The Nation Newspaper

Tag: not

  • Not an ex-president

    Sir: That the late MKO Abiola occupies an important niche in the Nigerian wall, and that June 12,1993 is epochal in our annals is not what any sane person would dispute. There is also no argument that the annulment of the June 12 presidential election was a manifest act of wickedness by Ibrahim Babangida, a conscienceless megalomaniac, encouraged by his insane accomplices. Nonetheless, that inglorious act effectively prevented the actualisation of that mandate as  Abiola was not sworn in as president! Thus, his mandate did not ripen, nor was it perfected. He was consequently not vested with the required ‘positional’ and legal authority for even one second, and this, unfortunately, has vitiated the mandate.

    If Abiola was not president, it is impossible, unreasonable, farcical, and in fact comical to declare him an ‘ex-president’! It is as absurd as it is ludicrous. Is there even a lacuna to situate this imaginary presidency in? I therefore balk at the idea of paying his family emoluments and entitlements for an office Abiola never occupied!

    This is not to say however that the Nigerian state may not be liable for the unwarranted, unjust, unjustified and patently unjustifiable injustice meted out to poor MKO Abiola. This might translate to huge sums of money, which may be far in excess of the touted emoluments and entitlements, as special and aggravated damages payable to Abiola’s family.

    To make myself clearer, declaring Abiola an ex-president is nothing but a continuation of the theatrics that we call running a country. What is more important is to learn from the mistakes made by the wheeler dealers pretending to be statesmen, criminals pretending to be patriots, and ensure that such rascality and brinkmanship do not occur again. What more, for closure, the criminality involved must be addressed. Prosecution of crime is not time-bound; perpetrators of the evil act must brought to book.

    Yes! Declare the result of the June 12,1993 election!

    Yes! Declare Abiola the winner of that election!

    But No! Abiola cannot be declared an ex-President simply because he was not!

    History has to happen; it cannot be invented!

    Declaring Abiola an ex-President is declaring him a fairytale president, and no more than papering over crevices in the polity, and pretending they are mere cracks.

    It simply doesn’t make sense!

     

    • Kehinde Nubi Somolu, Lagos.
  • Not less

    Not less

    His family gathered around him in a Lagos hospital, including his elder brother who is now an emir. After days of funeral fears, they thrilled to see him in bed. Some would not chat, others chattered. The man sat erect on the bed but he did not respond. He knew something was amiss. His visiting relatives were puzzled.

    He knew a few moments later what he feared when he started to recover. He had lost his sense of hearing, significantly. Tanko Al-Makura experienced the first signs in a bout of fever. He was attending Abacha’s constitutional conference in Abuja. It was the days of zero party, the dictator’s dubious experiment in democracy.

    Doctors zeroed in, and thought it was malaria. Later they diagnosed him for typhoid. Chloramphenicol came to rescue as the routine cure of the time. it turned out to be lassa fever. But before they could realise it, it had complicated into his hearing loss. He lost 70 percent of his ability to pick up a sound.

    The story of the Nassarawa State governor rose to public eye when he took part in a thousand-man march in Abuja a few years ago to raise awareness to a segment of society to which few pay attention. Not governors, not senators, not presidents, not even columnists.

    This week the state is playing host to President Muhammadu Buhari to open what will be the first of its kind in West Africa: A school for all kinds of disability. Those who cannot hear, see, walk. It also includes those like the governor who have partial abilities. It is a school, not a healing house. The lame may not walk, the blind may not see, and the deaf may not hear. But the point of the Comprehensive Special School in Lafia is to heal what is even more important than the senses: the mind. Greek philosopher Socrates said our senses deceive us, so we should place more premium on sensibility rather than the sense. So, we should think, and that was the beginning of what philosophy teachers call the Socratic Method.

    But the story is not just that it will admit about 400 people from around the country at the start, or that it is well-equipped, or that its free, or that it has recruited teachers who have graduated in special education. It is to muse on how or whether leaders with disability can transform their shortcomings to the greater good of society.

    What Al-Makura is doing is to remember his privilege. As I recall, perhaps he is the first governor we have had with disability.  Or maybe he is the first to confess it and rid it of its stigma. But does a leader with disability come to terms with it and turn it to the good of all?

    Some have it in office, others have it at birth. Al-Makura had it when he was 37 years old. Could he have shown this level of compassion if his ears did not fail him. Although he claims he had always shown compassion, we may never know if he could have built this sort of comprehensive institution.

    We had the story of Ibrahim Babangida when he was head of state, and IBB was then called Maradona, in homage to the football baron who wriggled through defences with his magic feet. IBB was called Maradona because of his pollical sleight of feet, playing conman with his decoys about his transition programme. The late Ogun State governor Bisi Onabanjo tagged him Maradona. It stuck. IBB caught an affliction in his leg. It was called radiculopathy.

    He left for Germany and he returned healed. IBB had suffered something serious. A press photographer caught him once frowning as he writhed in pain and reached down to the painful leg. But it did not change IBB as a ruler. He was still cynical about democracy, still egoistic about power, and he still clamped down on democrats. Maybe he might have redeemed himself if he built a hospital or showed some compassion for the vulnerable around us. IBB was not moved by his own disability.

    The former Yugoslavian leader and world war 11 hero, Josip Broz Tito, was held down with a bad leg and had to be amputated. In a country riven apart by ethnic woes, his sense of compassion stung the country together, he did not  love the Slav more than the Croats or Muslims. His sense of humanity for the father of non-alignment became even more acute, according to his biographers. He died a uniter and man of the world.

    In the United States, presidents have shown great empathy because of their handicaps. The founding president George Washington, a general, and the man that led the Americans against colonialist Britain, had a drawback as a child. His was an acute learning disability. Some of his biographers say it accounted for compassion even as a slave owner. For his time, he was liberal, giving many rights to his slave and freed all of them at his death.

    John F. Kennedy hid his from the public. But historians now say he was sick and that accounted for his sometimes scrawny looks. He was permanently on medication. JFK played important role in the birth of the civil rights movement that his successor, Lyndon

    B Johnson was to turn into the Civil Rights Act. JFK’s sister also suffered permanently mental illness.

    Perhaps the most acute of such stories is that of Franklyn Roosevelt, who suffered from polio. The leader who beat Hitler and introduced the New Deal during the Great Depression, had a patrician bearing because he was born to the country’s upper crust. Historian Doris Kearn Goodwin says his polio helped to humanise him and gave him the common touch.

    What Al-Makura is doing, should hopefully, bring more attention to leaders and empathy. Even though the president will open a comprehensive primary health care centre in Kwandare and a market first conceived in 1996, the highlight is the work for the least appreciated among us.

    We must treat them as we treasure legacy in the fashion of a father to his disabled daughter known as “poor fool” in the Nobel Prize winning novel A Good Earth by Pearls Buck. He treated her specially unlike the patriarch Kennedy treated his daughter. They are our equals.

    As autism spokesman Temple Grandin noted, “I am different, not less.”

  • Garba: Flying Eagles not ready for AYC

    Garba: Flying Eagles not ready for AYC

    Flying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, has stated that his team is not ready for the Africa Youth Championship (AYC), despite wining their first match at the Super 4 tournament.

    The Flying Eagles, who have been preparing for the AYC in Kaduna, beat Enyimba who will be featuring in the CAF Champions League, by 2-0.

    “We aren’t ready yet,” Garba told SL10.ng

    “We’ve noticed a couple of mistakes that we shall correct. If you noticed, we created a lot of scoring chances that we failed to convert and that means it’s important that we correct that.

    “Don’t forget that we shall be going to Gambia to finalise our preparation for the AYC, after which I think we can say the team is fully ready for Africa,” Garba stated.

    The Flying Eagles will have their hands full on Monday when they take Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) champions, Kano Pillars, however, Garba believes his side will take each game as it comes.

    “For us, we always want to win every game we go into. Playing and wining the Super 6 will boost the morale of the team going into a major tournament like the AYC. But I must say that we take every game as it comes,” Garba stated.

     

  • Not the answer

    •Federal Government asking states to seek alternative sources of funds is cynical, to say the least

    For over four decades of the oil boom, Nigeria swam in plenty; revelling in the rent of unearned oil wealth and like prodigals, frittering away most of the petro-dollar earnings. Nigerians lived large and licentiously, developing taste for all the best things in the world and neglecting to lay even the most basic foundations for her development and growth.

    Agriculture, which was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy before the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, was abandoned. Modern infrastructure, the fulcrum upon which great industrial assets are founded, was never developed. Thus, with the advent of the oil boom, Nigeria merely became the shopping complex of the world where exotic goods from all over the world were merchandised.

    More pathetic is that even the huge crude oil and gas deposit did not galvanise the establishment of refining and petrochemical complexes such that the country would stand out today as a global hub for petroleum products. On the contrary, through her years of boom up till this moment, she has been flaring most of her gas deposit and exporting her crude regardless of the myriads of inherent by-products. She also imports till today, all her petroleum products needs.

    Perhaps no other country has been more profligate with her natural endowments. Even when the international prices of petroleum products rose at exponential rates engendering heavy windfall of petro-dollars, the receipts were largely embezzled by a succession of highly corrupt and megalomaniac leaders. They neither invested in the sector nor expanded the base of the economy.

    Today, just as the price of crude oil rose, in like manner it has started to fall in the last few months, moving from a little over $100 per barrel to about $80. As has been predicted, it will continue to plunge because there is a glut in the world crude oil market, as many more countries have discovered fossil fuel. Secondly, viable, cheaper and more efficient alternatives like shale oil have been developed, especially by the United States of America, which is now poised to push her enormous petroleum reserve into the global market.

    The prospects are dim indeed for countries like Nigeria which rely on primitive and non-value-added shipment of crude oil. Has the chicken finally come home to roost? If that be the case, it may not yet be apparent to governments of the day, especially at the federal level; or shall we say there is nothing to suggest that people in positions of authority have been able to come to terms with the seemingly irreversible slide in oil earnings and the attendant recession.

    To buttress this point, at a recent meeting of the National Council on Development Planning (NCDP), the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, could only admonish the delegates who were state planning commissioners to lead the process of finding alternative sources of funding in their various states.

    According to Suleiman, while his ministry was collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria, “The states are also advised to develop their strategic plans as well as the associated contingency plans to complement the effort of the Federal Government,” he said.

    We aver that Nigeria’s government, especially the Federal Government is still locked in its old lethargic mindset. This situation the country is faced with calls for a complete rethink and restructure of the current fiscal regime. First, the Federal Government must convene an economic summit for the purpose of re-drawing the country’s fiscal map in the face of this new reality. Second, it must free up the huge share of the federation funds it has arrogated to itself so that it could be re-distributed to the states and local councils where they are sorely needed. In addition, the central government must be ready to cooperate with the states in relaxing the laws barring them from exploiting their mineral resources.

    Suffice it to say that years of ineptitude have brought this looming calamity upon the country, but if the pains must be mitigated, governments at all levels must break out of the old mold and go back to the basics.

  • Not yet good news

    Not yet good news

    • We hope the discovery of oil in Lagos will be a blessing

    From all indications, Lagos State is set to join the league of oil-producing states in Nigeria next year. The  Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had reportedly approved, early this year, the Field Development Plan (FDP) for the take-off the project. On this basis, the Final Investment Decision (FIT) is expected to be taken anytime from now, with first production scheduled for the end of 2015.

    The area where oil has been proven to exist in commercially viable quantities is the Aje Oil Field located in OML 113, approximately 24km offshore in Badagry, Lagos. The joint venture partners involved in the project – Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum, Jacka Resources, New Age, First Hydrocarbons Nigeria, Energy Equity Resources and Panoro Egypt are understandably excited about the prospects of the business.

    They anticipate an initial field production rate of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day, using solution gas as fuel. And the Cenomanian variety of crude available in the Aje Field is light, sweet under-saturated oil with a gas-oil ratio of 375-480 standard cubic feet per barrel. A spokesman of the joint venture partners thus enthused that although “No crude sales agreements have yet been entered into for the project, but as the Cenomanian oil is light crude and the project is located on major shipping routes to and from Nigeria’s main oil-producing areas, sales and access to transport is not expected to be a problem”.

    Ordinarily, this development ought to be good news both for the economy of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. But we are hesitant to come to any such conclusion because of the sordid realities of the country’s petroleum sector.

    Yes, petroleum has generated humongous revenues for Nigeria over the last five decades. But this has not translated into development for the country or better living standards for the majority of her people. For one, oil revenue has spawned reckless corruption that has enriched a small minority while impoverishing the larger populace. Again, a critical sector of the economy that blossomed before the discovery of oil, namely agriculture, has been neglected because of oil, with the country becoming dependent on food imports.

    Moreover, oil has perverted the structure of our federalism with the component parts of the country failing to develop their natural potential, including solid minerals because of access to easy oil money. Indeed, oil has become a veritable ‘resource curse’ to those states where the commodity is found, leading to massive pollution of their environment with negative consequences for their health and sources of livelihood.

    The country’s petroleum industry is plagued by so much criminal malfeasance, illegality and self-inflicted inefficiency that the discovery of new sources of oil can have no positive impact without drastic reforms in the sector. Yet, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) designed to achieve this objective has remained stalled at the National Assembly for years now. It remains a mystery, for instance, why the country has for decades been unable to refine crude oil locally.

    The existing government-owned refineries have perennially operated substantially below capacity despite billions purportedly spent on their Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM). To compound matters, the country has been unable to attract the necessary private investment to eliminate or drastically reduce her dependency on imported refined petroleum products. The implication is an intricate and massive fraud network built around purported subsidies on imported petroleum products.

    Lagos has over the years been able to build a robust internally generated revenue base that has significantly reduced her dependence on oil revenues from the centre. We hope that the prospects of oil revenues will not lull the state into complacency and the abandonment of the virtues of fiscal innovation, discipline and self-reliance.

  • Nasarawa killings: Withdrawal of lawyers ‘ll not affect panel, says govt

    Nasarawa killings: Withdrawal of lawyers ‘ll not affect panel, says govt

    The Nasarawa State government yesterday said the withdrawal of appearance of seven Eggon lawyers from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry probing the killing of security operatives in Lakyo village would not affect the panel’s work.

    The Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Lagi Innocent, told reporters that the Justice Fola Gbadeyan panel would continue its sitting with or without the participation of Eggon people.

    The lawyers on Wednesday alleged irregularities in the commission’s proceedings.

    Governor Tanko al-Makura constituted the panel following the killing of over 50 policemen and operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) allegedly in an ambush by members of the Ombatse Militia Group (OMG) in Lakyo village, on May 7.

    Some of the lawyers include Chief Ayas Bako Aya, appearing with Aliyu Anzewu and representing the District Head of Bassa, Chief Joshua Daudu and Ovye John, representing Eggon Communities in Barkin Abdullahi (B.A.D) and Randa.

    Others are: Anthony Jatau representing the Ward Head of Eggon in Arutu village of Doma Local Government Area; Barr. Ayuwulu Baba Ayuwulu, representing Eggon Community, Kadarko in Keana Keana Local Government Area; Gambo P. Assiku, representing Eggon Cultural Development Association (ECDA) in Bassa Zarengi; and Barr. Harry Dan Anyuanbaga, representing Mada Community of Bassa in Kokona Local Government

    However, Lagi described the action of the Eggon counsel and their clients as a shot in the foot.

    Lagi said: “That they have willfully withdrawn on grounds best known to them means that they have shut Eggon people out of the fact-finding process. It means their own story would be told by persons other than themselves.”

    He added that the withdrawal was an indication that the counsel and their clients are not committed to the process initiated by the Nasarawa State Government to heal both fresh and old wounds inflicted on the people by series of violence leading to the massacre of over 50 security personnel in Lakyo on May 7, 2013.

    He said: “They are not stating any provable point to warrant their excuses to leave the Commission. This is not a conventional court; it is a fac-finding mission. So, their excuses, all hinging on technicalities do not apply to such processes.

     

  • MLS SWITCH LATEST: Levante: We ‘ll not let Martins go

    MLS SWITCH LATEST: Levante: We ‘ll not let Martins go

    Hopes of Nigeria’s Obafemi Martins making a move to the MLS in the United States may be dashed by his Spanish team Levante .

    The La Liga outfit stated through their official twitter account that they are not willing to negotiate the exit of any of their players and it will take the activation of the release clause in contracts to see any player leave the club.

    “Will not negotiate now the exit of any player and if there is an offer then it must be at the termination clause,”the Spanish outfit tweeted on Wednesday.

    Already Martins is relishing the prospects of plying his trade in ‘God’s own country’ as he told Spanish radio station Cadena SER Valencia that a move to join MLS side Seattle Sounders is good for him.

    “It’s a good deal for me, it is a good deal for everyone and it would be nice for my family to go to America,” Martins said.

    Since moving from Rubin Kazan, Martins has made a total of 20 La Liga appearances this season, and scored 7 goals in the process.

     

  • Liverpool Coach declares : We are not interested in Emenike

    Liverpool Coach declares : We are not interested in Emenike

    Russian website championat.com quoting the coach of Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers has denied media reports linking the Nigeria international Emmanuel Emenike with a transfer to the club this summer.

    Earlier reports had claimed Emenike, top scorer at the African Nations Cup with four strikes, was on the radar of Reading, Arsenal and Liverpool.

    ”We have no interest in the acquisition of this player,” said Rodgers to Igor Rabiner of championat.com.

    Emmanuel Emenike pulled a hamstring in the Super Eagles semi -final victory over Mali. His duration on the sidelines is unknown.

    This season, the 25- year – old forward has scored 5 goals in 15 games in the Russian Premier League.

  • How not to get employed

    Year 2012 will soon expire. You will be counting your first on your second or additional New Year’s Day as an unemployed graduate.

    We will use the remaining Mondays and some of the early 2013 to run do quick run of what may be doing wrong in your quest for the dream job. Or what you are supposed to be doing but that you are not at all.

    Whatever is written below, I am happy to inform you that the the book JobSearchGuru’s JOB-HUNTING MANUAL- Strategies and Tactic for effective Search in Nigeria Competitive Job Market is now in the bookshops. This is the comprehensive tool-box for job-hunters. See www.jobsearchhow.com.ng for more info. Now to the business of the week.

    Sometimes the simplest matters make all the difference in the potential joining together of an employer and a job searcher.These opportunities to fail occur before the first phone call is ever exchanged.

    If you’re a job seeker, simply rectifying simple mistakes can keep your resume out of the ‘no’/trash pile.They can help you find a marriage with the employer of your dreams. Here are 10 things that job seekers do that relegate their applications to the slush pile.

     

    Fail to follow the employer’s directions about how to apply

    By following the employer’s requested application method: email, fax, mail, you brand yourself as a cooperative person who can follow directions. Also, consider the possibility that the employer is routing all applications that come via email, as an example, into a recruiting folder. Other applications may be missed. Delivery of your resume via mail is still acceptable, however, fewer applications come in the mail these days; they are a paper management nightmare.

     

    Send resumes or cover

    letters with typos, unforced errors

    Typos brand you as a careless person who didn’t take the time to proof read your resume and cover letter. Employers judge the quality of your future work, by the quality of the documents that introduce you. Many managers use typos, inexcusable grammatical errors, etc as a screen to eliminate candidates from contention.

     

    Choose to leave out requested salary information

    Many candidates are positive that once an employer sees their credentials, and meets them, salary won’t be an issue. Their credentials will knock the socks off the employer. Don’t believe it. The employer has a budget. When you don’t submit your salary as requested, your resume will likely be rejected. Minimally, you cause the employer to make a screening phone call. Neither you nor the employer need to waste time in an impossible situation.

     

    Fail to send a customised cover letter with the resume

    A customised cover letter does not mean changing the lead paragraph to mention the employer’s company name. It means drawing the employer’s attention, point by point, to how well your credentials match the employer’s stated needs. A generic introduction is already available via your resume. Use the cover letter as your place to shine. Demonstrate what’s important to you – and to the employer. Connect the dots for the employer and you’ll likely get a call for an interview.

     

    Leave large gaps in their employment – unexplained

    The first scan of a resume will reveal gaps in your employment history. Trust me. The employer always wants to know why. You took three years off to raise your child? Tell the employer upfront in the cover letter. Otherwise, the employer will often reject your application.You risk the employer wondering why you have trouble finding a job.You appear undependable or, at worst, a mystery. It’s hard to find great candidates. Don’t eliminate yourself from the review.

     

    Tell what the job searcher did – not what was accomplished

    You answered a multiline phone, provided excellent customer service, and ran the photocopy machine. Does the employer care? Not likely. The employer wants to know that you improved customer service by 120 per cent. The descriptions on your resume must focus on accomplishments – you were promoted three times in five years. And, make sure you label the bullet points as accomplishments or key achievements. Otherwise, your resume won’t pass the 30 second glance test.

     

    Apply for jobs for which they are way over-qualified – or under-qualified

    The employer has described the skills and experiences required for the position. A job description and a salary range exist. If you are way over qualified, or under-qualified, your application is suspect and is filed under “no”. It doesn’t take long to see that a high school grad is applying for a position that requires a degree and one to two years of experience. You’ve wasted your time applying. You’ve wasted the employer’s time, too – although I guarantee – not much time.

     

    Exhibit problems with grammar and sentence construction

    Your image is you. Application materials that demonstrate you are challenged to produce a sentence won’t serve you well. Grammatical errors are noticed and telegraph several messages. You can’t write very well. You lack attention to detail. Your ability to interact with customers is limited by your skills. Is this the message you are trying to send your potential employer? I think not. Remember, when the employer stumbles over mistakes, they rule you out.

     

    Use out-of-the-ordinary tactics and gimmicks to draw attention to your resume

    They do, but I guarantee the attention isn’t positive. Employers have enough problems without viewing your resume picture, except when required. Stuffing your resume envelope with confetti isn’t a good idea either, even if you’re applying as a creative. Sending your life history and every training certificate you’ve ever obtained won’t earn you any points. Save these until you’ve, at least, spent some time together. Skip the rest.

     

    Skip human resources and apply to the hiring manager or the CEO for advertised position

    Job searching books persist in making this recommendation, and maybe it was a good one, once upon a time. It’s still good when you are introducing yourself and making a professional contact. But, when applying for an advertised position, it’s the death knell for your application. You tick off the HR people, who are the monitors and caretakers of the hiring process. They build the pool of candidates that managers interview. They schedule the interviews. And, believe it or not, respected HR people have a serious influence on who gets hired.

  • I’m not on the run, says Kogi ex-Governor Audu

    Former Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu yesterday said he is not on the run because of the ongoing investigation on an alleged N4billion fraud the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is conducting on his past administration.

    He said he did not escape from his home on Monday to evade arrest from the anti-graft agency.

    Audu made the clarifications in a letter his counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), sent to EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde.

    The letter said the former governor has travelled out of the country for treatment.

    The letter reads: “This is to inform you that Prince Abubakar Audu is at present outside the shores of Nigeria, receiving medical treatment following a ghastly motor accident he was involved in on September 29 on the Abuja-Jos Road.

    “He legally travelled out of Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (Abuja) as a free citizen of Nigeria on December 4.

    “As was heavily publicised in the media, following the motor accident, Prince Audu was admitted briefly at the Diff Hospital, Aso Drive, Maitama, Abuja, for first-aid treatment before he was flown to a hospital in London for further intensive medical attention, as an emergency case, after he had achieved some measure of stability.

    “Prince Audu interrupted his medical treatment in London and returned to Nigeria in mid-November, to give away his only daughter in marriage on November 24.

    “Thereafter, Prince Audu also received a doctorate degree of Administration (Honoris Causa) from the Igbinedion University, Okada, (Edo State), on December 1, before returning to the United Kingdom on December 4, to continue his medical treatment.

    “The flurry of activities had exerted on him the undue pressure and pains of his injuries. All these activities were widely covered by the media. The honorary doctorate degree was given live coverage by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Independent Television (ITV) and other television stations.

    “It was a big ceremony that also featured the Sultan of Sokoto; a former President of Ghana and the Director-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), among others.

    “Throughout Prince Audu’s over three weeks stay in Nigeria, the EFCC never invited him for a chat, either by a letter or a phone call. How could he have run away from a purported ‘arrest’ that he was not aware of and over which he was never invited?”