What Difference: Refugee Vs. Economic Migrant

by Eze Eluchie 

What really is the difference between a ‘Refugee’ and an ‘Economic Migrant’?

A close look at all who are forced for one reason or the other, be it civil or military strife, kleptomaniac and brutally draconian rulership, natural and climate change-linked disasters or whatsoever, to leave their homelands, family friends and all, will reveal an uncanny resemblance, making distinction near impossible except to those who already have preconceived mindsets and a ready-made mind on who they would like to see in their territories and who they would not want anywhere near their territories.

Some of these similarities include:
1. Circumstances in the home countries of the Refugee/Economic migrant had made life precarious;
2. The Refugee/Economic migrant left people behind in his home country – there are always those who stayed back;
3. The Refugee/Economic migrant had made up his/her (their) minds to leave their home countries;
4. The Refugee/Economic migrant basically leave their home countries to safeguard their lives and that of their families.
5. The Refugee/Economic migrant looks forward to making a better life for self and family at whatever new country settled in;
6. The Refugee/Economic migrant took great risk in leaving own homeland;

The difference in the reception for the 'Refugee' and so-called ‘Economic migrant’ is however stark, particularly in Europe.  For starters, whilst the former is entitled to being welcome, provided with accommodation and a near-red carpet reception spiced with rallies and marches-of-support for those forced to leave their countries of origin, the later is forcefully kept out of public glare and the media, dumped in compartments that would make animal right advocates rile in disgust, and deported back to the very region (no one really cares to be sure of the specific country) from which the ‘economic migrant’ was escaping from, to a certain likelihood of persecution, incarceration and likely death.

The dichotomy being displayed in the ongoing differences in treatment of ‘refugees’ from conflict ridden Arabia, some of who arrive loaded with cash, equipped with sophisticated mobile phones with which they send out GPS coordinates to be rescued by relevant agencies in their targeted destinations of choice and how ‘economic migrants’ who arrive stripped of all possessions and dignity from excruciating sojourns across hostile deserts and having to slave their way through perilous routes casts a shadow on humanity.

Why the emphasis on differentiating between a ‘Refugee’ and ‘Economic Migrant’? A differentiation the European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, and the European Union member states, has gone to great extent in stressing in the wake of the overwhelming influx of persons from Arabia into Europe in the past few weeks and of persons from sub-Sahara Africa across the Mediterranean. Excuses such as economic costs, lack of facilities and so on will likely be rendered, but the real answer to this question is disgraceful as it diminishes and erodes from the notion of the collectivity of humanity.

What are the consequences of this differentiation? Quite a lot! For starters, the death of one makes headlines across the world whilst the death of thousands of the other goes unsung, unannounced, unpublished and unfactored and does not give rise to popular clamor to open up the borders for more.

The continuing differentiation and segregation between ‘refugees’ and ‘economic migrants’, playing out globally, is uncalled for and ought to be discontinued. At the very least, continuing such segregation amounts to outright large-scale and widespread discrimination against identifiable peoples - a crime against humanity under appropriate international laws.


Picture: Spot the difference between the death of a 'refugee' child and an 'economic migrant' child.  

The Migrant Crisis: An Indictment on Rich Arab States.

by Eze Eluchie

The greatest indictment on the practice of the Shari’a by some Arab countries, as a way of life, is the fact that pushed to a point of hopelessness and destitution, millions of Arabs {overwhelmingly Muslims} who have become refugees have shunned looking up to incredulously wealthy Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf Emirates (despite their proximity to these countries) and would rather risk all in their quest to traverse continents and oceans to get to Europe and the US.

These mega-rich Arab countries have remained wickedly mute to the plight of millions of fellow Arabs (overwhelmingly fellow Muslims}, pretending that the unfolding carnage is of no moment. In a bid to rationalize the inhumane posture of these Arab States, some have posited that the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council are not signatories to the International Convention on Refugees and so are not obligated to take in refugees. This excuse is hurtful to these Arab States – you do not need any agreements, domestic or international, to do good, to save lives, to be human!

It is hoped that the stance of these rich Arab states who are quite ‘generous’ in dishing out funds to ‘support’ Islamization causes across the world, particularly in emerging countries, and yet refuse to as much as open their doors to Muslims in extreme distress will not be lost on the several peoples and countries of sub-Sahara Africa where such largesse’s have served to foster and fuel internal ethno-religious conflict and disturbances – the lesson learnt ought to be: If they cannot step in when it mattered most to their immediate neighbors who also happen to share same faith, the motive for their ‘generosity’ is clearly not pure.



Picture: Some Arab refugees trying to enter European Union territory

Release Kim Davis: U.S. PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE

by Eze Eluchie

When the United States Supreme Court accepted to delve into strictly personal affairs that bother on religious doctrine and personal beliefs and conscience, it was clear that the United States was descending into a realm that will, sooner than later, find it in the sorry state where it will have to use the instrumentality of the State and Justice processes to try to influence personal conscience, religion and beliefs.

Ms. Kim Davis, an elected official of Rowan County, Kentucky State, charged with issuing Certificates of Marriage has repeatedly stated that her faith does not permit her to sign Marriage certificates for marriages that are not between a man and a woman.  The Kentucky State Court Clerk refused to issue marriage certificate to homosexual couples purely on grounds that her conscience and religious believes negates such marriages becomes a prisoner of conscience!

By ordering that Kim Davis be sent to prison for merely abiding and sticking to her conscience and the dictates of her faith, US District Judge David Bunning has elevated Kim Davis to the status of a Prisoner of Conscience.

In his words at the sentencing, Justice Bunning asserted that "Her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense".

Is there any difference with what transpired against Ms. Kim Davis and the persecution of Christians and other ethno-religious minorities in those jurisdictions notorious for having ‘prisoners of conscience’? Whether it be in China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or wheresoever, the presence of Prisoners of Conscience in any jurisdiction is an afront against humanity.

The United States authorities are enjoined to release Kim Davis, a Prisoner of Conscience, IMMEDIATELY!



Picture: Kim Davis, Rowan County, Kentucky. 

The Dragon Bares Its Fangs.

by Eze Eluchie

Dating back to over a century-and-a-half ago when the British Navy, and its present day ally, France, forced China, upon threat of bombardment, to open its borders under terms which were quite unfair to Chinese interests and amongst other things allowed licit trade in Opium, a heinous crime which devastated thousands in China rendering many to be zombies operating under the influence of opiates, to the Nanjing holocaust when the Imperial Japanese army slaughtered over 300,000 Chinese nationals during World War II, the Chinese have been the butt of jokes in international circles as the ever under-performing giant. A giant that has been routinely battered by countries far less endowed than it in terms of population, size of territory, historic pedigree or otherwise, a giant whose populations have been routinely raped, pillaged and enslaved over the decades.

However, in the course of over half a century, starting from the end of World War II and expedited during the Cultural Revolution under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the Chinese have successfully redefined, rebuilt, reenergized and recalibrated the Chinese concept. From a mainly agrarian, rural and uneducated population, China has in the course of the past half century, by dint of hard work, sheer patriotic fervor and focused leadership, transformed not only her peoples, her landscape and her economic potentials, but also how the global community perceives her.

Gone are the days when the world looked down on China and her peoples and referred to them by all manners of derogatory epithets; those who still do, do so to their own detriment and merely reflect deep-rooted ignorance. Gone also is the era when the Chinese existed as recluses, keeping to their history and themselves and requiring foreign armies to force them to open up their territories to international trade; now, the Chinese brand is global, with virtually everthing, everywhere having some Chinese component. Chinese firms now dominate global trade, going where others shy from threading under self-imposed human right considerations and using their unique numerical and low-cost-of-production advantage to drive market leaders underground.

Beginning to feel some sense of stability and sustainability in its global economic clout and the need to reinforce its presence at the world stage, the Chinese are now beginning to flex its muscles in the one area where it had, for decades, played the global underdog – the military sphere.

The decades of playing second fiddle militarily had come at great costs, in terms of loss of territory and prestige. It is thus only natural that when the tide changes, as it surely appears to have, efforts will be made to recover lost territory and regain lost prestige. Desirous of a peacetime opportunity to let the rest of the world know that it had come of age, and its rediscovered capabilities to take a stand at the global stage and defend such stance by whatever means, Chinese authorities opted to use the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan during World War II, a victory China knows it was only able to achieve after the twin devastating atomic bomb annihilations the United States had visited Japan with, to let the world know its capabilities.

And what a show the Chinese unveiled.

As China makes greater territorial claims in the South China seas and gets more assertive with its neighbors, assertions which have served to put several of its neighbors on edge, and the United States enters into more Bilateral Defense Treaties with these countries with whom China is increasingly having border skirmishes, it can validly be contended that it is more a matter of when, and not if, before there will be lethal exchanges between China and the United States.

Considering the resources at the disposal of these two giants and the renewed patriotism and desire never to return to a past of subservience imbued into the Chinese psyche, such a confrontation will if not prevented prior to its onset, descend into mankind’s worst case scenario.



Picture: Chinese President Xi Jinping review the military parade at the 70th anniversary celebrations of China's 'victory' in the war of resistance against Japan.

The Liar President!

by Eze Eluchie,

Perhaps more important than the Constitutionally enshrined and assigned role of a President or Head of State of any territory as the Head of the Government of such country with all its related authority and powers is the salient, and yet quite evident, role such person plays as a role model to the highly impressionable youths of such territories. In addition, the position of President automatically confers on the holder of such office, the status of Mentor-extraordinaire to citizens of his country and represents the face of a territory to the international community.

It is for the above enumerated reasons that the issue of integrity, uprightness, truthfulness and fidelity be not only imbued in whosoever becomes the President of a country but also manifest and exude for all to see. In climes desirous of progress, the foregoing qualities must reside in the Head of Government and when these qualities are found wanting, it inhibits possibilities of ascending to the Presidency. If a person has already ascended to the Office of President, the discovery that the foregoing qualities were absent, were falsely assumed or become compromised, provides sufficient reason for the pretender to the office of President to either resign his position or get thrown out of office to avoid continued desecration of a position of trust.

On the converse, in territories where corruption has been elevated from a scourge to the status of an ‘accepted’ way of life, the issue of truthfulness, integrity and related virtues are considered external and tertiary luxuries which are of no moment in deciding who leads, or to be more apt, who rules or continues to rule, where the vice of deceit is discovered in the course of an elected politicians tenure.

It is with the foregoing in mind that effort will be made here to appraise the present ruler of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who alongside the political platform upon which he got (s)elected as President, are striving assiduously to retell the tales and belie their various promise which were told the Nigerian populace prior to the 2015 Presidential elections.

From the failure to abide by a self-declared undertaking to publicly declare his assets and ensure that all his appointees likewise declare their assets; to failure to stand by a publicly proclaimed resolve affirming that the unconstitutional Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic would not be maintained in the event that he won elections; to total discountenance of a firm commitment to eradicate Boko Haram from the Nigerian landscape within 2 months of getting into office; to the recent pronouncements from the Presidency that nothing and absolutely nothing was promised or assured Nigerians prior to the (s)election of Muhammadu Buhari as President, a renunciation ably affirmed by the National Publicity Officer of Mr. President's political party, Mr. Lai Mohammed (a very apt name for a man whose livelihood is based on his ability to hoodwink the public), who added that nothing was promised to Nigerians within the frst 100 days and that anyone who thought otherwise could go to court; and denial of a "Covenant With Nigerians" (see link below) which had been well publicized prior to the elections; Nigerians have come to realize that they have been scammed into (s)electing a character, adept at masquerading as a man “who comes with a reputation of integrity”, whose very and every words are not worth the paper they are written on, as President, alongside his cabal of unscrupulous opportunistic politicians.

The implications of the various lies told on the way towards ensuring electoral victory has both domestic and international implications. At the domestic level, we will have to live with the following dire outcomes:
a. It has dawned on Nigerians that nothing said, either directly or by implication, by this regime is bankable. We will have to take each day as we see it and gird our loins for whatsoever is thrown at us (or in the alternative be ready to do the needful to bring the continuing aura of deceit and impunity to a halt before its expected termination in May 2019).
b. Our youths and those aspiring to positions of leadership may become infused with the believe that it is okay to say whatsoever merely to get elected, and once the elections are over, deny all that was ever said, published in concrete or wheresoever, as the mere hallucinations of the electorate; and
c. Our youths will believe that lies and deceit pays. If lying and falsehoods gets someone the plumiest job and position in the land, why not tell a few lies to get bye, whether in business, social life or otherwise.
In keeping with the mentorship of the rulership, there will clearly be a corresponding increase in episodes of the notorious ‘advance fee fraud’ {419 scams} routinely associated with Nigerians if the rot being perpetuated on Nigeria and Nigerians are not immediately redressed.;

At the international level, in addition to the soiled image bequeathed on the Nigerian state by decades of kleptomaniac rulership, military and civilian alike, which has served to render our otherwise very vibrant and resourceful population to a life of destitution in several foreign territories, it will become extremely difficult for members of the international community to enter into bilateral and multilateral covenants with a regime that cannot keep its covenant to its own population. It will be myopic for anyone to think that the lies being told to Nigerians by the present régime, in this age of the internet, has not become known to all and sundry across the globe.

Is all hope already lost? Certainly not! It is simply damned too early to lose all hope in a regime that has barely begun. The Buhari regime may yet decide to retrace its steps from its path of falsehoods, lies, deceit and denials and chart a new course along the path of truthful engagement with its population.  When all cards are properly laid on the table and apologies for misdeeds rendered, then a fresh start based on fundamental virtues of truth, justice and integrity may yet be initiated.

If this is done, Nigerians are ever ready to join hands with the regime and explore means of righting wrongs and moving the polity along. If however the regime continues in its arrogant mien of a conqueror who has ‘successfully conned the people’, history and reality teaches all that whatever that is founded on falsehood is merely transient and that once a people have become aware that they are victims of deceit and fraud, those who perpetuated the fraud to get into office are no different from armed hoodlums who seize a territory and hold the citizens therein captive – you may have power, but lack legitimacy! In the goodness of time, the people will take back what rightly belongs to them.



The now denied "My Covenant With Nigerians": http://bit.ly/1O61MHm

Picture: President Muhammadu Buhari