Reuben Abati,SSA (media to the President says of a Nigerian citizen who criticized the President:
”We
are dealing with such hideous and second rate characters in Nigeria’s
public space, belonging to the ACN and the CPC, and that other would-be
disaster-prone mongrel called APC that they won’t even respect the
truth. The prize for being silly in this regard must go to one Rotimi
Fashakin who describes himself as the National Publicity Secretary of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He is an arm-chair critic per
excellence and a medieval-era ignoramus.
In a release titled “President Jonathan’s AU summit gaffe” (May
28) Rotimi displayed such habitual indolence and brainlessness that his
heirs must be eternally ashamed of, and which I consider offensive and
needlessly disruptive. His subject is the just-ended AU @ 50 summit in
Addis Ababa.
I invite more cerebral and decent persons to consider the facts.
President Jonathan as the leader of the Nigerian delegation to the AU
summit in Addis Ababa and the 50th anniversary of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) indeed put up a sterling performance, using the
opportunity of the trip to further promote Nigeria’s interests and to
strengthen Nigeria’s relationships with other countries. He held
bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary General and the leaders of
Jamaica, Egypt, Swaziland, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire. He granted interviews
to the media, local and international. He also participated in a special
session on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, at which he invited
other world leaders to the Abuja+12 conference to be hosted in Nigeria,
mid-June. President Jonathan is an accomplished diplomat and a
responsible leader under whose watch, Nigeria’s foreign policy process
and international relations have been strengthened with commendable
results.
Fashakin, failing to do minimal research that any right-thinking
person would attempt, jumps to the conclusion that President Jonathan
missed his slot at the AU and that nobody represented him. This is more
than 48 hours after I had issued a statement indicating that no slot was
missed. Fashakin must be so busy he doesn’t even bother to read the
news. No slot was missed because no country was under any compulsion to
speak. Any country that wished to make a statement indicated the
interest to do so, by pressing the button at its own convenience.
Nigeria had indicated an interest to speak, but the President needed to
attend an urgent ECOWAS meeting on the Lagos-Abidjan Highway, to be
attended by five West African countries, to take a report by the
Nigerian Minister of Works who is the chair of the regional
inter-Ministerial body on the proposed Lagos-Abidjan Highway. I have
since circulated the conclusions of that meeting.
While President Jonathan was attending that meeting, Ambassador
Olugbenga Ashiru, the Minister of Foreign Affairs presented our
statement to the OAU at 50 on President Jonathan’s behalf. I have also
since circulated the full text of that statement. In other words,
Nigeria’s voice was heard, loud and clear. Let it be noted that
President Jonathan’s attendance of a meeting on the sidelines of the AU
Summit was perfectly in order, and he attended quite a number, just as
Minister Ashiru was not the only Foreign Minister who spoke on behalf of
a President at the Summit. So where did Fashakin get his information
from that nobody represented Nigeria?
The nature of his mental indolence is understandable. In this
attempt to pull President Jonathan down at all costs, lies have become
standard stuff, mischief a major commodity, and indecency a character
flaw. President Jonathan does not owe anyone an apology for serving
Nigeria diligently and truthfully. Fashakin’s reference to an incident
in Australia is also wrong-headed because the allegation is false. In
fact, in Australia, President Jonathan met with a broad range of
investors in the mining sector and that has resulted in huge investments
in the Nigerian mining sector. I consider the insinuation about
inebriation, in Fashakin’s statement, amplified by his paid agents in
other fora, as utterly disrespectful and foolish. They can’t certainly
be talking about a President who is a well-focused man of achievement.
By the same token, I consider the reference to Governor Rotimi Amaechi
and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in that statement as a red herring.
Again, I advise Fashakin to read the newspapers so he can be abreast of
developments, the only way he can get close to being an effective
spokesperson. I had made it clear that President Jonathan has no hand in
the Governors Forum crisis, and we stand by that position.
Our case is not rested. When next Fashakin comes to the public
with unintelligent thoughts about President Jonathan, it shall remain
our duty to continue to remind him of the need to think before talking.”
Response From Jimi Disu:
I am ashamed this is coming from the spokesperson of the
President of my country and a junior colleague in the profession .How
any well bred,well brought up professional can use such hideous language
beats my imagination.Lets even give him some credit that Fasakin got
come facts wrong could a rebuttal not have been written in much better
and decent manner.?Is this language of abuse going to build bridges for
his principal or destroy it further?.How can a statement from the
Presidency read”we are dealing with such hideous and second rate
characters in the Nigerian public space?Excuse me?Who are the first
raters?Him?His principal?How can a statement from the Presidency state
that a fellow citizen is ” a medieval era ignoramus? or that “we
continue to remind him of the need to think before talking” To the
subject itself ,Abati must think he is dealing with “ignoramus “,when he
tries to proffer why Jonathan failed to address the AU summit.A man
left his shores to represent his country at an AU summit in Addis,gets
there and suddenly finds a meeting on an Ecowas road more important?Mr
Abati should tell that to the marines.He then goes on to list his
principal’ achievements and how he met with these investors we never see
who just come and milk our resources dry without us getting any
reciprocal benefit and rounds it up by saying his boss is “ an
accomplished diplomat and a responsible leader under whose watch,
Nigeria’s foreign policy process and international relations have been
strengthened with commendable results”
Ha!
Yet another gang rape video has gone viral,this time not in Abia ,but Lagos. Again the boys laughed and the girl weeps. The boys click away on digital cameras, as if it they are on the set of playboy magazine shoot .
In 2011,the Abia rape video was passed round the cyberspace.
People downloaded and watched,blogs and websites were agog with comments more appalling than the viewing of the video itself .
Advocacy groups raised dusts, still the rapists have not been brought to book.
That was 2011,last December 2012, an Indian student was gang raped and beaten by five men and left to die in the street.
She later died in the hospital and in the glare of the world her case made international headlines.
The India case caused demonstrations to spring up all around the county,demonstrators literally called for the heads of the perpetrators of the act.
The five men have been arrested among them a teenager not fit for trial in an adult court and one has died in police custody (suicide or killed)not yet proven.
Back to the latest one ,that is the Lagos rape case.The video has gone viral and the main actor’s face munched ,bloggers asking questions such as “do you know this face” and “help catch this man” good but not good enough.
The big question is are there laws for rape and another BIG question is are rape cases ever reported.
A certain story was told of a girl who was raped and when she got to the police station to report the case,she said she was robbed and when asked what she was robbed of, she reluctantly said she was raped,the policemen made fun of her and called her loose and wayward .
This is a joke, but is it far from the truth?Is it not true that a girl is made fun of and ridiculed when she reports a rape case?
Rape cases are notoriously under-reported,as a result of social stigma.
Rape victims washed up after been raped and just enter mute mode,exposing themselves to risks of been infected with a poupouri of sexually transmitted diseases ;even unwanted pregnancy .And most unnerving of all the accused walks freely and probably be looking for the next victim to attack.
Tobi Asekun a counsellor with project Alert Nigeria an NGO, that fights for women’s rights says rape cases are seldom reported because of the cloud of stigma that canopy over them .Even parents of victims always exude cowardice by not reporting the incident to the police. Running away from stigmatization.
Issues of rape mirrors’ a sad realisation of how societies have decayed .
Hajiya Zainab Maina, is Nigeria’s minister of women affairs and social development,expressed her concern about sexual violence against women is rising in the country.
She said drastic steps must be taken to combat it and her ministry is pushing for the passage the death penalty bill.
The truth is,there is a rape culture in Nigeria.Just as it is in Nigeria,so it is in South Africa.
Statically, South Africa top the list of country with a pole vaulted cases of rape in Africa. It has one of the highest rates, with 277,000 reported cases.
Somehow not shocking though for a country which holds the belief that raping a virgin, is an automatic elixir for curing the HIV /AID scourge that is ranging the country.
Survey by Medical Research Council has shown that one in four men have admitted to raping someone.
In the United States – More than 89,241 rape cases were reported.
Criminals face life behind bars, and in some States, castration is an option.
New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India’s major cities,with a rape reported on an average every 18 hours, according to Police figures.
In Nigeria rape is never reported and no one has ever served time for it and may never.
This Story was written by Dieko Gilbert, a Lagos based Freelance Journalist.