posted
A lot has been written and said about the sorrowful events that befell Nigeria recently. The effects of the death of 117 people in the crashed Bellview plane, and that of the wife of President Obasanjo, most definitely touched every corner of the nation. We pray that God be with families of those left behind in this catastrophic occurrence.
While we mourn as a nation, we must not as a result go to sleep and refrain from asking fundamental questions without which the likelihood of a re-occurrence of those painful incidences is high.
We as citizens of Nigeria must learn to start calling a spade a spade. The death of any human being is not something to rejoice at. My heart goes out to the families of all those who lost their lives in that crash, and that of Stella Obasanjo. However, my deeper sympathy lies with the families of those people who perished in that crash, rather than the Obasanjo family which obviously has captured the public attention more because of press coverage and the activities of numerous political and financial shoe-shiners. Stella’s is just one life like the rest of the people that died in Nigeria that day. Consequently, her death should not be treated like some singular National catastrophe from which Nigeria will never recover.
In the light of this, I strongly support the tone of the open letter written to OBJ by Gani Fawenhinmi wherein he raised issues many Nigerians are not prepared to mention even in passing. What will Stella be doing in Spain, undergoing a cosmetic surgery if the medical infrastructures in Nigeria were up to scratch? In addition, apart from personal aggrandisement, of what benefit was her trip to Spain to the Nigerian populace? How many ordinary women in the village (the people that actually matters in the Nation) can afford to pay for life-saving operations like breast cancer or hip replacement not to talk of unnecessary cosmetic surgery like tummy tuck or face uplift?
The WHO report shows that thousands of women in Nigeria are going blind yearly due to cataracts. Thousands as a result have been denied their sights due to problem that can easily be rectify with an operation that cost the equivalence of less than £10. How do you now explain to such people that their president’s wife died overseas while pursuing cosmetic surgery which costs thousands of pounds to further beautify herself? Before we rush to declare holidays in states and possibly a national mourning day, we must therefore endeavour to explain to the ordinary long suffering Nigerian women, (the true mothers of the nation) why and how their president’s wife died.
So much noise has been made as to how Nigeria has lost a gem, and how wonderful and sweet Stella was to the people. Maybe, I am ignorant of the facts behind this outpour of eulogies. Can someone please tell me what Stella did for the Nigerian people before her untimely death. I have heard and read enough of the eulogies and sometimes rantings of favour-seeking, and shoe-shining political imbeciles like Alex Akinyele who saw it as his duty to lambaste Gani for his open letter to OBJ. Someone should please clearly state Stella’s achievements as the so-called first lady, ….. the ones that has bearing on the lives of the ordinary Nigerian.
In a nation where the health service is non-existent; power supply is epileptic at best; safe drinking water is unheard of; security is virtually nil; unemployment is the order of the day; inflation is hyper; the currency is almost useless; people are being made homeless by the government, be it in Lagos or the Niger Delta; persistent fuel scarcity a sea of crude oil; and even the M M Airport radar was switched of or non-operational ( because it is too old and has not been replaced for over 20 years) while 117 people were facing their last seconds in the air, the last thing we want to even consider is declaring mourning days in any state of the nation for Stella Obasanjo when the people are suffering much more than what just befell the OBJ family on a daily basis.
We should be nationally mourning those people who lost their lives in that ill-fated plane not OBJ’s wife who died seeking her own glory when the ordinary Nigerian woman can’t afford to feed her children. Come to think of it, who was responsible for her demise? I have shed all my tears for the people that the federal government under OBJ have in one way or the other terminated their lives since it came to power. I can’t cry crocodile tears. I like to CALL A SPADE A SPADE. Stella Obasanjo was no National jewel!
Posts: 17 | From: London, UK. | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Why should Nigeria mourn the death of millions of her nameless citizens who have met their death at her hands? Are these nameless citizens part of the ruling class? The Feudal British birthed Abomination Nigeria has no use for serfs (members of the servile feudal class bound to the land and subject to the will of its owners, who have stollen the their lands in the name of 'One Nigeria'), in fact the more million that die the more money these thieves can steal!
We then begin to understand why the death of Stella will bring tears to the eyes of the ruling class or masters, while the death of millions, and millions who continue to die and will die, is no concern of Obasanjo and his fellow thieves!
Nigeria is dead,
Long live the real African countries born out of the death of that abomination!
*************
Nigerian Tribune 06 Nov 2005
Niger Delta: United States sponsors peace parley
The United States government has thrown her weight behind a peace parley for the resolution of the Niger-Delta’s crippling insurgency, even as the trial of Alhaji Dokubo Asari continues. Worried by worsening face-off in the region, an arm of the United States government, the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), has slated a peace parley for tomorrow in Washington D.C. with representatives of government, security agencies and oil companies. A statement from USIP, made available to Sunday Tribune, noted that the title of the parley is “Strategies for Peace in Niger-Delta”, while the Director of the Nigerian-based Academic Associates Peaceworks, Dr. Judy Asuni, would discuss the peace and security strategy. The action, according to the strategy, was described as a civil society initiative that brings together representatives of the Federal Government, oil and gas companies, security agencies, foreign donors, local communities and members of the civil society, to discuss fundamental issues of security in the region. The statement from USIP described the Niger Delta as follows: “The Niger-Delta produces approximately 90 per cent of Nigeria’s oil but it remains one of Nigeria’s least developed regions. “Poverty, political disenfranchisement and easy availability of firearms have generated armed groups that fight each other, the state and oil companies to demand political autonomy and a greater share of oil revenue for the region. The violence in the region has injured tens of thousands of civilians and increased the price of oil”, the statement noted. The parley, it was learnt, is to be moderated by David Smock of the United States Institute for Peace, while leading experts on American strategic interest in the Niger-Delta and the Greater Gulf of Guinea are expected to grace the occasion. Sunday Tribune learnt that some community leaders from the Niger-Delta are also expected to attend the parley even through there was no indication that the Federal Government is sending any top level official. Similar initiatives have assisted American-owned Chevron Oil Corporation in securing the release of its captured workers and the re-opening of its shut oil wells across the region.
Posts: 166 | From: chicago | Registered: Jun 2003
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