August 16, 2019

Remember the analysis and predictions of DPA Rambo concerning Sowore and how it all came to pass as predicted. Two weeks after, Rambo can make further predictions and suggestions as follows: It is important to note that as at this time, nobody is talking about revolution or how to overthrow the government and cause a fundamental change any more. The only thing being discussed by decreasing number of people is how to get Sowore out of DSS detention cell or how to have him transfered to prison by arraigning him in court. Whenever the discussion of a revolution moves from substance of fundamental change to how to spare the neck of the leader of the revolution, you need not be told that the revolution has failed. In the case of Sowore's revolution, it never existed. When finally charged to court, Sowore's best defense will be to deny that there was ever any revolution. Apart from his denial of its existence, everybody knows that the revolution failed immediately it crossed Sowore's mind. Today makes it one week since his arrest and detention by DSS was validated by a court order. Sowore has 38 days remaining out of the initial 45 days of his detention period. The confused voices calling for his unconditional release have quietened down, naturally. The longer he stays in detention, the fewer and fewer the voices calling for his release. That's how it works. He never had the capacity for a prolonged fight. Before, I go further, let me make it clear to you that I do not support the arrest and detention of Sowore. Nigeria should stick strictly to the constitutional term of 24 hours for pre-indictment detentions. The only difference between the typical supporter of Sowore and me is that while I look at the Nigerian law before commenting, his supporters either forget about the law or they are in denial. Many people, including lawyers, will speak about fundamental rights without remembering the judicial order exception. You should always read the fundamental rights sections of the Constitution with that exception. So, before you speak categorically about any provision of fundamental rights sections, start by saying silently the following words, "Except there is a judicial order to the contrary" before you start stating the right. For instance, when it comes to the freedom of movement, I will read it as follows "Unless a court of law has ordered otherwise", a person shall be entitled to freedom of movement. The idea is simple. If the court has ordered you to be detained, you no longer have the freedom of movement. If the court has ordered that a person be detained, it is totally strange to look at the executive arm of government and demand an unconditional release of the person. There is a difference between a detention order signed by the Police or DSS and the one signed by the courts. A detention order signed by the DSS does not affect the definition of your rights. But that signed by court will override the right you are claiming. It shouldn't be hard for you to know that the court interprets the Constitution and can determine when to suspect your rights. So, being detained based on a court order, the only way to release Sowore is to return to court and have the order varied or modified. As for the recent protest in Abuja by a handful of Sowore's personal friends, it is important to know how DSS would interpret such protest. DSS is an agency with excessive powers and scanty legislative oversight and total lack of executive supervision. Also, for your information, the DSS has been able to intimidate the judges. Who is the judge that will deny a DSS request to detain a person accused of treason and terrorism?  What many Nigerians do not realize is that Nigerian law enforcement agencies are more repressive now than during the Military rule, and our judges are more timid now than then. If you noticed, the judge that granted the order to detain Sowore said he did not have the power to refuse to grant it. Well, that's not entirely true. The judge had a lot of power which he chose to exercise in favor of DSS. For instance, yes, the judge seemed bound to grant the order. However, it was totally up to him the length of time of detention to grant them. Just as the judge was able to reduce the period of detention from 90 days requested by DSS to 45 days, he could have reduced it to 7 days or less. But he didn't. DSS will not yield to protest easily. In their thinking, to do so will be to appear soft and to encourage more protests for others either currently in detention or to be detained in the future. So, the protest of two days ago naturally will have the opposite effect. The fact that they appeared to have yielded to protest in El-Zakzaky means they will feel a need to be tough again. Besides, while El-Zakzaky had people willing to die for him, Sowore has only some of his clueless fellow travellers. If protests did  not get Nnamdi Kanu released, the kind of protest led by Adeyanju two days ago is not going to do it. This is what to expect:. DSS will arraign Sowore much later. His bail will be a contested issue. So, he will remain in custody for sometime. DSS will come up with all manner of stories to build up the case. Look at Nnamdi Kanu's case. They know how to build up something big out of little. In Sowore's case, they will find a lot if they focus on his finances. So, the protest for Sowore is nice. It will make him feel good. But it merely annoys the DSS because it is not powerful enough to shake them up. As hinted by one security expert who discussed this case with us, DSS probably already infiltrated the group protesting for Sowore and can make an aggressive move on them. If that happens, they will all scatter.

Trolls on social media are people who deliberately provoke others online by saying inflammatory and offensive things. They promote hate speech, attack an opponent’s character and say things to appeal to people’s feelings rather than their intellect. Many did not realize how trolls work until they find themselves as their target. Trolls act in concert when there is a concerted effort, which is defined as: "contrived or arranged by agreement; planned or devised together: a concerted effort. done or performed together or in cooperation: a concerted attack". They also act on conscious parallelism basis, when there is a coordinated or identical action or behavior that occur among people without any specific agreement among them. It is a conscious behavior with specific intent because each actor expects the support of others with joint intent to achieve the same result. Those who harass or bully on social media, otherwise called trolls, either act in concert or on the conscious parallelism basis. Emeka Ugwuonye is an incredible case study. When he set up the group, DPA, he attracted many followers who saw DPA as a mecca for social media advocacy and activism. People joined in their thousands. At the same time DPA's success provoked envy and hatred. It was easy to join, but difficult to stay. Determined, for instance, not to allow the DPA platform to be used to spread the wrong message, DPA has a practice of removing people who could not keep to its high standards of civility and its values. DPA removed over 20,000 members. If the admission process were strict enough most of those removed would not have been admitted into DPA forum. The people removed from DPA felt the bitter pain of exclusion, and these were people already experienced in social media activism while in DPA. It was easy for trolls to be recruited from the list of those removed. Though relatively small compared with DPA members, those removed became trolls against Emeka Ugwuonye and DPA. They spread so many false rumors targeting those who lack analytic minds to question what they read. Today, if you want to generate traffic to your post, find a way to mention Emeka Ugwuonye on your post. Two days ago, one lady started a post on Emeka Ugwuonye. We didn't know her mind, but mentioning Emeka Ugwuonye's name has been her best way of getting most 200 comments to her post. In this case, this woman is not really against Ugwuonye. In fact, she was trying to be balanced in her story. So, she started off by saying: "Apart from the obvious accusations that Emeka Ugwuonye is greedy and a womanizer, he is not a bad person". She went on to say that Emeka Ugwuonye "was banned from practicing law in the United States". She was contacted inbox by one of us. We asked her what was obvious about Emeka Ugwuonye being greedy and a womanizer. She had no answer. We asked her to name two women that she knew to have been dated by Emeka Ugwuonye. (We assumed that to be a womanizer, a man must have been associated with at least two women). Can you believe that this lady could not even mention any single woman that had been romantically associated with Emeka Ugwuonye? Next she was asked to identify who banned Emeka Ugwuonye from practicing law anywhere in the world. She couldn't. Knowing that she might be referring to the false letter from the clerk of the Nigerian Supreme Court, which has no legal effect. When we reminded her of that she had no response. Also, she cannot point to any single act of greed by Emeka Ugwuonye, who has sacrificed all he had for others. This is the effect of internet or social media trolling. That is how it works. Emeka Ugwuonye has been the worst victim, apart from the Presidents of some countries. Trolls mention his name and they increase traffic to their posts. In the case of the lady referred to above,  her post attracted comments from many trolls, people who never met or interacted with Emeka Ugwuonye but who would tell stories of what they said or did with Emeka. We all need to learn from the Emeka Ugwuonye's experience when it comes to trolling.

It has just been reported of the case of a teenager who kidnapped himself and demanded five hundred thousand naira in ransom for his release. And all over the country of Nigeria, kidnapping has been upgraded to a capital offense with death penalty. This is not just a simple case of a bad child caught in a juvenile delinquency. It is a reflection of a criminal orientation. It shows that kidnapping remains the easiest, but one of the most dangerous crimes. It has replaced other crimes as the crime of choice for those with little regard for human life and who are prepared to cause maximum chaos in the lives of others. Can Nigeria fight the crime of kidnapping with conventional methods? Apparently No! Increasing punishment to the death penalty, without affecting improved means of detection and prosecution is a self-defeating approach. You must first detect the crimes, catch the criminal and successfully prosecute him before the issue of the gravity of punishment comes in. In fighting kidnapping, emphasis should go to education, community sensitization, changes in cash handling policy and money transfer rules. If ransom can longer be paid because nobody can withdraw certain amount of cash, the effect on kidnapping will far outweigh  the current measures