in public service, the element of service to your countrymen has to be paramount, the idea that you will be revered as some potentate with an air of mystique is so last century.

Patriarchy is dead, if you are expectant of respect by reason of the office you hold, you will have to earn it by merit, with competence and the honest engagement that accords respect to the people you desire respect from.

Causing serious embarrassment

The Occupy Nigeria movement has a global outreach and it is evident that despite the fact that the President in his concessional speech revisiting the fuel subsidy issues by promising to cut unnecessary travel, this minister was almost aimlessly gallivanting around the United States with the penchant for arriving late at all events she was invited to.

Though there were Nigerians in Diaspora ready to fawn in supine sycophancy in the presence of Nigerian politicians the goal of Mr Sowore was to call out this minister and in the process address the burning issues going on in Nigeria whilst embarrassing the minister seriously for her classless and reprehensible behaviour, not to talk of the inability of the government to really cut back on the profligacy that had become part of the gripes of the Occupy Nigeria movement.

Mr Sowore made his point by disrupting the meeting and he probably could have been a bit less volatile and abusive in his delivery so as to make even more reasonable points. The meeting eventually commenced after that representation of Occupy Nigerian were escorted out of the venue by the New York Police Department but not before an 11 minute recording had been made which will have the minister having to do some explaining and clarification with regards to what that video clip purports to suggest.

Reviewing the video clip

Without doubt every news organ has an agenda and it behoves them to pursue it with fervour, but it also important that the organ maintains a principle of credibility and integrity for purposes of posterity.

I cannot say if Mr Sowore’s edition of that video had sinister intentions to embarrassing all Nigerian representatives to the point that their positions become untenable. That might be scalps for Sahara Reporters but it does their cause no good at all.

At issue with that video is the idea that the minister and representatives of the Nigerian Embassy in New York sat through the recitation of the Nigerian National Anthem and a cursory viewing of that video appears to suggest that they disrespected the National Anthem and the ensuing consequences will be grave. Many of the comments I have read had both excoriated and condemned those officials but I not convinced that they did sit through that fervent expression of patriotism.

Within the first 1:07 minutes of that recording, there is enough evidence to indicate that the editing of this film clip has either deliberately or inadvertently besmirched the loyalty of these officials.

I have taken timings in playing back that video at normal speed and detailed my observations to support my view.

00:00 The lead in to this video clip introduces the subject of this recording.

00:04 The national anthem was already being sung as the narrator began to set the stage for the event.

00:14 The man at the podium was talking to the audience from what one can see of his demeanour; he could not have been doing this whilst the national anthem was being sung, indicating the audio recording of the anthem was dubbed over the video.

00:30 The lady that approaches the podium after the man also appears to be talking to the audience.

00:35 The lady glances toward the high table as if to acknowledge the people sat there.

00:38 The lady in the black jacket walked over to confer with the lady speaking at the podium.

00:42 The camera pans to the back of the lady in red who appears to be holding a microphone and maybe asking questions – at no other time are we shown the audience singing the National Anthem after the glimpse at the beginning of the clip.

00:59 The clapping at the end of the audio playback of the national anthem appears to be in acknowledgement of the man getting up on the right as he makes for the podium. The minister and the other man are clapping too, it cannot have been for the end of the national anthem.

01:05 As the man approaches the podium we hear the voice of Mr Sowore who seems to have commandeered the microphone and you can see the attention of those sat at the high table directed towards him.

My submission

I will suggest that no matter how late meetings start for Nigerian gatherings there will most probably be a call to prayer and the singing of the national anthem.

In both cases, I will expect that the master of ceremonies will expressly as all in attendance to rise for prayer and then rise for the singing of the national anthem.

It is unlikely that the singing of the national anthem will be a spontaneous activity and hence if the people are asked to rise to sing the national anthem it is almost impossible to contemplate the situation where those at the high-table with expressly ignore that request and sit through the national anthem.

By circumstance, tradition or even rarity, one has to submit that the video was an edited version of the event which inadvertently portrays a side of the story that does not represent the whole truth and by so suggesting the official disrespected the national anthem – there is no indication from that clip that those officials did not rise for the national anthem and until one expressly shows that they did not respect the anthem it will be unjust to suggest impunity.

I will be ready to review any other recordings of this event either to corroborate or dispute my views but this video by commission or omission on the matter of respecting the national anthem is unfair, unjust and heaps opprobrium on the officials to foster an ulterior and dastardly motive which is at best unconscionable if not dishonest.

Nigeria: At a Presidential Rally Stampedes should not become of humanity

Gauging the situation

I saw this status on Facebook and I felt I had to comment but the longer the comment became it looked like it was best fleshed out on a blog.

“Wow. People died. Yes. But why the gross exaggeration? #fuckingstorytellers”

This was in reaction to a story that appeared on Sahara Reporters which I must say I am not particularly a fan of but there goes.

They published the headline “Blood Bath At Jonathan's Presidential Rally In Port Harcourt: Scores Crushed To Death | Sahara Reporters.”

Any death is already too many

In my humble opinion, if anyone died at what was supposed to be a presidential rally; that is one death too many especially if the death was a result of a number of factors that appeared in the news story.

1. The over-crowding of a stadium.

2. The lack of effective crowd control. This probably created the chaotic situation that made the police shoot in the air.

3. The stampede that resulted from the first two factors.

Stampedes are characteristics of the wild in the animal world, human-beings should not be found in stampedes if we are properly organised.

It is unfortunate that the matter of security and policing in Nigeria is usually slanted towards the protection of dignitaries rather than a broad strategy for the public safety of the populace at large.

Cause, prevention & reaction

That all said, the numbers issue and the exaggeration is neither here nor there - my reading here is the lack of empathy and value for human life on the one hand and tendency to sensationalism on the other hand.

If the official figure is 2 in an accident on Aba Road and 12 at the stadium, that does not amount to scores, however, if you are fitting 250,000 people in a 100,000 capacity stadium and a stampede occurs where the surging crowd is being kept back by bad judgement of shooting in the air even objective assessment would suggest a higher than lower figure would be injured and probably killed - but we have no evidence to that effect.

This might well mean luck kept the number lower than expected but it does not absolve the planners of this event from culpability and we need to be spared the crocodile tears that are now shed in sympathy for the victims of this mishap. [The President has since through his spokesperson expressed regret]

The cynical twist to this debacle is the president would have preferred to see an over-crowded stadium that speaks of his popularity than a half-filled one which would have made this tragedy avoidable, but that would be sentimental.

"Wow! People died. Yes", is an unfortunate comment on a tragic situation that happened because people gathered to hail the president, in the quest to appear objective this comes across sadly as clinical, unfeeling and apathetic – much more was desired of both the reporting and the reaction.

Sahara Reporters has infringed my copyright

Prologue: I first wrote this blog on New Years Day in indignation about the copying of my blog and the savage commentary that followed the publication of my blog on the Sahara Reporters website, I then pulled down this blog because I did not feel despite my right to go on the warpath with Sahara Reporters.

The study of the comments on my material then became the source of the blog I wrote for Nigerians Talk titled Nigeria: Can we engage politely?

The demands I make in this blog are not being exacted, this blog has been revived, just for the record.

Attribute as per the rules

When I published a blog noticing Sahara Reporters had come of age, it was published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License with clear terms that should be followed when my work is being used anywhere else. I live in the Netherlands and have run my blog for 6 years.

I found out that my material was ripped off my blog with the complimentary Culled from Akin’s Blog though the presentation of the article may have surreptitiously suggested I wrote it on the Sahara Reporters web site.

For all intents and purposes, I like to convey my ideas in forums where I have complete control of the material, that is why none of my stuff is found elsewhere except on my blogs and when I write for forums like NigeriansTalk.

Courtesy demands

Whilst I consider Sahara Reporters an effective guerilla news agency it is not beyond extending the common courtesy of seeking permission from bloggers before using copy they have not originally created and if that organisation could not seek permission, if should have read the terms of re-using original copy and followed the instructions as given.

Unfortunately, it shows the tendency to ignore dictates of due process, a lack of attention to crucial copyright and usage instructions, an absence of discipline where an article of commendation gets pilfered on the premise that the writer has automatically given permission for usage to the subject of the commendation – No, it was never explicit and could never have been read as implicit either.

Sahara Reporters might well be disestablishmentarian in Nigeria, but it is not above the rules of engagement in the global usage of material they have not created.

My blog suits my material best

On reading their publication of my blog, it clearly does not convey fully everything I wrote, the links with their references are missing, the sources I used for my copy do not appear in that posting and falls short of how I would present my views if I were invited to present my views on that forum.

If Sahara Reporters were to have done the minimum it should have been a link with a very basic excerpt pointing users to my blog, to have shorn my material of its setting is definitely a rip off and not to have attributed appropriately amounts to copyright infringement in the least, a less charitable situation would be to accuse Sahara Reporters of piracy.

To make it clear, I seek no further forums than that which my blogs give me in the expression of my opinion where I have complete control over the publication and the commentary it might generate, one is not amused to find that principle abridged without my consent.

To redeem Sahara Reporters

I would expect Sahara Reporters to do the right thing of the following options; remove my material forthwith from their website; expressly seek my permission to use my material or read and follow the instructions regarding attribution of material on my blog. An apology would be expected and if either of the last two options is taken, the full material with the links and sources as appear on my blog MUST be published.

Gaining global recognition does not automatically confer respectability but it demands journalistic responsibility; that comes with you continuing your sterling work of investigative news gathering and your sticking to the rules as they apply with the material you obtain.

Finally, I am Nigerian, I love Nigeria, I like Sahara Reporters and the work they do, that is why I have twice commended their activities in my blogs, and the rules are there for a purpose, following those rules are not grievous to the meticulous and honest journalist.

Thank you!

No permission is given to copy any part of this blog; and this notice overrides the provisions on the attribution license.

Nigeria: Sahara Reporters comes of age

A picture to the world

I am no doubt utterly confused with the news of the failed terrorist attack on the Northwest airlines flight 253 [1] from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Invariably, rather than offer a direct comment, I have decidedly combed the newswires and tried to keep abreast of the news, commentary, views and opinions on this matter.

To first deal with the almost trivial but particularly seminal is the fact that the grainy photo of the culprit, a 23 year old known as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab which appears on the CNN news stories and its news site on CNN.com [2] is from the SaharaReporters.com website [3], that information appears boldly when seen.

The coming of age

It is the coming of age of the guerilla news agency that has become the source of factual or sometimes sensational exposés that local news agencies would not dare to print; as I had written sometime ago [4], the lack of press freedom and the harassment of news outlets in Nigeria, calls for an organ like the vibrantly aggressive SaharaReporters.com.

It goes without saying that the publishers are on the Nigerian security agency watchlists and as other publishers of similar organs have been seized at airports and literally messed around with for months, it must be said that the powers that be would do anything to prevent the truth, half-truth, speculative or lie from gaining any public attention.

Essentially, I have avoided using SaharaReporters.com as my main source of information about Nigeria, sometimes some of the contributors also let their emotions get the better of them and allow sentiment and the subjective to becloud the objective; it is by every means a resourceful agency in the midst of the murky entrails of the present-day Nigeria.

Change should come

It remains the go-to source of information and breaking news about Nigeria that does not suffer the threat of proscription and that now calls for bit of serious housecleaning to polish up their act.

I do not know how the site is funded but the flashing adverts really do have to go, it takes away from the seeming professional look the site, I think would like to portray; they have to develop a better funding structure to keep the site alive for access and traffic as it gains more popularity.

The contributors have to be better vetted, whilst the open forum setup is good, there should be some editorial control in terms of quality of copy, the conveyance of ideas and balance in debate.

Polite comment should thrive

Most importantly, I can never find myself commenting on that site, some of the comments are laced with contemptible vitriol, unwarranted abuse and exchanges that are atrocious to say the least – a comment policy needs to be put in place, people should not be able to vent in such a way that it makes the comments unreadable – some standard needs to be established.

Now, Nigerians can get quite into it with their comments, but such a site now commanding an international profile needs to help in promoting Nigerians as being able to engage in discourse and debate without the need for derogation – people should be able to express themselves forcefully, politely and respectfully, it should not be too much to ask for – maybe a marketplace comment section can be created to accept those views, but there should be a separation between reasoned comments or dialogue and the mob at their most frenzied cantankerousness.

Once again, all kudos to Sahara Reporters [3] for their sterling work on Nigerian issues, reluctantly but quite necessarily.

Sources

[1] The latest on Northwest flight 253 | The Economist

[2] Sources: Terror suspect is son of bank executive, attended college - CNN.com

[3] SR Headlines

[4] Nigeria: Ribadu and kids get bundled out of NIPSS graduation [akin.blog-city.com]

Nigeria: Ribadu and kids get bundled out of NIPSS graduation

The law of the Slave Coast

If there is any need for proof that Nigeria is operating in the realms of the law of Slave Coast one should look no further than this event.

Whilst I am of the opinion that Sahara Reporters [1] can be too sensational for my liking, they seem to be getting scoops about events in Nigeria that make you think again about whether there really is a democracy in that country.

The news is that the erstwhile chairman of the EFCC – Nuhu Ribadu – who was unceremoniously removed to embark on a course, demoted to a position which would have made his attendance of the course incompatible two-thirds through the course has now been barred from graduating [2] from the course on completion.

Barred is a polite expression, in fact, he was bundled [3] out the auditorium of the graduation ceremony whilst the miscreants of the state apparatus manhandled his wife, his six children and the guests who came to celebrate his graduation.

Do-or-die MO

Only two days before, he was cleared for graduation after numerous clandestine efforts by security agencies working under the auspices of persons in power to bar him from the NIPSS.

In fact, after the litany of harassments the man had been subjected to, one paper had already concluded that he had won the battle [4] only not to have anticipated that if the authorities cannot use legal means, cajole officials, threaten persons or suspend personnel, they would send in their brutes.

The authorities have a do-or-die modus operandi to get their way regardless of the means and ways to the contempt of any due process just because they have the power to act even if their acts are illegal. The fight to protect and enforce his rights [5] continues.

The fight against corruption

This man’s offence is to have doggedly pursued demigods in Nigeria who had abused their offices, looted the treasury but had beelines to the highest authorities in the country.

Ridding Nigeria of the malignant cancer of corruption is a dangerous task, lip-service is paid to the activity by the government as small fry become the banners of the exercise whilst the most corrupt seek to manipulate and frustrate the process.

This episode leaves one rather saddened by the developments on the Slave Coast [6], the country is receding into a state of lawlessness spearheaded by the Attorney-General – a whole series of stories appears on Sahara Reporters about how the fight against graft and corruption is being compromised.

Sahara Reporters – A worthy cause

In the West, a web site like Sahara Reporters [1] would have little credibility, but I am beginning to see the need for this kind of organisation in Nigeria.

The most populous democracy in Africa does not have the underpinning foundations necessary for a thriving democracy; our elections are hardly free and fair, the press is hardly free, the judiciary is under siege from vexatious legal manoeuvres seeking to undermine fairness and justice, the freedom of information act languishes in our legislative chambers.

There has to be an outlet for issues, events, episodes and stories that are inimical to the process and development of Nigeria, we cannot have situations where we all hope things would turn out right and then find that our leaders are in the middle of the mess that makes Nigeria worse than it should be.

If there were transparency in the matters of government and business, the need for Sahara Reporters would be moot, but in the absence of the freedom, boldness and courage of mainstream Nigerian media to report on controversial issues that expose people in power as unrepentantly corrupt but masquerading as respectable; a bit of guerrilla reporting as championed by Sahara Reporters is welcome and should be encouraged until things begin to improve in Nigeria.

The more those in power realise that the world of secrecy concerning their activities can only be perfected in the Great Beyond and that every little deal risks exposure if found to be slightly suspect, the greater the hope we can have of Nigeria coming back from the law of the Slave Coast.

Here’s to Sahara Reporters [1] – reluctantly but necessarily.

Sources

[1] Sahara Reporters : News, Interviews, Articles, Reports, Photos, Events and Happenings in Nigeria

[2] [UPDATED: Nuhu Ribadu Dragged Out Of NIPSS Graduation Hall: Sahara Reporters News

[3] The Punch: Security operatives whisk away Ribadu

[4] The Punch: Bitter memories as Ribadu graduates from NIPSS

[5] allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Court Grants Ribadu Leave to Enforce Rights

[6] Nigeria: Living on the Slave Coast [akin.blog-city.com]

Nigeria: Free Jonathan Elendu Now!

Freedom still matters

I do not know if this campaign is still apt but there is still a clamour for freedom.

I have just read Jonathan Elendu’s report [1] of his ordeal at the hands of the state apparatus for unwarranted inconvenience where he was detained in solitary confinement for 7 days and eventually for 12 days in all.

He has been released and he has received medical attention and hopes to eventually get to see his medical doctor in the States.

All his property is still in the hands of the State Security Service such that he wrote his report from a borrowed computer.

A completely free man

He has not indicated whether his passport has been returned or not, though he is not in possession of his green card, but I am hopeful that that his situation would improve to the extent that he would become a completely free man, free of duress, free of menace, free to go about his activities and free to collect his property without suffering any further loss and free to return to his home base in the United States.

Most of all, Mr. Elendu believes he has a renewed calling to embark even more fervently on his journalistic career whilst expressing gratitude for the support that welled up for his release.

Freedom from undue harassment

His release is not complete and his freedom is not fully assured till he receives an undertaking not to be unduly harassed by the authorities, till they clearly explain why they were interested in him, and until they either charge him with an offence or offer a completely unreserved public apology for the ordeal he was put through.

The case for restitution and compensation can be made and should be pursued, if no charge is made; that power can be abused like this is unfortunate, atrocious and unconscionably repugnant, but I would not hold my breath for heads to roll or punishments to be meted out.

It remains a most fervent desire and cry - FREE JONATHAN ELENDU NOW!

Sources

[1] Elendu Reports - Thank You

Nigeria: Jonathan Elendu Released

Released!

Our claims to responsible government [1] took a great hit this month when in the month that Nigeria celebrated her 48^th independence anniversary a man on a visit to Nigeria to see his family got picked up at the airport [2] on arrival by the State Security Service and became a pawn of unjust harassment amongst state apparatchiks.

I have not been able to corroborate the news from other sources, but SolomonSydelle at Nigerian Curiosity has asserted that she has been in contact with Jonathan Elendu’s family and after being held in detention for 11 days without charge or arraignment, the man is now free [3].

For this I am glad, but not pleased at all about this saga.

The abuse of power

I think it is sickening and outrageous that anyone who suffers at the macabre hands of the rotten abuse of power in Nigeria should seek immediate medical treatment after release from custody and there are many who do for all sorts of reasons, the least of which is most definitely reprehensible.

We do not know if his freedom allows him to pursue his own activities or he is under caution and would be unable to return to his base in the United States.

We would not however relent in our pursuit of fairness and justice whilst seeking that those who have used the state apparatus as a tool of unwarranted menace be brought to book – the country cannot be run by buccaneering malevolents who are accountable to no one and answerable only to megalomaniacal urges.

Meanwhile, the campaign continues – Justice for Jonathan Elendu.

Sources

[1] Nigeria: Our claims to responsible government at independence 48 [akin.blog-city.com]

[2] Nigerian Curiosity: Nigerian Blogger Arrested!!!!

[3] Nigerian Curiosity: Exclusive: Blogger Jonathan Elendu Is Free!!!: