Showing posts with label Niger Delta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Niger Delta. Show all posts

Monday 16 March 2015

WILL #GEJ WIN IT?


The political sphere in Nigeria remains charged, leading up to apparently, the most expensive heated elections in the history of the nation. Most analysts would say prior to the postponement of February 14, the All Peoples' Congress was charging to the finish line like Usain Bolt. But the shift in the checkered line, has helped the Peoples' Democratic Party, regain some stamina, and giving a push to the line.

To this end, a group of young party loyalists, aligned to the incumbent, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a.k.a. #GEJ decided to put together an event, to tell party stalwarts why GEJ wins it. According to them, the President's achievements are under reported, so Nigerians don't know on what premise they are lobbied to return #GEJ for a second term by constitutional right. 

So, even though the organizers screamed and shouted that the event was a formal one, and there shouldn’t be jeans and sneakers, trust Nigerians now… Anyways, I called up a darling friend, and she was my date for the evening. They were economical with time, as they indeed said the event will go live by 6pm, and at around 6pm, they were set. See ehn, I was VERY impressed by the set up. From the stage, to the seating, to managing the movement of cameramen, to the speakers, sound, montage… See, they bettered the PlayForum guys a bit. I can beat my chest anywhere and say Naija Boyz can “did it”. At the heart of the technical setup was the “kekere ekun”, Segun Awosanya a.k.a. Segalink. Even though he had a resplendent seat in front, and he was dapper as always, he was ducking from the view of the cameras, darting across the entire space, and ensuring the whole thing thick.
In my mind of minds, I saw the name of the convener as “Karo”, and thought of only one twitter handle I know with that name - @karo_orovboni, and I went burst with it, as the convener delivered his welcome address. But indeed, it was @karoagono. Thankfully, I was promptly corrected, and the barrage of questions in my mentions stopped.


Mr. Agono insisted in his welcome speech, that you may differ in ideas with him (irrespective of what part of the country you live in), yet to him, you remain brothers and sisters I wonder if this holds sway across board though. 


And in the next 5 minutes, Karo adulated GEK in bard-like rendition, citing why to him already, “GEJ wins it”. Above all, he reiterated his angst on being told by friends in the opposition, that he had indeed taken money, to give his support to #GEJ (Countfreemont’s tweet). Again, he said you Yes, you have told him that if you support the opposition, you’re intelligent and cool, but if you support the government, you are intellectually deficient.

Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim then proceeded with the first keynote, and dropped a couple of subs for the 1st family, the opposition candidate – Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and a host of others. His first sub though, was for Mama Peshe. Because only a few days back in Akwa Ibom and then in Edo, she said it was constitutionally a right for her husband to get 8 years in office. Oga Anyim said instead, that #GEJ was not even concerned about being reelected… Itumo 



Again, he delivered a master of subs, when he proclaimed that #GEJ’s is the first administration where power is not concentrated at the centre, in reference to statements by one agile retiree, that there are indeed 5 Presidents ruling the country (sic). According to Senator Anyim, “Mr. President has no need to keep all the power, he’ll rather strengthen the relevant institutions”. He also said that #GEJ’s administration has guaranteed the stability of the national legislature, and it is not as volatile. Well, maybe Senator Anyim was asleep when recently, there was rancor at the national assembly


He also went on about the rebasing of the economy, and said it wasn’t really for bragado projecting Nigeria as the largest economy on the continent, but for it to capture the relevant sectors of the economy which were hitherto neglected, for the sake of national economic planning for the future. Again, he delivered a sub, this time to the party itself, when he said, “We are not working for reelection, but for the next generation”.


After his speech, an army of young, intelligent and daft Nigerians took to the podium, to espouse the achievements of this administration, from corruption *swallows flagyl for my running stomach* to SURE-P, 10 million increase in school enrolments even though UNICEF says Nigeria has about 11 million out of school children and even the small matter of the number of Nigerians – 44 million plus – now using the internet thanks to this administration. 


















Anyways, I was dazzled most by the speech of Toyosi Akerele (@toyosirise), and no wonder everyone else was – she’s a Jossite, like Mike Omeri and Labaran Maku *covers face* and myself. She touched me, when she hammered on the truth, that even though young Nigerians are now taking the handouts because if we don’t, the old generation will still pocket it, or dash oyinbo PR firms, we can now negotiate on our terms, because we are trailblazing across the globe, making Nigeria proud, even more than the government is (yet another sub).











With all the adulation coming in, Eghes Eyienyien gave a strong speech, thrumping up the achievements of #GEJ, but ended it all with a massive sub:

The evening petered in to one of adulation and reiteration of the same facts and figures of achievements we have seen on twitter, facebook, on television and even on newspapers. And then, the lie called Bala Mohammed happened. He claimed that there have been massive road expansions in his administration, with plans to develop new districts in the FCT, via public-private partnerships. 


Oga, didn’t mention that his administration like those before him, have neglected the development of Idu/Karimo Industrial District, which will have been the nerve center for small businesses and industries living in the FCT. For him, developing primed areas in “our own Dubai”, were key projects for his administration. And I dare to add, even the illegal conversion of about 20ha of designated green areas in Asokoro to residential quarters, without adhering to requirements of the Abuja master plan, is a part of it. Oga Minister also mentioned that they were working birthing a tax body for the FCT, to generate N300bn in revenue for the Territory, so that it can exempt itself from the national budget and be self-sufficient.


Wont for time, the compere took a couple of questions from online viewers and from the audience, with most of them focusing on the issue of power. Venerable Professor Chidenu Nebo reiterated that the power sector doesn’t work akin to “plug n’ play”. It takes time to run feasibility and evaluation studies, make procurements, import and install, but promised that power will be a demon of the past soon, especially if #GEJ is reelected. Oh, and he said, “#GEJ has overworked and over performed, but under appreciated”. 


 As the evening grew older, the speakers and the audience had the look on their faces that said one thing – “#GEJ will win it”. 



The event came to a prompt conclusion with the national pledge: I pledge to Nigeria my country, to be faith, loyal and HONEST; to serve Nigeria with ALL my HEART, to DEFEND her UNITY and uphold her HONOR and GLORY; so help me God.
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Monday 15 September 2014

PICK OF THE WEEK (1)



It’s a fresh new week, and I can only hope for, and be optimistic about productivity and efficiency; above all, that things turn out positive for everyone. But they never always do, so I will just remain hopeful as all humans are. Pick of the pile is a brand new idea, so I thought to test it today. Should have come fresh from the press, but I have also been lazy at finishing my work. And I am sorry it didn’t come rushing out of the blocks as it should. But even though I hope that the publication can be as weekly as possible, I don’t pray for the laziness to be as frequent as that. So, I hope that you get to enjoy what I am trying to do, and also give me feedback on how ingenuous I can be, to serve you the best.
If you are on social media, you must know this already. Conversations can flood your timeline at breakneck speed. Depending on your degree of connection, a lot will happen and you’ll only get to see but a few. Some will get very popular and go viral, some might just be popular with an audience which you’re not a part of the ‘tribe’. Fret not! My job, is to try and scan the ecosystem, and get you some of the top viral conversations, hoping that I can give you a review of what was said, and what the reactions entailed. I’m lazy, so don’t expect me to do a thorough job. Neither should you expect me to feature your favorite picks of the pile. But if you’re so eager to, you can always send me your scoops. My pick of the week, will focus on conversations curated on twitter between September 8th and 14th, 2014.

MY PICK

Oil Theft
  Exactly one week ago, at 9:56am, Aljazeera journalist, Rawya Rageh tweeted “About to tweet a series of crazy pictures from the powerful shoot we went on with combined task force fighting oil theft #Nigeria”. What followed, in 45 minutes of 17 twitpics, was a gory, sad story-telling of an oil war, still raging in the creeks of Nigeria’s Oil-rich Niger Delta. Years after the amnesty programme to free those parts, of militants and oil bunkering, it is slowly turning out to be a tough war for the government to win, as depicted in the mosaic below:

In a daring patrol, Rawya and her brave crew bring us gory images of environmental degradation from illegal oil refiners who dump toxic waste without a thought for the environmental impact, thereby destroying vital flora and fauna that help the famed delta thrive, and the measures carried out by federal agencies, which after discovering dangerously refined oil, refineries and bunkered oil, destroy them thereby, releasing more and more carbon to the atmosphere. Environmental activists like Uncle Nnimo will certainly be irked by the actions of both parties. With the Climate “Ban Ki Moon” Summit coming up on the 23rd of September, climate change activists will certainly be on the lookout for news as these, and try to understand the position of the Nigerian government in the fight against climate change. Her tweets reached an average of 153K+ accounts and made an average impression of 172k+ (accounts that can possibly see the twitpics). Folks like Rosanwo had the most impressions, as they retweeted them to their timelines and many more people were able to see in graphic details, what seemingly happen in the Niger Delta daily, as the federal government wages war against oil bunkering, theft and illegal refinery.
 
Suicide

    On Friday 12th, @BabajideFajodu drew my attention to a seemingly suicide, when his picture of a said Liberian, Kate, who hanged herself on a peach tree in Magodo district of Lagos went viral.
With 150+ retweets, Babajide's tweet was able to reach 96K+ accounts with an impression of 108K+. There were atleast 50 people who tweeted or quoted Babajide with the pictures with @Gidi_Traffic, @MrsMUFC, @Ayourb and a few others making up the bulk of the impressions even as it went viral for atleast two days. The reactions to his ‘reverse-snap-twitpic-report to Police-drive on’ we as hilarious, disturbing and empathic as Nigerians can be defined. 

The said Kate, had seemingly gone in to depression, after she turned up ill, and residents refused to interact and do busines with her, since she's Liberian, and the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease had made its way in to Nigeria through the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, to whom Nigerians now hold an eternal hate.




Am I Your Father's Mate?
While I was minding my business with apoti on the TL on Saturday, 13th; something started filtering in with the line, “Am I your Father’s mate?” in it. Before I was done setting the apoti and sitting on it, jokes and memes were flying in from every angle, and when I realized the initial statement was used by Gen. Chris Olukolade, Defense Spokesperson, the stats were already staggering. Apparently, Mallam Jibo who had tweeted at General, must have just been plain honest in his tweet. And while General is still coming to terms with the freedom social media affords, I heard he deleted the said tweet. But not before I was able to screengrab the 'darn' thing! I just hope that General Chris Olukolade will come and subscribe to my short course on ethical use of social media for social good. An hour's session costs an affordable N15,000 only. With all the money making going on in the name of fighting insurgency as Mallam Jibo pointed out, I believe General Olukolade will be able to afford a couple of hours. 




  Goodluck Jonathan
  Early Sunday morning, news started filtering in of the pavilion collapse at the TAN rally in Minna. A public show of support for Mr. President as Nigerians seek to pressure him to run for a second term, the air was dented, when the pavilion came crashing on the dignitaries. There have been rumors of up to 40 persons severely injured including the wife of the ‘Chief-Servant’, and counter statements that no one was injured at all. Whatever the truth was, the story as reported by @Vanguardngrnews reached 415K handles, and had an exposure impression of 467K+ accounts. More and more media houses have reported it since and I expect the numbers to jump… 


Nigeria
I round off with a half-truth and sarcasm, when the handle @NotGoodluck tweeted: 


The Dassault/Dornier Alpha (NAF 466) fighter jet, one of 24 in the Nigerian Airforce fleet, which has been effectively deployed in various wars across the continent, was reported missing, even though some rumors have it that it was actually shot off the Adamawa skies. Official statements say it’s missing, and the there’s a concerted search for the pilots aboard. Amassing 150+ retweets and a couple of favorites, reaching 79K+ accounts, and making an impression of 89K+. The tweet from a parody account, links the missing jet story with that of a famed missing Chibok girls and a recent dismal performance by the nation’s senior football team which in the past, is responsbile for the unity and joy of the country.

   And that is it for this week. I hope it made sense? However, do let me know in the comment section. And if you have scoops for next week, mail them to kenneth.kolo@aiesec.net or tweet them at me - @KoloKennethK 



 


 
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