Mr. Rights Blog

1. Terrorism Definition: By terrorism, I'm referring to the systematic use of terror that is often violent in nature to create fear. This is usually done against a religious group or a political group. Overview: Terrorism in Nigeria has taken it's toil deeper in the root. As of the present it is the nation's greatest threat disguised in the Jihadist Islamic group Boko Haram. The group alone has destroyed thousands of lifes and properties worth billions of naira. If there is one thing that any peace loving Nigerian pray for, it's for the elimination of the group. 2. Corruption Definition: By corruption, I'm referring to the dishonest or fraudulent conducts practice by those in power, Overview: Ignoring the fact that Nigeria isn't among the most corrupt countries in the world, very few can stand otherwise. Rationally, 80% of Nigerians believe the country is corrupt and 90% of them are corrupt. Explosive cases of suspicious past corrupt practises include the

OFFICIALS of the United States government have for the first time in months presented an explanation on the sudden termination of oil imports from Nigeria since July, an action which spurred concerns whether there were any possible political connotation especially because of the current strain in Nigeria-US diplomatic relations. Answering a question on the issue from The Guardian, during the week, White House Director of the US National Economic Council, Mr. Jeff Zients, said the cessation of oil imports from Nigeria had to do with the significant rise in US oil production. Zients, US Labor Secretary, Thomas Perez, and White House Policy Council Director, Cecelia Munoz, were addressing a few US journalists on Thursday afternoon on the state of the American economy when The Guardian raised the question wondering why the US brought oil imports from Nigeria to a complete zero, while still importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other major oil producing countries. According to the White Ho

The Catholic Church, from at least the second century, has claimed that Christ was born on December 25. However, it is commonly alleged that our Lord Jesus Christ was not born on December 25. For the sake of simplicity, let us set out the usual objections to the date of December 25 and counter each of them. Objection 1: December 25 was chosen in order to replace the pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a popular winter festival and so the Catholic Church prudently substituted Christmas in its place. Reply to Objection 1: Saturnalia commemorated the winter solstice. Yet the winter solstice falls on December 22. It is true that Saturnalia celebrations began as early as December 17 and extended till December 23. Still, the dates don’t match up. Objection 2: December 25 was chosen to replace the pagan Roman holiday Natalis Solis Invicti which means “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun.” Reply to Objection 2: Let us examine first the cult of the Unconquered Sun. The Emper

FG Replies Osinbajo Criticisms With Bible Passages In an attempt to respond to Osinbajo’s comments, the Special Assistant to President Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, on Thursday, December 25, 2014, took to his official Twitter handle and condemned the running mate of General Muhammadu Buhari for criticising President Jonathan out of a desire for personal gain. According to Omokri, Osinbajo’s words of condemnation on Twitter does not befit an ordained pastor. The Special Assistant to President Jonathan stated that instead of Osinbajo serving as an agent of transforming politics with the light of his moral compass, with his recent comments, he is conforming to the prevailing political culture such that one can not differentiate between a clergyman and a regular politician. Below is Omokri's tweets One of the biggest misconceptions of the world, in my opinion, is the view held by some that members of the clergy should not participate in politics or government. I have read The

President Goodluck Jonathan has said Nigeria is not the personal estate of anybody but for the generality of Nigerians. Speaking on Thursday during the Christmas service at the St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Maitama, Abuja, Jonathan said only the will of God shall prevail on the forthcoming general elections. President Jonathan in a lengthy speech said: “It is a week to the end of the year. Next year, from January, we will see all political actors campaigning and from the middle of February to the end, we will have the elections at the various levels.” “I believe we the politicians are not putting out the right utterances and I am very sure that those of you who mean well for this country are not happy with us.” “As a politician, you want people to elect you, to perform a responsibility. If you mean well for the country, the country is nobody’s personal estate but you want to serve. If people want you to serve, you serve and if they say ‘no’, you leave,” “Nigeria is nobody’s perso

'Jonathan Belongs To The Olumba-olumba Sect' - Ayo Oritsejafor 'One of the presidential aspirants (likely, Pat Utomi) of the just concluded elections came to me(before the elections) asking if we could team up and create a christian front towards the elections. While I showed him many reasons why he cannot win, I also told him that a Christian front towards this elections is not part of the picture of what God told me. Then he told me that he had been to see Ayo Oritsejafor (President of CAN) and he (Oritsejafor) said that although they know Jonathan to be a member of Olumba-Olumba sect, he (Oritsejafor) must support him in the open; if not his church will be destroyed'. - Tunde Bakare, qouted in his message 'A prophet as a sign to a Nation.

22 State Governors Owing Workers Salaries Secretary General of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, has expressed concern over non payment of workers salaries by many state governors. Speaking with newsmen in Kaduna at the NUTGTWN meeting, Aremu described the development as a wage theft, wage robbery and economic crime. Aremu who is the Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) said for about three months now, 22 state governors are delaying or refusing to pay salaries but paid the delegates during the just concluded primary elections across the states. “We see that delay in payment of salaries as wage theft, wage robbery. It is actually an economic crime because Nigeria labour law says thou shall pay the worker as at when due. In fact by 22nd of every month you must have pay the workers fully. “We never heard of any delegate being owed a single penny during the primary elections, but they cannot get money

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, December 24 posted an exposing document on the alleged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “Plan B”, apparently, in case of failure in the February polls. Nasir El-Rufai Mallam Nasir El-Rufai It is not clear however where the paper was obtained from. It contains neither dates, nor signatures hinting on the origin of the “document” containing 11 steps. The politician shared the photo of the paper and tweeted: “This extract from Jonathanians’ 2015 Election Plan B is on social media. Read what the evil shoeless ones are up to!” See the transcript (unchanged) below: [illegible] Elections 1. Freeze political activities in order to defeat Boko Haram and restore peace and security especially in Borno and Yobe states. With Elections 2. Use third force to paralyse opponents and with elections 3. Let Borno and Yobe – [illegible] to PD retain Borno and get soft landing for Yobe including Bauchi 4

Northern Pastors endorse Osinbajo’s nomination Thursday, 25 December 2014 00:00 Written by EDITOR Osinbajo-1CHRISTIAN clerics, under the auspices of Pastors Council of Northern Nigeria, have applauded and threw their weight behind Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s nomination as running mate to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flagbearer in the 2015 elections, retired General Muhammadu Buhari. Endorsing Osinbajo’s choice, the pastors said he possesses all leadership qualities for the position. The clergies unanimously agreed that Osinbajo’s choice heralds hope for a new Nigeria in view of his experience in public and private sectors, and also being a pastor of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG). Addressing journalists in Kaduna, the convener of the Council, Pastor Bulus Yahaya, cautioned Nigerians to insist that the best leadership that would salvage the nation from its political, social and economic problems emerge in the 2015 general el

On Monday, June 10, at the third round of the 2013 ministerial platform in Abuja, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, spoke glowingly about the Nigerian economy, saying the fundamentals were strong and that the economy was buoyant beyond danger. But a few hours later, on Tuesday, when all the doors were closed, the minister sang a different tune. She told her colleagues in government point blank that the Nigerian economy is shaky despite the official fundamentals and that drastic steps are needed to save it from collapse. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala spoke at the 50th meeting of the 15-member Federal Government Economic Implementation Team held behind closed-doors at the presidential villa. The implementation team is headed by the minister, and meets every week. It was established by President Goodluck Jonathan to oversee the effective implementation of decisions of the Economic Management Team chaired by the president. Other members of the comm

My Parents took me to Boko haram, Says 14-year-old Kano Suicide Bomber The girl, who was identified as Zahra’u Babangida, was arrested in Kano on December 10 following a double suicide bombing in a market that killed 10 people. She was presented to journalists by police and instructed to recount how Islamist militants allegedly forced her to take part in the attack. She said her mother and father, both Boko Haram sympathisers, took her to an insurgent hideout in a forest near the town of Gidan Zana in Kano state. She said one alleged militant leader asked her whether she knew what a suicide bombing was. “They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no. “They said, ‘You will go to heaven if you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They said they would shoot me or throw me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told journalists. There was no way to independently verify her story and she had no lawyer present. No information was available concerning the whereabouts of her parents. Police said they had instructed t

Watch And Pray, Watch And Prey By Wole Soyinka I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our Owu retiree soldier and prolific author is an infliction that those of us who share the same era and nation space must learn to endure. by WOLE SOYINKA Dec 24, 2014 I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our Owu retiree soldier and prolific author is an infliction that those of us who share the same era and nation space must learn to endure. However, it does appear that there is no end to this individual’s capacity for infantile mischief, and for needless, mind-boggling provocations, such as his recent ‘literary’ intrusion on my peace. Professor Wole Soyinka today Sahara Reporters Media Perhaps I ought to interrupt myself here with an apology to some mutual acquaintances – ‘blessed peacemakers’ and all - especially in this season of ‘peace and goodwill to all men’. Please know that your efforts have not been entirely in vain. I had a cordial exchange with Obasanjo over the phone rec

ONE of the support groups formed to propagate the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, House-to-House Educational Initiative, has decided to throw its weight behind the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Its National Coordinator, Mr. Kunle Ehinlanwo, said at a news conference in Abuja that its members have not found any reason to join the campaign for Jonathan’s re-election. Ehinlanwo explained that this was the time for collective action to change the fortunes of the country for good. His words: “House-to-House Educational Initiative was formed to promote good governance and pro-poor policies through national dialogue and intervention on issues of national development and till date, we have done quite extensive work in this regard. “In achieving our set goal, we use sensitisation and awareness as drivers of development. In recent times, however, we are beaming the searchlight on political development, to see how we can work wi

The Street Journal recently had a chat with Pastor Tunde Bakare,former Vice presidential candidate of CPC and General Mohammadu Buhari’s running mate at the 2011 presidential election. Bakare who is the pastor in charge of he Latter Rain Assembly Church was in his usual element in the explosive interview. Excerpts! Your Role In Formation Of APC You’d recall that I moved the motion of merger between the CPC and ACN because we’ve always believed that all these smaller parties will never be able to win a presidential election in Nigeria…never! Except there would be a handshake between the Southwest and Northwest, then PDP will remain in power for ever. I’m not saying that all those who are in PDP are devil and all those who are in APC are saints. At a close range you’d like to thank God that you know what you are doing. Right now as presently constituted, whereas all we were looking for was a merger between Northwest and Southwest. The bulk of voters are in those groups. The whole of Sou

Last week, the nation was flooded with a news of how an Osun state High Court judge sentenced two persons to death for stealing fowls. According to the news report, ‘’Justice Jide Falola of an Osun State High Court sitting in Okuku sentenced the two robbers to death for stealing fowls.’’ However, Investigation by Mr.Rights indicate that, the convicts are innocent as testified to by Mr. Balogun Taiwo, the police officer attached to Divisional Police headquarters, Okuku who made the arrest. According to reports, the convicts, Olowookere Segun and Morakinyo Sunday, were said to have been found guilty of forcefully breaking into a house in April 2010 and carting away some belongings. But according to Mr.rights investigations, the two (2) convicts are not part of the fowl robbers. Infact, One of the suspect (Segun Olowookere) is said to be out of town when the crime took place. ‘’Those arrested for stealing fowl had been released, my son and the other convict were roped and have been in d

Column: Agenda for Peace with Mr.Rights Columnist: Abdulrazaq O Hamzat We must understand the reality of today, that a war against corruption is a lost war and it has never been won by any nation. Even in China where death is the penalty for culprits, corruption still strives and flourish.‘’ Going by definition, corruption is defined as a dishonest or illegal behavior especially of people in authority. However, I see it more as the bad habit of every individual. Coming back to Nigeria where effects of corruption are destructive beyond measure. We are not saying we cannot try to reduce corruption to some certain extent, but the present setting of Nigeria's government does not support corruption reduction, because virtually all those that should lead the battle against such menace are major culprits. Marvin Issey, an analyst narrated a story his article titled ‘’positive corruption can lead to growth’’. According to him, a story is told of an African governor who visited hi