Lekki! The #EndSARS innocent will be avenged

Cursed are the vagabonds in power

The voice of their blood cries from the ground,
It will not be stilled by the fear of the gun,
They took the lights for the cover of the darkness,
Then shot into the crowd that peacefully protested.

What they hoped will not be witnessed,
Was lit by the moon and stars above,
For nature in the night or day is never blind,
And justice shall come like a raging storm.

The day will not be lost to our remembrance,
Upon the Cains that ordered this carnage,
Shall fall the gnashing of teeth and sorrow,
For which no pity will come to give succour.

We can see their hands in their gilded palaces,
Wet and dripping with the blood of the innocent,
Speaking from both sides of their mouths,
Their fakes smiles and platitudes are rooted in evil.

Maggots shall begin consuming them ere their demise,
Generations after shall carry the lament of gore,
For the innocent shall be fully avenged,
The martyred of Lekki have not gone in vain.

Editorial: They got away with murder and menace

Free from grief

As Casey Anthony gains her freedom from prison after being acquitted of all charges related to the death of her daughter, we must collectively wonder about what has become of our world and sense of justice.

Cayley Anthony, the 2-year old daughter whose death remains a mystery apart from the fact that it was a homicide and the circumstances around her death looking unproven but with all circumstantial evidence and attitudes pointing to a most culpable mother has apparently died in vain no one to answer for whatever happened to her.

Going over the gruesome detail will not serve to benefit anyone but we all run the risk of the influence of detective and forensic dramas we watch on television where we almost believe that every commission of crime will be fully documented with witness, video-tape and Colombo, Monk, Perry Mason & Miss Marple on the case piecing together all the clues to present the perfect solution.

Reason may not be reasonable

The greater opprobrium has been heaped on the jury from which we have heard certain say that the evidence was not conclusive enough to prove that she murdered the child and on examination of that thinking it appears they had confused the reason to doubt with reasonable doubt.

As one lawyer argued, one might have a reason but a reason might not necessarily be reasonable, most of the evidence presented in murder cases will in terms be circumstantial and the rest will be left to probabilities.

If for 31 days the mother of the child did not report her missing child knowing the child was dead for whatever reason either by accident or the commission of a crime as a homicide, she must be guilty of something and definitely cannot be innocent just because the total recall of essential evidence is absent for analysis.

Casey Anthony can no more be tried for the whatever lead to the death of her daughter and for those who have been cajoled into a false reality, they have become partakers with the blood of innocent Cayley Anthony on their hands too – the cause for justice has been served, as the mother gets to live her life free of the encumbrance of a child she never grieved, if there is a conscience in America, God help us all.

A useful minister

Reading this piece of news has left me utterly crestfallen about Nigeria and the hopes of good governance in the hands of Goodluck Jonathan – it is redeemable if he has the cajones to face up to this situation and address it forthwith.

The newly sworn-in Minister of Transport was the erstwhile minister of the same department before the elections and so he got reinstated to his post.

During his first tenure, he audited the activities of departments in his ministry that included the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the then head of that department was found to have been involved in fraudulent activities and was removed from his post and charged.

His replacement apparently has close links with militants that have now been subsumed into civil society through the amnesty program but it appears they still retain elements of thuggery, brigandage and menace that they need to project to get their way.

Lost to brigands

The minister reinstated to his post obviously has the track record of rooting out corruption and will in the same vein trammel the activity of thugs who have commandeered the revenues of NIMASA for their ends with impunity.

With the minister intimidated and the militants seemingly having access to the unelected and unaccountable influence of the First Lady, the minister has been redeployed to a ministry outside his core competence whilst NIMASA appears to have been given as part of an extended amnesty package for the ex-millitants but unreconstructed criminals to run riot, that is very sad.

Remedy this situation, immediately

Nigeria deserves better and the idea that criminality, militancy, brigandage and piracy can be rewarded and the government be held to hostage as these atrocious beings run amok awash with cash that should go in the coffers of the Treasury is just to appalling to contemplate.

That fact that they can first intimidate and then wield such influence in the corridors of power can make one almost cry Nigeria has been thrown to the dogs. This situation needs immediate remedy, call their bluff and lock them up if they flout the terms of their amnesty – this is an untenable situation, it must not last another day, at best.

Acknowledgements

The BBC News website reports that Casey Anthony freed after toddler murder acquittal and the 234Next News website reports that Minister loses post in clash with former militant, a cause for serious concern.

The US does not torture

New rules to misrule

I would not know, but I would leave this to the great legal minds and dons that visit my blog, suppose that is a branch of legal jurisprudence that is called military law.

This is because outlawed outpost of Guantanamo Bay has presented a Military Commissions manual to be used for trying detainees in Camp Delta, the contents of which appear to satisfy elements of civil law and in others indicate a departure from standard and accepted legal practices where the threshold of evidence is as low as hear-say.

The evidence is awash with classified monikers that the patchwork of evidence the defence would have to work with would leave enough holds to make every trial unacceptably loaded against the accused bringing to close to just better than a kangaroo court.

Now, I am no legal expert, the views might differ, no so much by the letter of the law but by political persuasion where the right would contend that these provisions are the best that can be offered with regards to the sensitivity of the issues at hand and the left would contend that premise of innocence until tried and proven guilty is lost.

Some military lawyers already have misgivings about this manual which in the circumstances might have its progeny with the military junta of Myanmar, OK! That was a bit given to histrionics, my point is, and justice should not only be done, it should verifiably be seen to be done properly.

US does not torture

The other part of the evidence that would be most interesting to every civil and human rights activist is the implication that.

+ Some evidence might have been obtained under torture

+ Some evidence was obtained by coercion and is admissible as long as it was obtained before December 2005

The question then is, have these prisoners been tortured? They most certainly have, the spectacle of Abu Ghraib was an excerpt of the “Practical Guide to Obtaining Information” introduced by the commandant of Guantanamo Bay.

As for coercion, we can presume dunking which is the deliberate deprivation of air by pushing the full face into a liquid was not torture till at least December 2005 – avoiding gruesome detail – an activity that gets a full thumbs-up from vice-President Cheney, sorry, the less aggressive word is “water-boarding”, you would be forgiven for thinking it was as hip as skate-boarding.

Yes, “water-boarding” is a variant of dunking where rather than push the face into a liquid, facing upward and the body inclined with the head at the lower point, the gardener simulates a torrent of rain over the face that the gag-reflex creates a drowning sensation as the person almost enters the delirium of death.

However, we must hear the President out, “We do not torture”, he protests, they only use vital tools of elevated persuasion – I will not be good for politics, not with my mastery of semantics.

It would appear my concept of torture is hardly coercion in the eyes of those at the forefront of the war on terror in America. Judge for yourself, as we have been told, the US does not torture.

The Iraqi Travesty - Saddam escapes justice

Conned with a false promise

To use what I think is an Americanism, it was a no-brainer that dawned on the Iraqi High Tribunal despite the protestations to the contrary before the 30^th of December 2006.

A whole set of charges were laid against Saddam Hussein but there was an innocuous proviso that allowed for Saddam to be condemned to death and then have that sentence carried out before all the other charges were tried in court.

Every sensible person opined that there was no way the tribunal could legitimately try a person who is already dead, in fact, we also found as in the case of Ken Lay of Enron, whilst his first trial found him guilty, his death before sentencing or appeal meant the whole case had to be set aside.

Like I said before, no lawyer would waste their time defending a dead man except if there is a principle at stake.

Saddam innocent and cannot be proven otherwise

As it now transpires, the Iraqi High Tribunal has dropped all charges against Saddam Hussein and invariably there is no legal sanction for all the other atrocities that Saddam committed against his people.

Technically, whilst Saddam Hussein might have directly or through his proxies committed crimes against humanity, legally, he is not charged with anything, hence, he cannot be tried for anything and the principle of the Presumption of Innocence abides that everyman is innocent till declared guilty.

In this case, Saddam Hussein is only guilty of the crime against the 148 of the village of Dujail, a crime for which he has been totally and fully punished – his book is now closed, though issues still are pending.

A government immune to good sense

Obviously, the government of Iraq who are immune to constructive discourse and criticism view the death of Saddam as the panacea to all Iraqi ills and the opportunity for a new beginning; well, that was a possibility they squandered with their rush to the gallows where everything that could go right went wrong.

The National Security Adviser himself still has the gall to appear on television to advise the people to move beyond Saddam having told a bare-faced lie about the atmosphere around the execution.

Where really is the integrity, honesty, probity and equity in this puppet contraption of government masquerading as a democracy?

Now, the blood of the innocent

The blood of the innocent should be requited and this could have been legitimately, legally and consummately done with trying Saddam for each and every offence, bringing to scrutiny the evidence of those atrocities – finding against Saddam would have served as a point of change, healing and reconciliation.

However, Saddam the tyrant and despot before death has at the point when the noose went round his neck with the sectarian taunting of the observers that included the cool National Security Adviser who was caught in a lie, is now becoming Saddam Hussein the martyr.

The irony of it all is not so much that Saddam’s evil was unforgivable, but that Saddam was a symbol of an Arab or Middle-Eastern personality standing up against the West – a lesson none of the Neo-Conservatives ever took on board.

Meanwhile, there is the simple matter of who now bears the blood of the innocent since justice could not be done – for those who have no part in this debacle, learn and learn well – this is how men bring great damnation upon themselves, by errors of omission when they rush to incomplete justice.

3,000 memorials to what?

Where? The memorial

Years from now, were a monument were to be erected in memory of those, now 3,000 US soldiers who have paid the ultimate price in defending, I don’t know what; because it is not clear if this war in Iraq is about defending America, regardless of the spin that might be put on this issue.

Many memorials tell about liberation and bringing peace, if the highlight of this memorial reads the deposition of the Iraqi tyrant, one called Saddam Hussein, would it have been for a cause well fought for?

It cannot be said that this memorial would find a home on the soil of Iraq as we have in other lands that were liberated in the Second World War; France, Belgium and the Netherlands has swathes of land where fallen foreign soldiers are interred with dignity and remembered with reverence.

One general once said the purpose of war is not to die for your country but to get the other man to die for his country, because dead men do not win wars, those who triumph are those who walked or limped away having defeated and incapacitated their enemies that the enemy is forced to surrender.

Innocent blood should speak

The blood of the innocent must be requited of those who have caused that blood to be shed, the justice that was meted out to Saddam Hussein only dealt with one of the minor crimes he is accused of, those who refused to allow justice to be sought when they had opportunity; for Halabja, for Iran, for Kuwait must surely now have blood on their hands.

In the end, it would take a man of words beyond reproach to write the epitaph to the death and misery of the US Army in Iraq, none of the leaders we have now, come close to appreciating the sorrow they have visited on many in their thirst for revenge on the wrong man.

Once again, never have some many been sacrificed to a cause so suspect, executed on a plan so flawed and given the impression that it is of value when it is on fact simply settling scores.

For once, the memorial to the Unknown Soldier would not suffice, they have names, they have families and they will not be left unsung.

Damilola Taylor - Changing our communities

Innocent blood would be avenged

This write-up might for some bring satisfaction, but it brings no comfort; in other cases it could bring closure but definitely no joy for all concerned.

I am of the persuasion and deepest premonition that innocent blood cannot be spilt in vain; there is a cardinal principle in place from the times of the records of the beginning of mankind in the religious sense that murder would always be overtaken by justice.

Now, that justice might not occur in time, to our sense of vengeance or outrage nor in the manner that we expect, but rest assured there is much at work in the affairs of mankind than meets the eye.

When a 10-year old boy was murdered in a stairwell of a housing estate in London in November 2000, before that murder, he was just a boy who minutes before was hopping from stone to stone without a care having just left a library.

Innocent death universal condemnation

A fate so terrible not to be visited on ones worst enemy lead to us all learning about Damilola Taylor, hardly had we absorbed the news of that wretched episode, the name was on the lips of the Prime Minister and his memory mentioned by a President.

I thought to myself, they killed the boy and released maelstrom of cataclysmic proportions, it was like there was no imagining what this boy might have become in life; snuffed out long before his time, the gathering of what he would have become gravitated into a force for change in his community, his name like that of Stephen Lawrence who was brutally killed a few years before bring us to the ground zero of humanity and the need to rid ourselves of senseless violence.

For a while, it appeared that the murder was fraught with problem witnesses, one of whom was living it large but utterly unreliable, it looked like no one would be punished for this crime.

Innocent blood cries out

I would declare, innocent blood cannot relent, the workings of this phenomenon may not have a tested hypothesis but faith in this phenomenon is more solid than the law of gravity.

When Cain in the Bible answered back about not being his brother’s keeper, God said the voice of his brother’s blood was crying out to Him from the ground. From that time, Cain was cursed from the earth that received his brother’s blood; he became a marked man, a fugitive and a vagabond.

No murderer has a lighter probably for now seemingly invisible sentence regardless of the legal or crime and punishment systems we might have in place. Blood has a voice and knows who to call for justice, and He who hears, knows how to deliver without fail.

The Bible goes on to say that the Blood of Jesus speaks even better things than the blood of Abel, blood means a lot, because life is in the blood; the theology of this beyond the scope of this blog.

The great name of a great boy

Damilola is a name quite close to my heart, it was the name my mother gave me, it is my third name and it means “Bestow me with wealth”. In fact, it is commonly Oludamilola which is translated, “God bestows me with wealth”. It is both a name of thanksgiving and a prophecy of good fortune, anyone bearing that name especially as a first name who is brutally and senselessly murdered is bound to cause ructions that reverberate beyond their community.

And so today, we know that Damilola Taylor, the young boy who months before left Nigeria to seek his fortune and future in London, murdered and 10 by senseless kids who were hardly 3 years older, did not die in vain.

Keeping brothers from offence

His killers, who are brothers and sadly, could, not keep each other from perpetrating such evil, would now spend 8 years in youth custody, a sentence which does not reflect the fact that they have shown no remorse or regret for their acts.

How children could be brought up to be so evil and without any sense of value for other people’s lives and welfare escapes me, but somehow, there is an animal in some people that has been without the gentle luxury of being tamed and tempered with good upbringing and consideration.

Whilst parents have much to blame for this, the children were already beyond the age of recognition of criminal responsibility, they must have known what they were doing will cause grievous bodily harm which lead to death and they never had the courage to own up to their acts for years.

Damilola’s legacy

It should not take the death of a child for our communities to respond to the challenges of our time be it poor forensic science, opportunities for the youth or the de-ghetto-isation of seemingly failing urban areas – these should be in the vanguard of the social, economic or political existence and wellbeing of any society.

Alas! Change sometimes needs to be triggered by tragedy or disaster, in which case, we hope that lessons will be learnt and those who suffered would not have suffered in vain.

The community has looked to the positive and Damilola’s parents have stoically stood for ensuring that no other person suffers the fate that their son suffered, I commend them.

Damilola will never be forgotten in that community and if anyone in the future asks what is this all about, it is about ensuring that we all live to fulfill our potential rather than be cut down before our prime – it is a word to both the would-be victim and the would-be assailant – there is nothing to be gained in being either – let us all ensure that in our communities, we have no place for rearing children who become murderers and children like Damilola Taylor have not died in vain.

References

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Eight years for Damilola killers

BBC NEWS | UK | Damilola Taylor: Timeline

Damilola Taylor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Damilola Taylor Trust

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Damilola's Peckham legacy

Respect Your Life - Not a knife - Damilola Taylor Trust