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Saturday, October 4, 2014
Amnesty opposes death penalty for
convicted soldiers
OCTOBER 5, 2014
BY TOBI AWORINDE
An international human rights advocacy
group, Amnesty International, has opposed
the death sentence passed on 12 Nigerian
soldiers by a military court in Abuja for
mutiny, among other offences.
The court three weeks ago, convicted the
soldiers for firing shots at the General Officer
Commanding the newly created 7 Division of
the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed
Mohammmed, in Maiduguri, Borno State.
But in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH ,
AI’s Media Director, Ms. Susanna Flood, said
the organisation was opposed to the death
penalty, regardless of the offence.
“The reason we have not said anything about
(the conviction) was because we weren’t able
to monitor the trial and assess that it was fair,
which is very important for us. We have to
back up our comments with facts.
“We oppose the death penalty in all
instances. So, in the case of these soldiers,
we would be opposed to their death penalty.
We are looking into the trial and trying to
ascertain more facts about all that went on or
the situations that led to these men being,
first of all, charged and then convicted. We
are now investigating,” she said.
She noted that human rights change would
not happen overnight and that one needed to
look at the proverbial big picture.
“If you look at our work on the death penalty,
and you examine the statistics when we
launched our campaign against the death
penalty, which was more than 20 years ago,
compared with the figures now, you will
notice that the number of countries around
the world executing prisoners is decreasing.
“Sadly, Nigeria is still executing. Eliminating
the death penalty is a slow bit of progress.
We can see all the achievements we have
made over the years in getting the death
penalty reduced around the world.
“Recently, we got news from Israel. Israel has
had a particularly harsh form of detention for
African asylum seekers, where they have
been locked up in unacceptable conditions.
We heard that the Israeli Supreme Court had
overturned the ability to do this and this
detention will no longer continue for
Africans,” she said.
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permission from PUNCH.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
We Shall Overcome (Part 1)
By Femi Fani-Kayode
—
Sep 28, 2014 | Leave a comment
Blessed be the name of the Most High
God, the God whose I am and the God
whom I serve. Blessed be His holy name
forever.
I thank the presiding Bishop of this great
Church for honouring me in this way and
giving me the opportunity to share a few
words with this massive congregation. I
thank the Pastors and the Board of
Trustees of the Church for inviting me.
I look at this massive gathering of
believers and I am humbled. I am also a
little intimidated. I regard it is an honour
and a privilege for me to be here,
speaking to you today from this holy
pulpit, and in this hallowed hall and
chamber.
Unlike most politicians, I shall endeavour
to be very brief and not to keep you
here any longer than necessary. Permit
me to get to the point without much ado.
We are at war in this nation. That is
obvious and self-evident. Yet, despite
our circumstances, we must harbour no
fears, because we are winning that war. I
say this because my Bible tells me that
darkness cannot overcome light, and
that even though it may tarry, the vision
of total victory is for an appointed time.
I have been told that some of you that
are here today lost their loved ones who
were soldiers that were gallantly fighting
at the war front against the terrorists. I
hear that some died in Bama, others in
Konduga and some fell whilst defending
Mubi.
I am touched to the marrow and my
heart bleeds for the pain that you must
be going through, having lost your loved
ones in this way. I want to assure you
that the great sacrifice of these noble,
courageous and gallant heroes shall not
be in vain.
It is my sincere prayer that their souls
rest in peace and that the cause for
which they paid the supreme price is
achieved. May God reward them and
their loved ones for their service to our
nation. No greater a gift can a man give
than to lay down his life for his people
and for his country. The veracity of this
assertion can hardly be disputed.
And neither is there a more honorable or
noble death than that of a soldier who
falls at the war front whilst fighting for his
nation. Your loved ones fought gallantly
for Nigeria and gave their lives for the
future and unity of their country. We
shall never forget them.
More importantly, history and posterity
shall be very kind to them and their
names shall be listed amongst the greats
who stood to defend our people and our
cause when the days were dark and
when the enemy knocked at our gates.
Again, I am told that there are others
here today whose family members were
innocent and defenceless civilians, but
who were murdered in cold blood in the
sanctity of their own homes by the
butchers of Boko Haram.
What a terrible tragedy this is. It is a
tragedy of monumental proportions and
it has engulfed, not just the north-east,
but our whole nation. It is a tragedy that
touches, concerns and affects us all.
Your loss is ours. We share your pains
and we mourn with you.
I assure you that those that were killed in
this cowardly, brutal and barbaric way
will be avenged and those that killed
them will face the judgement of God and
the justice of men both in this world and
in the world to come.
What dark times these are. Yet, despite
the darkness of the night let us not
forget that joy comes in the morning. As
the Bible says, let us count our
tribulations and suffering as nothing but
joy, knowing that our Lord and Master
has already paid the price for our
salvation and deliverance by shedding
His precious blood on the cross at
Calvary.
Let us remember that in the end, we
shall prevail and we shall overcome,
because we serve a mighty God. Let us
remember that evil can never overcome
good and that the Church of Christ and
our Christian faith itself was built on the
blood of the martyrs and the persecution
and suffering of the saints.
Let us hold onto God’s word. Let us be
courageous. Let us exercise our faith
and let us never forget that hope against
all odds and strength, even in the face of
the most trying times, are the hallmarks
of a true believer. Let us remember that
our God is irresistible and unbeatable
and that in the end He makes all things
beautiful.
Let us take heart and let us make no
mistake about it: in the end, as surely as
night follows day, we shall overcome. Let
us remember that no matter what the
media, the opposition, the Haramites and
their secret friends in high places, the
skeptics, the international community or
anyone else tell us, our Armed Forces
remain the best, the most fearless, the
most courageous, the most disciplined,
the most effective and the most
ferocious warriors on the African
continent, and we have every reason to
be very proud of them.
If I were the President of this country, if I
were compelled to do so by the
circumstances, I would go to the four
corners of the earth and to the edges of
hell itself in order to procure the very
best arms that money can buy for our
soldiers so that they could protect our
people and fight a good fight against the
relentless barbarians that torment, afflict
and plague our land.
If I had to I would violate every
convention and norm in the land in order
to bring the terrorists to justice and to
degrade, kill, maim and destroy those
who slaughter our people at will, who
burn our homes, schools and churches,
who violate and defile our women and
who abduct and enslave our children.
People need to understand one thing:
when fighting a war against an inhuman,
barbaric and beastly enemy like Boko
Haram in Nigeria or ISIS in Iraq, or
Hamas in Gaza, or Al Shabab in
Somalia, or Al Qaeda in Libya and Mali,
or FIS in Algeria, or the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt, or Daesh in
Lebanon, or the Taliban in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, or Al Nusra in Syria, or the
Janjaweed in the Sudan, or the
Chechnyan separatists in Russia, the
gloves must come off.
History tells us that the policy of
appeasement and the willful and naive
display of weakness and procrastination
before wicked and heartless men with
reprobate minds can only lead to a
further display of violence and
aggression against the innocent. There
must be no display of restraint or
weakness exhibited to the enemy in this
war and no quarter must be given to
him. This is because we are fighting
against an adversary that is beastly in all
his ways and that does not consider
himself as being bound by the laws of
war or any known and internationally-
accepted rules of engagement.
In such a war, all is fair and all is
permissible, no matter how extreme and
no matter how frightful and ruthless. No
mercy must be exhibited. Absolutely
anything goes and anything is allowed.
We must wipe them and all that is theirs
out completely because they are the
ultimate expression of evil. We must
wipe them off the face of the earth. We
must crush and eliminate them totally
and wipe out all trace and memory of
them. This is our God-given duty. It is
our divine obligation and we must not fail
or shirk it.
We must win this war and thereby stop
the beasts from taking our land,
enslaving our loved ones, beheading our
children, raping our women, burying alive
our men, burning down our churches,
and wiping out our beautiful Christian
faith.
As long as Jesus sits on the throne and
as long as some of us remain alive, they
shall not pass and neither will they
succeed in their cruel venture, because,
ultimately, we shall prevail. We will not,
we must not, we shall not, and we
cannot lose this war.
It is rather these shameless and
conscienceless cowards, Huns, biblical
Egyptians, Philistines and Amalekites:
these enemies of God and those who
secretly support and encourage them,
that shall fail. This I know, because the
Bible says, “The gates of hell shall not
prevail against the Church”, and neither
shall they prevail against the Lord’s
counsel.
I say this with absolute and supreme
confidence, because our God never fails.
I say it because He is the Alpha and the
Omega: the Man of War, the Ancient of
Days, the Holy One of Israel, the Lion of
the Tribe of Judah, and the Lord God of
Hosts whom none can resist in battle.
I say it because He knows the end even
before the beginning. I say it because He
is high and lifted up and the earth is His
footstool. I say it because our God is an
awesome God, He reigns from heaven
above, with wisdom, power and love:
our God is an awesome God.
(TO BE CONCLUDED)
Chief Fani-Kayode’s speech at the Valley View Church on
September 21, 2014.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Kaduna vows to stop Fulani herdsmen’s
attacks on communities
on september 30, 2014 at 9:25 pm in news
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KADUNA—The Kaduna State government has
said that it was committed to finding lasting
solutions to the incessant attacks on
communities in the southern part of the state
by sauspected Fulani herdsmen, pointing out
out that those linking him with the unprovoked
attacks were political jobbers.
This was contained in a statement yesterday
by the Director General, Media and Publicity
to the governor, Ahmed Maiyaki.
Maiyaki’s statement read in part; ‘’While we
share in the pains of those that are genuinely
concerned about finding a lasting solution to
the situation, we have, however, noticed that
some cynics are bent on escalating the crisis
for selfish motives.
‘’We deem it necessary to address some of
the misinformation or outright mischief
conveyed to the public by some interest
groups on the issue.
‘’We wish to clarify from the onset that the
governor’s hands are clean on the issue of
attacks on innocent people of Southern
Kaduna and that he remains unrelenting in his
determination to bring such barbaric acts to
an end.”
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