September 2019

I was forced to make this post after I read in the forum the story of one woman, which stated as follows: "I have been married to my husband for six years but for three years now,am now regretting my marriage. It all started the day I politely asked my mother-in-law with a clear conscience when she would be going back to the village when she had already stayed six months in what she made us believe was only a visit at the beginning. She became angry and said I had no right to question her when to come and go from her son's house,that that is how I made her son forget her and his siblings since we got married with a lot of other abuses. Since then,she is the one now cooking for her son,washing his clothes and discussing office issues with him when he comes back from work. My husband no longer has time for me and our two children(a boy and girl) as he practically spends every bit of his free time with his mum. It has been like this for three years now and am no longer finding it funny and my mother-in-law is still not showing any sign of leaving yet and my husband and I never had planned of her coming to live with us..." If you can control the rush of emotions, you will easily agree with me that a woman has right to tell her mother-in-law to leave her marital home. We can do that to our own parents if they become a pain. Yeah! We can all say: "Mama, prepare to go home. You have stayed too long with us'. The woman can do it to her own mother who has overstayed. The man can do it to his own mother who has overstayed. In fact, the man can do it to his mother-in-law who has overstayed, hopefully not in a rude or direct manner. Now, tell me why the woman cannot do it to her mother-in-law. There are only two reasons why it is hard for a woman to do it to her mother-in-law. The first reason is cultural. The Nigerian culture (which is not an excuse) believes that the wife is also somehow a visitor, that the house belongs to the man more than it belongs to the woman. Therefore, it seems odd for one visitor to order another visitor out. Consistent with that culture, they think that the man's mother is closer to the man than his wife is to him. This leads to the further fallacy of believing that the house belongs more to the husband's mother than to the wife. But this is not the law. The wife has greater rights in the house than the mother-in-law. The wife is not a visitor, but the mother-in-law is a visitor. Let's just get one thing right: The man and his wife have equal rights in the house. Others derive their rights from the husband and wife jointly. So, your wife can ask your mother to leave. The second reason is economic. If the wife is unemployed and has no income of her own, she is practically a slave. She will not be able to exercise her right to ask her mother-in-law to leave. She will be too scared to do so because she herself is a dependent. We must deal with the two issues. First, nobody forces you to marry. So, as you choose a wife, understand that she has the right to ask your mother to leave. So, look for a woman so kind she won't throw your mother into the rain. And please explain to your mother in very clear terms like this: "Dear Mama, I love you so much. I appreciate the fact that you bore me in your womb for 9 months and nourished me with your breast milk. You gave me life and cared for me. In fact, without you, I will not exist. I owe my life to you. But, Mama, as you know, there was a time I could not survive without your breast milk, but there came a time when I had to leave your breast milk in order to continue to survive. Likewise, time has come for me to find a wife. And once I find my wife, my future and my life will now depend on her just as my life depended on you when I was young. So, Mama, my wife, not you, will be responsible to run my life henceforth". Tell your mother this in your native language. If your mother understands this, she will not come to try to run your home in place of your wife. And please build or rent a separate home for your parents and your parents-in-law. Make sure the home of your parents and that of your parents-in-law are comfortable and they enjoy the same standard of living. Once I've done that, they must allow my wife to run our own home without their interference. On the economic angle, don't get married without being employed. Having your own source of income is more important than getting married. The worst thing you can do to yourself is to try to depend on your husband's income. And those women who depend on their husband's income will grow old to depend on their son's income. They are the ones likely to hijack the home of their daughter-in-law. I end by saying this: You do have the legal right to throw your mother-in-law out. But if you really love your husband, you must respect the woman that breast-fed him. She is actually the woman you took over from in the business of caring for that man.  A man needs to depend on a woman throughout his life. When he was young, that woman was his mother and when he is grown up, that woman is his wife. So, the two women should be friends and should respect each other. What should bind them together is the fact that they dedicated their lives to caring for the same man at different stages in his life. If you treat your mother-in-law right, she may give you some information about your husband that will help you know how to run your home better. If you need advice on how to manage your husband better, do not go to your mother because your mother doesn't know your husband better than you do. The person you go to is your mother-in-law. She knows how she managed the monster you just discovered in your husband. For you, the bad things you just discovered about your husband came as a surprise. But to your mother-in-law, that is his nature. So, befriend your mother-in-law and you will enjoy your marriage.

The story told in that piece is the greatest evil DPA is fighting against. And that is exactly what is happening to Emeka Ugwuonye today. He fought the police and tried to expose evidence of the police killing innocent people. The Nigerian police framed him up for murder and armed robbery, and a collusive and inept judiciary remanded him in prison custody.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT By OK oh Sheriff E. E. My Lord Chief Justice of Nigeria, "Are you aware that today in Nigeria SARS/Police can pick you up, demand money from you and if you refuse, you can be charged for "armed robbery or Kidnapping or both"? Guess what? The magistrate or judge (depending on the jurisdiction) is going to remand you in prison and send your file to the DPP for advice. That means you would be kept off the street despite your innocence. That advice takes 2-12 months, and could run into years. You may not get how bad things have become. Let me explain. If a Magistrate/judge grants you bail for a bailable offence, in most cases you are asked to produce 2 sureties who are responsible, gainfully employed and reside within the court's jurisdiction. Your sureties are going to produce all manner of documents, ranging from letter of employment, TCC, letter of recommendation from your lawyer and their employers, utility bills, rent receipts etc. The extortion process kicks in; You know these court clerks? They are not going to process anything until you drop from 3-10k. Your sureties are going to be interviewed by the magistrate. If they fail, you start the process again. If they scale through, the prosecutor is supposed to verify their home address/place of work. My dear, you are going to bribe the prosecutor with 20-50k to do their jobs! It might be higher at the Federal High Court! If you refuse, LOL. Remember, you have been moved to prison while waiting for your bail to be perfected When they have successfully "verified" your sureties the magistrate is going to sign your release warrant. Court clerks would also extort an additional 2k to 10k to move the file to the magistrate and photocopy your release warrant   You think your release warrant is signed & you are free? Prison officials are going to ask you for 10-20k to Fast-track the release. You know the funny part, all these criminals (Police, Prosecutor, Prison officials, court clerks/registrars and etcetera all believe that politicians are our problems. They also do morning devotion and pray 5 times daily. My Lord, please let the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring and Enforcement Committee under your office supervise the Courts nationwide for a swifter and equitable administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. Call the Police and the Attorney Generals in Nigeria to order very quickly. We have too many innocent Nigerians in Prison. Fait justicia et that coleum, let justice be done, even if the heavens falls, and if justice is done, the heavens in deed would be happier with Nigeria.

With the news that Tanzanian Airline has suspended its flights to South Africa on account of the xenophobic violence, the hand of the clock of evil is coming full circle on South Africa. What a disaster and what a failure! The ANC leadership is full of incompetent and heavily corrupt politicians who cannot see beyond their noses.  How could South African leaders so ineptly allow their country to be ruined with such blatant scapegoating of African immigrants? Since the end of Apartheid, it has been one blunder after the other. The early years were cushioned by the immense goodwill of Nelson Mandela. But apart from that, there were signs that the South African black politicians of the ANC are mediocre. Thabo Mbeki blundered himself to the point of denying the existence of HIV, when the disease was killing his citizens in their millions. Then came Jacob Zuma, a corrupt drunk, who ended up being booted out of office. Cyril Ramaphosa who replaced Zuma turns out as incompetent coward who could not take responsibility for such monumental disaster as xenophobia! When will they get it right? Do we need special reform that will ensure that the white South African politicians only will occupy certain portfolios in the executive council such as Foreign Affairs, Police and Justice?

Before I go further, let me state that DPA opposes the fact that any agency of Nigerian government could detain a person beyond 24 hours without charging him. Such practice violates our constitution and sets back human civilization. Having said that, let's address the reality of Sowore's forthcoming court case. On 22nd September will be 45 days after Justice Taiwo granted the DSS leave to detain Sowore on suspicion of treason and terrorism. On 21st of September, the court will review the matter. There are the following possibilities: 1) The DSS will choose to do nothing further and just release Sowore on or before the expiration of the 45 days: DSS will not take this option because it means that Sowore can sue them for unlawful arrest and detention. He will argue that there was no legitimate reason to arrest him, as DSS ultimately admitted by releasing him without charging him. Besides, it will create a precedent DSS hates to have. That is: it will suggest that the noises and protests by Sowore's friends had effect on DSS. On their part, DSS wants Nigerians to believe that they are too powerful to mess with, which is sad and unfortunate. 2) The DSS will apply for an extension of the 45  days: This will be DSS's weakest but obvious option because they will have to show why they could not complete the investigation and why they need extra 45 days. Justice Taiwo is about the toughest judge that DSS will face in Abuja. He is new to Abuja. He is extremely intelligent. He recently rejected extradition request by the US through the EFCC. And in another case by DSS, which has been pending for the past 5 years, which was reassigned to Taiwo, the judge granted bail over vigorous opposition from the DSS. So, unlike other judges, Justice Taiwo does not fear DSS. (Not yet). So, they have to work hard to satisfy him with their legal argument. But my assessment is that with a good effort, DSS will prevail. The legal threshold for detention under the Terrorism Act is very low. All that DSS needs are some unverified claims that Sowore was planning to engage in some terrorist acts. A picture of him and the leader of IPOB plus any statement calling for a revolution will be enough to cross that threshold. Because IPOB is a "proscribed" organization, and because Nnamdi Kanu is, as far as the courts are concerned, a person on whom a bench warrant lies, the court will interpret any association with Kanu negatively. You just need to understand why and what the law sought to achieve by proscribing IPOB. The goal was to isolate IPOB and make it unlawful for people to associate with it. So, when a man calling for a revolution is seen with the IPOB leader, the implication should be obvious. So, extension will be granted to DSS to detain Sowore for another 45 days period, if DSS chooses that option. 3) The DSS will file charges against Sowore at the expiration of the 45 days: With this option, Sowore will be arraigned and remanded in one of the Abuja prisons (correction facilities) unless the DSS succeed in having him remanded in their own facilities. This is the option DSS may not want yet. Once Sowore is remanded in regular prison, he may have access to telephone. Any unregulated access to the outside world means that Sowore who already has his Sahara Reporters will try to use that platform to attack those whom he feels engineered his predicament. DSS will not want that. They learned important lesson from their experience with Nnamdi Kanu. IPOB grew stronger while Nnamdi Kanu was detained in the regular prison. They have avoided detaining Dasuki and El-Zakzaky in regular prison. So, if they charge Sowore next week, they will seek to continue to remand him in their facilities. They will not like Sowore to repeat what Nnamdi Kanu did - use his period of detention to increase his following. On the question of bail: DSS will successfully oppose Sowore's bail application. They will try to show that Sowore has the capacity to temper with witnesses and interfere with investigation. What you must know is that during those years Sowore was using Sahara Reporters to extort money from people and blackmail them, every law enforcement agency in Nigeria had a file on him. DSS had a file on him. But nobody could reach him then because he was in America. Those files grew cold when Sowore became the mouthpiece of the APC against Jonathan and his PDP. But those files are being reactivated now.  So, Sowore's old victims are resurrecting and they will be calling the leaders of DSS with their complaints. So DSS will be doing some people a favor by not letting Sowore out soon. So, bail will be denied. They will consider him too dangerous to be free on bail. Besides, he can escape back to America and return to his old ways of attacking from outside the country. How will this help Sowore? Naturally, once the public feels that a person has suffered or has been punished more that he deserved, that person becomes a hero. If Sowore is detained for 3 years, there will be massive public sympathy for him. He will become a hero and then more mature and more eligible to run for a serious position such as House of Rep for a constituency in his Ondo State. In slightly more than one week, Sowore's case comes up again. Femi Falana's motion to vacate the initial order shall have become moot or overtaken by events because the order he is seeking to vacate has expired on its own force. Falana should be fighting now against the future measures from DSS and the courts. The lesson of Sowore case must be learned again. The Nigerian State is deeply repressive. When you take on the Nigerian government or any of its agencies, prepare for a drawn-out battle. Never count on those initial noises that will be made by the likes of Soyinka and Falana. Those noises disappear after the first two weeks. If Sowore needs to be free soon, his solution is outside the courts. Nigerian courts are largely slaves to the executive arm of government. Sowore, though an Ijaw person of Ondo extraction, has been accepted by some vocal Yorubas as one of them. Hopefully, they can pull their political strings to get him some soft landing.

EDITORIAL The best way to protect Nigerians from all kinds of oppression abroad is to give them a life within Nigeria that is better or equal to what they can have abroad. As long as we have in Nigeria every manner of hardship, misery, poverty, persecution and injustice, Nigerians will be forced to leave Nigeria in large number. As millions of Nigerians flee the country in search of refuge in countries better managed than ours, they will put pressure on the resources of those countries who gradually begin to resent our people's growing presence in their land. South Africans know that Nigerians coming to live in South Africa were mostly those escaping oppression and injustice and unemployment, while South Africans coming to Nigeria are coming with their investment capital. It is not the same. If you kill a Nigerian family in South Africa, no South African suffers. But if you burn down Shoprite stores in Nigeria, many Nigerians will lose their employment, which forces more of them to migrate to South Africa where they will be killed. As we fight xenophobia in South Africa, we must not forget the root cause of it. Let those who rule Nigeria create a country that millions of South Africans will like to come and live in. Let them create a country that many Nigerians will not need to run away from. And xenophobia against Nigerians will stop. It is indeed naive to assume that the presence of Shoprite in Nigeria is the same as the presence of a Nigerian worker in South Africa. When you set your house on fire and force your family to run to the house of your neighbor for shelter, time shall come when your neighbor will ask your family to leave. Countries who make their citizens unsafe are putting pressure on other countries. We must address that too. I will not like to be a neighbor to Nigeria without building a tall fence. I can tell that sooner or later, Nigerian government will drive their citizens across the border into my space and that will cause me trouble. When your neighbor refuses to feed his children, that may cause you to use food meant for your children to feed your neighbor's neglected children, thereby depriving and impoverishing your own children. Who does that?

Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, though a clever and experienced politician and the leader of the second biggest African country, will not have much respect for the President of Nigeria. Just like in all situations, when you deal with a group, you have to look at the internal dynamics within the group to assess its strength and weakness. A president could be powerful as a person, while his country is weak. A president is powerful as a person, if he is above the laws of his country. A country is powerful as a country if its president is subject to the laws of the country. The more personally powerful a leader is, the weaker his country is. President Buhari is above the law of Nigeria, so Nigeria will remain a weak country as long as there is a human being within the country that is above the law of the country. In South Africa, their president is not above their law. Last two years, they forced their president (President Zuma) to resign. This year, President Buhari presumably rigged himself back to power. Look at Nigeria! (1) President and his men are above the law. (2) Opponents of the president have no protection under the law. Even the Chief Justice of Nigeria could be persecuted. (3) There is no separation of powers and no supremacy of the constitution. The head of judiciary could be removed by the president without recourse to the constitution. (4) For six months after becoming the president in 2015,  President Buhari refused to appoint ministers. During that time an Irish company was getting free judgment that ended up costing Nigeria 9 billion dollars. (5) Nigeria is the only country to lose 9 billion dollars in a phony judgment (6) Nigerian President is too old. He knows nothing about the internet or information technology. (7) Nigeria has a president whose school certificate may have been fake. (8) Nigeria has a president whose electoral victory is still disputed in court. (9) Nigeria is a country where judges are arrested, detained and released on the order of the President. (10) Nigeria is a country where herdsmen keep killing people without them getting arrested. (11) Nigeria is a country where soldiers shoot and kill policemen on duty and set suspects free. (12) Nigeria is a country whose soldiers run from insurgents. So, if you are the President of South Africa and you are to deal with Nigerian President, what will you think of him? Honestly speaking, I won't take Nigeria and their President seriously.  There is nothing they can do even if their citizens get killed in our country. After all, aren't they killing more of them in Nigeria. Nigerians should bear this in mind when dealing with South Africa. Nigeria has no muscle to flex against South Africa. Nigeria should just beg.

Daily Trust reports that three police men, suspects die in motor accident. According to Daily Trust, "Three police officers said to be working under DCP Abba Kyari and some arrested suspects have died in a ghastly motor accident few kilometers from where three police men were killed by soldiers along Ibbi-Wukari road in Ibbi local government area of Taraba State at about 6 pm, on Monday." It was the same IRT unit headed by DCP Abba Kyari, which lost 3 policemen to soldiers' bullets last month. Daily Trust’s finding revealed that "the police officers were escorting the suspects to the Area Command in Wukari when the driver of the police vehicle they were traveling lost control and somersaulted". An eye witness, Mallam Kasimu Dauda, told Daily Trust via Telephone that the accident occurred at a village few kilometers from where the 3 police men and 2 civilians were killed by soldiers last Month. He said the victims were part of DCP Abba Kyari’s team that came to Ibbi, following the killing of 3 Police men and 2 civilians and were left behind to conduct further investigation in the area. Mallam Kasimu Dauda said the victims were escorting the suspects and some guns recovered in the area when the accident happened. The police spokesperson in the state, DSP David Misal, who  confirmed the incident via a text message to Daily Trust reporter, however said only one police man died in the accident. He wrote: “A vehicle with some police detectives, on special investigation, along Ibbi-Wukari road had a fatal accident as a result of bad tyres  and it led to the death of a police officer while others sustained injuries and are currently receiving treatment”.

The South African government has been a disappointment to Africa, just as Nigeria. But let's talk about South Africa. In the 70s and 80s, Nigeria led the world in the fight to end the white supremacist regime in South Africa, known as the Apartheid. Then Nigeria still had the muscle to flex in the continent, not now that Nigeria has become a mockery. It was natural, therefore, that upon the end of Apartheid, Africans would be hopeful that South Africa, led by former freedom fighters, would be a blessing to the continent. But unfortunately, the reality has been the opposite. The post-Apartheid South Africa has been a terrible let-down. It has been like an elephant giving birth to a mouse. Nowhere else has this been more demonstrated than in the xenophobia that has gripped the South African society for a number of years now. That the South African civilian population, particularly the blacks, would be attacking and killing black African immigrants in their country must be blamed on the Government of South Africa. The black leaders of South Africa have failed the basic test of leadership, which is a terrible irony. If the South African leaders were not like drunken idiots, they would have known the long term implications of these xenophobic attacks. For one, South Africa will not be able to attract sufficient black immigrants it would need to soften white domination of their economy and their professional class. Second, it will trigger return hatred of South Africans in other African countries, thus denying the South African economy the opportunity to expand into markets within the continent. The evils of xenophobic violence in South Africa was mildly revealed yesterday when Nigerians retaliated by attacking and looting South African businesses in Nigeria, often their biggest markets in the world. That hopefully will send a message to South Africa. No group will fold their arms and watch their kit and kin slaughtered senselessly with impunity. And as the South African police are too nice to those killing Nigerians, let Nigerian police borrow that  gentle disposition when dealing with Nigerians attacking South African businesses. Despite all this, the situation is not out of control yet. The two governments should double their efforts. The emphasis should not be on how to avenge the Nigerians killed. Rather, it should be on how to protect thousands of Nigerians still in South Africa, who need to remain in that country. Also, since not every African country has the clout as Nigeria, it will be proper for Nigeria's effort to aim to end xenophobia against all Africans in South Africa. There must be an end to these spates of violence. The process will not be complete unless there is justice for the victims of the past and present attacks and punishment for people known to be involved in the attacks. For those, whose shops were looted or who lost their relatives in these attacks, there should be adequate compensation to be paid by South African government. Both governments must understand that both the xenophobic violence in South Africa and retaliatory violence reported in Nigeria are as a result of government failure to act preemptively. (The picture below came from Punch Newspapers showing one of Shoprite Stores looted in Nigeria in relation to xenophobic violence in South Africa).

Every society has its established customs and standards of acceptable behavior. Their cultures and norms took decades and centuries to form, and once formed it takes decades and centuries for them to disappear. The age of the internet and social media has brought the world closer and cultures of one society become easily enmeshed with the cultures of other societies. Just as religion was used to spread the cultures of the more powerful societies to the weaker societies, technology is today being used to spread the western cultures to the weaker countries of Africa. Indeed, the African cultures are being rapidly overwhelmed by the influence of foreign cultures. Naturally, societies and cultures will try to resist external influences. But as history has repeatedly shown, the culture that is backed with superior military power, more advanced technology and greater economic power will prevail over the cultures of those of the weaker powers. It is not a matter of which culture is superior. There is nothing like superior or inferior culture. It is all a matter of power and effectiveness. The creation myth in the book of Genesis is not superior to the legend of Odudua, which is Yoruba equivalent of Genesis. But the Yorubas lacked the means of getting other cultures to accept their creation myth. In fact, they lacked the power to retain their own myth and save it from those who came with the Bible and Koran. It is against that historical background that we must analyze the role of Bobrisky and the role of the Nigerian police and officials. You must accept that both are agents of history or the instruments through which the historical process of clashes of cultures manifest in this instance. To understand this, you must first stop being emotional about it. Understand that the individuals involved now are mere vessels through which something greater is taking place. When Bobrisky began to experiment with dressing like the opposite sex, he wouldn't have known it would take him so far. And nobody in government knew he could become famous in the process. The problem in culture clashes is that the new culture is always impatient. It comes in a little too early and the old culture lingers a little too long. Bobrisky is guilty of arriving too early on the stage and the Nigerian authorities are guilty of taking too long to accommodate the new. Bobrisky will fight with the weapon of his constitutional right to be different in his personal and private life. Your rights to dignity and privacy include your right to dress as you like. And the authority will come armed with the laws that are used to regulate culture, customs and morality. The surprising thing, however, is that the Nigerian authorities have refused to identify the specific laws that Bobrisky violated. The closest they came to that was that his planned birthday party would amount to breach of peace because "those offended by his lifestyle might object to his party". Quite a lame excuse! Why didn't they offer to provide security to Bobrisky then? Instead of using clear legal basis to pursue, Bobrisky, they are inciting public outrage against Bobrisky. That means that the government is using mob and jungle justice against Bobrisky. Did you get that? Did you try to think about that or did you just get emotional and react emotionally? Why didn't they arrest him? Because they have no particular offence they could point to. Why did they not charge him to court? The same thing. So, they decided to mobilize a jungle justice squad and a culture and morality police force against him. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not an offence for a man to dress like a woman and it is not an offence for a woman to dress like a man. (But the police occasionally arrest women in Abuja for dressing in trousers (ie like men) same allegation against Bobrisky). It is not a crime for a man to wear wig or for a lady to have low cut. None of those things done by Bobrisky is a crime. They tried to link him to homosexuality. But they have no evidence. All they have are innuendos. The police carefully avoided arresting Bobrisky because they knew he will sue them successfully. By the way, why is the Nigerian police selective in law enforcement? Aren't they supposed to enforce all the laws? What about the law against kidnapping? What about the laws against terrorism and banditry? They left those and chose the soft target. The same police that are so eager to protect your culture is not interested in protecting your lives? And you are falling for that, just like a zombie. Good luck. Bobrisky should be commended for his courage in risking public outrage to express himself differently. He is also a talented entertainer. We just hope his sense of timing would not get him into more trouble.

On 30th August, 2019, a team of police officers from Lagos State Command invaded two locations in Lagos where Bobrisky, a famous cross-dresser, was to have his birthday events. The aim of the police was to disrupt the events and prevent the intended party from holding. And the police succeeded. This leads DPA News to ask questions. What crime did Bobrisky commit under Nigerian law? None! If he had committed a crime, a court would have issued a warrant for his arrest, he would have been arrested and he would have been charged to court. That is what the law says. But none of this could happen because Bobrisky committed no crime and had no intention to commit any. He threatened no crime and there are no real victims that were injured by him. The only problem is this: If one takes Bobrisky seriously, one will find that he has an unusual lifestyle - which is a man dressing and looking like a beautiful woman. However, if one does not take him seriously, one will find him an interesting entertainer who creates fun and amusement by acting harmlessly in an unusual manner. Bobrisky did not commit a sexual offense. He did not have sex in public, which would have offended the anti-decency laws. He did not engage in public nudity. He did not have sex with either man or woman which would have raised the issue of prohibition of same-sex romance. We do not even know whether Bobrisky has a lover or not. So, what offense did this man commit that warranted, not his arrest, but denial of opportunity to have his birthday party? What is clear is that one government official has become a zealot and has turned himself into a moral police to judge how we should feel about others' private lifestyle. If we allow Mr. Otunba Runsewe to do this and get away with it, his brand of moral crusade will get to a point where women will be stopped from putting on trousers because that means they are dressing like men, and worse. What this case shows us is that whatever government office Mr. Runsewe is representing has no further relevance and should be shut down to save taxpayers money. And one hopes that Bobrisky will approach the courts to enforce his rights.