Category: Hardball

Two things this week drew attention to fake news, also called false news. A January 8 Facebook press advert headlined “Together we can fight false news,” and the January 9 BBC Conference in Abuja on “Nigeria 2019: Countering Fake News.”

Facebook listed 10 “tips to spot false news”: Be skeptical of headlines; Look closely at the link; Investigate the source; Watch for unusual formatting; Consider the photos; Inspect the dates; Check the evidence; Look for other reports; Is the story a joke? ; Some stories are intentionally false. At the BBC event, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and others argued that fake news should be criminalised.

Hardball recalls a recent interesting instance of false news. Who is to blame when a minister provides information that is reported by the media, but which turns out to be false or fake? A December 20, 2018 report had said President Muhammadu Buhari was scheduled to inaugurate the mausoleum of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 28, 2018. The information was attributed to Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige.

The minister said this while addressing over 3, 000 NDE trainees at the Awka South Local Government headquarters in Amawbia, Anambra State.  Ngige “noted that Buhari’s achievements was not only completing Zik’s mausoleum, but working on abandoned federal projects in the South-East and training and empowering over 5,000 graduates with loans ranging from N1 million to N10 million.”

It was a curious piece of information. Buhari was scheduled to launch his re-election campaign on that date at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Buhari was nowhere near Zik’s mausoleum on December 28, 2018. He was in Uyo where he launched his re-election campaign. Ngige’s information was false. He was responsible for the fake news by the media.

It is unclear whether Ngige knew Buhari wouldn’t be in Anambra on the said date, but supplied the story for political reasons. It is also unclear whether there was a change in plans he didn’t know about.

If it was an error, Ngige hasn’t said anything to redeem the error. He has said nothing to redeem himself, either. Is he aware that his information was reported by the media as credible news, but it turned out to be unreliable?

Ngige’s case shows how the media can be innocently involved in a case of fake news. Ngige didn’t help matters by his silence concerning the non-event he had publicised.

That hunger and poverty are first cousins is no great sound bite. It’s actually a no brainer as just anyone can figure that out. What may be novel to some of us is a recent emergence that hunger borne out of extreme deprivation and want could morph into a most strange spirit.

Imagine what a hungry man would do to quieten his duodenal inquests.  Nay, what wouldn’t he do in the face of acute existential push? It’s like a man at the precipice peering down the abyss; it’s a fight for life.

These imageries came to mind recently upon reading the sorry story of staff members of the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State. As the report goes, the staff – both academic and non – academic – have not been paid salaries for 28 months. That would be an entire two years and four months.

As you read this, TASCE workers would have commenced hunger strike, as they proposed, to press their points. But wouldn’t that amount to a starving man rejecting food? Have they not been on some form of abstinence in the last 28 months? Didn’t they say about 48 of their members have bitten the dust in these trying two years? Why do they contemplate mass suicide? Their tormentors would be pleased to be rid of them.

This is why Hardball is taken in by the previous methods the workers had adopted in trying to rouse their seemingly obdurate and insensate employers. According to report, the workers gathered a few days back and held what they say was “spiritual exercise.” It was dubbed “White Monday,” as most of the workers turned out in white attire.

The exercise, they say, was conducted according to both Christian and Muslim rites. They had held a prior exercise last December which was tagged “Black Thursday;” they dressed in black.

You must have heard about the Hardball instincts? Roughly summed, it’s something of an extraterrestrial antenna that picks otherworldly signals meant for worldly good. Hardball therefore thinks that instead of the double jeopardy of afflicting a hungry group with more hunger through a strike, the ‘fashion fair’ would be even more effective.

Imagine about a thousand workers, emaciated and haggard, all dressed in white and sepulchral; standing mutedly in front of the Ministry of Education complex or State Assembly for instance like white plague? Imagine a thousand bodies, all dressed in black attires rigged at any major intersection of a city – no word, no placard, no motion, no emotion or even commotion, just standing still and sad as death.

Protests like these around the capital for one week are sure to yield desired result. Call it spirit of hunger…

Those who think government has no business sponsoring pilgrims may feel vindicated by news of the arraignment of four persons accused of pilgrimage-related fraud in Adamawa State.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on January 7 arraigned Lucious Mayo, Elisie Yaduwa, Elisha Yahaya and Rhoda Samson on a nine-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, diversion, inflation of contract price, forgery and refusal to make full disclosure of assets.

Acting Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Tony Orilade, said: “Mayo is alleged to have, as Executive Secretary of the state’s Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, connived with Yaduwa, the Director of Finance and Account; Yahaya, Accountant, and Samson, cashier, to divert to personal use, about N132 million out of N347, 848,220 only released in 2016 by the Adamawa State government to cater for the pilgrimage exercise of Christians from the state.” There were other fraud-related allegations against the accused who pleaded “not guilty.”

This case gives an insight into the cost of pilgrimage sponsorship by government.  If such money was made available for such sponsorship, it is easy to see why corruption is a possibility. Indeed, before now, there had been allegations of corruption in connection with pilgrimage sponsorship by government.

One of the allegations against the accused in the Adamawa State case shows that there is a range of possible corruption methods as regards pilgrimage sponsorship by government. EFCC said:   “Furthermore, investigation has proved that the former Executive Secretary of the Board sold registration forms to 1,569 intending pilgrims in the year 2016 at N10, 000 each, amounting to N15.69m. Despite that, majority was sponsored by the Adamawa State Government, and the money was never remitted to the board’s account.”

It is noteworthy that in 2015 Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was quoted as saying the state had saved N221.8m following its decision to stop pilgrimage sponsorship. His argument that the state had to save money to be able to address pressing problems, especially concerning education and health, had the force of sound logic.

Whether government-sponsored pilgrims are Christians or Muslims, it is unjustifiable to use scarce funds for pilgrimage sponsorship to the detriment of development. The possibility that sponsorship funds can end up in the pockets of officials responsible for organising pilgrimages is a further reason to rethink government-sponsored pilgrimages.

Be careful lest your goodness harm you and bring you ill fortunes. Americans have a way with folks they deride as ‘do-gooders’. Several Nigerian proverbs also allude to the matter of too much of a good thing; or better still, too much of goodness.

For instance, when a neighbor urges you not to spare his wayward child; that you should in fact exact strict disciplinary measures; well don’t take him for his word, no parent can stand his child being thrashed by another.

This must be the dilemma of our cerebral and activist Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, Reverend Matthew Hassan Kukah. Last year, he had floated a proposal to be allowed to train 10 million almajiri street children in vocational skills. He sought to use his outfit, The kukah Centre, a non-governmental agency to achieve this aim.

Kukah believes that the outbreak of insecurity across most states of the north of Nigeria is not unconnected to too many unskilled, unengaged young people roaming the streets. He seeks to source foreign funding with which millions of these children could be equipped with vocational skills.

However, it is a well-known fact that the almajiri system which allows young boys supposedly undergoing tutelage in kuranic studies to be released unto the streets has almost become the bane of our country. These youths without any formal education, skills or even any grounding in the study of the Koran are virtually let loose on the society.

Of course this sad phenomenon has been with the north of Nigeria for so long and the danger multiplies by the day. These jobless, hapless young men are said to be the waiting recruits of terrorists and insurgents; they are also easy converts of bandit groups, armed robbery gangs and kidnapping rings.

This situation has gone on for so long just as calls have been strident for the leaders and elite of the north to spare some thoughts on the almajiri syndrome with a view to effecting some drastic changes. Kukah’s initiative must be one response to the on-going clamour for the almajirinci to be re-tinkered.

But expectedly, opposition dogs Kukah’s proposition. The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, an influential faith-based group recently spoke up in vehement opposition of Father Kukah. In a recent statement, MURIC described Kukah’s initiative as ploy for “modern colonialism and a potential time bomb.”

“We cannot pretend to be so naïve as to entrust our Muslim children to the hands of Christians. As far as we are concerned, Kukah’s almajiri dream is a Trojan horse.”

MURIC logic: they would rather the children perished in the streets than have a Christian body rescue them.

Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, attracted attention yet again when he reappeared on January 4 after hiding from the police for eight days.  He was characteristically dramatic.

A report captured Melaye’s dramatic reappearance: “Prior to his opening the gate for the police, several of his fellow federal lawmakers had driven down to the house to see and accompany him to the Force Headquarters to honour the police invitation. He was also helped out of the car at the police headquarters. At a point, some men put an inhaler to his mouth to help him breathe well. Sources attributed the fainting to possible asthma attack. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the police took him to an undisclosed hospital for proper treatment.”

The police had besieged Melaye’s Abuja residence. He is wanted for alleged criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide said to have been committed on July 19, 2018.  The police said Melaye and some armed thugs had attacked police personnel who were on duty at a checkpoint on Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State. They shot and wounded Sgt. Danjuma Saliu of the 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF). The police siege happened because Melaye had ignored police invitation.

Melaye had claimed, in a pubicised interview, that he wasn’t in Abuja, which was untrue.  Melaye had also asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the police to end the siege. The court refused to do so.

This isn’t the first time Melaye has ended up in a hospital when faced with the police. In April 2018, Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said in a statement that Melaye “escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying him around Area 1 Roundabout, Abuja.”

He added: “In the process, the senator jumped out of the police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the policemen by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination. The Police team reinforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested.”  After he was re-arrested at the Zankli Hospital, Melaye was moved to the National Hospital, Abuja, where the police reportedly handcuffed him to a bed.

Melaye had been declared wanted by the police after he allegedly ignored an invitation to answer allegations made against him by two suspected criminals, Kabiru Saidu, aka Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small.

These incidents are bad for Melaye’s image. But it seems he doesn’t give a damn what the public thinks about him.

Politicians say things in a political season.  The deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, said something that attracted attention at the launch of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat Advocates on December 28 at Fidimaye Hall, Oko-Oba, Abule Egba, Lagos.

Hamzat was quoted as saying that ahead of the 2015 general election “the then President Goodluck Jonathan offered me a bribe of $5 million and I refused it. Some of you here are my witness, I mean some of you that were sent, are here to testify.  I refused because I was thinking about the future and I don’t want to spoil my name.”

It was a serious allegation. Jonathan’s response was equally serious.  His media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said in a statement: “There is no better way to respond to this frivolous claim than to quickly dismiss it as a blatant lie apparently concocted by a wannabe politician desperate for votes in a campaign season. In the first place, this character is an obscure individual who in 2015 had neither a recognisable name nor political clout.” According to Eze, Jonathan has never met Hamzat.

Then he asked a rhetorical question:  “Assuming anybody had $5m to spend to better his political fortune, as Mr. Hamzat claimed, why seek to waste it on a man who was just a commissioner prior to 2015, and whose best outing so far is to function as a hand-picked running mate to a governorship candidate in the forthcoming 2019 elections?”

It is unclear why Jonathan allegedly tried to bribe Hamzat.  Jonathan’s response to the allegation calls for a response by Hamzat. Is it true Jonathan offered Hamzat a bribe of $5 million?  Is Jonathan’s denial credible?  Why has Hamzat not responded to Jonathan’s insulting response to the allegation?

Obviously, Hamzat’s story is good for his image. It was meant to project him as a principled politician. A report said: “The event had over 1000 APC members and party chieftains who came from Alimosho, Agege, Agbado-Ijaiye and their environs.”  The attendees went away with Hamzat’s narrative of loyalty and integrity.

But Jonathan’s response has cast doubt on the narrative. Hamzat should defend the authenticity of his narrative.  “Some of you here are my witness, I mean some of you that were sent, are here to testify,” he was quoted as saying. The said witnesses should also defend Hamzat’s account. Or was it just one of those things politicians say in a political season?

Terror war is like shadow boxing. All you see are silhouettes of the enemy; you never see him, he’s like the stalker, like your shadow. But you certainly would hear from him. He comes with loud bangs and deadly blows. Especially when you are not watching or preferably when you are snoozing. Terror is like the serpent of the night, you know not where its head lies; stealthily slitheringly, it sidles up to you and deals you a deathly blow.

Terror has no rhyme or reason. Like the sons of perdition of the Scripture, terror revels in terror; it feeds in gore and is refreshed by anguish. Hardball never saw him but he wagers that he must be one of bloodshot eyes. Frantic visage and anxious, fidgety movements; he is the restless soul who finds peace only in sorrow… other people’s sorrow, pain and anguish.

Such is it with the Boko Haram terror. Unleashed on Nigeria since 2009, current report from the UNDP’s 2018 Human Development Report on the North East of Nigeria encapsulates a gory statistics of incremental terror.

The report says 32,570 Nigerians have been killed by the rampaging blood hounds as at 2016. About 600 teachers were among that black number. A whopping number of 1,044 attacks were unleashed on the country over this period while over 1.6 million Nigerians have been rendered homeless and perhaps made destitute. The number of injured people cannot be determined but it must be in the region of double the fatalities.

How do we quantify the infamy of women and children abduction, sex slavery and forced marriages? Nubile innocence savagely broken and fresh cherries ravaged in infernal far-flung wildernesses. Harrowing journeys of no return suddenly foisted on young virgin women and beautiful bright dreams turned into nightmares at a twinkle.

The UNDP report says 547 schools were damaged or destroyed; 19000 teachers displaced from their bases. Who can adequately quantify the multiplier effects of this mayhem; the cyclic damage of this evil? Many children will never return to school; many schools will never be rebuilt; many abducted women and girl child would never be found.  And what about all the military careers cut short?

Finally, there is no end in sight yet. UNDP says the blood count has continued to increase from 2009 to 2016, the cut-off date of the report. While there were 2,320 deaths in 2009, by 2016 the toll has almost doubled to 5,350. This means our terror is technically undefeated!

Today, the evil is morphing into an international abduction-for- ransom gang. Pay up or we kill is the new mantra. International aid worker Hauwa Liman is the first poster horror… who’s next?

Meanwhile, where has military intelligence gone?

It should be a simple matter, really. But it was first complicated by Senator Dino Melaye, and then the police further complicated the matter.

The police had besieged Melaye’s Abuja residence. Melaye, representing Kogi West, is wanted for alleged criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide said to have been committed on July 19, 2018.  The police said Melaye and some armed thugs had attacked police personnel who were on duty at a checkpoint on Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State. They shot and wounded Sgt. Danjuma Saliu of the 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF).

Force spokesman Jimoh Moshood showed journalists copies of a letter of invitation sent to the Clerk of the National Assembly, the medical report of the injured police officer and pictures of the officer. The letter was dated July 23, 2018 and signed by Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, Ali Janga. The letter was received on July 23, 2018 by the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly.

The police asked the Clerk “to inform the said Senator Melaye to report to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command through the undersigned on Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 1100hrs to assist police investigation.”

Moshood said: “The incident happened on July 19 and we sent a letter of invitation to the Clerk of the National Assembly on the 23rd and it was acknowledged on the 24th. The investigation police officer that dispatched the letter was present when the Clerk handed over the letter to Senator Dino Melaye and since then, we have been out to get him arrested.”

He added: “Seeing the presence of police at his residence does not mean we just started. He has been evading police arrest and we have been able to narrow him down to his residence and those there will not retreat until he surrenders himself for arrest because nobody is above the law.”

So it’s a simple matter, really. Melaye is wanted by the police, and has been invited by the police. All he needs to do is prove his innocence, which he can’t do by ignoring the police invitation. Moshood said: “Melaye bluntly refused to report himself to the police till date.”

Dodging isn’t the solution. Indeed, dodging only compounds the problem. Moshood argued that the police siege was a lawful response to Melaye’s dodging.  Melaye should avoid being labelled a dodger.