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Homosexuality: Hoodlums attack suspect's house after release by police

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<i><b>Ikorodu</b></i><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><br /></div>
Violence erupted yesterday in the Gberigbe area of Ikorodu community, Lagos when
some hoodlums numbering about 30 attacked the home of a suspected homosexual. 
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  According to an eyewitness who pleaded anonymity, the hoodlums who came on
  motorcycles and minivans were armed with dangerous weapons including locally
  made guns and machetes. The target of the attack, according to our source, was
  a man who lives in the community and was accused of being gay. 
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  The man whose identity could not be immediately verified as at the time of
  filing this report was said to have been caught having sex with another man of
  northern origin at a hotel (names withheld) in the neighboring street. Local
  security men were said to have raced to the hotel after being tipped off by an
  unnamed person with information on the forbidden act. Upon their arrest, the
  suspects were reportedly handed over to the police for further investigation
  and prosecution. 
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  However, information was said to have reached the youths in the community that
  the suspects have been released by the police after five days in detention.
  This, our source said, angered the local security men who arrested the
  suspects initially before they were handed over to the police. It was gathered
  that the aggrieved youths mobilized and headed to the residence of one of the
  suspects who resides in the community. 
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  "It was as if a war has broken out", said our source while narrating the sad
  event to our correspondent. "Everyone ran to safety because we didn't know
  what was happening. Gunshots were fired sporadically that at a point I thought
  it was cultists that have invaded our community. But when they started shouting the name of Alhaji<b> </b>Moshood<b> </b>(the suspected gay), my mind became relaxed"
  explained our source. 
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  It was reported that the suspect popularly known within the community as Alhaji Moshood was the
  target of the attack. However, mother luck was on his side as neither him nor
  any member of his family was at home. "In annoyance that they did not meet him
  at home, the hoodlums vandalized the house and destroyed many items within
  their sights in the man's compound", our source continued. 
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  According to our source, the hoodlums came with an intention to kill the
  suspect as they kept calling on him to surrender himself to them. They were
  reported to have accused the police of bias and said if the police could not
  do justice, they would take the law into their hands and do the necessary
  justice. 
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  Our findings further revealed that the other man said to have been caught and
  arrested with Alhaji Moshood has since his release by the police returned to the
  northern city where he came from while the whereabouts of Alhaji Moshood and his
  family members remain unknown. 
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  It should be noted that same sex relationship is a criminal offence in Nigeria
  in particular, and most African countries in general. 
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Homosexuality: Hoodlums attack suspect's house after release by police

Ikorodu Violence erupted yesterday in the Gberigbe area of Ikorodu community, Lagos when some hoodlums numbering about 30 attacked th...

Tragedy: Dog eats up four-month old baby in Asaba

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG0p5iR7IwQ_AWyVCICg9zZ0EtIbdW-9iVS-FCLSWG5eN4J3hSx0tHyA2di-H1vTXwgKazCWUxxpdYkab1QbMwqpyQD90k1vgj10JlQ2vRvZ4B8kICPrpR6_XNXLDcWM4iBpZsDVsEXnA/s1600/dog-bacteria.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG0p5iR7IwQ_AWyVCICg9zZ0EtIbdW-9iVS-FCLSWG5eN4J3hSx0tHyA2di-H1vTXwgKazCWUxxpdYkab1QbMwqpyQD90k1vgj10JlQ2vRvZ4B8kICPrpR6_XNXLDcWM4iBpZsDVsEXnA/s1600/dog-bacteria.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ASABA, NIGERIA - Tragedy struck on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, when a 37-year-old house wife, Maureen Akowe, a graduate of sociology from the state-owned university allegedly lost her four-month-old baby to her dog.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was gathered that the four-month-old baby was driven in the mother's car alongside the dog to a popular supermarket along Okpanam Road, Asaba, where the house wife had gone for shopping for the baby's upkeep.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Report says the unsuspecting nursing mother left the baby, a nanny and the dog inside the car and wound down the windows to allow ventilation into the car before moving into the supermarket.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://leadership.ng/news/455719/dog-eats-up-4-month-old-baby-in-delta-state"><b>LEADERSHIP</b></a> newspaper gathered from witnesses that while she was busy shopping, the dog allegedly made straight for the little baby to eat her up while the nanny screamed for help but all to no avail.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shouts by the nanny attracted two security personnel at the supermarket to the car but by which time the baby, identified as Chinonso, had been bitten severally on the stomach by the dog, leaving the baby in a pool of blood.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The dog had gone wild and was barking menacingly to scare onlooker by the time the baby's mother got wind of the development and rushed to the scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The baby was taken to a nearby hospital along Nnebisi Road, but it was too late by the time they got to the hospital as the baby, the woman's first child, had already died.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking with the nanny who claimed to have hailed from one of the states in the eastern part of the country and did not want her name in the print, she said: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">Madam carry the dog and baby and asked us to stay inside the car, because the dog was to be treated at the veterinary. Suddenly I saw the dog moving closer to the baby and I shouted for help when the dog opened its teeth and I ran out of the car to call madam but she did not come on time.</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Family sources said that the house wife had been married for 3 years without a baby before she took in for the baby that was delivered and named Chinonso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a swift reaction, the husband of the woman amidstext-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG0p5iR7IwQ_AWyVCICg9zZ0EtIbdW-9iVS-FCLSWG5eN4J3hSx0tHyA2di-H1vTXwgKazCWUxxpdYkab1QbMwqpyQD90k1vgj10JlQ2vRvZ4B8kICPrpR6_XNXLDcWM4iBpZsDVsEXnA/s1600/dog-bacteria.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG0p5iR7IwQ_AWyVCICg9zZ0EtIbdW-9iVS-FCLSWG5eN4J3hSx0tHyA2di-H1vTXwgKazCWUxxpdYkab1QbMwqpyQD90k1vgj10JlQ2vRvZ4B8kICPrpR6_XNXLDcWM4iBpZsDVsEXnA/s1600/dog-bacteria.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ASABA, NIGERIA - Tragedy struck on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, when a 37-year-old house wife, Maureen Akowe, a graduate of sociology from the state-owned university allegedly lost her four-month-old baby to her dog.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was gathered that the four-month-old baby was driven in the mother's car alongside the dog to a popular supermarket along Okpanam Road, Asaba, where the house wife had gone for shopping for the baby's upkeep.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Report says the unsuspecting nursing mother left the baby, a nanny and the dog inside the car and wound down the windows to allow ventilation into the car before moving into the supermarket.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://leadership.ng/news/455719/dog-eats-up-4-month-old-baby-in-delta-state"><b>LEADERSHIP</b></a> newspaper gathered from witnesses that while she was busy shopping, the dog allegedly made straight for the little baby to eat her up while the nanny screamed for help but all to no avail.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shouts by the nanny attracted two security personnel at the supermarket to the car but by which time the baby, identified as Chinonso, had been bitten severally on the stomach by the dog, leaving the baby in a pool of blood.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The dog had gone wild and was barking menacingly to scare onlooker by the time the baby's mother got wind of the development and rushed to the scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The baby was taken to a nearby hospital along Nnebisi Road, but it was too late by the time they got to the hospital as the baby, the woman's first child, had already died.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking with the nanny who claimed to have hailed from one of the states in the eastern part of the country and did not want her name in the print, she said: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">Madam carry the dog and baby and asked us to stay inside the car, because the dog was to be treated at the veterinary. Suddenly I saw the dog moving closer to the baby and I shouted for help when the dog opened its teeth and I ran out of the car to call madam but she did not come on time.</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Family sources said that the house wife had been married for 3 years without a baby before she took in for the baby that was delivered and named Chinonso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a swift reaction, the husband of the woman amidst tears, and did not want his name on the print said: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">My wife said it is the devil's work and the devil's work will take her out of my house. I have warned her about the dog when I t tears, and did not want his name on the print said: </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">My wife said it is the devil's work and the devil's work will take her out of my house. I have warned her about the dog when I noticed that the dog had been behaving funny. She still kept carrying the dog claiming that she was going to give treatment to the dog. This is how the devil had ruined her.</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Have you got a news tip, article or press release for us? E-mail: <a href="mailto:TNN.ng1@gmail.com" target="_blank"><b>TNN.ng1@gmail.com</b></a></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="color: blue;">Follow us on <b><a href="https://twitter.com/TNN_ng">Twitter</a></b> , <b><a href="http://facebook.com/TheBluebloodGroup">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109876989019615433095/posts">Google+</a></b></span></i></i></div><i></i><br /><div style="font-family: ""; text-align: center;"><b>=============================================================</b><br /><div><b style="font-family: "";"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: large;">PLACE YOUR TEXT ADVERTS HERE  </span>=============================================================</b></div></div><div style="font-family: ""; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><u>DUBAI VISAS IN 7-DAYS</u></span></b><br /><b>Do you need Single-Entry or Multiple-Entry Visas to the UAE (Dubai Visas) for 14-Days (Single-Entry Only), 30-Days or 90-Days? 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Tragedy: Dog eats up four-month old baby in Asaba

ASABA, NIGERIA - Tragedy struck on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, when a 37-year-old house wife, Maureen Akowe, a graduate of sociology from ...

Randy lecturer suspended for raping admission seekers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEemAJ47JJxBqMNy2u8CVIQXQ93kYs3PLZLv-CQa0DXnv7LiQjsC2-GCXT34iGnTzJtvwS8ti__dikPK5BPvwtmevSN2Lu3WRHcdRP2cEDX9vUmKV1AYsPoEe3G5f6rc2n1jHq3sCgW1i1/s1600/Baruwa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEemAJ47JJxBqMNy2u8CVIQXQ93kYs3PLZLv-CQa0DXnv7LiQjsC2-GCXT34iGnTzJtvwS8ti__dikPK5BPvwtmevSN2Lu3WRHcdRP2cEDX9vUmKV1AYsPoEe3G5f6rc2n1jHq3sCgW1i1/s1600/Baruwa.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>LAGOS, NIGERIA - Authorities of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Sunday disowned the randy lecturer, Dr. Akin Baruwa, who reportedly <a href="http://nigerianewsroom.blogspot.com/2015/08/read-how-and-why-unilag-lecturer-raped.html">raped an 18-year-old admission seeker</a>.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Baruwa allegedly raped the young girl (name withheld), who is seeking admission to the university, in his office on July 23, 2015.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lecturer, currently in detention at the Kirikiri Prison, was arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, on Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But speaking with <b><a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/unilag-disowns-lecturer-who-raped-admission-seeker/">The PUNCH</a></b> correspondent on Sunday, the Head, Information Unit of the university, Mr. Olagoke Oke, said Baruwa was not an employee of the institution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to him, no such name exists on the university’s employee list whether teaching or non-teaching.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">The said Dr. Baruwa is a not a member of staff of the university, whether teaching or non-teaching. He also does not belong to the part-time or full-time teaching staff of the school. His name is not on the master list of workers of the university. I have checked the staff list using his full name and initials and could not come up with any such name as of Friday, August 6, 2015. </div></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">I have also checked the list of office accommodation given to members of staff of the university and his name is not there. There is no office allocation attached to such a name. How he reportedly entered the said office where the crime took place is what we are looking into as an institution. </div></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">While we sympathise with the alleged victim, we are ready to cooperate with every agency of government to get to the root of the matter as soon as possible. As an institution, we do not support any act of violence, not even against women. Therefore, we will help to ensure that the case comes to a logical conclusion.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, as the authorities disowned the lecturer, some students, in the Faculty of Business Administration, who craved anonymity for fear of victimisation, claimed that the suspect was a part-time lecturer of the accounting department of the university.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of them said: "I know him as a part-time lecturer in the accounting department. I wonder what the university wants to achieve now by trying to disown him."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Prof. Rasheed Ojikutu, could not be reached as of 6pm on Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Baruwa, who the police in Lagos arrested on August 3, reportedly confessed to the act but claimed that the sex was by mutual consent.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Have you got a news tip, article or press release for us? E-mail: <a href="mailto:TNN.ng1@gmail.com" target="_blank"><b>TNN.ng1@gmail.com</b></a></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="color: blue;">Follow us on <b><a href="https://twitter.com/TNN_ng">Twitter</a></b> , <b><a href="http://facebook.com/TheBluebloodGroup">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109876989019615433095/posts">Google+</a></b></span></i></i></div><i></i><br /><div style="font-family: ""; text-align: center;"><b>=============================================================</b><br /><div><b style="font-family: "";"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-size: large;">PLACE YOUR TEXT ADVERTS HERE  </span>=============================================================</b></div></div><div style="font-family: ""; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><u>DUBAI VISAS IN 7-DAYS</u></span></b><br /><b>Do you need Single-Entry or Multiple-Entry Visas to the UAE (Dubai Visas) for 14-Days (Single-Entry Only), 30-Days or 90-Days? Processing within 7-working days! We guarantee you affordable prices. Contact <span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Rukky Travels and Tours</span> at <span style="color: red;">rukkytravels@gmail.com</span></b><br /><b>*********************************************************************</b><br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: ""; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue;">YOU TOO CAN HAVE YOUR TEXT ADVERTS PLACED HERE. CONTACT US AT </span><span style="color: red;">tnn.ng1@gmail.com</span><span style="color: blue;"> FOR AD PLACEMENT DETAILS</span></b></div>

Randy lecturer suspended for raping admission seekers

LAGOS, NIGERIA - Authorities of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Sunday disowned the randy lecturer, Dr. Akin Baruwa, who reportedly rap...

[OPINION]: The Trial Of Bishop Kukah - By Tatalo Alamu

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<b>Poor Mathew Hassan Kukah! He has had it up to the nape of his cassocks. The torrents of abuse have now transformed into a tsunami of vilification. It was just as well that the week ended with the congregation of Catholic Bishops removing the ground from under Bishop Kukah by wholeheartedly supporting President Buhari’s anti-corruption hurricane.</b></div>
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Never in Nigeria’s public history has a hitherto respected man of god tumbled so fast in public esteem. Never has a man so widely admired for his cutting intellect become a master of pompous equivocation and fatuous obfuscation. Never has the implacable Nigerian intellectual lynch mob been so fast and furious in dismembering and devouring its victim.</div>
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It is a sad spectacle, and a consuming Nigerian tragedy to boot. Many of us who consider ourselves friends and admirers of the gutsy and cerebral Bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese can only watch in pained silence as the man of god appears to unravel in a drama of self-demystification. But in revolutionary situations, everybody must answer their fathers’ name and one must be ready to drop a friend because of principles rather than drop principles because of a friend.</div>
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These must be revolutionary times in Nigeria indeed. It is only in revolutionary times that people lose total respect for priestly cassocks and other symbols of traditional authority. It is only in revolutionary times that the sacred become desacralized in bitter profanity and people move from hero to zero. The man of the people becomes the enemy of the populace. The dark night does not recognize sacerdotal distinction.  As the mob brays in implacable distemper, the expiring ruling class that has held Nigeria hostage must note this development.</div>
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Bishop Kukah’s superiors in the Nigerian Catholic nomenklatura  must be clicking their tongue in sagely relish. A child can have as many new clothes as an elder, but he can never have as many rags. Many of the superiors of the Sokoto Bishop must be rubbing their palms in smirking satisfaction. Only the barely discerning would not have noticed a certain froideur, a chilly discomfort among the Catholic hierarchs as Kukah rose to secular apotheosis as a liberating theologist and friend of the rich and powerful at the same time. As the Yoruba will put it, nobody must stop a youngster from climbing the hill of Langbodo.</div>
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In retrospect, perhaps it will be said that the Sokoto bishop chose the wrong time to cross the Homeric frontline between the Nigerian powerful and the teeming powerless; and between whistle blowing against the powerful or becoming a loud and brash megaphone of its rearguard rally. Not even the most gifted and proficient trickster knows when the trick will fail, and in revolutionary situations one cannot be too careless in his choice of enemies.</div>
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The last straw, it seems, is Kukah’s stirring at the behest of the controversial Peace Committee. Let it be bluntly and baldly stated that this committee is not about peace at all. It materialized as a last ditch ruling class initiative to force General Buhari to accept dishonorable defeat and hence to stave off the revolutionary turmoil and anarchy that would have accompanied electoral miscarriage. It is a wearisomely familiar Nigerian ploy to impose “peace” in the absence of social and political justice. But they misjudged the mood of the nation and the fact that Nigerians have had it with their ilk.</div>
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Bar a few misguided ones who are glad to be dredged up from peat bog of political oblivion and the odd naïve do-gooders, most of our newly minted peaceniks are compromised scoundrels working for the old regime and traditional mischief-makers on a typical pay day. Available reports indicate that some of them were already privately gloating about the inevitability of a Jonathan victory. They came to bury Buhari and not to praise him. But it bombed spectacularly. Perhaps this is one of the “spectacular” things that Jonathan did which Kukah  referred to with deliberately oblique disingenuity.</div>
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Having failed in their core mission, they have now transformed into a “peace” council to disturb the peace of the nation, and to stalemate the inevitable sanitization of the polity. They have gone about endlessly chattering about due process and the fact that this is a democracy and not a military order. One wonders how democracy and due process would have fared had they succeeded in suborning the sovereign electoral will of Nigerians.  Let this be the last time President Buhari will give them a decent hearing.</div>
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Kukah’s attempt to defend the motive of the peace council has brought a gale of angry denunciations on the internet and social media with many of them charging the Catholic supremo with perfidy and betrayal. This columnist read about three hundred of these angry rebuttals and only a few were willing to stake their integrity on the integrity and honesty of the bishop. It was redolent of pent up fury and misgivings, as if they have been waiting for Kukah to cross the line.</div>
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Kukah’s  attempt to correct a purportedly mischievous slant that gave the impression that the council went up to President Buhari to bargain for a soft landing for the disgraced and discredited Jonathan drew even more tempestuous  tirades. And then in the unkindest cut of all, a shadowy and hitherto unknown organization going by the name of CUPS came out to directly impugn Kukah’s integrity and claims to probity in a well-detailed allegation of sleaze and corruption.</div>
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This column will refrain from publicizing the salacious and insalubrious details, but they go to show how far Bishop Kukah’s stock has fallen. It is a remarkable development and no matter his public grandstanding and defiance of the gravitational pull of seamy scandals, the plucky priest must be having some anxious private moments. Even if they remain at the level of mere allegations, that they are ever broached at all shows how public perception can be influenced by the power and putrescence of offensive associations. The bishop’s cup is full and it overflows indeed.</div>
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It may well be too late to ask the august catholic prelate to return to base. For a man of such calm and deliberate mien, such choices are not lightly made in the first instance. As we have said, everybody must answer to his patronymic in these perilous times. Like a savage hawk remarkable for its hunting prowess and ferocious precision, the Nigerian ruling class knows the particular moment to home in on its intended prey and which foibles and personal peccadilloes to zero in upon.</div>
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In a postcolonial society infamous for its political dysfunctionality , the transition from  civil society activist to state actor is a very precarious affair indeed. In Nigeria, only few people, if any at all, have been able to manage the transition without major scars. This is because inchoate and disadvantaged civil society feels abandoned and neglected by one of its own. Like vultures waiting for the ethically deceased, they bid their time waiting to take their pound of flesh or carrion and the quiet hysteria of private abandonment soon gives way to the public hullabaloo of angry and messy divorce.</div>
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The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese seems to have had it coming for quite some time. There might have come a time when a practical patriot like Kukah might have come to the conclusion that it might be better and more nation-rewarding to remonstrate with the Nigerian powers that be at close proximity than to demonstrate against them from a far distance.</div>
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As a minority scion of the most minority of ethnic formations, Kukah might have concluded that he stood no chance raising hell among the hell-bound  majority monsters—as he himself once memorably dismissed Nigeria’s major ethnic formations. It may well turn out to be a bridge too far, but in the brutal power calculus of Nigeria’s political coliseum, innocence is not a virtue but a symptom of suicidal naivety.</div>
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Who will then speak and speak up for the Nigerian minority ethnic subaltern? As a devoted watcher of Nigeria’s volatile and explosive political gymnasium, this columnist entered into a private correspondence with the father who art in Kaduna then over his seemingly seamless transition from civil society activist to state actor.  Yours sincerely wanted to know whether the transition was conscious or seemingly unconscious. It was a particularly illuminating exchange whose details must remain private and confidential.</div>
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What did it for this columnist was Kukah’s out of proportion reaction to a Soyinka piece detailing the ills and ailments of the Nigerian postcolonial state. As usual with the implacably agonistic Nobel avatar, it was a merciless and astringent critique dripping with venom and vitriol. The old literary lion does not take hostages in these matters. But anybody who has watched Nigeria’s descent into political infamy over the decades would side with Soyinka’s angst about the fate of his beloved country.</div>
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What seemed to have drawn Bishop Kukah’s particular ire was Soyinka’s damning conclusion that nothing good could come out of the Nigerian state as it was constituted. It is interesting and intriguing that Soyinka’s response to Kukah was a mixture of puckish humour and elderly irritation. Subsequent events seem to have proved the Nobel laureate right.</div>
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Thereafter, certain changes in Kukah’s public personae became noticeable as he moved closer and closer to the sanctuary of state power. An imperious swagger seems to have been added to the bouncy gait even as a pompous and pomaded puffery became the order of the day. A moody irascible brio and prickly condescension became the sine qua non of Kukah’s public engagements. The bishop’s secular beatitude was in full progress.</div>
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But such beatitudes do not beautify, and neither do they ennoble in the tumultuous and turbulent context of a postcolonial nation roiling in crisis and contradictions. In such circumstances and situations, it is the bounden duty of all men of god to speak truth to secular power and not to become carpetbaggers and reactionary rearguard rallying points for the retrogressive and anti-progress rump of a failed ruling class.</div>
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The current pope is an outstanding exemplar of this sacred moral responsibility to the powerless of the earth; and so was the old much admired and revered Polish pope, the illustrious Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. We dare say that in the last decade and a half beginning with the Oputa Panel, Bishop Kukah has been rather remiss in that historic and sacred duty. If it is not too late, this gifted priest should find his route back to public restitution and redemption.</div>
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<i><b>Culled from <a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/the-trial-of-bishop-kukah/">The Nation</a></b></i></div>
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[OPINION]: The Trial Of Bishop Kukah - By Tatalo Alamu

Poor Mathew Hassan Kukah! He has had it up to the nape of his cassocks. The torrents of abuse have now transformed into a tsunami of v...

Buhari Is So Passionate About Nigeria - Obasanjo

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<b>ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said there is no alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari or his leadership style because of the peculiar period in the country's life.</b></div>
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He urged Nigerians to support Buhari to bring about the desired “change” in the country.</div>
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Obasanjo noted that a lot of things that were left undone in the last six years are hurting the country today but said there is a ray hope in the government of President Buhari that the expected change for the better would soon come.</div>
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The former President made this declaration at the weekend when a delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by the Vice President, Ogunkunade Oluwatoyin, visited him at his residence on Presidential Hilltop Estate, Abeokuta, Ogun State.</div>
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Obasanjo who is a former Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before quitting party politics early this year, said he stuck out his neck for change during the last general elections because things were no longer going the way it ought to be for the country.</div>
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The former president spoke in response to the demands of the students, particularly as it concerns fighting corruption, security, economy, unemployment and improvement in the standard of education.</div>
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He noted that God loves Nigeria and that he would continue to support and pray for the success of President Buhari and his administration.</div>
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Obasanjo said:</div>
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I will underline what I regard as the most important right now which is key that deals with almost all the points that you raised and that is the issue of leadership. I believe very sincerely that God loves this country. </blockquote>
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I have said it on a number of occasions that when you go through the history of this country, particularly during the pre-independence and how many times we have gone through difficult times but we have not fallen over, you would say like I have said over a number of times that God really loves this country. </blockquote>
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And the general elections you talked about is a typical section of it, many people believe that after that election there will be no more Nigeria, many had even sent their families abroad, to some of us there is no where we can live abroad they will say you with all your mouth that you were running so you can even run out of Nigeria and come here. </blockquote>
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I have nowhere else that I can go and live in except Nigeria. Some said that they know the NADECO route but I do not know the route and I do not want to know it. So God did it almost miraculously and the election took place although some did not want it to take place but it took place. </blockquote>
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And some did help in no small measure to make sure that we got what God has destined for Nigeria. But in the first instance, we must give thanks to God and in the second instance we must thank those that made sure that we had a change and a credible change and the relative peace that we enjoyed before, during and after the election.</blockquote>
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The former president continued:</div>
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The issue of good leadership which was what many of us were clamouring for. There is no angel, for me there is no messiah except Jesus Christ, but there are leaders who are concerned about what is happening in this country, leaders that are so passionate about this country and who are ready to stick out their necks for this country and God has given us such an individual as the President of the country. </blockquote>
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What has happened is an indication that change has come and that our dreams may come true. But all that is required of everyone, young and old, youths and even students is to give unalloyed support to the government and where we believe that we should give criticism that is objective and positive we should give. </blockquote>
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For me these points that you have made about what is going on in this country, about corruption, about the economy, about security, we all know these and that is why some of us prepared to stick out our neck to achieve change because most of these things have not been addressed for the past six years. </blockquote>
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And how can anybody tell us that they will be addressed the next four years but now we have seen a ray of hope, so I will say let us encourage where we need to encourage, let us be objective where we need to be objective, let us show solidarity where we need to show solidarity.</blockquote>
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He added that nobody is too young or too old to give meaningful contribution, "even what you are doing here is part of it, but do not limit it here, let us take it to them, those at the Senate, House of Representatives, those at the state level, men and women of goodwill in this country.”</div>
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According to him: </div>
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God forbid that this present democratic dispensation should fail, because we have no other alternative and that is why I said that the present administration should succeed there is no excuse and that is why I am so concerned about the success of this administration. </blockquote>
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Say whatever you like about me, I pray and I will work for the success of this government. There is no alternative to democracy, the alternative to democracy is even worse than the imperfection of democracy.</blockquote>
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Going down memory lane, the former president said: </div>
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I am a victim of military regime, I was put in jail and meant to be killed (by the Sani Abacha regime). If there was democracy there might have  been fair amount of trial. So I heard you, I note your request and as time goes by when I do have opportunity in the community of leaders when you want me to pass your message, I will deliver your message. </blockquote>
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But one of the things that gives me great concern is youth employment, there is no employment for the youths in this country. Somebody told me that we can admit about seven thousand students in a year but those who seek admission into the university probably double that number. </blockquote>
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We need to be mindful of job creation and wealth creation, it does not matter what university you attended, you must be mindful that job creation and wealth creation to the next generation. </blockquote>
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If you don\t have a target about the actions that you are about to take then you do not have anything to work up to. I believe that having a target is necessary.  Let me give the history of the Nigeria’s civil war. I was one of those who did the appreciation of the war and wrote the order (plan) we thought that the war would end in six months and we made a plan for six months, but the war took 30 months but you cannot just leave it open, it must be an open ended, now fix a target and then those who are to carry it out will know that they have time and space within which to work.</blockquote>
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Buhari Is So Passionate About Nigeria - Obasanjo

ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said there is no alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari or his leadership...

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