Women’s football kicks off the London 2012 Olympics on Wednesday, two
days before the official start of games, even as athletes pour into the
country and organisers put the final touches on the opening ceremony.
OLYMPIC GAMES.
The referee’s whistle at 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) will start not only
Great Britain and New Zealand’s clash at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium,
but will open a 19-day festival of sport that will be watched by
billions around the globe.
In Coventry, world champions, Japan open their bid for a famous
double when they take on Canada, while heavyweights United States play
France at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.
Brazil will play Cameroon, Sweden face South Africa and Colombia are
up against North Korea, as the battle begins for a Games-wide total of
302 gold medals.
“It puts women’s football out there, puts it on the map, and
hopefully will showcase the sport,” British coach Powell told the press,
when asked about opening the Games.
“It’s our first time as Team GB and you will be nervous, but I’m sure they will rise to the occasion.”
Heathrow Airport is expecting another 3,700 athletes, coaches
officials and media personnel on Wednesday, as competitors fill up the
athletes village at sprawling Olympic Park, built on a disused
industrial site in east London.
Meanwhile 'Slumdog Millionaire' director, Danny Boyle, will lead a
team of 10,000 participants in the full dress rehearsal for Friday’s
highly anticipated opening ceremony.
FASHOLA APOLOGISES TO PROTESTERS IN MAKOKO COMMUNITY.
Hundreds
of Makoko residents on Monday, stormed the Lagos State Government House
to protest against the ongoing demolition of shanties and structures in
their community.
Chanting anti-government songs and brandishing placards, the
protesters, some in their old age, peacefully marched along Obafemi
Awolowo Way, to the office of the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.
Some of the displayed placards by the young and old read, 'Housing
is our right: Stop destroying our houses', 'We say no to unlawful
eviction', 'The poor are also human', and 'Respect our human rights, we
are not foreigners'.
The ongoing demolition exercise in the coastal community started
last Monday, on the directive of the state government, with thousands of
persons estimated to have so far been displaced.
One of the community's chiefs, Timothy Agbe, also lost his life in the period after he was shot by a police officer.
But at the government house, the protesters did not get assurance that the exercise would be stopped.
Rather, Fashola told them that all structures extending beyond the approved boundary, would be levelled.
He noted that piling saw-dust on the lagoon, discharging wastes in
it and blocking the discharge points for storm water had contributed to
flooding in some parts of Lagos, like Bariga, Shomolu, Ebute-Metta,
Ogudu, Ajegunle and Ikorodu, among others.
He however, expressed a "very deep sorrow and apology about the unfortunate loss of life from the exercise".
"I am truly sorry about that. In the process of doing our work, our
responsibility is to protect lives. I regret that that has happened
here," he said.
Fashola promised to investigate the circumstances leading to Agbe's
death, and encouraged the community to send a delegate to meet with him
"on the way forward".
"Please tell them to stop"
Earlier, one of the community chiefs, who spoke for the protesters, Yusuf Jejelaiye, appealed to the governor to let them be.
"Please and please, tell them to stop (the demolition)," he said,
adding that the economic mainstay was fishing. "If you bring a fish out
of water, it will die. I heard rumours that one of the reasons is that
there are criminals there, but do we demolish and evacuate people in
Lekki, Ikeja because they rob people there."
A displaced resident, Bose Rashidi, said she and her children had been sleeping in the open since her house was destroyed.
"They burnt my stockpile of fish and my children's uniforms and
books; now, they can't go to school and I don't have fish to sell," she
said. "We're hungry; we've also been sleeping on planks outside and all
the rain has been pouring on us."
Over 30,000 persons displaced
Speaking to journalists, the Executive Director of the Social and
Economic Rights Centre (SERAC), who doubles as the community's counsel,
Felix Morka, said over 30,000 persons had already been displaced due to
the exercise.
He described the exercise as "wrong and unlawful", saying that up to
100 metres inward from the coast belongs to the federal government.
He added that his organisation was in the process of suing the state government for its action.
Nigeria has a lot to learn from the death of Ghana President John Mills (1944-2012) and its aftermath
Chinua
Achebe, in his book, A Man of the People, dismissed Nigerian
politicians of that era as charlatans claiming to be genuine men of the
people. The Economist of London also always dismisses irresponsible but
power-crazed African rulers as “African Big men”.
GHANIAN JOHN MILLS.
John
Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, who died at 2.30
pm on July 24, was a glorious departure from these unflattering power
archetypes. For one, he died at his own country’s prime military
hospital, the 37 Military Hospital, in Accra, Ghana; after he fell ill
and was rushed there about noon on July 24. He was not crated in dead,
after shunning the neglected and undeveloped facilities in his own
country. That was a good one for patriotism that is by no means routine
elsewhere. For
another, he wore his humility, modesty and restrained wielding of power
like a cloak, so much so that when his demise was announced, his
compatriots, friends and foe, were united in grief. On the streets of
Accra, and from reports that streamed in from other principal cities all
over the West African country, every Ghanaian, with heads bowed in
grief and eyes streaming with tears, was unanimous in affection, perhaps
rare elsewhere: the father of the nation was gone! Many even broke down
in the midst of broadcast or televised interview-tributes! That is the
level of affection with which Ghanaians hold the late President Mills. Yet,
the President was no angel. Neither were Ghanaians fools. Like Nigeria’s
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua before him, the media was always rife with
President Mills’ ill health; and on a few occasions, it was indeed
rumoured that he had passed on. So, when the news of his death started
filtering out some 45 minutes after his passage, Ghanaians were not
completely surprised. Yet, the shock and palpable wish that it was yet
another rumour, which the authorities would come out to dispel, hung
thick in the air. But it was not to be. Nevertheless
like President Yar’Adua, if President Mills knew he had a terminal
illness (though a full disclosure of the cause of his death has not been
officially disclosed, he was known to have cancer), why did he contest
an office that required booming health? After serving as vice-president
to President Jerry John Rawlings and, for eight years, head of his
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and leader of opposition during
President John Kuffour’s tenure, was the President, despite his frail
health determined, at all cost, to have a shot at the presidency? Or was
it the all-too-familiar power cabal that hemmed him in, for which he
had to pay a fatal price? Whatever
the reason, Africa must strive to build a political system that would
avert the avoidable tragedy of a president giving up the ghost just
because his health could not cope with the harsh and demanding rigours
of office. Perhaps President Mills and President Yar’Adua would still
have been alive today, had they not combined presidential rigour with
their suspect health. But
despite everything, the exceptional personal conduct of the late Ghana
president shone all through the institutional rot, that often shrouds in
secrecy such crucial matters as the health of the president, as part of
the campaign mix. Still, the seamless transition that led to the sombre
swearing-in of new President John Dramani Mahama was impressive. It
was open, transparent and sombre; and the Ghana Parliament did not have
to resort to legal gerrymandering like ‘doctrine of necessity’ to do the
constitutionally needful, faced with such presidential tragedy which,
by the way, was novel in the history of Ghana. No previous president had
died in office. The
open affection Ghanaians showed President Mills and the Ghana
Parliament’s fidelity to constitutional provisions are areas Nigeria can
learn from. President Mills respected his office and honoured his
people by working hard for them. Little wonder, the people reciprocated
by treating him as a rare hero in death. The Parliament has also been
admirable in total obedience to the law.
7 million illicit weapons in Nigeria • Why it is difficult to track down
rampaging gunmen • Explains why Nigeria Army is intervening in crisis
management
A frightening picture of the damage inflicted on Nigeria’s security by
terrorists emerged yesterday after an Army General said the war on the
Islamist sect, Boko Haram and similar groups, is over-stretching
military resources.
Although, Major General Usman Abdulkadir, Chief of Army Standards and
Evaluation, gave no details, the military authorities have had to set up
Joint Military Task Forces, first in the Niger Delta, to check
terrorism by militants, and now in such Northern states as Plateau,
Borno and Kano in the face of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Personnel, money, vehicles and weapons that could have been put into
better use have had to be diverted to solve the security challenge posed
by the Niger Delta and Northern terrorists.
General Abdulkadir, who spoke at a Ramadan lecture of the Muslim Media
Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) in Abuja, said an estimated seven
million assorted illicit weapons are in circulation in Nigeria.
That works out at 70 per cent of the 10 million of such weapons in the
West African sub-region alone or seven per cent of the total of
100million in Sub-Sahara Africa.
More than half of illegal weapons-3.5miilion-are said to be in the hands of non-state actors and criminals.
Of no less concern is the absence of structures to track down and
investigate the brains behind killings and bombings in the country.
Gen. Abdulkadir said: “Investigations can be difficult because the
structures to make investigating more accurate are largely lacking.
Means of identification of criminals and foreigners are tricky because
most Nigerians don’t have passports, national identification cards,
social security numbers or drivers’ licences.
“There are also no reliable data banks for forensic investigations like
DNA profiles and fingerprints. These issues make it difficult to track
down criminals or perpetrators and even when caught, no expedient
procedures and laws to bring them to justice.”
He also faulted lack of coordination among security agencies mandated to
quell violence in the country,saying:”One of the major problems with
internal security operations is coordination among the various agencies
involved.
He stated: “Most agencies pay more allegiance to their respective
services to the detriment of the operation they are supporting.
“Therefore, most internal security operations in Nigeria become problematic to manage and coordinate while synergy is lost.”
Abdulkadir expressed concern that the crises in the country are stretching military resources.
“The managing of internal security in Nigeria poses challenges for the
security agencies in several ways. Nigeria has several pockets of crises
that are beyond the Nigeria Police.
“The result is that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is deployed to several
parts of the country at the same time, thereby over-stretching military
resources. In addition, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is saddled with the
roles of meeting Nigeria’s international obligations in peacekeeping,
which worsens the situation.”
On proliferation of arms, he said: “Out of approximately 500million
illicit weapons in circulation worldwide in 2004, it was estimated that
about 100 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa, with eight to 10million
concentrated in the West African sub-region.
“Regrettably, more than half of these Small Arms and Light Weapons(SALW)
are in the hands of non-state actors and criminal groups. Nigeria is
both a producer and consumer in the West African sub-region.
“Although it is difficult to determine the exact quantity of illegal
SALWEEN circulating within or penetrating into Nigeria, it is estimated
that over 70 per cent of about eight to 10 million illegal weapons in
West Africa are in Nigeria.
“The access to SALW makes criminals and militants to be bolder when
facing security agents, making it more difficult to combat them. It also
astronomically increases the levels of casualties and destruction that
could be visited on the populace.”
Abdulkadir admitted that the high-level of insecurity is causing a
decline in the confidence that Nigerians have in political leadership.
He added: “The present situation has also bred an atmosphere of
political insecurity, instability, including declining confidence in the
political leadership and apprehension about the system.
“Invariably, continuing escalation of violence and crises across the country interrupts the survival of democracy.”
The Army General advised politicians against sponsoring violence or
exploiting ethno-religious differences to cause mayhem in the country.
He said if Nigeria is on fire, it could consume those behind it.
