THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014
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COMMENTS
‘Our Girls’; World Cup fall- stronger FIFA laws against pitch attacks; Will godfatherism die?
O
‘ Tony Marinho
UR GIRLS’ are still missing since April 15 with no word, no sigh, no signal of discovery or release or return. And still others are captured in the same area. As we pray and worry, we ask,
is it possible that nothing can be done? We know our Army and other security services are losing their lives unsung in this war against Boko Haram, and we join the armed Forces in their prayers on Army Day for a swifter closure process than we have had so far. Prayer is powerful but prayer and work are even more powerful. Whether dialogue with such a vengeful and vicious enemy will work is questionable especially as there is nothing to bring them to the table with any humility. They will be there in a position of strength and dictatorial. The angry and energetic soldiers in Lagos who burnt buses costing tens of millions of naira damage may want to choose to be redeployed to North-east Nigeria to face Boko Haram to help work off their anger at their unfortunate colleague being killed or dying from a crash with a BRT bus in Lagos. Was he actually riding his motorcycle in the forbidden BRT lane? Whatever the cause the culprits must be apprehended and prosecuted. We all suffer the death of friends from other people’s misadventures but we do not go overboard. The World Cup ends this week. There will be only one winning team but may heroes of the moment and some serious casualties. Football can be a dangerous adventure. There have been winners and losers and injuries, some deliberate and one cannot understand injuring another human being, with a family, in the heat of the sporting moment, whether by biting or by kneeing in the back from a great height. FIFA should consider a clean-up of the sport by legislating that in future when such injuries occur, it should be automatic that
I
T has become a recurring decimal in our national life. I mean the satanic practice of armed security agents unleashing terror on the populace and destroying public properties at the slightest provocation. And there is no security agency - be it the military, police, civil defence or what have you - that is left out in this perennial ‘madness’. But the worst culprits are military men. Last Friday, they were at it again as Ikorodu Road, Lagos was turned into a ‘theatre of war’ by soldiers who were said to be protesting the death of one of them, a lance corporal, who allegedly died in an accident involving his power bike and a commuter bus belonging to the state government. According to reports, the soldiers went on the rampage in the early morning of that day around Palmgrove and Onipanu areas of the ever-busy Ikorodu Road. They were said to have destroyed buses belonging to the Bus Rapid Transit, otherwise known as BRT, owned by the Lagos State government and brutalised residents. At the end of the melee, several buses were allegedly set ablaze. Apart from the burnt buses, many others were said to have been vandalised with their windows smashed and tyres punctured. That was not all. Journalists and curious residents who attempted to take photographs or make recordings at the scene of the mayhem were not spared as phones, cameras, tablets and iPads were confiscated and smashed by the rampaging soldiers. The soldiers also ordered the people passing along the route to raise their two hands in the air, as if they were in Sambissa. But trust our security agents and
the perpetrator of the attack as also removed from the pitch for the same length of time as the victim. In addition to that, between the perpetrating person and his club, they should be forced to pay all related medical investigation and treatment charges and also the victim’s salary and allowances for the duration of the victim being off work and unable to train. FIFA should know that with these draconian but long overdue laws, football pitch violence and player-on- player Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH), will come to skidding halt. Just because it is a sport does not allow anyone to attack with intent to cause GBH. GBH is a serious criminal offence which is punishable with several years in prison. Indeed the perpetrating football player should be handed over to the police if it is proved from the multi-video replay that the attack was sufficiently violent and deliberate. Still on the subject of the World Cup; is it not tragic that there are more footballs on advertising billboards that at the feet of young ones particularly Nigerian and African youth who paradoxically are the greatest fans of football following every footfall and turn and applauding every goal and even getting haircuts after the style of their idols? That football fools them into a 90 minute sense of security and pleasurable agony with some experiencing the triumph of victory. After each Wold Cup match, the youth return to their football-less existence. Instead of training to become the next great player, they must content themselves with kicking a plastic substitute for FIFA rated ball as corporate Nigeria ignores the need for footballs and would rather make billboards unplayable balls on them. Did you see a World Cup referee spraying some white paint on the pitch to mark the line for the defence to stand behind during a free kick? The commentator informed us that we should not be alarmed as the paint would disappear in two minutes. This reminded me of the suggestion that disappearing and heat-appearing ink was allegedly used in the Ekiti State election. What is good for football may cause a foul in elections.
While blaming the past for our myriad woes, we must not let the future escape us or we are doomed as a nation. The outcome of the Ekiti elections has sent a jolt through all other governments because there was an undeniable misreading of the politics. For years we have been warning against ‘Godfatherism’ and were happy when the godfathers began to fall. Unfortunately the last godfather refused to read the writing on the wall and ignored the fate of his archenemy, a military Godfather of Godfathers and merely exploded in negative godfather activity getting relatives elected to every available post and anointing the favoured for every post far and near. Godfatherism may steamroll and win one election. This can and has backfired four years later for the obvious reason that a distant godfather dispatches agents to the distant conquered hinterland to take up all available political offices and presiding over other people’s commissioner posts, contracts and even executing those contracts to the exclusion of most locals. This will cause a backlash at the next election unless the people are spineless. Even giving the elderly an allowance can be misinterpreted by detractors as taking away the responsibility of the children for parents. Is this the end of the Godfather era?
‘Is it not tragic that there are more footballs on advertising billboards that at the feet of young ones particularly Nigerian and African youth who paradoxically are the greatest fans of football following every footfall and turn and applauding every goal and even getting haircuts after the style of their idols?’
Wild, wild soldiers their inexorable capacity to concoct and manufacture lies. Pronto Rightman Ogeh, spokesman for the Army formation in Yaba, Lagos, denied that the soldiers from the unit were responsible for the mayhem. Instead, he blamed the ‘area boys’ for the escalation of the problem. Though Ogeh admitted that the soldiers from the unit were aggrieved that the soldier who was knocked down was allowed to die because no one took the initiative to rush him to a hospital, he still exonerated his men. According to Ogeh, “A soldier, who was passing through the bus stop saw the soldier and called the office… By the time we got there, we realised that our colleague was inside the bus already dead. He was riding a licensed motorcycle. So, why was he not taken to the hospital until he died? Of course, our men were angry and we decided that no BRT bus would be allowed to pass through the road”. While denying that the soldiers burnt the BRT buses, Ogeh puts the blame on miscreants, who, he said, perpetrated the act. Hear him: “When things like this happen, you will hear different versions, but I can tell you that soldiers did not burn the buses. It is possible that some ‘area boys’ carried out the act. No one was harassed by soldiers; we only stopped some people who were taking pictures and wanting to film the area.” In the same vein, the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army also exonerated his men. In a
‘Only those who have ever fallen victim to all forms of brutality visited on hapless Nigerians in the past, especially in a situation like that of last Friday, can appreciate the depth and extent of inhuman treatment usually meted out on people by our uniformed men’
statement signed by the Deputy Director, Public Relations, Lt. - Col. Omale Ochagwuba, the army alleged that one of its personnel was killed by a BRT bus, but claimed that soldiers did not carry out reprisals. According to Ochagwuba, “…when the other soldiers who witnessed the incident rushed to the scene, the driver of the bus ran away with the key. The soldiers then secured the vehicle which was later towed away to safety in our custody. ‘Area boys’ then took advantage of the incident and started attacking BRT buses… Our personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene to restore normalcy so that traffic could flow.” Both Ogeh and Ochagwuba’s claims were quickly debunked by the management of the BRT buses. Nonye Onwumere, the Public Relations Officer of the company, said, “On Thursday night, a red LAGBUS, which is run by Mutual Assurance and marked Mo63 broke down on the Ikorodu Road before Palmgrove Bus Stop. Early in the morning, around 7.15am, a soldier on a bike, driving on top speed, rammed into the stationary bus. After the accident, three female and two male soldiers going to work alighted from a vehicle to help their colleague. After seeing the extent of the accident, they gathered and became violent, stopping all BRT buses and ordering the passengers down. They beat some of the passengers and the BRT personnel, and then set some of our vehicles ablaze. They did not even care to know that our BRT are different from the red buses.” From these narrations by Ogeh, Ochagwuba and Onwumere, it is not too difficult to decipher who was telling the truth and who was just cooking up stories to cover their tracks. Only those who have ever fallen victim to all forms of brutality visited on hapless Nigerians in the past, especially in a situation like that of last Friday, can appreciate the depth and extent of inhuman
treatment usually meted out on people by our uniformed men. While many eye witnesses insisted that the violence was coordinated and carried out by soldiers, their spokespersons have laboured hard to wriggle out of blame. They were simply economical with the truth. I am sure they are conscious that the undisciplined act exhibited by the soldiers in their moment of temporary insanity that day clearly negates the ethics of service discipline that the military should be known for. Ogeh’s explanations cannot hold water. If, as he claimed, the soldiers were angry but no one was harassed, what method did they employ to prevent people from taking pictures and filming the incident? Was it by persuasion or brute force that the angry soldiers prevented people from recording the event? In any case, why was it important to prevent people from recording the event when the soldiers could have used such recordings to prove their innocence? That is why I believe that all these cock-and-bull stories are clever ways to pull cotton wool over the eyes of Nigerians and sell them a dummy about what actually transpired on that day. Even Ochagwuba’s claim that soldiers did not carry out reprisals is hollow and falls flat in the face of rational thinking. Why didn’t the other soldiers who witnessed the incident and rushed to the scene convey the lance corporal to the nearest hospital? In other words, what was more important: securing prompt treatment for the wounded soldier or securing the bus that was allegedly involved in the accident? Assuming it was ‘area boys’, as claimed by the Army, which took advantage of the incident and started attacking BRT buses, what efforts did the soldiers make to checkmate them? They also claimed that their “personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene to restore normalcy so that
Dele Agekameh traffic could flow”. Was any effort made by the soldiers to alert the police? Are soldiers now traffic wardens? Indeed, there are too many questions begging for answers. Moreover, in the history of such incidents in this country, soldiers are known for their penchant and proclivity for violence. So it is easy to conclude that what happened that day was a well-beaten track and behavioural pattern our soldiers are known for. This is quite unfortunate. The fact that four out of the more than 17 buses either vandalised or torched were barely a month old in the BRT fleet shows that these soldiers don’t even value public property and the hardship they would cause commuters who have apparently been groaning that the buses were not even enough to cope with the demand. Apart from this, huge revenue was lost as the BRT buses were quickly withdrawn from their routes to prevent further damage to them. At any rate, if and when investigations finally identify these vandals, the appropriate thing to do is to demand compensation for the cost of damages to public property. We cannot afford another ‘unknown soldiers’ episode. Neither would we accept to trade ‘area boys’ for ‘area soldiers’. Chikena! Send reactions to: 08058354382 (SMS only)