CC™ VideoSpective
CREDITS: OLAOYE POPOOLA TV
Monday
Sunday
Flashback: Northern Nigeria Islamic leader calls for amnesty for war criminals and perpetrators of genocide
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| Sultan of Sokoto - Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III |
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III, himself a former soldier and head of a presidential security unit that guarded former military dictator General Ibrahim Babangida in the late 1980s, has sensationally called on President Goodluck Jonathan to grand unconditional amnesty to members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
Abubakar spoke before an Islamic group in Kaduna, a city on the fault line between the north and Nigeria's largely Christian south that has seen thousands killed in recent years in fighting between the two faiths. The sultan said that while conversations should continue among Muslims about how to encourage peace, President Goodluck Jonathan should consider offering a peace deal to stop the fighting.
"We want to use this opportunity to call on the government — especially Mr. President — to see how he can declare total amnesty to all combatants without thinking twice," he said. "If the amnesty is declared, the majority of those young men who have been running would come out and embrace that amnesty."
Though Abubakar did not speak in specifics, others have suggested offering an amnesty deal in lines with one previously given to militants in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta in 2009. That deal offered cash payments and job training to fighters in return for them giving up their weapons and halting attacks on foreign oil companies. The sultan is the highest ranking official so far to endorse such a plan for Islamic extremists, many of whom fight as part of Boko Haram and its splinter groups.
The 2009 amnesty deal, however, did not stop attacks in the delta, nor halt the rapidly growing theft of crude oil from pipelines there that has caused serious environmental damage. The militants there also attacked the commodity that fills the nation's coffers while typically not killing civilians. Meanwhile, Boko Haram is blamed for killing at least 792 people last year alone, according to an Associated Press count, and its attacks occur hundreds of miles away from the nearest oil well.
Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram's leader, has dismissed previous offers for a peace deal and recently threatened the life of a man who claimed to be a group leader negotiating for one. The group is fighting to free its imprisoned members and install an Islamic government over Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has conducted its guerrilla fight across Nigeria's north over the last two years. The group's command-and-control structure remains unclear, though it appears to have sparked several splinter groups. The Sultan's call may also give credence to the claim by most political and intelligence experts in Nigeria that the northern ruling class is actually the back-bone behind Boko Haram and the continued murder of innocent civilians in the north, who just happen to be of a different faith and ethnicity.
A group of men claiming to belong to Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven French tourists from northern Cameroon late February — a first for the group. Meanwhile, a Boko Haram splinter group known as Ansaru has claimed the recent kidnappings in northern Nigeria of seven foreigners — a British citizen, a Greek, an Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino — all employees of a Lebanese construction company called Setraco.
Despite the deployment of more soldiers and police to northern Nigeria, the central government has been unable to stop the killings. Meanwhile, human rights groups and local citizens blame both Boko Haram and security forces for committing violent atrocities against the local civilian population, fueling rage in the region. This could however not be further from the truth as these so-called human rights groups seem to either be unable to fully understand the complex nature of the problem or choose not to.
On Monday night, witnesses say suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked Gwoza, a village in northeastern Borno state about 135 kilometers (80 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri. Gwoza resident Umaru Yahuza said the fighting targeted a bank and the police station in the village and that gunfire lasted throughout much of the night. Yahuza said residents awoke to find corpses in the streets.
The Nigerian government must not give in to the unrealistic demands of liberal human rights groups and other individuals or groups (foreign or domestic), who have a hidden agenda, one which is not and will never be in the best interest of the country.
President Goodluck Jonathan must stand firm as the civilized world is watching.
Saturday
Friday
RACISM: An evil and methodical global system of oppression and consequent decimation.....
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| W.E.B DuBois |
"A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect"..... W.E.B. DuBois
The afore-stated quote with the requisite attribution to the great W.E.B. DuBois essentially sums up the crux of the piece. Racism, as I have always stated is not a behavior, nor is it a word, action or an attitude. Racism at its very core is an institution with its attendant benefactors as well as victims.
There is nothing more disheartening than to hear people of an ethnic background in particular refer to an individual, an action or a statement as racist. The institution is what is racist. Yes, the institution that deemed the Black man and woman as less than human and forced people of African descent in particular into an artificial class, then proceeded to accuse them (to this day regardless of geographical location) of all manner of sin with the sole intent of damning and systematically subjugating them.
Whether it is in South Africa (pre or post apartheid), Brazil, Argentina (where Blacks have been systematically exterminated over time) and other parts of South America, the United States of America or countries in Europe like France and England, the system has always ensured that "people of color" (Blacks in particular) remain at the bottom. Brazil for example, has the second largest concentration of people of African descent (Blacks) after Nigeria.
In Brazil, the poverty level among its Black or "colored" population is terrifying with the unemployment rate among the latter in Brazil well over the 50% clip. The same scenario plays out in the United States with Black unemployment rate nearing 10% (Blacks make up only 13% of the US population) and 1.6 times the US national unemployment average.
The same pattern of subjugation is also found in South Africa where the majority population of close to 90% is black (African) but the broad unemployment rate among South African Blacks (who are the majority) stands at close to 40% and should be more if the unemployment among the "mixed-race Blacks" (designated as coloreds by the former racist apartheid regime) is also taken into consideration.
In the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate for Black South Africans was a staggering 36.9%, which is higher than the national average and has been for the past decade. This is more than three decades after the supposed end of apartheid!
The sole intent of racism (as an institution) as designed by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) was to ensure the continued dominance of other ethnic (non-White) groups by minimizing the traditional ways, religion, ideals and institutions of non-White racial groups, while promoting those of the colonialists and western imperialists as superior to those of the former.
It is not surprising that countries like Japan, China and the Asian Tigers, who have maintained their core culture and traditions are the ones that have been able to compete and even out-duel the so-called global WASP economic powers. The Chinese, Japanese and the Asian Tigers have kept their culture and institutions the way they have always been even in the face of some of the most debilitating wars and conflicts with the West, as they understand its existential importance to their survival.
African countries on the other hand continue to imbibe the alien cultures and values of the West with its attendant negative consequences. As a people, we (Africans) have essentially abandoned our traditional institutions including our language, thus embarking on a journey that may not augur well for the future survival of our people.
The sole intent of racism (as an institution) as designed by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) was to ensure the continued dominance of other ethnic (non-White) groups by minimizing the traditional ways, religion, ideals and institutions of non-White racial groups, while promoting those of the colonialists and western imperialists as superior to those of the former.
It is not surprising that countries like Japan, China and the Asian Tigers, who have maintained their core culture and traditions are the ones that have been able to compete and even out-duel the so-called global WASP economic powers. The Chinese, Japanese and the Asian Tigers have kept their culture and institutions the way they have always been even in the face of some of the most debilitating wars and conflicts with the West, as they understand its existential importance to their survival.
African countries on the other hand continue to imbibe the alien cultures and values of the West with its attendant negative consequences. As a people, we (Africans) have essentially abandoned our traditional institutions including our language, thus embarking on a journey that may not augur well for the future survival of our people.
The debilitating effect of colonialism and racism continue to take its toll on our people, our institutions and our way of life. In sports for example (soccer or football for one), we disregard our best local talent and seek even the most unqualified White expatriates to fill the same role, while paying them exorbitant amounts of money, a fraction of which the local handlers would gladly take, and produce better results than the White mercenaries.
Our women have been told that their natural beauty is not enough, and that they must purchase and wear human hair procured from dead women in India and other parts of Asia and Europe to be considered beautiful. The same racist institution also tells them they must bleach their skin so they can be light skinned like Beyoncé (the white held ideal of Black beauty) and inculcates the Black woman with anti-male propaganda that has inevitably seen the Black man and the Black woman increasingly at odds with one another.
The most obvious example(s) of the effects of racism are the US elections in 2016 and the most recent one this year, 2024, that saw Donald J. Trump elected as the 45th and soon to be 47th POTUS. There is no question that Donald Trump's first election in 2016 was in response to the election of his predecessor, Barack H. Obama as the 44th POTUS. Obama (who is half White and half Black) was elected in 2008, against all odds as the so-called first Black POTUS.
Our women have been told that their natural beauty is not enough, and that they must purchase and wear human hair procured from dead women in India and other parts of Asia and Europe to be considered beautiful. The same racist institution also tells them they must bleach their skin so they can be light skinned like Beyoncé (the white held ideal of Black beauty) and inculcates the Black woman with anti-male propaganda that has inevitably seen the Black man and the Black woman increasingly at odds with one another.
The most obvious example(s) of the effects of racism are the US elections in 2016 and the most recent one this year, 2024, that saw Donald J. Trump elected as the 45th and soon to be 47th POTUS. There is no question that Donald Trump's first election in 2016 was in response to the election of his predecessor, Barack H. Obama as the 44th POTUS. Obama (who is half White and half Black) was elected in 2008, against all odds as the so-called first Black POTUS.
He (Obama) endured some of the most contentious times any POTUS has ever endured in the history of the United States and by the end of his tenure, the majority White population already had enough and any White person, no matter how unqualified, would do. The election of Donald Trump was essentially a White backlash to the election of the first Black POTUS!
The 2024 elections followed the same trajectory with the backlash this time against perceived marginalization of Whites (talk about an oxymoron) by DEI (Diversity Equity & Inclusion) programs that seek to promote equality of representation and opportunity across the national landscape.
When you see all these scenarios, it is clear to see that racism is an institution, an evil and methodical system of continued oppression, marginalization and consequent decimation of a class of people by and with the apparatus of national and global economic, executive, judicial, legislative and military power.
Africa and Africans must wake up from their slumber. We must realize that the second scramble for the continent is already in effect and those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
When you see all these scenarios, it is clear to see that racism is an institution, an evil and methodical system of continued oppression, marginalization and consequent decimation of a class of people by and with the apparatus of national and global economic, executive, judicial, legislative and military power.
Africa and Africans must wake up from their slumber. We must realize that the second scramble for the continent is already in effect and those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
Rather than looking to join global organizations like the G20 or BRICS, the impetus should be to strengthen our traditional and cultural institutions at home, while also forging greater regional and inter-regional cooperation amongst African countries and economies.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), ECCAS, EAC, SADC, COMESA, CEN-SAD, AMU and the IGAD are Regional Economic Communities (RECs) recognized by the AU (African Union) for the sole purpose of fostering greater cooperation towards ensuring the economic prosperity of the African continent.
The focus should be inward first. Then when you engage externally, you do that with a united front and from a position of strength. The economic policies being espoused by the West are geared towards maintaining the status quo and African leaders must NOT mortgage the future of the continent to please those who seek to bring the continent to its knees.
#racism #imperialism #neo-colonialism #white supremacy #panafricanism
#racism #imperialism #neo-colonialism #white supremacy #panafricanism
Thursday
Sanusi's poignant take on the politics of vested interests in Nigeria
CC Video Insight
A rather articulate and insightful take on how deeply entrenched vested interests continue to stand in the way of meaningful growth and development in Nigeria.
A rather articulate and insightful take on how deeply entrenched vested interests continue to stand in the way of meaningful growth and development in Nigeria.
Wednesday
Tuesday
African-Americans Who Served in WWII Faced Segregation Abroad and at Home
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| Photograph by David E. Scherman / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty |
CC™ Histofact
Some 1.2 million African-American men served in the U.S. military during the war, but they were often treated as second-class citizens.
When the Selective Training and Service Act became the nation’s first peacetime draft law in September 1940, civil rights leaders pressured President Franklin D. Roosevelt to allow Black men the opportunity to register and serve in integrated regiments.
Although African-Americans had participated in every conflict since the Revolutionary War, they had done so segregated, and FDR appointee Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, was not interested in changing the status quo. With a need to shore up the U.S. Armed Forces as war intensified in Europe, FDR decided that Black men could register for the draft, but they would remain segregated and the military would determine the proportion of Blacks inducted into the service.
The compromise represented the paradoxical experience that befell the 1.2 million African- American men who served in World War II: They fought for democracy overseas while being treated like second-class citizens by their own country.
Despite African-American soldiers' eagerness to fight in World War II, the same Jim Crow discrimination in society was practiced in every branch of the armed forces. Many of the bases and training facilities were located in the South, in addition to the largest military installation for Black soldiers, Fort Huachuca, located in Arizona. Regardless of the region, at all the bases there were separate blood banks, hospitals or wards, medical staff, barracks and recreational facilities for Black soldiers. And white soldiers and local white residents routinely slurred and harassed them.
“The experience was very dispiriting for a lot of Black soldiers,” says Matthew Delmont, a history professor at Dartmouth College and author of Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African-American Newspapers. “The kind of treatment they received by white officers in army bases in the United States was horrendous. They described being in slave-like conditions and being treated like animals. They were called racial epithets quite regularly and just not afforded respect either as soldiers or human beings.”
Because the military didn’t think African-Americans were fit for combat or leadership positions, they were mostly relegated to labor and service units. Working as cooks and mechanics, building roads and ditches, and unloading supplies from trucks and airplanes were common tasks for Black soldiers. And for the few who did make officer rank, they could only lead other Black men.
As Christopher Paul Moore wrote in his book, Fighting for America: Black Soldiers—The Unsung Heroes of World War II, “Black Americans carrying weapons, either as infantry, tank corps, or as pilots, was simply an unthinkable notion…More acceptable to southern politicians and much of the military command was the use of black soldiers in support positions, as noncombatants or laborers.”
African-American soldiers regularly reported their mistreatment to the Black press and to the NAACP, pleading for the right to fight on the front lines alongside white soldiers.
“The Black press was quite successful in terms of advocating for Blacks soldiers in World War II,” says Delmont. “They point out the hypocrisy of fighting a war that was theoretically about democracy, at the same time having a racially segregated army.”
In 1942, the Black newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier—in response to a letter to the editor by James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old Black soldier, in which he wrote, “Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?"—launched the Double V Campaign. The slogan, which stood for a victory for democracy overseas and a victory against racism in America, was touted by Black journalists and activists to rally support for equality for African-Americans. The campaign highlighted the contributions the soldiers made in the war effort and exposed the discrimination that Black soldiers endured while fighting for liberties that African Americans themselves didn’t have.
As casualties mounted among white soldiers toward the final year of the war, the military had to utilize African-Americans as infantrymen, officers, tankers and pilots, in addition to remaining invaluable in supply divisions.
From August 1944 to November 1944, the Red Ball Express, a unit of mostly Black drivers delivered gasoline, ammunition, food, mechanical parts and medical supplies to General George Patton’s Third Army in France, driving up to 400 miles on narrow roads in the dead of night without headlights to avoid detection by the Germans.
The 761 Tank Battalion, became the first Black division to see ground combat in Europe, joining Patton’s Third Army in France in November 1944. The men helped liberate 30 towns under Nazi control and spent 183 days in combat, including in the Battle of the Bulge. The Tuskegee Airmen, the all-Black fighter pilot group trained at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, escorted bombers over Italy and Sicily, flying 1600 combat missions and destroying 237 German aircraft on ground and 37 in air.
“Without these crucial roles that Blacks soldiers were playing, the American military wouldn’t have been the same fighting force it was,” says Delmont. “That was a perspective you didn’t see much in the white press.”
After World War II officially ended on September 2, 1945, Black soldiers returned home to the United States facing violent white mobs of those who resented African Americans in uniform and perceived them as a threat to the social order of Jim Crow.
In addition to racial violence, Black soldiers were often denied benefits guaranteed under the G.I. Bill, the sweeping legislation that provided tuition assistance, job placement, and home and business loans to veterans.
As civil rights activists continued to emphasize America’s hypocrisy as a democratic nation with a Jim Crow army, and Southern politicians stood firmly against full racial equality for Blacks, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 that desegregated the U.S. Armed Forces in July 1948. Full integration, however, would not occur until the Korean War.
Monday
The resounding defeat of the Fulani at Ogbomosho and the Yoruba legacy of resistance against Fulanization cloaked in religion
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| Ooni of Ife |
By Staff
This is why they stopped teaching history in Nigerian schools. Why? The Fulani hegemony has always hinged its stranglehold over Nigeria on the ability it has always had to control the Nigerian narrative, from a socio-political and historical standpoint.
The Fulani Jihad led by Usman Dan Fodio (the terrorist progenitor of the Sokoto Caliphate) swept through the house of kingdoms like a storm, toppling kings and replacing thrones with turbans.
Ilorin had once been a Yoruba border town under the control of the Oyo empire, but fell to the advancing Fulani cavalry of terrorists due to internal strife and betrayal by one of its own, Afonja, the then Aare Onakakanfo (Supreme Military General) of the Oyo empire.
The Fulani Jihadists have one singular vision - To dip the Quran and the sword into the sea, a euphemism instructive of a chilling metaphor for a campaign of total domination to overrun all of Yoruba land by force of arms, to Fulanize and Islamize every town, every village and every soul that stands in their path .
It is driven by an inordinate ambition cloaked in religion but rooted in imperialism and ruthless expansionism.
The resounding defeat of the Fulani at Ogbomosho by the combined forces of Ogbomosho and Ijaye is one of the many lessons of history that must be taught our children and generations to come.
The Fulani (still under the cloak of religion with the Sultan of Sokoto) are masters of the long game, and must NEVER be trusted!
VIDEO CREDITS: BATTLEFIELD AFRICA
Sunday
Religion as a Weapon of Mass Mental Destruction in Nigeria
By Yahaya Balogun
In Nigeria, anyone who encounters the shocking viral images revealing the appalling treatment of vulnerable, innocent, unclothed toddlers—both boys and girls—allegedly from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and remains unaffected or indifferent to the grim injustices inflicted by religion in this nation, Nigeria, has, in effect, become complicit in this horrific abuse and violation against children. Three distinct groups of religious followers define the Nigerian landscape:
1. The gullible, brainwashed, and misinformed believers (mostly impoverished people living in squalor; they can die or become suicide bombers for their ministers, marabouts, and clerics).
2. The knowingly ignorant and educated followers (such as PhD holders and rural and urban professors; their levels of academic achievement are dwarfed by religious foolishness).
3. Those who manipulate both groups for personal gain (specifically, politicians who use them as disposable tools for their own benefit).
These three groups represent some of the most dangerous players within Nigeria's religious sphere. They are the evils fueling and hindering Nigeria's growth and development.
It amazes me how African religious leaders have managed—whether intentionally or through negligence—to turn faith into a tool that suppresses research, reflection, and critical thinking in everyday life. The common belief is that religion is meant to guide human conduct in harmony with divine principles and righteousness.
Yet, from Nigeria in Africa to Rome in Europe and Afghanistan in the Middle East—excluding Asia and the Americas—we observe the corruption of religion to manipulate human thought. Religion often breeds fear among the vulnerable, intensifying perceived threats and weaknesses while obscuring the potential strengths and opportunities that belief can provide. Is it any wonder that more people are turning away from traditional faiths toward philosophies like practical stoicism and humanism that prioritize caring for humanity?
Modern Nigerian religions often secretly promote hatred, family conflicts, greed, and an unending pursuit of an immediate and insatiable quest for satisfaction. Nigeria's religions frequently sexualize women and children, exploiting impressionable minds.
It's disheartening to see many young people captivated by the sermons of their "Pastors" and "Alfas," where women are reduced to mere tools or objects to satisfy immoral desires. I've heard a "pastor" callously declare that a wife is her husband's property, implying she should submit to his every whim without question. Many women remain silent, accepting this degrading view from the pulpit—a perspective I find degrading, deeply offensive, and misogynistic. A wife can respect her husband as the head of the family without losing her dignity. Similarly, a husband can guide his wife without diminishing her worth. Genuine partnerships are built on love, support, and mutual respect, free from tyranny. These ministers and spiritual con artists have disrupted and destroyed countless lives, leaving relationships and families in disunity and chaos.
In today's spiritual scene, we face a disturbing environment where these religious charlatans and unscrupulous individuals exploit unsuspecting followers from their deceptive platforms. The so-called religious figures in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, must be exposed and brought to justice. Unless African nations, particularly Nigeria, take decisive and substantial steps to regulate religious practices and protect the vulnerable, society will continue to carry the heavy burden left by the remnants of brutal British neocolonialism and some religious fundamentalists often disguised as men of God across the African continent.
Saturday
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