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Maid of Horror! How Police Nabbed The Kidnapper of Orekoya Kids

Maid of Horror! How Police Nabbed The Kidnapper of Orekoya Kids

Police have arrested the housemaid who kidnapped the Orekoya three children, 24 hours after she was employed last week at Lawanson Roa...

Jonathan to Handover at a May 28th Dinner with Buhari

Jonathan to Handover at a May 28th Dinner with Buhari

President Goodluck Jonathan will perform the formal handing over to the incoming administration of the president-elect, General Muhamm...

Achille Mbembe Writes About Xenophobic South Africa

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<b>“Afrophobia”? “Xenophobia”? “Black on black racism”? A “darker” as you can get hacking a “foreigner” under the pretext of his being too dark - self hate par excellence? Of course all of that at once! Yesterday I asked a taxi driver: “why do they need to kill these “foreigners” in this manner?”. </b><br />
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His response: “because under Apartheid, fire was the only weapon we Blacks had. We did not have ammunitions, guns and the likes. With fire we could make petrol bombs and throw them at the enemy from a safe distance”. Today there is no need for distance any longer. To kill “these foreigners”, we need to be as close as possible to their body which we then set in flames or dissect, each blow opening a huge wound that can never be healed. Or if it is healed at all, it must leave on “these foreigners” the kinds of scars that can never be erased.<br />
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I was here during the last outbreak of violence against “these foreigners”. Since then, the cancer has metastized. The current hunt for “foreigners” is the product of a complex chain of complicities - some vocal and explicit and others tacit. The South African government has recently taken a harsh stance on immigration. New, draconian measures have been passed into law. Their effects are devastating for people already established here legally. A few weeks ago I attended a meeting of “foreign” staff at Wits University. Horrific stories after horrific stories. Work permits not renewed. Visas refused to family members. Children in limbo in schools. A Kafkaian situation that extends to “foreign” students who entered the country legally, had their visas renewed all this time, but who now find themselves in a legal uncertainty, unable to register, and unable to access the money they are entitled to and that had been allocated to them by Foundations. Through its new anti-immigration measures, the government is busy turning previously legal migrants into illegal ones.<br />
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Chains of complicity go further. South African big business is expanding all over the Continent, at times reproducing in those places the worse forms of racism that were tolerated here under Apartheid. While big business is “de-nationalizing” and “Africanizing”, poor black South Africa and parts of the middle class are being socialized into something we should call “national-chauvinism”. National-chauvinism is rearing its ugly head in almost every sector of the South African society. The thing with national-chauvinism is that it is in permanent need of scapegoats. It starts with those who are not our kins. But very quickly, it turns fratricidal. It does not stop with “these foreigners”. It is in its DNA to end up turning onto itself in a dramatic gesture of inversion.<br />
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I was here during the last “hunting season”. The difference, this time, is the emergence of the rudiments of an “ideology”. We now have the semblance of a discourse aimed at justifying the atrocities, the creeping pogrom since this is what it actually is. An unfolding pogrom to be sure. The justificatory discourse starts with the usual stereotypes — they are darker than us; they steal our jobs; they do not respect us; they are used by whites who prefer to exploit them rather than employing us, therefore avoiding the requirements of affirmative action. But the discourse is becoming more vicious. It can be summarized as follows: South Africa does not owe any moral debt to Africa. Evoke the years of exile? No, there were less than 30,000 South Africans in exile (I have been hit with this figure but I have no idea where it is coming from) and they were all scattered throughout the world - 4 in Ghana, 3 in Ethiopia, a few in Zambia, and many more in Russia and Eastern Europe! So we will not accept to be morally blackmailed by “those foreigners”.<br />
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Well, let’s ask hard questions. Why is South Africa turning into a killing field for non-national Africans (to whom we have to add the Bengalis, Pakistanis, and who knows whom next)? Why has this country historically represented a “circle of death” for anything and anybody ‘African’? When we say “South Africa”, what does the term “Africa” mean? An idea, or simply a geographical accident? Should we start quantifying what was sacrificed by Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and others during the liberation struggle? How much money did the Liberation Committee of the Organization of African Unity (OUA) provide to the liberation movements? How many dollars did the Nigerian state pay for South Africa’s struggle? If we were to put a price tag to the destructions meted out by the Apartheid regime on the economy and infrastructures of the Frontline states, what would this amount to? And once all of this has been quantified, shouldn’t we give the bill to the ANC government that has inherited the South African state and ask them to pay back what was spent on behalf of the black oppressed in South Africa during those long years? Wouldn’t we be entitled to add to all these damages and losses the number of people killed by Apartheid armies retaliating against our hosting South African combatants in our midsts, the number of people maimed, the long chain of misery and destitution suffered in the name of our solidarity with South Africa? If black South Africans do not want to hear about any moral debt, maybe it is time to agree with them, give them the bill and ask for economic reparations.<br />
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Of course we all see the absurdity of this logic of insularity that is turning this country into yet another killing field for the darker people, “these foreigners”. But it would not be absurd, since the government of South Africa is either unable or unwilling to protect those who are here legally from the ire of its people, to appeal to a higher authority. South Africa has signed most international conventions, including the Convention establishing the International Penal Tribunal in The Hague. Some of the instigators of the current “hunting season” are known. Some have been making public statements inciting hate. Is there any way in which we could think about referring them to The Hague? Impunity breeds impunity and atrocities. It is the shortest way to genocide. If these perpetrators cannot be brought to book by the South African State, isn’t it time to get a higher jurisdiction to deal with them?<br />
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Finally, one word about “foreigners” and “migrants”. No African is a foreigner in Africa! No African is a migrant in Africa! Africa is where we all belong, notwithstanding the foolishness of our boundaries. No amount of national-chauvinism will erase this. No amount of deportations will erase this. Instead of spilling black blood on no other than Pixley ka Seme Avenue (!), we should all be making sure that we rebuild this Continent and bring to an end a long and painful history - that which, for too long, has dictated that to be black (it does not matter where or when), is a liability.<br />
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<b>Credit: <a href="http://africasacountry.com/achille-mbembe-writes-about-xenophobic-south-africa/">Africa is a Country</a></b><br />
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Achille Mbembe Writes About Xenophobic South Africa

“Afrophobia”? “Xenophobia”? “Black on black racism”? A “darker” as you can get hacking a “foreigner” under the pretext of his being to...

Bola Ahmed Tinubu: Nigeria’s Enigmatic Political Legend - By Japheth J. Omojuwa

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<b>One can defeat an intelligent politician, one can disgrace a wily political candidate at the poll. One even may, if lucky enough, get over a persistent political opponent. However, a wily, intelligent and persistent political opponent will always be invincible. Nigeria’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu will go down in the nation’s history as one of its greatest political leaders.</b><br />
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The previous statement is based on the careful and intentional understanding of what Tinubu has brought to the table. You won’t be hard pressed to find a brilliant politician as outstanding political leaders are as widespread as water on the face of the earth. However, you are more likely to find mercury walking along Lagos streets than a politician like Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I will explain why.<br />
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Anyone with persistent access to the centre of power (in this case Nigeria’s federal government) can succeed in politics. However, it does not take too much to succeed in regional politics as long as one is not constantly in battle with the central powers. The real deal is to gain access to regional power, like Tinubu has been doing for 16 straight years, and then constantly look to take power over the centre while contending with powerful forces having seemingly endless access to Nigeria’s petrodollars.<br />
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Bola Tinubu did not start out like an average Nigerian politician –having no real job and looking to make a killing on politics. He had an enviable career before his foray into partisan politics that led him to win Lagos West senatorial seat. Unfortunately, that democracy process soon suffered a setback after the June 12 debacle. A technician in his own right – many have forgotten Tinubu once worked for such well-known brands as Deloitte, Arthur Andersen and Mobil Oil Nigeria (upon his return to Nigeria from the US) – he combines top-notch technical expertise with political astuteness.<br />
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Everyone underrating and confronting Tinubu has soon found out that his ability to lose small battles comes from his understanding of the fact that politics is a marathon. One will never win the war without having mind, mental strength and persistent energy to stay the course. Undoubtedly, Tinubu has many faults, but this piece is not about that. Many have written about them, and I did not spare words when it was time for that.<br />
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Tinubu is like the rest of us – a human with his own faults. However, unlike most people, he understands the legacy is zilch if it is not deployed through other people after one is off the stage of executive power. Tunde Fashola, the outgoing governor of Lagos, is deemed a great success by the majority of rational people. However, Fashola’s success would not be possible without Bola Tinubu on two focal fronts. Tinubu was intentional and strategic when he nurtured Fashola to take over him, and Fashola’s ability to succeed almost immediately after taking over was mostly because he had a foundation to build on. That foundation was laid by Tinubu’s eight years as a governor. That tradition of strategic, intentional and purposeful transfer of power is set to continue with the governor-elect Akinwunmi Ambode. Ambode is even better placed as, unlike two previous governors, he’ll be leading a Lagos that will be finally politically aligned with the federal government for the first time in 16 years.<br />
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Lagos’s non-alignment over the years has come at a huge cost. However, it is due to Tinubu and Fashola that Lagos has not just survived being abandoned by the centre – Lagos is thriving! Tinubu and Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo may be cool these days, but they went head to head many times in the past. Their battles reached a crescendo when Tinubu as a governor of Lagos defied Obasanjo’s insistence that Lagos should not create more local government areas. Unlike Tinubu, Obasanjo did not mind to break the law as he deprived Lagos of its federal allocations.<br />
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That setback proved to be a blessing as Lagos was faced with two major options: to abandon the decision to create new local political structures or perish! However, Tinubu and his team saw the third option that no one else noticed. They worked out a survival plan for Lagos.<br />
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Today, Lagos does not need the federal government to survive as a business entity. It makes more than enough to provide for itself. There is no need to emphasize how Tinubu-Obasanjo local creation battle helped resolve that matter.<br />
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Bola Tinubu is already a political legend, but he can further embellish his beautiful cake of greatness with the icings of gold. He is as much a source of strength to the APC as he could easily be an impediment. It simply depends on what side of his enigmatic self he calls on. If the incoming government will succeed, a lot will depend on Bola Ahmed Tinubu making even more sacrifices than he made during the years of the APC formation.<br />
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Tinubu once stood as a lone star in the southwest, Okanlomo, when after 2003 election the PDP somehow swept through the region and found itself winning all the then Alliance for Democracy states: Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, except Lagos. Of course, those PDP wins were later overturned at the court, but Tinubu did not just stand alone basking in the euphoria of being a superstar. He fought back and helped win the legal battles that returned power to the opposition in the southwest.<br />
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That was almost a decade ago. Bola Tinubu no longer leads a regional party. Today he is not only the leader of an impressive national party, the APC. He is the masterminder, the strategist, the maverick player that defied the history of opposition politics in Nigeria and, working with General Muhammadu Buhari’s then Congress for Progressive Change, the then All Nigeria People’s Party and a residual of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, helped to establish the APC. On May 29, 2015, the APC will replace the ruling PDP and will become Nigeria’s governing party.<br />
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It has taken him 16 years, but the Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom in Niger State has reached the pinnacle of the political game in Nigeria. Tinubu’s name will be entrenched in gold if the APC succeeds where the PDP has been failing for 16 years. That quest for success is the next battle for the Asiwaju of Lagos. I have never taken a bet against this seemingly ordinary man with the proven extraordinary abilities, and I am not about to take a bet on him succeeding with the APC in the coming years.<br />
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It is time for Tinubu to cement his national legacy. If he did, he’d be remembered as the one who helped establish the truly new Nigeria. This is the next stage in the evolution of a truly national leader.<br />
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<b>As seen on <a href="http://www.naij.com/422869-tinubu-is-one-of-the-greatest-political-leaders-omojuwa.html">Naij.com</a></b><br />
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