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Tag: violence

  • Fayose, police chief trade words over violence

    THE need to avoid violence in the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State took the centre-stage at a sensitisation workshop held for political parties yesterday in Ado-Ekiti.

    The one-day “Sensitisation Workshop for Political Parties, Gubernatorial Candidates and Stakeholders in Ekiti 2014 Governorship Election,” convened by, the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter-Party Affairs, Senator Ben Ndi Obi, was chaired by Gen. David Jemibewon.

    Speakers and other participants attempted to locate the root cause of violence in Nigerian elections.

    Things came to a head when   the governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Ayodele Fayose,  accused security agencies, especially the police of not doing enough to curb violence ahead the June 21 governorship election.

    “Armed robbers cannot operate indefinitely without the support of security agencies,” he said, adding: “There is little the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can do if security fails. We are under siege in Ekiti here. We suspect this election is about to be rigged. We suspect the police may be abetting violence…”

    Responding, Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Felix Uyanna, said: “It is not the police that cause electoral violence. It is the political leaders, especially the major political actors in the state. It’s unfortunate that some of them are accusing the police.”

    Uyanna accused  the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP)  of being responsible for political violence in the state.

    He spoke of the preparations  made to ensure a violence-free election, warning that security agencies know the trouble-makers in Ekiti. “We have their dossier and are ready to ensure a successful election,” he said.

    The workshop, which was  attended by the executives and candidates of the 18 political parties contesting the governorship election, representatives of civil society organisations, the media and members of the diplomatic corps, in a communique, resolved among others, that:

    •Political parties, politicians and all stakeholders should strive to promote free and fair election; that political parties should enlighten their supporters on the need to shun electoral malpractices and destruction of lives and properties; and

    •The use of violent language and physical intimidation must be avoided and discouraged by all political parties and their supporters and that a level-playing ground must be provided for all contesting political parties.

    Former Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Dr. Eddie Iroh  gave the keynote address; Executive Director, Centre for Peace-building and Socio-Economic Resources Development Kunle Fagbemi, who was the guest speaker, spoke on ‘Democratic Sustenance for Development through Peaceful Partisan Politics.’

    In his welcome address, Obi said the political atmosphere in Ekiti “is already passionate, emotional and highly charged.”

    He warned that “we should therefore eschew all wanton acts that could spite the situation and escalate political insecurity, acrimony and rancour.”

    Gen. Jemibewon warned that “the June 2014 Ekiti governorship election must conform to the United Nations (UN) resolution that recognises the responsibility of the government for ensuring free and fair elections, free of intimidation, coercion and tampering with votes.”

    One of the diplomats in attendance, the Consul-General of the United States of America in Nigeria, Jeffrey Hawkins, said the world is watching the forthcoming election just like the world will also watch Nigeria in 2015.

    Hawkins advised Nigerians to do all within their power to ensure that the rules of the game are obeyed.

  • Caleb University shut over students’ unrest

    Caleb University shut over students’ unrest

    Students of Caleb University, Imota Lagos went on rampage yesterday destroying school properties.

    The school was consequently shut down to stem the violence which allegedly began when a school official tried to stop a Muslim student from praying in the school – the institution is a Christian school.

    No fewer than four cars and many other school properties were vandalised in the mayhem.

    Caleb’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ayo Olukoju announced today the temporary shutdown of the school which he said will re-open on June 2nd.

    Prof. Olukoju said: “We have rules and regulations in the school and all the students agreed to abide by them. These rules are in the student handout. Before now, we have been applying appropriate sanctions against students who default in any of these rules.

    “We wanted to enforce one of such sanctions on Wednesday before this crisis escalated.”

    He however debunked the insinuations that the violence was related to religion. “Please, the crisis has nothing to do with religion. It has nothing to do with being a Christian or a Muslim,” he assured.

  • Avoiding electoral violence in Ekiti

    Avoiding electoral violence in Ekiti

    As Ekiti State prepares for the governorship election, stakeholders are worried that the poll may be characterised by violence, unless frantic efforts are made to halt the thuggery and arson that have characterised the campaigns. EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.

    NEXT month, the people of Ekiti State will troop out to cast their votes at the governorship election. However, ahead of the poll, the campaigns have been characterized by thuggery, violence and arson.

    The three main candidates-Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Governor Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele of the Labour Party (LP)-are campaigning in the rustic communities.

    There are accusations and counter-accusations among the parties. The party leaders are trading blames. While the APC has accused the PDP chieftains of heating up the state by the violent activities of suspected thugs, the PDP has also accussed the ruling party of intolerance.  In many towns and villages, posters of candidates have been torn by thugs. Billboards have been pulled down.

    Also, rallies have been disrupted. In some instances, it took the intervention of the police before the private residence of notable politicians were not burnt attack. But, there have been vandalisation of campaign vehicles and physical assault on crowds  on campaign grounds. Although the state has been peaceful in the last three and half years, the electioneering has altered its transquility. Three days ago, the Director-General of the Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Hon. Bimbo Daramola cried out that some desperate politicians wanted to take Ekiti back to the dark days.

    On daily basis, the police is inundated with complaints by party officials against unruly behaviour  among party followers.

    Two weeks ago, Vice President Namadi Sambo described Ekiti as a war front. It was reminiscent of the do-or-die slogan of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. When the number two citizen said that Ekiti as a war zone, the statement elicited wild condemnation. Fayemi was taken aback. He observed that the stament has connotative interpretation. Other eminent Nigerians also chided the Vice President for the inflammatory statement. But, Sambo has not come out to deny it.

    A chieftain of the APC, Hon. Smart Akinyemi, who frowned at the statement, said: “The first interpretation of the statement is that they want to use the federal might in Ekiti. When they used it in 1983, the old Ondo State was in flames. When they used it in 2003 and 2007, people went to the court. The court process is slow. If they try it this time around, they know the consequence. Federal might, to me, means, that they are planning to rig. Federal might also means that they want to induce the INEC and ask those in charge of police to misuse the security agents for the election. It will not work”.

    Daramola blamed the PDP for the return of violence. He said that the atmosphere of gangsterism, insecurity, immaturity and crudity, which ended with the PDP’s misrule in 2010, has returned.

    “The spectre of an Ekiti governor going under a wire barricade at the airport, with its attendance negative connotation and bad publicity for the state and her people, has receded to distant memory, thanks to  Fayemi. Those who gave Ekiti a bad name by exhibiting traits that are the very anti-thesis of the concept of Ile Eye, those who showed glaring disregard for traditional authorities and those who turned a well-respected state into a theatre of the absurd are back, asking the same people they traumatised in their time to vote them into office again. They claim they are now better human beings, forgetting that a leopard does not change its spots,” Daramola said.

    The legislator urged the people to be vigilant. He allged that unpopular candidates were pepetrating violence so that people would not come out to vote. Ekiti, he said, would not dance to their drums of war. “Therefore, we feel compelled to remind the good people of Ekiti State, both within and outside, that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, and that the Ekiti people must not and will not return to Egypt,” he said.

    Other organisations have also warned against rigging to prevent violence in post-election period.  Democracy Vanguard, a which has started an anti-rigging campaign in Ekiti, has vowed to resist the “do-or-die politicians who still see elections as warfare with violence and thuggery as weapon of political victory “ Its leader, Adeola Soetan, said that “if there is free and fair election, there will be peace.”

    The Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER), has also listed the conditions for credible polls. Its coordinator, Ayo Opadokun, said: “The INEC must conduct a hitch-free poll. This can be guaranteed, if the commission does not repeat what it did in Anambra State. The police must not become a tool in the  hand of the PDP. Credible election observers from home and abroad should be accredited to monitor the polls. If there is one man one vote and opportunities for voters to defend their votes, all wil be well.

  • Tackling gender-based violence

    Tackling gender-based violence

    Gender based violence continues on a daily basis all over the world. It brings physical and psychological trauma to those concerned. Bilikis Bakare takes a lookat how to curb the trend and make life better for the girl child.

    ACCORDING to the United Nations, gender-based violence, interchangeably used with violence against women or at times domestic violence, is any act of violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women/young girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in private [domestic] or public life. Gender-based violence is a global phenomenon and not limited to Nigeria. It occurs in various cultures, and affects people irrespective of their economic status.

    The primary targets of gender-based violence are women and adolescent girls. They also suffer exacerbated consequences as compared with what men endure. As a result of gender discrimination and their lower socio- economic status, women have fewer options and less resource at their disposal to avoid or escape abusive situations and to seek justice.

    In her journey through life, the female gender when lucky enough to be spared- female fetus are still being aborted in some societies-undergo a lot of harrowing experiences, the chief among which is exposure to violence. At least one in three girls and women worldwide has been beaten or sexually abused in her life time. Consequently, they suffer sexual and reproductive health consequences, including forced marriages and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and resulting deaths, traumatic fistula, and higher risks of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Not too long ago in Lagos, a senior secondary school student with an ambition of becoming a medical doctor, was forcibly married off to an older man, who had defiled her before being rescued by the state Ministry of Women Affairs And Poverty Alleviation. Also in Kano State, northern Nigeria, a 14 year old girl poisoned her husband because she was forced to marry him.

    Violence against women can be physical, sexual or psychological. Other types can be in form of neglect and abandonment and economic disempowerment .Physical violence can occur both in private and in public and it includes but not limited to such acts as slapping, kicking, stabbing, shooting, hitting, pouring acid or any corrosive substance and murder. Other forms are harmful traditional practices and female genital mutilation.

    It is a common practice these days for husbands to turn their spouses to punching bags and often times vent their angers and frustrations on the latter. They label their wives as witches whenever they experience downturn in their economic lives or lose their jobs. Consequently, the wives suffer for the situations they did not partake in inventing in the first place. In most cases, the charlatans turned prophets and spiritualists are the major culprits. Similarly, if a woman earns more than the man, there may be conflicts in the home leading to domestic violence because the man may be feeling inferior and may believe the only way to assert his authority in the home is by becoming violent.

    Sexual violence, on the other hand, is the abuse of women’s bodily integrity and this includes incest, indecent assault of young girls, rape, sexual harassment and child pornography .Incest which had hitherto been an abomination in Africa, in the olden days , is now common as even fathers now sexually abuse their young daughters.

    But, perhaps, the most common form of sexual violence against the women folk is rape. Rape is having sex with a woman without her consent. Today, the rape epidemic in our society reflects the extent to which women’s human rights are flagrantly being threatened. Our laws and collective attitudes toward this weapon of domination and repression call to question not only our sense of justice but our level of civilization. Like a scourge, the regular cases of reported rape in the country’s media and confirmed statistics from some states are threatening to smother the essence of the society. Each day, the media are a washed with weird stories with varying degrees of ludicrousness ; from child defilement to the rape of old women. Nobody, not even infants is safe from the evil rampage of these randy felons on the prowl.

    Psychological violence is a form of gender based violence which are often not immediately obvious to the eye. It happens when a person uses words or actions to control, frighten, isolate or take away another person’s self respect, causing severe psychological trauma. It can include put downs, name calling or insults, constant yelling, keeping victim from seeing friends or family or controlling what she wears, where she goes, who she sees etc.

    Over the years, there have been agitations on how to stop domestic violence against women and children, but in 2012, the Lagos State House of Assembly made a bold move and passed into law, a bill to provide protection against domestic violence. Some states have also passed a law against this social menace but none of them have fully tested its efficacy.

    Many victims of domestic violence usually lack the courage to seek legal redress on the violation of their rights due to lack of positive response from the society as problem is often dismissed as a private one even by law enforcement agent and the fear of being exposed to more intense form of abuses. Domestic violence is so entrenched in our society that even the victims condone such violations of their rights as some perceive it as sign of love and the socio-religious belief that a broken marriage or relationship is a mark of failure in life. And also because many women and girls depend on financial resources of their husband, father or families, they are forced to put up with domination for fear of the withdrawal of this financial support.

    Therefore, in order to tackle this hydra- headed monster, women and girls should be sensitised and educated to draw a line between true love and abuse, should know the difference from being submissive and being out rightly stupid. Empowerment of women to avoid total dependent on their male counterpart is also very important as they will be able to take care of themselves and their children in cases of separation from their abusive spouses.

    Society should desist from stigmatising and humiliating victims as women in Nigeria face humiliating rules regarding evidence in court when it concerns violence against them. The victim of rape must provide the bed sheet slept on during the case of rape, pant worn must be presented unwashed and also medical report which in most cases are difficult to obtain because of the nature of our health facilities.

    The issue of gender-based violence is a social malady that requires holistic approach and solution from all stakeholders. The civil society groups, traditional and religious bodies, women rights groups, law enforcement agencies, all tiers of government and families must all work together with a view to stemming the tide of this dreadful societal ill.

  • Lawmaker to Adamawa PDP: no violence

    The Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Constituency Outreach, Hajiya Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani), has urged members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State to reunite for the 2015 poll.

    She also urged party leaders and members to avoid politics of hatred or attack against other parties.

    The lawmaker said although Governor Murtala Nyako belongs to the All Progressives Congress (APC), PDP members should respect him and avoid partisan politics, which could disrupt the peace.

    Hajiya Ahmed, who gave the advice during a visit to the PDP Chairman in Adamawa State, Joel Madaki, said she has no plan to defect to any party.

    A statement from her office said: “I have come here to plead with our members to remain united and work for the progress of PDP in 2015.

    “I want to appeal to the former members of the State Executive Committee to partner the new leaders to move the party forward.

    “Although the former SEC leaders have been supplanted by the new team, let us forgive and forget the past. This is the time to heal wounds.

    “I urge the new executive to be large hearted in accommodating past members of the SEC. And if there is any vacancy, please try to integrate past leaders.

    “I hope that as from today, we would turn a new leaf and put the PDP in good shape for the coming poll.”

    On alleged plans to leave PDP, she said: “I have no intention of defecting because this party made me what I am today.

    “I also hold the party total loyalty.

    “It is a great opportunity to be the first elected woman member of the House of Representatives from this state, I owe the PDP a lot and I will continue to do my best to uplift the party.”

    Hajiya Ahmed, however, warned PDP members against attacks on Governor Murtala Nyako, who has joined APC.

    She added: “We should not attack Nyako because when he was in PDP, he gave some of us the opportunity to be what we are now.

    “Without Nyako, I will not be standing here to address you as a lawmaker.

    “The governor, his wives and family have been present at all my programmes and project inauguration.

    “He is a leader we cannot deride because we were all in the same party together before.

    “We are now in different parties but we must accord him due respect as the governor and chief security officer of the state.

    “Now that we are apart, let us sell our manifestoes to the masses; let us avoid politics of hatred or pull him down syndrome.

    “Partisan politics does not mean violence because after elections, the state will remain.

    “Let us not create tension in our state. Irrespective of where we stand politically, this state must remain peaceful. This is an obligation on our part.”

    The PDP State Chairman, Joel Madaki, said: “I will do my best to keep this party united. There is no victor, no vanquished.

    “We should all learn from what she has done. A young woman has come to preach peace and unity to the elderly ones. Let us love ourselves.”

     

  • The violence of zero allocation

    The violence of zero allocation

    Violence is not only when you attack somebody physically; violence is not just about making your opponent helpless through the use of brute force. Blood does not always have to be been shed for an act of violence to have taken place.

    War, no doubt, is violence. What the Niger Delta militants did to get the attention of the federal militants is also violence. The actions of the Boko Haram are clearly violent. The late Festus Iyayi, author and university teacher, made it clear to us all in his novel Violence that violence comes in various form. Blood or wound or even death is not the determinant factor. In the novel, corruption was violence; indolence was violence; mediocrity was violence; anything that involves cutting corner meant violence to the late Iyayi.

    The violence I write of today is that of provocation. This is how it came to light. On Tuesday, everything seemed to have been going on well at the House of Representatives’ Committee on Works’ consideration of the 2014 budget. As Minister of Works Mike Onolememen was speaking, Dakuku Peterside, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), was studying the details of the ministry’s budget for the year. He made a shocking find and suddenly started protesting loudly.

    He shouted that the Federal Government made “zero allocation” to all the road projects in Rivers State, adding that the development confirmed that the Federal Government had declared war on his state.

    “Mr. Chairman, this certainly cannot be a coincidence. All the roads in Rivers State got zero allocation. How did that happen if it is not true that a war has been declared on Rivers State?

    “I just want all of you and the minister to take note of this; it is most unfair. We are all Nigerians.”

    The chairman of the committee, Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, interjected:”We are a committee and this is just a proposal. The executive will do their own thing and we are to appropriate as we deem it okay.”

    Peterside was pissed off already and he stormed out of the meeting, saying: “No, no, I cannot continue to sit here.”

    His reaction, for those conversant with this All Progressives Congress (APC) Rep from Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro, should not come as a surprise. Over the years, he has shown that injustice should not be called by any other name. He has also cited the ill-treatment of Rivers by the Federal Government as one of the reasons he left the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). So, it would have been contrary to his belief to sit there and participate in the approval of a budget which seeks to make his people continue to grapple with bad federal roads. The zero budget means that throughout this year, the Federal Government may not carry out repairs on any of its roads in the state, which need urgent attention.

    As a result of Peterside’s protest, Onolememen told the committee that the ministry still had its eyes on the Aba- Port Harcourt Road, which was stalled because the contractors handling the project could not access the funds needed for the purpose.

    He also explained that the ministry withdrew from dualising Ahoda-Omoku road when it discovered that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) listed it as one of the projects it would execute.

    But the issue remains that the ministry has no plans for new roads in Rivers. The Aba-Port Harcourt road is a different arrangement and is even being stalled.

    Last December, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi urged the Federal Government to refund about N105 billion expended by the state on rehabilitation of dilapidated federal roads in the state.

    The governor also complained that the Bonny-Bodo federal road project had been abandoned, adding that work on the Port Harcourt International Airport was very slow, when compared with similar projects going on at other international airports in the country.

    He said there was nothing to show that Rivers people have benefitted from the 2.1 million votes given to President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 elections.

    As at 2012, the money spent by Rivers was N70 billion. It increased to N105 billion because the Federal Government shirked its responsibility to the state. Now that it has made no provision for road projects in Rivers State, more state funds that should have gone into other areas will go into working on federal roads.

    The Omerelu/Elele/Isiokpo-Airport Road is a Federal Government road that Rivers has been forced to build through Setraco.

    The Prof Tam David-West Boulevard Flyover on Choba Road, which is part of the East-West Road, is another Federal Government road the state government has worked on. The Eleme Junction Flyover is a another Federal Government business, which Rivers has been compelled to complete. There are many of them that the state government is working on and has completed.

    The position of the government is that it cannot leave these roads because Rivers people are the ones that will suffer if they are in bad state. The people will not know which one is federal or state road. All they will say is that the roads are bad and the state government will be deemed irresponsible.

    The state government had written for a refund of what Rivers had spent on federal roads. No answer yet. Now, it will have to spend more.

    The Ministry of Works needs to explain the zero allocation to Rivers’ federal roads. But, not a few have concluded that it is just another chapter in the face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and Amaechi.

    I must point out something here: some weeks back, the people of Bonny Island were in the Villa to see Jonathan. The major reason behind their visit was the Bonny-Bodo. The road, if done, will end the current practice where the people of the rich Island have to depend on speed boat or NLNG vessels to get out of the Island. The road was first awarded during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who Jonathan blamed for the abandonment of the project. He, however, promised to get the work going. But, with no appropriation to Rivers, is their hope that the road will get any attention this year?

    If nothing is done to correct this violence, I suggest the Rivers people also have the right to be violent with their votes. They should direct the anger of their votes to show who their friend is. It is their choice and no one can blame them for it.

  • Shun violence, FIFA instructor urges fans

    Shun violence, FIFA instructor urges fans

    A FIFA Instructor, Emmanuel Obafemi, has called on football fans to shun violence at league venues.

    Obafemi made the call on Tuesday in Ilorin at a seminar organised for ABS FC and Kwara United players as well as fans, officials and management staff of both clubs.

    The FIFA instructor urged fans to allow referees to be punished by an appropriate body rather than resort to self help. He said referees had enormous powers to do the right thing in accordance with the laws and rules of the game.

    Obafemi, who is also the Registrar of the University of Ilorin, further warned players against unnecessary bookings during games. He urged club officials to remove unnecessary booking penalties from a player’s salary.

    Obafemi, who cautioned players against improper dressing during matches, charged the management of clubs to pay players’ salaries as and when due. He advised the Kwara Football Association to help control crowd at the stadium when the season kicks off on Saturday.

    The Permanent Secretary, Kwara Ministry of Sports, Rhoda Ajiboye, said the seminar was to enable everyone reassess the role they played last season and adjust where necessary. Ajiboye called for all hands to be on deck to return Kwara United and ABS FC to the Globacom Premier League next season.

    In his address, the Chairman of Kwara Football Association, Busari Ishola, praised Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for bringing in technocrats into football administration.

  • Fresh violence brews between two Bayelsa communities

    Nobody can forget in a hurry the bloodshed that occurred between Agudama-Epie and Akenfa in Yenagoa, the state capital over a disputed piece of land. The November 22, 2013 incident turned the two neighbouring communities into arch rivals. Indignant youths brandished sharp cutlasses and other weapons in a free-for-all.

    They drew blood in the hot afternoon. Though 10 persons were feared dead after the orgy of violence, it was later found that only one person died while others sustained various degrees of injuries. The deceased identified as Mulai George was an indigene of Aguadama-Epie. Therefore, Agudama-Epie believed it suffered more from the violence than its Akenfa neighbours.

    It took the intervention of security operatives consisting of the police, the navy and the Joint Task Force ( JTF) Operation Pulo Shield to restore order in the communities.

    Before the bloodshed, Agudama-Epie and Akenfa had continued to lay claims to the ownership of the disputed land. Some parts of the land had, however, been sold to non-indigenes living in both communities. But the crisis has persisted.

    Agudiama-Epie is the host community to the Central Naval Command (CNC) of the Nigerian Navy and the South-South Campus of the Nigerian Law School.

    A day after the incident, the combined team of the homicide and the criminal investigation departments of the Bayelsa State police command launched a manhunt for the masterminds of the bloody clash.

    The police raided the communities and arrested seven persons linked to the incident. Other suspects named in the crisis were said to be on the run. The communities were taken over by the police including the operatives of the state security outfit, Operation Door-Akpo, who were able to restore fragile peace in the communities.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hillary Opara, had said the suspects would be thoroughly screened and those linked to the murder would be prosecuted. He said the police had made recommendations to the government on ways to resolve the conflict.

    He said: “We have arrested seven suspects.They are helping us in the investigation. We are working on the criminal aspect of the clash.Majority of them are from Akenfa.

    “It is a murder case and we don’t want to rush it and charge innocent persons to court.We are taking time to screen them.

    “Our men acted swiftly on that day to reduce the number of the casualties. We went to Aguadiama school and evacuated the students and handed them over to their parents. That was what saved the day”.

    Like Opara said, the government established a panel to find a lasting solution to the lingering land tussle. The deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd) was appointed by Governor Seriake Dickson to head the peace committee.

    A statement from the Government House had condemned the conflict and appealed to the warring communities to sheathe their swords. It said the investigative panel would find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis that had generated tension and suspicion between the communities.

    The government warned that it would be forced to invoke a section of the constitution and take over the ownership of the disputed land if the communities failed to embrace the peace.

    Recent development, however, showed that the government and the police were far from resolving the crisis. Aggrieved women of Agudiama-Epie recently staged a peaceful protest in the community over the killing of George.

    They lamented that the government and the police had mismanaged the crisis. The placard-carrying women blocked the busy Agudama-Epie axis of the busy Mbiama-Yenagoa road in the morning for over two hours chanting songs. They disrupted traffic.

    The angry women urged the state government to resolve the matter equitably before it snowballed into another round of violence.

    Though fears of reprisal were imminent, the Agudama-Epie chiefs promised not to retaliate insisting on justice. The Paramount ruler of Agudama-Epie,Chief Wisdom Franklin berated the government and the police over what he described as poor handling of the case. He said he was in support of the protest.

    Franklin said the community had spent N1.8million to treat its indigenes wounded in the November violence. He asked the government to find lasting solutions to the land tussle to avoid further bloodshed.

  • Rivers’ court bomb blast a portent of election violence

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) traded blame on Tuesday over a small bomb blast at a court in oil-producing Rivers State a day earlier, a signal of the growing risk of violence ahead of elections next year.

    The improvised device went off early on Monday in the High Court in Ahaoda, causing some damage but no casualties, state police spokesman Ahmad Mohammad said. Police managed to detonate two more explosive devices safely.

    Amachi’s defection last year from the PDP to the APC was a key trigger in the Rivers State impasse.

    The explosion occurred just hours before Justice Charles Wali was due to hear a case over the disputed leadership in the state national assembly. The case concerned the current Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, seeking an injunction to restrain Evans Bipi – part of a faction wishing to have him removed as Speaker.

    According to Adaure Achumba, eNCA’s West Africa correspondent, the court cases arises from an incident in the House of Assembly, caught on a viral video, involving a faction of the lawmakers loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan that wanted to impeach Amachree.

    In the ensuing fracas, Bipi, one of the six dissenting lawmakers, who is also accused of parading himself as Speaker, used the speakers mace to assault another lawmaker. The assembly complex has been sealed off since the incident.

    The latest available information indicates that three aides to the lawmaker are in custody. It is unclear whether they are detained for questioning or whether they are being charged.

    Rivers State, like much of the Niger Delta, has a history of instability, gangsterism and political thuggishness that tends to worsen in the build up to elections as rival factions jockey for power.

    It s the largest state in the Delta, where the bulk of Nigeria’s 2-million barrels per day of crude oil is produced, and it exports the world’s fourth largest quantity of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

    Both oil and LNG exports have been hampered by sabotage and theft attacks on pipelines. Large scale oil theft is worth billions of dollars a year and industry experts believe the scale of the problem means high-level politicians are involved.

    The oil-producing delta is far from the reach of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which mostly carries out its attacks on security forces, churches and schools in the mainly Muslim north of Africa’s most populous nation.

    The 2015 national poll is expected to be the most closely fought since the end of military rule 15 years ago because of a row within President Goodluck Jonathan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over his assumed intention to run for another term, and because the opposition coalition is more powerful and has broader national appeal than any previous one.

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi last year defected from Jonathan’s PDP, intensifying a row between them.

    Amaechi joined the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), giving the newly formed opposition coalition a foothold in Jonathan’s home Niger Delta region and heightening the rivalries that often lead to violence in Africa’s second largest economy.

     

  • How to end human violence

    How to end human violence

    The pre-eminent problem confronting humankind is human violence. It is our own violence, in its various guises, including the ongoing possibility of nuclear war and the ongoing devastation of the natural environment, that threaten to consign us to the fossil record within decades, if not sooner.
    And yet we devote virtually no effort to trying to understand human violence and to developing strategies to end it. Why? The short and highly unpalatable answer is this: because most of us want to use violence when it suits us and to ‘get away with it’ when we do.

    This is why most of us find ways to inflict our violence in socially legitimized ways or we do it in relative secrecy. Apart from inflicting violence on our own children and the natural environment, society has created whole sectors of activity in which ‘legitimized violence’ can be
    inflicted.

    The most obvious example of socially endorsed violence is that allowed during military service but another sector that absorbs many perpetrators of violence is the police, legal and prison system. Many police, judges, magistrates, prosecutors and prison officers use their socially
    legitimized role to inflict their violence (whether directly in the form of assaults or institutional in the form of imprisonment and capital punishment) on those individuals snared in the legal system. There is no evidence that violence (even when labeled ‘punishment’) and the fear that
    it causes can restore functionality.

    However, modern societies have devoted vast quantities of resources to the military, police, legal and prison systems rather than financing research efforts to understand why human beings are violent and then developing comprehensive strategies to eliminate this violence based on an understanding of its cause.

    This failure to understand violence means that a vast and ever-increasing quantity of resources must be devoted to maintaining both military forces that are sent to kill all over the world and an endlessly expanding system of highly dysfunctional ‘law enforcement’ in which individuals are no longer considered important once they are defined as ‘criminal’.

    Why do governments devote resources to the military, police, legal and prison systems? In brief, this occurs because members of governments want to perpetuate violence in the delusional belief that it gives them ‘control’ and one socially endorsed way of participating in this violence
    is to perpetuate an institutional framework that defines ‘enemies’ and ‘criminals’ as legitimized victims. This happens because people who feel powerless to control what is important (particularly the violence they suffered at the hands of their own parents) seek control of other people and things (including trivia) to avoid the feeling of powerlessness.

    The social investment in violence at all levels is staggering: if it was not, as noted above, there would be substantial research funds devoted to understanding the origins of violence so that it could be reduced and eventually eliminated.

    But there is no budget allocation anywhere to fund research to understand this most pervasive and phenomenally destructive problem, although humans spend approximately $2billion each day on military violence and a staggering, but unknown to me, amount on the world’s police, legal and prison systems. Who benefits? It includes individuals working in government and the military forces, those corporations that make the weapons and build the military and prison infrastructure, and those individuals (including police, lawyers and judges) who gain employment within legal institutions.

    However, the victims of military violence, ‘criminals’ and particularly ‘the public’ (that is, the vast majority of the world’s population) do not benefit because violence is perpetuated rather than progressively cut back.

    How do governments, legal institutions, corporations and the individuals who work within them actually benefit? At the superficial level it is about things like status and money: taxes, profits, income from jobs. But the deeper, psychological reason is that it helps these individuals to suppress awareness of the terror, self-hatred and powerlessness that has destroyed their Self-hood and that drives their use of violence in the delusional belief that they will regain ‘control’.

    So what can we do? Despite the lack of social effort to understand human violence, there is a comprehensive explanation available. According to this research, all violence is an outcome of the visible, ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’ violence inflicted by adults on children.

    Once the child has been damaged, it will inflict violence on itself, the people around it, as well as
    non-human species and the natural environment; it will also play a part in
    maintaining structures of violence and exploitation, such as the education
    and legal systems.

    If you wish to join the worldwide movement to end all violence, you can sign online ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com

    Human beings will end violence or Violence will end human beings

    Burrowes, a nonviolent activist, has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’
    He can be reached via:  flametree@riseup.net
    and his website:  http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com