A World Cup Letdown: From Golden Boys to the Ugly Game

A Listed Building's Walls

My office sits in a Grade II listed building with uniquely fascinating décor: wallpaper made from a collage of newspaper front pages marking world events.

The Kennedy assassination, the birth of the first test-tube baby, the moon landing, the Beatles arriving in America, the birth of Prince George, the murder of John Lennon, the death of Elvis Presley, Usain Bolt breaking the 100m world record at the 2012 Olympics, and now, crucially, England winning the World Cup.

The Sunday Mirror, 31st July 1966. The morning after the only World Cup that ever truly mattered to me, and I was barely old enough to know it.

It is the little things, the unfairness and the distrust, that have exacerbated my disinterest in global events. The minor infraction of the Formula 1 rules by a race steward, the one that robbed Lewis Hamilton of an eighth world championship, means I have never watched another race since.

Three Flags, One Cup

I was just a few months old when England lifted the trophy against West Germany in 1966, the Sunday Mirror crowing "Golden Boys!" the morning after. To have seen them win it in my lifetime, even if I cannot remember a moment of it, is perhaps why I am no longer troubled by whether they excel or falter in this edition.

My allegiances have wandered as my life has. I have supported England, where I was born; Nigeria, my country of heritage; and the Netherlands, where I lived for twelve years. Each has handed me its own disappointment.

I watched Nigeria play Bulgaria at the Parc des Princes during the 1998 World Cup, and I donned the orange of the Netherlands for the 2010 final, hosted in South Africa, though I watched it on holiday in Spain. Walking back to my hotel in Dutch colours after Spain's victory remains one of the worst sporting indignities I have endured.

Festivals Losing Their Shine

We used to gather in May for Eurovision, but the controversy around Israel's participation, which led to a boycott by five countries, meant I felt it was no longer a contest. Though it produced a new winning country, I refused to watch anything, including the highlights. In 2026, we had Euroblindness, and I do not know what might make it exciting again.

Yesterday, the FIFA World Cup began in Mexico, hosted this time by three countries, including Canada and the United States. The United States is at a war of its own choosing with Iran, a participating nation. Iran has moved its base to Mexico. A FIFA referee from Somalia was denied entry to the US, and FIFA simply shrugged.

Politics Invades the Pitch

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to raid World Cup venues to apprehend and arrest supposed illegal immigrants. President Donald Trump is quite cosy with Gianni Infantino, the FIFA President, who conferred a FIFA World Peace Prize on Donald Trump in a farcical imitation of the Nobel Peace Prize.

With players and officials alike suffering indignities at the behest of the policies prevailing in the US, it is no wonder that interest in this World Cup is not showing up in record hotel bookings. The somewhat exorbitant match tickets will now have to depend on local fans to fill the stadiums, as the prices fall to more reasonable levels.

No Enthusiasm Here

No, I have garnered no enthusiasm for this fiesta at all, apart from snippets that fall into sight from partly obscured social media statuses, informing us why South Africa lost their match against Mexico. This was a reference to the largest number of red cards ever issued in a World Cup match, which left South Africa down to nine men by the end.

Yes, there was one video of Burna Boy being lauded by his mother after his performance at the opening of the tournament, yet I have not turned on my television to watch any clips or updates. I am neither playing nor engaged, and I hope the month slithers away into insignificance whilst we find other joys of living beyond this enterprise of chicanery that pretends to unite the world in the pursuit of a leather ball.

What Is the Point?

Heck, there are 48 teams playing, and yet Nigeria, Italy, India, and China cannot find a minimum of 23 men to fly the flag. What is the point? The way things are going, all countries might as well be invited to a three-month World Cup to cure the world of boredom, and we might enjoy one long holiday from its troubles.

No one could ever have thought that the US, being the main host of a FIFA World Cup, would portend less eagerness than the ones in Qatar or Russia before. But if this ends up being the least entertaining ever, the record alone would leave a big smile on our faces. I can assure you, it would be just deserts.

A Google NotebookLM AI Podcast on this blog

Coronavirus streets in Manchester - LXXVIII

A spectacle of living

Manchester Presents would be a fitting title for a programme that highlights the intriguing peculiarities of this city, demonstrated through its residents and their way of life and pursuits.

I generally consider myself more of an observer than a participant. Usually, I find out about events in my city long after they happen. If I happen to learn about something before it occurs, I might make a mental note, but due to disinterest or lethargy, it often slips my mind.

However, whenever I step out for something as mundane as shopping for essentials, these encounters make me wonder if there’s more to the beating heart of Manchester—something I have yet to fully grasp after nearly 12 years of living here.

But a polemicist

For example, I was on a bus returning from the shops when a lady of South Asian origin boarded. Stylish and quite sophisticated, her makeup stood out—her eyes accentuated with black markings resembling the upper rim of large, rectangular spectacles.

That alone would have been an interesting story. Then she started to speak—at first I thought she was on a phone call until I realised she was addressing us, the passengers on the lower deck. She wasn’t a preacher, a few of whom I’ve seen, but not in Manchester.

When I understood what she was saying—her somewhat coherent remarks—it was polemical, with references to government involvement in fraud, with the citing of sections and paragraphs too. If I had been paying closer attention earlier, I might have laughed at the absurdity of it all.

Achievement without recognition

If I heard her correctly, she was either a professor of Punjabi literature or a close relative of one, and her father was a renowned professor named Kohli. She even spelt it out. Then she launched into a tirade about prejudice, racism, and not being recognised because she had brown skin.

Despite her accent, she exhibited every sign of a good education, with flawless grammar and a conviction in her delivery that persisted until she disembarked. It seemed she was making a case—perhaps a grievance or an injustice still bothering her.

Upon reflection, I suspected she might have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice influenced by prejudice, racism, workplace harassment, maybe denied promotion—situations often encountered in academia—and this appeared to have affected her mental health, reflected in her behaviour on the bus.

May she find peace

At the very least, she probably needs therapy. I was quite concerned about her, and I’m somewhat relieved that no one tried to silence her. As disturbing as it was, we simply let her vent her spleen, though there was more to it than met the eye. I sincerely hope she receives the help she needs.

For a lady who, by her bearing, could be of a certain age above the golden jubilee, there’s little to distinguish eccentricity from being sectioned. On that spectrum, she seems closer to the latter. I truly hope she finds peace.

Meanwhile, no face masks seen, but some of us are still taking Coronavirus booster jabs.

Reeva Steenkamp: Sorry, still no justice for your murder

The rebuke and the circus

The greatest rebuke one can ever receive is one given to you by your professional peers when they question the decisions you have made and advise you to review your original conclusions.

Nowhere is this more obvious than to have the decisions of a judge firstly reversed on appeal, but to have the same case sent back to the same judge for reflection, review, and reconsideration.

The popular circus of Oscar Pistorius and the bit-player wielding the gavel in the person of Judge Thokozile Masipa returned to the glare of global media again today.

When the circus first came to town, it was incredulous that having had an introduction to Latin on the spectrum of offence resulting in the death of a victim and we need not go over that, Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and a few minor offences resulting in a five-year jail term and a probationary period of three years for the other offences.

The appeal for justice

Oscar Pistorius did not languish in jail, he was out in about a year and fighting to stay free. Meanwhile, one can only commend the tenacity of the National Prosecution Agency that would not give up on the case, but appeal the judgment to a higher court.

When the court returned a judgement on appeal, it suggested Judge Masipa erred in her reading of the issue and concluded, Oscar Pistorius could not have been oblivious of the consequences of his actions, therefore, it could not have been culpable homicide, but murder. Oscar Pistorius’ appeal to the constitutional court failed and he returned to the court of Judge Masipa for sentencing. [Independent][CriminalLawZA]

Now, Oscar Pistorius has been sent to jail for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp for six years, just a year more than what he originally got for culpable homicide and nine years short of the recommended prison term for murder.

Mercifully unjust

It is clear that Judge Masipa has in many ways been sympathetic to Oscar Pistorius, in both the first case and this new sentencing, serving the needs for justice in her conception for Oscar Pistorius and seriously at the expense of the victim Reeva Steenkamp who died a horrific violent death at the hands of her boyfriend.

Justice, in order to retain its humanity, must be tempered with mercy, however, where the victim has no voice to state their case or grievance, it behoves the judge to give the greatest consideration to the voiceless, especially where the perpetrator has hired the best legal guns to shoot down the prosecution's case to smithereens.

For whatever Oscar Pistorius might have lost in career, in earnings, in freedom and much else, it cannot come close to having deprived a young woman with all to live for of her life in what was essentially an evil domestic violence situation. I have no cause to believe Oscar Pistorius’ explanation of the events of that fateful Valentine’s Day of 2013, everything he did was reckless in the extreme to be completely unforgivable.

We mourn still

However, for whatever reason yet unfathomable, he finds favour, grace, mercy and compassion at the actions of Judge Masipa, it feels like Reeva Steenkamp has become a side issue when the whole reason why we have had this odious circus was because Reeva Steenkamp was mercilessly slaughtered.

For the kind of justice that Oscar Pistorius has received, we might well say Reeva Steenkamp has now for a third time suffered an injustice, first at the hands of her boyfriend and twice at the hands of Justice Masipa.

We in our hearts mourn Reeva Steenkamp knowing she has been wronged again, just as many other women in South Africa and beyond have suffered fatalities in a domestic setting and are literally invisible as their murderers traipse off into the sunset getting away with murder.

Reeva Steenkamp – Rest in peace, it seems we would never get the justice you deserve and that is a deeply sad shame.

Nigeria: Mrs Joy Ifije, the widow, visits Governor Oshiomhole

As things turn

On Saturday, I wrote, Nigeria: How Humanity Lost Oshiomhole and Gained a Widow and waited to see how things would pan out. The concerns in that blog remain valid much as the governor has now addressed the particular; the general is in need of action too.

Probably, the consensus is that Adams Oshiomhole, the Edo State governor, has dramatically redeemed himself after the video of the excoriation of the widow on Benin-City streets where he told her to, “Go and die!”

The widow, Mrs Joy Ifije was sought out by the governor, and after extraneous attempts to justify his intemperate expression, employed her as an activist for the cause of chasing street hawkers off the roads, presented he with a large brown parcel of cash totally NGN 2 million ($12,620) and a scholarship for her son.

The governor’s advice was that she put it first in the bank and eventually use it to setup shop to trade on legal trading premises – it would appear all’s well, ends well.

The viral video did it

However, if we must review this situation properly, the event where the Mrs Joy Ifije was dehumanised was recorded over a fortnight ago, but the video when viral last week, the consequences of which must have forced the governor to address a serious public relations gaffe.

The governor himself said his daughters had asked him to attend to the issue too, it had become too much of an embarrassment as some even found to make political capital out of her misery to doubly embarrass the governor.

Walk a mile in her shoes

Much as one cannot suggest that beyond the direct apology to Mrs Joy Ifije, the compensation she got was state money, some Utopian idealists would have preferred she spurn the governor and reject his gift.

My answer to them was that they walk a mile in Mrs Joy Ifije’s shoes and it is very probable that from their gilded cages of privilege and opportunity they would never have understood to any degree the situation of her widowhood. That, along with the pressures to meet the needs of her immediate family and other societal demands that placed her in the situation she found herself in the first encounter with the governor.

Sadly, some were keen to limit the outpouring of goodwill and sympathy that followed the publication of that video to make the point of ridiculing the governor whilst for a second time making an example of Mrs Joy Ifije.

For the greater social good

There is the particular of what happened between the governor and the widow and there is the general of what the social consequences of driving street hawkers off the roads without providing safe, adequate, affordable or subsidised trading places for their wares.

Street hawking is the source of many livelihoods, people resort to this because they cannot access the formal market areas for many reasons too many to mention. It is unlikely that any would resort to the streets if they had the means to rent market stall spaces and fill those stores with wares and goods to ensure the business thrives beyond breaking even to profitability.

That should become the bigger welfarist goal of the governor.

A wonderful change has come for her

Nevertheless, one thing must not be lost on us, the fact that if that video did not go viral, it is unlikely Mrs Joy Ifije’s circumstances would have been altered.

Certain eagle-eyed observers noted that Mrs Joy Ifije did not seem to have changed her clothes from her first encounter; one cannot read too much into that as much as it probably tells a deeper story of her situation.

We can only hope that what she got along with other generous contributions will put her on the right path to sufficiency and success. Along with the two children who accompanied her, I wish her the very best and that her sorrows and hardships become things of a long distant memory.

Much as Adams Oshiomhole appears to have acquitted himself well in being responsive and understanding of his unfortunate folly, it is yet to be seen if whether on or off record, after he became governor he was ever a nicer man than what obtain in the “Go and die!” video – time will tell.

Nigeria: How Humanity Lost Oshiomhole and Gained a Widow

The global theatre of local events

The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, a one-time trader unionist took the opportunity to visit the streets of his entire to chase away street traders as per the law of the land. [Wikipedia]

One encounter became the theatre of a video recording where a widow in flailing and very pitiable supplication appealed to the humanity and consideration of the governor, but he ignored her. [Sahara Reporters - YouTube]

Just so cruel

To compound her humiliation and denigration with the knowledge of her somewhat dire or desperate circumstances, the governor in full strut of princely omnipotence flippantly told her to, “Go and die”, as her wares were grabbed by the egregious thuggery of the law enforcement agents that accompanied the governor.

We can all appreciate that the Edo State Government wants to rid the streets of hawkers, and they have identified that they are an accident risk, but in a case of giving the dog a bad name to justify harming it; stret hawkers have been maligned as thieves, vermin and obstructions to the free flow of traffic. [Edo State Government]

What the government has not identified in their assailing on the underprivileged who subsist on chance encounter of custom for their livelihood is alternative, affordable, safe and subsidised hawking areas or premises they can move these people into, if they really want to address a menace. [Edo State Government]

Cart before the horse

In 2009, these street traders were given a two-day ultimatum to clear off the streets as if there would be no social consequence for legitimising destitution in the name of beautifying and cleaning up the main city centres.

One can posit that the real menace of theft, obstruction and crime will increase if people do not have the means to earn a livelihood in the absence of jobs, have affordable places to trade, have the absence of welfare support or have no new or sponsored means of alternative engagement of their skills and idle labour.

It beggars belief that a man who cut his teeth on labour and trade unionist activity will now be the nemesis of the underprivileged, and that is a great shame.

The act of street trading is a crime that should be stopped. According to section 53(1c) of the State Environment Waste Management Board regulation of 2006, any individual who sets up a stall or a trading spot in an unauthorized area has committed an offence which is punishable in the court of law and for those street traders who specialize in the sales of audio and visual compact discs, who blare their music as a way of advertising their goods, section 51(1) states that no equipment or facility capable of producing noise above 85 decibels should be used by any individual for more than four hours a day, this makes them also liable to the law. [Edo State Government]

Breaking laws through law enforcement

Now, if street trading has been criminalised and such persons have been identified as committing an offence, the law requires that the offender be punished in a court of law.

It is understood that the Governor as the chief law officer of the state should be seen to uphold the law, but nothing in that video demonstrates that he was doing anything of the sort.

The widow had her goods confiscated and the Governor could be heard saying she should not be taken away; by inference the widow was not going to be charged to court.

Now, as the Executive Governor, it is possible that the governor had arrogated to himself the powers of a court and in that encounter constituted a kangaroo court to be the judge and the jury of the woman. Thereby exercising the power to proscribe, to excoriate and to punish, but that would add the licence of egregious impunity to the immunity from prosecution the governor already enjoys as a constitutional right when in office.

One engagement did suggest in our discussion on Twitter that the widow was deploying the fallacy of argumentum ad misericordiam, the appeal to pity, but if this issue did end up in court, the mitigation pleas to the judge will deploy this fallacy to temper justice with mercy.

Regret is not apology

We should be human beings first before we find the weak to sacrifice on the altar of proving potency and ability to rule with an iron fist.

Adams Oshiomhole, by design and for the opportunity went on a public law enforcement raid of the street traders to make an example of someone, but providence and circumstance of the person of a widow, her pleadings, his intemperance, the recording and the viral reach of the event as he stood as unconstitutional judge seems to have backfired.

He has expressed regret at his choice of words, but that does not constitute an apology to the woman he treated with the most reprehensible disdain. Even criminals, but in this case, until charged, she was still a suspect, have rights and the least that can be expected of a person in authority like the governor is to treat any Nigerian citizen, no matter how lowly with respect, dignity and courtesy – that is just basic humanity. [DailyPost]

How revolutions are triggered

Many viewers of that video were touched by the plight of the widow and were utterly repulsed by the lack of comportment of the governor that she might well be helped by funds being raised for her cause – there is no saying that she might become a figurehead against the egregious abuse of power and privilege of the Nigerian ruling class. [Nigerian Tribune]

The Arab Spring was set off by the mistreatment of Mohammed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, the list of injustices in Nigeria is piling up, and no one can tell which of the many documented flagrant abuses would become the catalyst for a national insurrection that could usher in a Bastille moment in Nigeria. [Wikipedia] [Wikipedia]

Consider the human consequences of making bad laws

Yes, the law must be upheld, but when it affects people, enacting laws and enforcing them without consideration for the social consequences of the law is at first atrocious and then heartlessly lacking in vision, foresight, compassion or humanity.

On the balance of what appeals to our humanity as opposed to the atmospherics of environmental comfort and conduciveness, I am with the widow for an apology, adequate redress, prompt restitution and effective rehabilitation. Then for a broader plan to help alleviate the sufferings of street hawkers by offering them affordable, safe and accessible places to ply their trade.

Opinion: Deadening the blows of bigotry with insightful quotes

Introduction

Yesterday morning, I read a quote on Kevin Maxwell’s blog that may not fit on a placard but will definitely serve well in a heated discussion where participants are open to some persuasion.

A bit about Kevin Maxwell; he ticks many boxes that define the struggles that minorities face in being treated with respect, with dignity, if need be, some sensitivity and where the environment might tend to hostility, the force of the law and the reorientation of the mind and mind-set should encourage mainstream acceptance.

Kevin Maxwell was a police officer who just happens to be mixed-race of white English & black Caribbean descent and gay. The last two elements that I introduced somewhat flippantly should be insignificant in a multicultural open society as race or sexuality should never define a person, their personality, their character, their conduct, their acceptance, their status or their career especially in the service of their country. [About Kevin Maxwell]

Challenging discrimination

The subtle use of the phrase, “the force of the law” in a previous paragraph has meant that Kevin can challenge issues of discrimination, both racial and homophobic that he experienced at work, from the media and from certain sections of the public. Kevin Maxwell won his case against Scotland Yard for discrimination, bruising that the battle for justice was. [BBC – February 2012] [The Independent – June 2013]

Kevin documents his experience in Broken: The Not So Secret Policeman with the subtext, “One Man’s Fight for Justice.” [Kevin Maxwell] [Youtube]

His is a fight against many fronts of the stigma of mental illness; depression brought on by the discrimination he suffered and standing as a man challenging unfortunately entrenched attitudes of “cover-up and containment” deployed by institutions that would rather discredit and intimidate than face up to complaints raised amongst their ranks. [The Independent – June 2013]

O God!

It is against this background that I have followed Kevin Maxwell’s story, and I found the quote he published yesterday in the blog – Godly Gay Fact.

As pertains to the quote, I always research the source and strive to attribute because that is what must be done, and so I retweeted, "Homosexuality is god's way of ensuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children." —Sam Austin

"Homosexuality is god's way of ensuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children." —Sam Austin // #LGBT #Quote
— Randall Reynolds (@randallr01) March 17, 2012

To my mind, this quote has a disarming quality to be used in a discussion, in an argument or on a protest placard against those whose implacable religious view is that all we, as human beings must do is reproduce and propagate.

Deadening the blows of bigotry

I am all for reproducing and propagating everything that is good in the broadest sense of that goal which accommodates and appreciates diversity, but I will not stand for reproducing and propagating difference, discrimination, bigotry, hatred, denigration or any act or practice, in word or in deed that diminishes our common and shared humanity.

Where we find people to engage, the respect for, and the interaction of allowing participants to speak and to listen in turn, achieves much, and we make much progress.

We deaden the bigoted stances; which reminds me of a blog I wrote on the second Sunday of November as today, eight years ago, titled Does gay marriage affect your marriage? That question was as disarming and it was effective; it stopped their mouths as they tackled the absurdity of their positions.

Every identity harbours diversity

The quote that inspired this blog was seemingly directed at a particular audience, but it triggered off a somewhat negative response from an unexpected angle; someone who took umbrage at the juxtaposition of homosexuality and religion because of their being probably an agnostic, an atheist, an evolutionist, a scientist or whatever else might define or not define them.

Much as we all have our persuasions, the struggle for rights, a sense of identity and justice when in throes of societal ambivalence of acceptance, indifference or rejection requires that all ears get a sounding, an opinion that might gather them to a centre of agreement.

Homosexuals are people with a history, culture, traditions, beliefs, prejudices, spirituality or the lack of the same, struggles and situations, just as anyone else anywhere else in the world, it should not define that person, but to some that is the only thing that stands out when mentioned.

Accommodating interesting opinions

We should however be careful when in the pursuit of the broadest range of rights to people who yet suffer issues of openness, shame, discrimination, oppression and persecution that what we reject and resent so strongly in the campaigns for acceptance and equality does not antagonise when the better part of valour is to inform.

Then again, the debate is open, robust and lively, through easy quotes crystallising thoughts or hard-won battles that Kevin Maxwell has fought.

Shalom! Have a nice Sunday.

Nigeria: No Country for Vulnerable Children

The regularity is inuring

Pastor accused of raping 12-year-old girl, I have read too many headlines like this in Nigerian newspapers that I have no more bothered to read the story, as if it is so commonplace, I am almost dangerously inured to it.

Something about this story was striking, in fact, too many things in this story meant a good 12 hours after reading it, I had this nagging feeling that I had to comment on the issue.

A vulnerable young girl had been brought over from the village, vulnerable in the sense that she was only two weeks in the city, she could speak neither the local language nor English and she was staying with her aunt besides the fact that she was just 12.

That a 12-year old could not speak a word of English in Nigeria in 2012 is the subject of another day, but it calls for serious discussion.

Groomed and raped

This was an Igbo girl in Yorubaland and besides her aunt, there was this neighbour, a Pastor who apparently is Yoruba who could also speak Igbo and so the conversation started where the Pastor began grooming the girl, lured her into the detached communal toilet, covered her mouth and raped her; by first sodomising her and then taking away her virginity.

Her aunt almost caught them in the act and upon inquiring of the girl, she learnt of what had happened and apparently immediately rushed the girl to hospital where she was examined and it was found that she had bruises to both her anal and virginal regions with sperm residue found in the vagina.

A victim to exculpate the criminal

The Pastor had however fled and in the process commenced an unconscionable damage limitation exercise that included stigmatising a vulnerable 6-year old girl who was labelled a witch by his church members; she was brutalised and paraded in public having been accused of bewitching the Pastor leading to his helplessly falling prey to being a rapist. This is no sarcasm; this is what the people really did believe.

This poor 6-year old girl was then left under the exorcist ministry of this rotten paedophile to be delivered of her witchcraft powers – the tale reads like a Steven King horror novel, only that there are real victims involved.

Interminable days

Meanwhile, it took two days after the rape of that child for her aunt to report the crime to the police and it took another two days for the Pastor to be apprehended. A couple of days later, the Pastor was released without charge into the community as if absolved because the courts were not in session to charge the man with any offence.

In fact, the charges were dropped by the police as they are wont to in cases like this, the most the perpetrator suffers is the demand that he defrays the hospital costs of the victim and the rotten paedophile is granted bail to return to the scene of the crime amongst other vulnerable persons where he can intimidate the witnesses and pervert the course of justice.

Now, the police are taking the heat for their lackadaisical attitude to this heinous paedophile criminality that they have suggested when the courts are back in session the paedophile pastor will be charged.

The dread of Syncretism

The spokesperson for the state police command is Ngozi Braide, a lady and I cannot say if she is a mother too, who was filled with as much indignation and rage as to acknowledge that the girl was raped and concluded with - “The pastor is in charge of a white garment church in the area. He will be charged with sodomy. He was released on bail because courts are not sitting but once courts resume, he will be charged.” Really? Just sodomy?

Herein is the big problem, African-initiated white garment churches have a brand of Syncretism that melds elements of animist and Shamanist belief systems with Christianity and it derives most of its doctrinal teachings from the Pentateuch, reciting the Psalms with the fieriness of people under altered states of consciousness, given to mass hysteria whilst believing in demonic possession, witchcraft and voodoo relieving people of their free moral agency.

The unpalatable sway the leaders of these sects hold over the community literally gives them criminal impunity and even in the face of compelling evidence, they are able to operate outside the ambit of the law for the fact that people fear them and whatever powers they might abuse to extricate themselves from criminal sanction.

We are embarrassed

The society at large is scandalised and embarrassed by incidents of paedophile criminality that they will rather sweep the matter under the carpet than agitate to have it prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The victims however receive no psychological help beyond medical examination to prove that the child has been violated and medical establishments do not take on the social responsibility burden of addressing the long term consequences of the sexual violation of minorities, we generally assume time eventually heals the pain and wipes out the memories of such events from the mind of the child.

Witchcraft stigmatisation

The poor child who was stigmatised as a witch might probably have had learning difficulties which the illiterate and ignorant may not understand, these helpless children especially if orphaned are ready brutalisation fodder for unscrupulously rotten religious leaders to mesmerise their flock into believing incredibly atrocious tales.

Injustice is compounded by evil under the guise of religion leaving child victims in their wake as if this is no country for children.

A grave injustice lingers

We need to re-school ourselves and begin to give the vulnerable a voice, the cause for justice for the victim must be paramount and above all allegiances no matter how deep – when a child is raped or stigmatised, it must become a compelling priority to see to it that all perpetrators, conspirators and accessories to that criminality are corralled and charged accordingly to ensure no other children suffer at the hands of these purveyors of reprehensible evil.

We can no more pretend that child sexual abuse does not occur amongst us and we should not be embarrassed to expose all those who tolerate it amongst us.

At the same time, we should be discerning of the fact that when a child is stigmatised as a witch, it is usually a distraction from other unspeakable evils and a smokescreen for contemptible deeds.

No child should ever be sacrificed on the altar of any belief system, no good can come out of brutalising the child either to save it or the community within which it lives, our dread for the supernatural must stop long before a hand is lifted against the child and reason prevail always.

It is time for children to feel safer in Nigeria.

Give Your Voice To Rights That Don't Matter To You In 2013

Harmony from afar

The old song goes, “I’ll like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony …” We all know that the world is singing many songs and mostly never the same words, or the same tempo and harmony is so distant that we hold hands and sway our heads into a dreamland of Utopia hoping it signifies peace and harmony.

To sing we need a voice and to that voice we need the words, lyrics that represent our humanity, our struggles, our victories, our losses, our pains, the quest for justice, the call for war, the identities we have or the differences we want to project – there is much for song and much to do.

A world riven

The voice is important, it is critical to producing the sound we need all to hear to bring people to listen so that they can reason and then hopefully they can agree.

We live in an unequal world riven with great injustices, wars, disease, poverty, dispute and much else with people populating the broadest spectrum of extremes between palatial comfort and atrocious discomfort – we cannot stand still and watch the world go by.

Lend your voice

I challenge you to lend your voices this year to that which is just, that which is fair, that which lifts and confers rights on the least amongst us and the most different from us.

We should extricate ourselves from rules, creeds, customs, beliefs, traditions and cultures that bind us to age-old systems that persecute and prosecute others needlessly and become the Good Samaritan of humanity setting people free to be the best they can be because of the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity we all belong to.

Stand!

Let colour, tribe, language, region become insignificant and enter the global village of what allows us to laugh together rather than cry in anguish, what makes us shout in unison than shoot at each other and what lets us embrace those we once saw as lepers rather than ostracise them.

There is much to stand up and be counted for in the quest for human rights and the protection of the same, the campaigning against abuse; the abuse of children, of women, of the vulnerable and of the powerless, rolling back the cloudy pall of sententiousness for the fresh air of acceptance and the fight against institutionalised corruption, racism, rape, victimisation and oppression.

Your voice, the seed

This is not a call to forsake your values but to use your values better to give value to others that you might once have been tempted if only in the slightest to deem worthless.

The voice amongst our friends, in our communities, in our societies, in our countries and well beyond that into the world is what will make the difference to both your lives and those of others around you.

Appeal to reason and reasonableness, persuade but do not dismiss, disagree but refuse to be disagreeable, you are allowed to be irreverent without being disrespectful – call out the hypocrites and expose falsehood – stand with the honest, just and true always because they will always matter.

Know yourself, know others

There is no shelter in excuses and using moral equivalences to justify your position stop you having the essentially critical self-examination and self-scrutiny you need to adapt and change for the better.

There is a voice in you that needs to be heard, in your experiences, your intellect, your unique thinking unclouded by indoctrination, and the better world you want to see – Speak up, stand out, make waves – for when your voice is heard for the least amongst you, you protect both yourselves and others from future oppression that could be overwhelming and unassailable if in your silence you lost those who would have done everything to stand with you and for you.

Make it a year where you fight for rights that mean nothing to you but mean the most to those whose lives and the pursuit of happiness depend on it.

Happy New Year!

Nigeria: More on the Paralympians' Allowances Story

It was a good news story

Yesterday, I wrote a blog based on a news story published in the Nigerian Tribune with regards to the payment of allowances to our Nigerian Paralympic contingent to the London Paralympic 2012 Games.

It was titled Nigeria: Do Right By Our Paralympians Before Sundown and I challenged the senior sports administrators of Nigeria to address the issue with immediate effect.

A confrontation

By the evening whilst I was travelling in and out of mobile telephony areas on the London Underground trains I got involved in a direct confrontation on Twitter with @MrFixNigeria, the sometimes feisty and sometimes level-headed  Special Assistant  (Advocacy) to the Minister of Sports.

Now, a slightly truculent @MrFixNigeria was of the opinion that I was peddling an unverified fictitious report on the basis of him having confirmed from the Chef de Mission had said that the athletes where paid accordingly.

Accordingly is sophistry

One then asked what accordingly really meant and how accordingly could have somehow given rise to a fictitious report in a national newspaper about a protest, the payment in dollars and the difference in payments made to the Paralympians compared to the Olympians only weeks before.

The reporter who filed the story signed off as being in London, it would be rather atrocious if not mendacious for a newspaper to unnecessarily forment a crisis and create a controversy on the payment of allowances just to embarrass the sports bureaucracy – on balance, every Nigerian contingent to an international event has had to protest about allowances and I know that when I attended the Nigeria v Bulgaria match at the France 1998 World Cup in Paris, there was a threat of a walkout just because of allowances too.

A Google search for Nigerian Team Allowances presents pages of references indicating the story does have some provenance and elements of truth.

Ask the athletes, not the chiefs

The Nigerian Tribune in my view engaged in a spot of investigative journalism that does not paint of the officials in any good light and the least they should do for matters of both integrity and reputation is to speak directly to the athletes about their concerns and experiences rather than insulate themselves from the core issues that should inform any policy for change and reform they might consider to prevent sporting disasters in the future.

I hold this view more strongly because in conducting his London 2012 Olympic Review as the Olympics were closing a few weeks ago, it appeared the Sport Minister had laid out a whole range of interesting reforms without input borne of debriefing the athletes or their coaches – the danger is such a review will not by any stretch of the imagination address the fundamental issues athletes and coaches face in preparing for international competitions.

The arms-length approach of hierarchical reporting when matters go wrong in the lower cadres will only present to officialdom a false sense of order and efficiency with the athletes being frustrated by their lack of access to the people who really can ensure that the chain of command that guarantees their welfare is clued-in on what it will take for an athlete to perform at their best without distractions.

Get a shop floor view, first-hand

My advice to the Sports Minister and his Special Assistant is to go to the shop floor and get their hands dirty, find out how each sport works from the view of those who really have to sweat it out to bring back the laurels.

This should be first to squelch every rumour of impropriety or ascertain how and why story like the one I wrote about became a topic of discussion either as the truth of the situation or otherwise.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Paralympic contingent has added another gold medal to their Powerlifting tally bring the medal haul to 5 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze – it is the sports officials that now have to make themselves worthy of the task they have of ensuring our heroes are not distracted by incompetence and other shenanigans.

Nigeria: Do Right By Our Paralympians Before Sundown

Hail our heroes

As at this morning the Nigerian contingent to the London 2012 Paralympic Games has won 10 medals in the Powerlifting sport with 4 Golds, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze shared amongst 4 gentlemen and 6 ladies.

This means in the best attended and arguably the best representative Paralympic Games ever, we have gloriously heard the strains of the Nigerian national anthem played out to the whole world four times and had Nigerians step up to take other laurels six times.

Considering what a debacle the Nigerian outing to the Olympic Games was earlier in August, these paralympians have singlehandedly with guts, ability, spirit, dedication, resolve and amazing patriotism put Nigeria on the Paralympic map at the 14^th position and leading the Powerlifting medal table comfortably.

Sports bureaucracy failing us again

It should not have been beyond the capability of the redolently incompetent sports bureaucracy to have learnt some quick lessons from London 2012 to have been better prepared to do right by the Nigerian Paralympic contingent to ensure that they are being dealt with fairly, justly, honourably, respectfully and with consideration on all matters with regards their welfare and all they need to represent Nigeria without being subject to unnecessary pressures and angst.

I woke up this morning to read a manifest injustice meted out on our patriots by some faceless and unconscionable officials who should by all rights be out of a job before the sun goes down if there is any justice in this world and if the Sport Minister and his gilded entourage along with the much vaunted tough-talking will act to clean up the unforgivable atrocities that have bedevilled Nigerian sports administration for too long.

Too many wrongs unforgiveable

First is the matter of the late payment of allowances, we have always been tardy with payments that are due across the board in all walks of life in Nigeria but it is no excuse to have high-profile representatives of Nigeria suffer such indignities when they are supposed to be concentrating in beating the world and bringing glory to Nigeria – that this singular view was lost on the sports officials is regrettable to say the least.

Secondly, the athletes are in the United Kingdom where the British Pound is legal tender, there is no reason why the athletes should have been paid allowances in dollars and then have to run the gauntlet of being creamed off by others waiting in the shadows to exchange the currency to pounds.

The sports officials should have converted the allowances to pounds before paying the allowances; it was just an unnecessary burden to place on the athletes who in terms might have been desperately in need of the allowances that some rotten official thought to exploit their vulnerability.

Short-changed by £1,329

Thirdly is the matter of equality in representation. It is instructive to see Paralympians bring recognition and glory to Nigeria that seemingly and apparently more able Olympians failed to do. There is no reason why any sports representatives of Nigeria should be treated differently, unequally and with contempt.

Apparently, the luckless Olympians were paid £2,400 and now the Paralympics contingent was paid $1,700 (£1,071 @ today’s exchange rate from Google) suggesting they have been dealt an inequality blow and short-changed by £1,329. It is unbelievable that anyone in charge of sports administration will sanction this atrocity and expect to get away with impunity.

Equality is the biggest message

If for any reason not enough money was allocated for the allowances of the Paralympic contingent, then I expect that all is done to make up that shortfall by every means possible. The success of the Paralympic contingent should be a ringing endorsement of challenged people to come out and be the best they can be in any endeavour they choose to embark on.

It should be the impetus for equality legislation that no matter how impaired physically or mentally you might be in Nigeria, you will not be discriminated against, you will be accorded due courtesies, respect and access to all opportunities that are available to Nigerians and those who contemn, disparage, denigrate or belittle you will face the law with punitive compensations made out to those affected.

Minister, step up

This, I believe will be the first test of the Sport Minister Bolaji Abdullahi’s resolve to change the face of sport in Nigeria or continue to allow impunity and incompetence to reign in our sports bureaucracy.

To go into speculation as to why one has had to write this piece will be too unreadable for the disgust that it will raise, the only remedy to this matter is to do right by our Paralympic contingent – Pay them their allowances, pay them £2,400, pay them in British pounds, pay them now and make a public shame of all those involved in this disgraceful debacle.

The time to remedy this situation is now, along with compensation for the unnecessary hardship and exasperation caused our heroic athletes – these allowance protests at every sports meeting must stop forthwith – Enough is enough! 

Opinion: Miracle Cures and Against Religious Abuse of the Vilest Kind

Where I stand

There are some things are really get me seriously agitated and they pertain to rights and abuse. In the body of work I have produced over almost 9 years, I think these particularly stand out - human rights, injustice, child rights, women’s rights, sexuality rights, child sexual abuse, sexual violence, cultural and religious abuse.

There is no doubt that I also cover very controversial issues; it is just my nature to tackle those as passionately and objectively as I can.

Too vile for words

This morning I found myself on a Twitter soapbox dealing with religious abuse of the vilest kind. A church had concocted a cocktail of fruit juice and olive oil then marketed it as a cure for cancer or HIV; the prayer component of the product making up about 50% of the price.

People with chronic and terminal illnesses are desperately in need of succour and hope; they are vulnerable to the machinations of those who portend to offer palliation or cures for their ailments.

Hope like greed is easily exploited and nowhere is that best manipulated than in churches where the leaders with ethereal provenance and esoteric rituals that could border on the macabre but pass off as spiritual hold sway.

Your church as a ghetto

These churches serve as both communities and places of worship but the community aspect almost turns the congregants into members of a ghetto that project practices very different from the wider communities in which they exist. Like Nigerians in the United Kingdom doing only Nigerian things.

People need to feel comfortable wherever they go but to be exploited in this way is unforgivable.

There should be a number of inalienable facts that people should have when attending these churches which on closer scrutiny are more like sepulchres of despair engaged in commercial activity for the aggrandisement of the church leaders.

Rather than minister to their flock, their flock ministers to their every greedy need for ostentation and hedonism which they suggest are the fruits of service to God – they are not shepherds but wolves conducting assemblies with grandiloquent names that will be redolent of B-movie thrillers.

Miracles are free

Now, miracles do exist, but never for a fee, the best example of a miracle was when Jesus raised Lazarus who was 4-days dead petrifying and decomposing in a tomb for free. Neither did he charge for converting water into wine at the wedding feast where one would have expected at best a donation. It is implausible that those ministering in the name of Jesus will then demand some payment directly, by gimmickry or through the sale of potions to offer healing to those still alive but with terminal illnesses. Miracles are free, every time and always.

People should be very lucid about the function of the church and the function of medicine. They are not mutually exclusive. Using medicine is not a sign of the lack of faith; in fact faith and medicine can make the medicine more efficacious.

My testimony is that I had cancer and went on chemotherapy, according to the oncologist and nurses that came daily to dress the cancer lesions, it took up to six months for lesions as mine to dry up and disappear, but in my case, the lesions were all gone in 8 weeks. The doctors considered my response to medication and the result miraculous.

The church and healing

The church should not replace your hospital neither should your pastor replace your doctor. They have their roles. If your pastor does say to you, you are healed; you have the right to a second opinion, a medical opinion to confirm you are healed.

In all cases where Jesus healed lepers, He told them to go and show themselves to the priests, this, I believe was to fulfil all righteousness as they’ll say in religious parlance – or commonly, to ensure all boxes were ticked to allow their re-admittance into society.

Ultimately, if you are paying for any treatment and it is not to a professionally accredited medical practitioner, to a hospital or to a pharmacy for medicine, you have been swindled by a confidence trickster impostor masquerading as a pastor when they are in fact no better than bush witchdoctors.

Your pastor is not your doctor

Your pastor should have nothing against the use of doctors, hospitals or medicine, not everyone exercises feats of faith that at an instant will manifest as lightning bolt miraculous cures. Any assurance of healing should include the advice to have the medically competent confirm the change in physiology indicating healing – it is NOT a sin to do so.

As I have written many times before, never ever discontinue your medication without first consulting your doctor and only on the advice of the doctor and no other. If the pastor did not prescribe your medication the pastor does not have the authority or capacity tell you to discontinue your medicine – do not had your pills over to be destroyed as if you are attending a magician’s show – medications should be properly disposed of by pharmacies or given back to hospitals to be used by those less fortunate than yourself.

Beware!

Just be wary of those who take advantage of you in the religious space, demanding always but never giving, selling goods and snake oil remedies not independently validated by the authorities and whose rituals defy explanation whilst not informing of other reasonable choices or options you should have in this amazing vibrant world we live in today.

Source

Church slammed for selling blackcurrant cordial and olive oil drink as a 'miracle cure' for cancer and HIV : Mail Online