Erdogan: Warring To Protect ISIS.

By Eze Eluchie

To curtail the momentum against  an effective international buildup against ISIS, one of the main backers of the hideous terror organization, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, in a vicious act of desperation, shoots down a Russian airplane to ensure that all thoughts of decimating ISIS is put on hold.

Timed to coincide with the week of international efforts by President Francois Hollande to get the US, Russia and Western European democracies on the same page, the intentions of the Turkish President is clear to all but those who choose to wallow in self-deceit.

Will Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeed?

Will Erdogan get away with this vile act against the international community?

As ISIS gets another 'lease of life' as a result of the Turkish actions, the world is doomed to more dastardly terror attacks!

Clearly, the real dangers to international cohesion and global peace are manifesting.

http://ezeluchie.blogspot.com.ng/2014/10/a-justiciable-responsibility-to-prevent.html

Picture: Turkish President, Erdogan, and a prototype of the downed Russian SU-24 fighter-jet.  

Diverse Reactions To Terrorists: Russia, France and Nigeria.

by Eze Eluchie

One more reason why we are where we are and the rest of the world keeps on forging ahead is encapsulated in the reaction of our current President to terror when compared with how others react to terror:

"To forgive the terrorist is up to God, but to send them to Him, is my duty."

"There's no statute of limitations for this, we need to know all of their names. We're going to look for them everywhere wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any place on Earth and punish them."

-        Vladimir Putin, Russian President responding to the downing of Russian Plane by ISIS terrorists.

'We will lead the fight and we will be ruthless, and we had to be here among the people who were subject to these atrocities because when the terrorists are capable of doing such acts, they must know that they will face a France very determined - a France united'
'France will destroy ISIS'
- Francois Hollande, French President responding to ISIS attacks on Paris.

"An attack against Boko Haram is an attack against the North"

 "If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us – the complete number – then we may decide to give them amnesty!"

-        Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President responding to efforts by Nigerian army to contain Boko Haram

Could the Heads of Governments above be talking about the same problem? Extremist Islamist terrorists who have killed thousands and continue to threaten to kill many more thousands? For global efforts to diminish and eventually eradicate extremist Islamist terror, wheresoever it may exist, to succeed, there must be unanimity of purpose and efforts and zero-tolerance for entities or administration which hobnob with these despicable creatures or in anyway offer them respite, refuge or relevance.

The fact that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is continuing with its devious path to ‘negotiate’, offer pardon and or amnesty to a group that continues to bomb, behead, inclusive of lethal suicide-bomber attacks within the past three days in Yola and Kano (cities in Northern Nigeria, which led to the death of over 40 persons and injury to several hundreds, and in so many other ways terrorize not just Nigerians but also the international community, by means of their avowed affiliation to ISIS, is indeed most troubling.

Muhammadu Buhari’s government has ordered the release of countless Boko Haram terrorists and gone into negotiations with some of them with a view to according them safe passage from justice - at the same time, the Buhari regime is marshalling Nigerian soldiers to ‘crush’ peaceful protesters in Nigeria’s South-East and South-South regions (a zone Muhammadu Buhari has derisively referred to as those who gave him 5% votes and whom he wil treat unequally with the rest of Nigeria), calling for the restructuring and renegotiation in of the Nigerian contraption.

Muhammadu Buhari, the world is watching with increased and steadily increasing interests....

Picture: Russia’s Putin, France’s Hollande and Nigeria’s Buhari.

Scrap The EFCC!

by Eze Eluchie,  

Over the years, each passing head of Nigeria's omnibus anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has from their involvement in sleaze and other impure activities served to embarrass not only the law enforcement community, locally and internationally, but also added to the poor perception of Nigeria (by Nigerians and the international community alike) in matters regarding corruption.

From Nuhu Ribadu (who transformed the EFCC to a thuggish-Gestapo outfit doing the bidding of then Head of State Olusegun Obasanjo) to Farida Waziri (who spent here period in office hobnobbing with some characters her office was meant to prosecute) to the immediate past helmsman, Ibrahim Lamorde (who was busy diverting whatsoever the agency was recovering from ‘corrupt persons’ and ran out of Nigeria, under the pretext of ‘going for medical treatment’ to avoid appearing to defend sundry allegations before the Senate of the Federal Republic), all former Chairmen of the EFCC had been disgraceful in office. All past heads of the EFCC have left their offices 'better financially endowed' with 'bulging pockets' and leaving the rest of us wondering how such scams could have been perpetuated under the guise of an entity established to lead the ‘war against corruption’. There is likewise no believe or hope, whatsoever, that the newly appointed acting-Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who himself is a veteran of the rot in the establishment, will be any different.

The root problem of the EFCC lies in its foundations – it was set up by a most fraudulent character, ex-dictator Olusegun Obasanjo, whose real objectives were far removed from addressing corruption.

The way forward is to scrap the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, merge its existing operations and activities with the already existing and well established Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), then build up the capacity of the SFU with specialized training's and beefing up the infrastructure and equipment available to the SFU-NPF. Is the SFU-NPF populated by angels? Certainly no! But the Police Force has a more established structure with inbuilt and time-tested rot-sifting mechanisms which is more amenable to judicial review, scrutiny and legislative oversight.  

In addition to the people of Nigeria who have lost so much to the rot in the EFCC, others who have been equally scammed by the unfortunate happening in the EFCC include the various foreign missions which had bestowed huge sums in prepping up the EFCC – save of course those foreign entities who merely used the EFCC to serve as a ‘loot recovery agent’ to protect the foreign governments interests.

Are we safe writing on this topic? Hmmmm. Well, we already live in a very unsafe environment.

Let us scrap the EFCC!

Picture: EFCC logo, past Chairpersons of the EFCC: Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamurde; and acting Chair, Ibrahim Magu.

War On Terror: There Are More Questions Than Answers.......

by Eze Eluchie,

Did it have to take the dastardly attack by ISIS on Paris (13^th November 2015) for the French authorities to realize what mortal harm ISIS posed to humanity and then embark on the massive ariel bombardment of Raqqah and other ISIS positions in Syria?

Why has the United States and its partners failed and or refused to share intelligence on ISIS with other countries willing to take on ISIS? Only sharing required intelligence with France after the sordid attacks of 13^th November.

Will Amnesty International, and other such groups, which had the temerity to accuse Nigeria’s military of ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ in response to our soldiers robust reaction to the Chibok ‘abductions’ have the guts to dare question the right of France to hit back at terrorist elements, wherever they are and whosoever their backers are, who attacked France on 13^th November?

Why has the world tolerated the romance between Saudi and Turkish authorities and ISIS thus far?

Why is there yet no unified stance against all Islamist terrorist organizations and their funders, across the world? ISIS, AQIM, Al Nusra, Boko Haram, Al, Shabaab or whatsoever!

In the global 'war against terror', there simply are much more questions than answers. And as the old reggae song goes, ‘the more I ask, the less I know’.

Picture: French President, Francois Hollande, declaring the ISIS attack on Paris an act of war to which France will ‘revenge’.

Terror Migrates To Europe

by Eze Eluchie

As Terror Migrates To Europe.

As we commiserate with the victims of terror in France, watching the carnage unfolding in Paris this night, with multiple terror attacks across diverse centers, History will definitely ask what German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was high on, when she decided to open up Europe to so many unscreened ‘refugees’ from Arabia.

Terror has migrated to Europe. Europe is forever changed!

Picture: German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Pro-Biafra Protests: Mr. President, Rein In The Military!

by Eze Eluchie

The President and Commander in Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces and the new Minister of Defense should caution the military personnel from making comments on matters far above their mandate and scope.

The recent Press Releases signed by and comments made by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar and the Acting Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, threatening to unleash the military on persons engaged in peaceful demonstrations over agitations for self-actualization in the South-East and South-South is uncouth, unprofessional, quasi-criminal and most unbecoming of trained soldiers whose pay and upkeep depends on public funds.

Are the comments by the top brass of our military indicative of an already planned operation to commit heinous crimes against an identified people in their legitimate quest for self-determination and self-actualization? Are these comments a furtherance of General Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed position to treat unequally those areas that gave him ‘5% votes’ during the last presidential elections? 

The issue gets more worrisome when it is realized that those making these threats against peaceful protesters hail from regions far removed from the protesters. These comments coming at a time when our military has been bogged down by intractable terror attacks by Boko Haram in our Northeastern region leaves much room to be desired.

Dialogue and peaceful arbitration remains the answer. Such threats to ‘crush’ peaceful demonstrations have no place in our current efforts at democratic governance.

General Muhammadu Buhari, the world is watching with keen interests....

Pictures: Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar and Col. Sani Usman, Army Public Relations Director.

MTN Fine: Appropriate Punishment for Recalcitrant Corporate Bodies

by Eze Eluchie

I congratulate the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) for its landmark decision to slam the recalcitrant mobile telecommunication service provider, MTN, with an appropriate fine for its blatant transgression and disrespect for our domestic laws and regulations. This is the way to go!

Considering it is not possible to incarcerate a corporate body, imposing fines for violations or infractions of laws and regulations remains the most viable means to ensure compliance with regulations. 

A key factor which underscores the sovereignty of any State is its ability to make and enforce domestic legislation's geared towards the betterment of its population. When foreign organizations operating within the territory of a state are allowed to flout domestic laws at will and believe that they can get away with such violations by bribing some regulatory agency officials or other unethical practices, the integrity of a state and its institutions and its very sovereignty are brought into question.

The practice of penalizing corporate bodies which violate national laws or act inappropriately is universal. The United States, European Union and other States routinely adopt this practice to achieve corporate compliance with State objectives. Far heftier fines have been imposed in other climes, such as the U.S.$258 million fine imposed on Deutsche Bank AG by New York and US Banking regulators for infringing on Banking Laws (US$200 million of the sum was actually imposed by New York State); The U.S.$9 Billion fine paid to US authorities by French Bank, BNP Paribas SA for infringing US banking regulations; a total of over U.S.$259 Billion has been paid by Banks for infractions of national laws to governments in the United States and Western European since 2009.

Clearly, levying fines on corporate organizations for infractions of national laws is one veritable source of income and punishment for bad behavior which governments in sub-Sahara Africa seem to have neglected. Considering the level of impunity with which multinational conglomerates operating across sub-Sahara Africa go about their businesses, the harm occasioned to the governments and peoples of the various States will certainly be ameliorated to a great extent if appropriate and commensurate fines are levied on and collected from these wayward corporate bodies.

The fine imposed by the Nigerian Government against telecommunication giant, MTN, is very much in order. Other serial violators of our domestic laws which the Government should actively commence penalty procedures against include the Construction companies (who continue to transport their staff and materials in very compromising manners despite several warnings), the Banks (which continue to brazenly launder funds and inordinately impose spurious charges on their customers) and of course the crude oil producing companies (whose practices continue to decimate our populations and environment in our oil producing areas.

For once, I am glad to support an initiative of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.

Comparative fines levied in the United States and EU countries.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/litigation-costs_swiss-bank-fines-dwarfed-by-us-british-peers/41621318

Picture: Logo of MTN Group