The EFCC in a nutshell

THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION.

SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission hereinafter called THE EFCC is a Nigerian law enforcement agency charged with the responsibility of purging the nation of economic and financial related offences like the advance fee fraud  popularly known as 419 ad money laundering.

The EFCC was established in 2003 following severe economic blows resulting from financial corrupt practices  and the pressure for such a commission coming from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundry an agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The formation was both necessitated by the huge financial corruption ongoing in Nigeria and the subsequent listing of Nigeria as one of the few non-compliant nations for economic integration.

LEGAL FOUNDATION AND VALIDITY
The validity and legal backing of the commission comes from an Act of parliament, the economic and financial crime commission (Establishment) act 2004. S1 (1) makes provisions for the establishment of the commission while S.1 (2) (A) & (B) makes the commission a body cooperate, having the power and locus standi to sue and be sued in a personal capacity respectively.

The commission’s audacity to fight, prosecute and investigate financial and economic crimes stems from S1 (2) (C) of the Act. The full functions of the commission is detailed in S 6(A) to (q) of the Act.

METHOD OF OPERATION

S. 30 of the Act stipulates that where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, the commissioner or any authorised officer shall apply to the court for the order of confiscation and forfeiture of the convicted person’s asset and properties acquired or obtained  as a result of the crime subject to an interim order under the Act.

S. 31 (2) is one of the most sensitive of all provisions as it stipulates for the secretary of the commission upon receipt of a final order pursuant to S. 31 (1) to take steps in disposing off the property concerned, by sale {or otherwise} and where the property is sold, the proceeds thereof, paid into the consolidated revenue fund of the federation.

Note: S. 31 (4) gives the attorney general of the federation, powers to make rules for the disposal or sale of any property forfeited pursuant to the Act.

STRUCTURE AND ACADEMY

S2 (1) makes provisions for members of the commission which would, among others consist of the chairman, with 15 years or more working experience in law enforcement. Others include governor of the central bank of Nigeria, a representative from foreign affairs, finance, justice commission/ministries etc. the Act also provides for the commission’s directorate of legal prosecution, public affairs department and an EFCC academy.

LIMITATIONS AND SUCCESS STORIES

It is no doubt that every Achilles has a heel and the EFCC is no exception, issues of the commission’s true independence has been quite puzzling especially in the selection of the chairman by the president and the subsequent confirmation of his/her appointment by the legislature. This troubling scenario has been manifest in the current rejection of Ibrahim Magu by the APC led senate under the political engineering of Sen. Dino Meleya representing Kogi West.

The EFCC has although been a bulldog since its inception and this can be seen in not just the one time investigation of 30 out of 36 state governors but in the successful indictment of Gov. Alaghemeseya of Bayelsa state among others.

RECONCILING RELIGION AND SCIENCE.

RECONCILING RELIGION AND SCIENCE.

In the bid to reconcile the long perceived feud between Science and Religion a wild spectrum of faiths; Christains (mostly protestants), Jews, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists etc are currently signing the 'Clergy Letter Project' which seeks to accept the biggest miracle and gift given to man which is Reason and Research.

The "Letter Project" is an accord that maintains statements in support of the teaching of evolution and collects signatures which strengthen and support research in biology and general medicine.

My post comes at a time when reasoning purpots to stand aloof people of faith. Somewhere around 2010 while I was working for a construction company, we won the contract to build a new extension of the Suleja Prison in Niger state. On one of my visits to the prison something struck and got my attention. A young man of about late 20s was worn out with malnutrition and a life threatening sickness during the Holy month of Ramadan. He was repeatedly offered medicine and food so he could get back on his feet but he rejected anything that will break his fast during the Holy month. When I learnt of the incident he was barely alive and the yard master at a point needed to force him save his own life as he wouldnt.

I recently also heard of a pastor who adviced his congregation to never give birth using Ciserian operation as that goes against the natural order of child bearing as handed down by God. Most devastating of all, scores of deaths have been recorded among congregants. Don't be surprised if the man of God actually takes medication himself abroad.

The most shocking of all is that religious medical practitioners hold out this opinion today. Asking women to stay off painkillers during child birth, advising that more women should endure the agony of labour because pain-relieving drugs, including epidural injections, carry serious medical risks, diminish childbirth as a rite of passage and undermine the mother's bond with her child and further asserting that the pangs of childbirth is a motherly blessing handed out to women from the maker of heaven and earth. Such Nonsense!!!!!!

Any faith that science threatens should not be adhered to. It only increases the risk of numbing your rationality and leaves you at the mercy of the gentleman standing behind the pulpit.

I personally have a problem when faith healers who ask followers to stay off medication(s) when diagnosed of life threatening diseases like HIV and cancer. Is it becuase they feel faith may be neautralised by modern medicine or what? Strangely, these faith healers rely back on the same science they dumped to authenticate actual workings of the Holy Spirit by asking purported recipients of this miracles to go back to the hospital to confirm actual and total healing. Strange right?

Today I am speaking to someone, that the Holy water you drink, the anointing oil you rub and the midnight prayers you say should not stop you from seeing a doctor and if there is anything you should take religiously, it's modern medicine, science and your medications.

Love from little Ikeorah

©Paulinus Ikeorah 2017

Payola

Payola!  Payola !!  payola!!!

Greed the fungi of character
Present in every desire
But cultured in a temperate thought.
She would score a man's heart with the juice of her reward.

Fondling our insatiability
Driving us through the darkest alley of our willpower.

I fell once, unwillingly willingly,
Rose up to the juice in my mouth but never spat it out.
Corruption a delicious poison.

© Paulinus Ikeorah 2017

ABNEGATION

The same strength you love, you hate.
Emotions like magma
Love pure, lust unequal.
Beautiful heart, evil mind.

Your beauty is not perfect, tainted with rage.
There must be enough space, in another's stage of attention, to habituate your love.
Such attention just enough to show your love.
I would walk because I can't host your rage,
The rage of your love.

I am flawed.
I am incapable.
Not strong enough to host your smile and soul.
Go somewhere else and shine.
Shine and don't burn out.
And even if you must, burn out with a man the wax of love as yours.

     All Rights Reserved.
© Paulinus Ikeorah 2017

BIAFRA : 50 YEARS ON, THE MIRAGE OF A NATION'S SOBER REFLECTION

BIAFRA: 50 YEARS ON, THE MIRAGE OF A NATION'S SOBER REFLECTION

Written by Paulinus C Ikeorah.

Just because my head was without form in 1967 doesn't stop me from having an opinion about the Nigerian Civil war.
However, in this piece I promise to be as objective as my conscience can carry and to spill any possible truth that is at my disposal.

Nigeria is a beautiful country, blessed with diverse culture, abundant natural and human resources and one of the friendliest of weather that there is, not until January 15, 1966 when General Kaduna Nzeogwu a junior military officer from the Igbo tribe led the Coup d'état which led to the death of prominent figures in the Nigerian polity. In this article I will place a microscopic view on:
1. The History and account leading to the Nigerian Civil war.
2. The current position of the struggle for the Biafran state and finally
3. The challenges of the successionist idea.

Late Lord Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 predominantly not because of cultural or even tribal homogeneity but because of economic reasons; to curb the budget deficit in the Northern protectorate by applying the surplus from the Southern protectorate to the deficit in the north and by so doing balancing the financial crisis in the then British territory, Nigeria.
On October 1st 1960 Nigeria gained independence from England.

THE COUP.
Fuelled with the anger that Civil rule and Democracy in the new Nigeria was breeding corruption, on January 15th, 1966, Kaduna Nzeogwu a rogue ultra-nationalistic military officer born and bred in northern Nigeria but born to Eastern Nigeria parents, in concert with other military officers orchestrated the first military coup in Nigeria , leading up to the death of the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bellow both from Northern Nigeria and Samuel Akintola from Western Nigeria among prominent others. With Kaduna Nzeogwu were Emmanuel Ifeajuna an Igbo by tribe, Adewale Ademoyega a Yoruba by tribe, Timothy Onwuatuegwu also an igbo by tribe, 2nd Lieutenant Saleh Dambo from North and Atom Kpera from the minority Tiv tribe.

Before the coup the then President, Nnamdi Azikiwe from the Igbo extraction of Nigeria (East) left the country making most of the killings one sided, tilting mainly towards the Hausa/Fulani north and just a few deaths targeted toward the Yoruba West. Almost no death of junior military and/or civilian personnel  were recorded in the East. The coup failed to make Kaduna Nzeogwu the new military Head of State and the affairs and running of the country rested on the parliament acting through the office of the leader of parliament, Nwafor Orizo. In the heat of the coup Parliament agreed to hand over power to the highest ranking military officer, Aguiyi Ironsi who accepted the power on Jan 17.

COUNTER COUP "A. K. A JULY REMATCH".

Armed with the conviction that the January coup was an Igbo orchestrated incident, and just like a Champions League match, General Murtala Mohammed went out on a rematch war against the Igbo tribe. With him in the plot was 2nd Lieutenant Sani Abacha from North, Lieutenant D.S. Abubakar also from North (Hausa/Fulani tribe) and Lieutenant Ibrahim Babangida. The counter coup led to the death of the military Head of State Aguiyi Ironsi and his host, Adekunle Fajuyi from the Yoruba tribe during a state visit. The major reasons for the counter coup were, but not limited to:
1. The murder of Northern civilian and military leaders.
2. Promotion of several Igbo Majors to LT. Colonel.
3. The annoyance and disappointment in the Aguiyi led military government for not trying and bringing to book for treason and mutiny perpetrators of the January coup.

After the July 'rematch' coup, there were recorded Civil unrest in the country and the subsequent measure of penis between Yakubu Gowon and Odumegwu Ojukwu as to who was to become the next military Head of State. The Political turmoil led to a full scale war on 6th July 1967. The war was basically a conflict between Nigerian (Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and other smaller ethnic groups) against the successionist Igbo (and few other smaller tribes,less than 25% the  total population of Nigeria at the time).

The theatre of the war was predominantly in Eastern Nigeria, as other parts of the country hardly even felt the rough touch of the conflict. During the war, the Nigerian government adopted all forms of war strategies: the siege and destroy strategy and a very controversial policy of 'starve them to surrender'. I wouldn't even talk about the numerous airstrikes in civilian populated areas. The most potent weapon during the Nigerian Civil war was 'hunger'. The military government seized all food supply going into Eastern Nigeria (Biafran territory). In most situations the Nigerian army intercepted foods going into Biafran lands and in some instances blew up relief aids from international communities and sympathizers. Approximately 2 Million Biafran civilians died from starvation. In fact the famine entered world awareness in 1968. In one instance the then Minister of Finance Obafemi Owolowo was disappointedly reported making the infamous speech 'All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder’. A statement giving force to the Gowon starvation policy which goes against the very spirit of the Geneva Convention and at that a Genocide; Economic Genocide if I may say, a case of pogrom against the Igbo. The Nigerian government made a deliberate blockade of all help coming into Biafra. At a point during the war, Jeremy Thorpe the then leader of the Labor party in England cried out in parliament telling fellow parliamentarians that if nothing is done about the economic blockade in eastern Nigeria millions of people will die within weeks. The war ended in 1970 taking over 100,000 military lives from the Biafran side alone and half that casualty from the Nigerian front. War is undoubtedly an ugly thing.

Chinua Achebe and a great deal of Igbo elites hold the controversial opinion that the first military coup was a pure military affair, devoid of tribal sentiment. The argument will forever remain in the court of public opinion. Most Biafran sympathizers believe that if you should call it an Igbo coup you will have to present hard evidence or concrete witness testimony of why it should not be tagged a pure military incident.
Well, there is something every Biafran sympathizer should be aware of, that a guilty verdict is not only handed out when evidence presented points to a guilty verdict beyond all reasonable doubt. Circumstantial evidence too can suffice especially in the court of public opinion. If I see my wife naked with a man in bed I don't need to see actual penetration to form the opinion of adultery. The facts of the case clearly suggests that there were little or no Igbo casualties from the first coup and the then President from the Igbo extraction was fortunately away during the said coup. Adding salt to the Northern people's injury, the new Igbo and first military Head of State in Nigeria failed to bring to book for treason the perpetrators of this offence. It was circumstantial evidence enough to point to a more probable than not conclusion that it was an Igbo led coup despite the few participation of some Northerners and thus necessitating a rematch.

THE CURRENT POSITION OF NIGERIA AND THE MIRAGE OF IT'S SOBER REFLECTION.

It's undoubtedly true that every man has a right to self assertion but the current Biafran agitation under the Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) quest is something dangerous and filled with too many violent and hate speech mostly carelessly made, and to some extent undermining the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria as a country. There are repeated cases of instances  where the Biafran struggle comes off like a hoax to enrich the pockets of a select few. These doubts in the Biafran struggle can be seen manifestedly voiced in another Biafran group called Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) under the auspices of Ralph Uwazuruike and as such a great deal of Igbo people don't know where the struggle is headed.

It's already 2017, 50 years after the war and NIGERIA is said to be reflecting in a sober mood, the lessons learnt from the war and the pains and setbacks. But the question is how can we truly say we are reflecting on our past as a people when we fail to discuss these things that shaped our history as a nation. Until this day the civil war does not form part of any academic curriculum in any stage of the Nigerian Education System, a deliberate move in my opinion to sabotage history and socially engineer everyone to forget history. How do we reflect if we do not study what we should learn from. Imagine in this context, "learning without studying".

Nigeria is perpetually in harmony with mediocrity because she is in bed with the policy of the Quota System. Almost anything done in Nigeria is not done through merit but the quota system. A less qualified person can gain admission into a higher institution because of his/her place of origin and not grades in entrance examinations. Again one can get a job or ministerial appointment not because of the weight of his/her CV or expertise but because he is coming from a particular region in the country.
This unhealthy Quota System disguised in so called Diversity reminds me of the challenges Singapore faced when they were together with Malaysia. When they broke apart, the Singaporean economy was driven out of Third World economy through excellence. That's exactly what we need in today's NIGERIA.

Below is the chart of States in the order of their performance, at the 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Abia state came first; of the 52,801 students that sat for the examination 33,762 made 5 credits and above including English and Mathematics, a comfortable cumulative pass of 63.94%. Anambra state came second; of the 46,385 students 28,379 made 5 credits including English and Mathematics, sitting comfortably in second position with 61.18% pass rate. Edo state came in third; of the 62,327 students that sat for the exam 38,052 made five credits including English and Mathematics. Next in the chart is Rivers, IMO, Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta and Ebonyi states respectively.

Only 646 candidates from 14, 784 students got 5 credits including English and Mathematics in the Northern state of Yobe, while occupying last with the success rate of 4.27%. The poorest performing states next to Yobe are Osun, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina, Gombe, Jigawa and Zamfara states respectively.

I am not positing this record and statistics to make a claim of a tribe's intelligence over the other, No. I merely make a claim for the eradication of mediocrity because Nigeria our country is currently in love and in bed with mediocrity. The same mediocrity that delayed our independence from 1956 to 1960 because we felt we needed to halt our freedom so that the North can measure up with the South educationally. This same mediocrity is killing our economy, making us base political appointments on (regional) quota system than expertise/qualification. No wonder we have one of the lowest academic qualification for elected public offices. Our Governors in respective states need to drive our education with an iron hand and NIGERIA as a nation needs to stop tolerating illiteracy.

BIAFRA THE WILL OF HER PEOPLE?

This is one question we can't give an answer to, unless we examine it clinically and that is only through the calling of a referendum in the region it so affects. On a personal level I won't be surprised if most indigenes of South-South and South-East vote to remain with Nigeria. I seriously hold the opinion that most people that hold the successionist ideology haven't really factored in the variables and complexities of separation and for that matter, even a peaceful one; one without war or bloodshed might still pose some serious difficulties. The question is, what becomes of the Biafran owned properties in other areas in Nigeria, outside the Biafran territory? The companies in Nigeria owned by Biafrans, the lands, the investments etc. Would you have your country and own half of another man's country?  What becomes the exit plan that can comfortably sit in the conscience of a future Nigerian and a Biafran? These and more are the questions that needs to be answered and once the reality begins to dawn on every average Nigerian who is selfless and objective enough to think without sentiment, then will the successionist idea begin to look the color of a threat, As much as it becomes a threat to a Nigerian, so too, a future Biafran.

It is true that most countries have successfully Splitted ,e.g India, Malaysia, Sudan etc. Even America almost Splitted at one point in history but we must know that every nation has its political gender and no two nations wear the same political reality.

I have personally not deleted the idea of true federalism as a cure to the current one sided politics, because I know for certain that the federalism we practice is without content. We need to truly make individual states autonomous, riding on her riches and to some extent contributing to the national treasury. We need to start allowing state 'A' enjoy the wealth that comes from her land than taking from state A to develop state B and/or C.

We need to Purge our dear nation of hatred, lies and tribalism. We need to start afresh. No one can help us as a nation unless we start helping ourselves. Prayer doesn't do what effort can achieve or that will be a Miscarriage of Grace.
Thank you.

Bibliography.
1.The Nigerian Civil War by Max Siollun (Historian)
2. There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe
3. Why We Struck by Adewale Ademogeye
4. Relunctant Rebel by Fola Oyewole
5. 2015 WASSCE ranking (Premium Times) by Omotayo Yusuf
6. This Day Segment (BBC) 30th June 1969

Copyright © 2017, Paulinus Chukwuebuka Ikeorah. e-Mail thatpaulinus@gmail.com

           All Rights Reserved.
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A GAY MAN IN A STRAIGHT WORLD. The Politics of the Human Sexuality: An Account of Mr. Selorm's Sexual Complexities.

The Politics of the human sexuality: An account of Mr. Selorm's sexual complexities.

Written by Paulinus Chukwuebuka Ikeorah.






One thing I know for sure is that I don't want to write this article,  but I find myself writing it, I don't know if it's because of my hypergraphic tendencies or because I just have an opinion I am too nauseous about to vomit.

The story begins as follows:-

A few months after graduating from University, I decided to apply for masters in a British University. While waiting for admission I was advised to get some working experience, so I decided to travel down to Abuja where I had lived all my life. Getting a suitable job was quite difficult and the ones I got were nothing to write home about. Apart from the low pay they even demanded I cut my precious beard off which had sentimental value to me then.

Finally I applied for a job in Ghana, a reputable company in West Africa and at the same time  a house hold name to most West Africans. You obviously should have heard of Adom Group of Companies, a multi national company that includes Adom Ventures, Adom Real Estate company, Adom Salons Co Ltd and Adom Laundry Services.

Working for Adom was a dream come true. I was offered the job, a mouth watering remuneration and an accommodation in the Central Region of Ghana. Not long into my employment I quickly climbed up the ladder to become the Operation's Manger for all Adom businesses in the Central Region of Ghana, that included the chain salons, real estate business and laundry service chains. It was a very deep call, because I was the youngest in her offices and most challenging of all, a foreigner.

On Sunday 14th August 2016 a new 'Super' branch of the Adom salons was launched, it was what I have never seen before, state of the art equipments, the best Thai massage machines, amazing manicure and pedicure machines etc and as usual I was tasked with getting the business booming, using whatever skill and material at my disposal to beat all existing Competition and getting everybody coming in.

Recruitment started, and I got the best barbers in town. I wanted to get a Nigerian barber but I knew Ghanaian barbers were somewhat better than their Nigeria counterpart so I went for a Ghanaian and likewise I got a good female hair stylist I could lay my hands on. I hired a Togolese in addition to the Nigerian and the Ghanaian.

One faithful morning, as I was in my office, planning a budget for the salon and preparing the account statement for the other businesses I managed, I heard a male voice murmur out from the main activity room 'is your anago boss around' ? 'Anago' has been a twi word I grew accustomed to which loosely translates into 'Nigerian' or better still 'foreigner'. My attention was immediately bought not because of the question but because of the answer. The male barber replied 'No, he hasn't been around' I knew they were talking about me but what I wasn't sure about was why would he tell the visitor I wasn't around.
Out of curiosity I stepped out of my office, the visitor a tall slim guy with the looks of a woman, wore an open 'V' shaped soft top and a very short jeans knicker that reached almost half his thigh. He wore cowries round his neck and ear rings and also had a piercing on his nose.

He breathed a great sigh of relief and came straight, across the room to where I was standing and said 'Good day sir, I am very happy to finally see you.' I stretched out my hand, shook his hand and said are you looking for me ? Yes, he replied, have a seat I said and we both sat down outside my office at the central business arena where all the hairs are done, and money for goods and services paid for.

One thing I noticed was that it seemed everybody was familiar with his visits but for me. With the body language of every employee present i sensed they've shielded the visitor from seeing me for so long a time.

Now curiosity took over  every cell in me. I engaged him. We spoke first on how beautiful the salon is and how smart it has been a choice to use a single color combination and design for all our chain outlets around the country, we spoke of my recent interview at windyBay FM, the official radio station of The University of Education, Winneba, in the Central Region of Ghana. We spoke about a great deal of things especially marketing, how to promote the business etc, soon enough I noticed I was enjoying the conversation especially for his remarkable intelligence and observant spirit. I noticed I had spent over 45 minutes and counting with him when I told my boss 2 hours earlier I would be sending him the financial records of that branch in 15 minutes.

I told him I needed to leave and just then I knew I never got his name and even the purpose why he wanted to see me so bad. He told me his name was Selorm and he really needs a job as a 'female' hair stylist. Frankly I wasn't really shocked but I was surprise why he would want to work with the women instead of men. To be sure, I asked him 'are you sure you don't want to barb rather than braid hair and lock wigs and Rasta'? He smiled and replied 'yes' I wanna braid hair, retouch, style hair,  fix wigs, polish nails and do manicure and pedicure. I asked him if he is good at what he does and he said yes and that he had worked even in Togo and Port Harcourt Nigeria before coming back home, Ghana.

I breathed deep and said 'come back this time tomorrow so we discuss further', He replied 'okay sir', asked for my number, which I declined and then he left.

To cut the long story short, I was in my office when one of the employees came in and asked what our discussion was all about. I was very sure she heard all our discussion and even laughter, but what surprised me was why she would want to know what my discussion was about. I told her there is nothing to discuss with her,  she was older probably about 15 years older than me and was married with 2 kids, so I needed to keep my African manners intact, despite being the boss.

Immediately after she left, the male employee (Barber)  came into my office while leaving my entrance door open and said ' Paul, are you really considering hiring a Gay man?' I looked at him with surprise and asked him how he knew the applicant was gay and why he looked so bothered about another man's sexuality.

He sighed and left. Now that was unusual and left me more confused than ever. I leaned back in my chair, drank some coke and thought deep about what was really wrong with every one in the office and their resentment toward the poor applicant.

Now fast forward to the following day:
Selorm came in very early the following day and waited for me outside the salon because all the employees asked him to wait outside for me, instead of allowing him into the salon because of his presumed sexuality. After my rounds at other business outlets I came in at about 2PM and found him sitting and sweating just at the step to the salon, luckily for him the step had tiles and looked half the color of comfortable. I asked him why he was outside and he said he wasn't allowed in.  I came in, greeted everyone as usual and I was told the young lady sitting beside the big red hair dryer close to the entrance to my office was waiting for me.

At this juncture I became angry why a PRESUMED gay man would be met with such cold treatment and why the so called heterosexual woman would be offered a red carpet welcome. I interviewed  both applicants one more time and found Selorm highly skilled after I made the both of them try their skills on some young willing customers who would allow that for half the price of the service.

Every one gave a positive feedback about Selorm, the presumed gay man and then I asked the both of them to leave their numbers and that I will call them if I should need their service(s). I went into my office, took my personal cell phone and called my boss and informed him on how I wanted to hire more hands to meet the growing demand. To my greatest surprise my boss knew already  my plans of hiring a so called gay man and even before I could tell him about my other rounds and my success incorporating one other new business of his, he told me not to hire any gay man and that I should go for the woman and even if she had changed her mind about working with us, I should leave everything the way it was and allow demand to suppress supply of service than to employ Selorm.

I paused for some seconds on the phone and then told him the true sexuality of Selorm is not even certain and that it will be cruel both to the business and to Selorm by not employing him. I knew he may ask me to call Selorm and ask for his true sexuality so I told him before hand i would employ the policy of 'Don't ask Don't tell' and that afterall when I applied for this job I wasn't asked if I liked fat or skinny girls.

I went over my boss, a strong shareholder, and contacted other shareholders and told them the whole situation. I also told the mother of my boss who had taken a special liking to me, she was supportive of my point but other shareholders clearly told me in one instance, on a conference call, not to hire Selorm, even though I told them Selorm was also good in marketing and graphic design which will be very instrumental to us. They insisted on their stance giving reasons of a possible wrath of God on the business and a possible collapse of the building for such an abomination.

After a few weeks of negotiating whether or not to employ Selorm despite at this time no one knew his real sexuality and no one cared to ask because they all believe he would lie about it, I was asked to either employ the less qualified lady or resign. I was very sad because of the bad cooperate governance practice at my work place and that did make me feel deep pity for a poor man who could barley eat, and even buy drug for himself. At one instance he came to me cycling half dead on a bicycle begging for Ghc5 to buy Koko and drugs.

In Africa, people grow increasingly interested in people's sexuality more than we fight corruption, dumping of refuse and open defecation. We force our opinions down other peoples throat while their sexuality is one without harm to either society or future generation.

Tolerance is more than a word. It is something we should wear whenever and wherever we find ourselves.

Sickle Cell Anaemia.

A wake up call against Sickle Cell Anaemia.

I remember I was much younger, probably about 10, no 11, I think either of them, when Aunty Munachisom got engaged to Brother Felix.
Aunty Manuchisom had quite come of age maybe in her mid 30s and Felix just about few months older, the engagement was quite unique because they were both strong practicing Catholics and engine members of the catholic charismatic renewal.
Everything seemed alright as they were so many praying and fasting and any pious member of my local parish will definitely agree that the marriage was sanctioned from Virgin Mary and her dearly beloved son directly.

Something happened which was very dramatic, just two weeks to their wedding, a friend suggested they go for blood test of which they reluctantly agreed and it was revealed that their Genotypes were both AS. In strict medical terms, an AS that brings forth a child with another AS has 50 percent chances of bringing forth a child with sickle cell anemia.

Persistent advice came in from all corners, people talking to them both on how the marriage should be called off and on how cruel it would be for them to bring forth children with such potent risks staring into their faces but Munachisom and Felix were so sure God had sanctioned this wedding from on high especially as other devout members preached 'the God can do all things' sermon .

It's more than a decade ago and I just stumbled upon Felix's youngest brother, Chidalu, a good footballer I remember playing with in Pepsi Academy Abuja. Chidalu had just narrated how Munachisom and Felix's 4 year old kosisochukwu has been battling sickle cell anemia in the US. Aunty Munachisom had won a US visa diversity lottery  which she emigrated with her family some years after we left that neighbourhood. Kosisochukwu is said to need a bone marrow transplant which is the best attempt to saving her life.

I have no background in pharmacology but I think sickle cell anemia has no cure (yet) and the best cure now is prevention, prevention by not marrying that (wo)man you think you are too in love with, because it will be really selfish and dangerous to go on with such marriage when you know your union is predisposed to bringing sickle cell child(ren).

Until we find the cure to sickle cell I think such dangerous and selfish decisions are evil and God will never sanction marriage between people at risk of having sickle cell children (at least not now that there is no cure)
As for me I seriously hold the opinion that couples prone to having sickle cell child(ren) be charged for endangering the life of a tomorrow person. I will always advice youths to ask people they plan on going into a relationship with for their blood group and/or Genotype.

Thank you.

~Ikeorah.

The Race.

                            It's the Race. 

Committing and involving for a pace; 
Far and stressful, but only to the finish we                                                                        gazed.  

 Continuously we learnt through the length and distance, with much zeal and devotion.

Every journey had its on challenges. 
First year was fresh and as men we staggered through like a toddler. 

Like religious monks we loved what we couldn't see, learnt what will shape us and followed instructions religiously. 

As sophomores we were opened to more realities and tensions, lesser weapons of academic assault, we would be given fewer books and expected of us were higher performance.

Other years came with its style of challenge, involving and drilling. 

Like soldiers, fighting for knowledge we recorded deserters but every story has its heroes. 

The devoted ones would stay glued to their guide a code of academic conduct.

At the final lap of the battle of excellence, the tension was minimal, the style of engagement was learnt, time management was now a habit but academic recklessness was born.

We Would learn from the mistakes of our elders reported annually in reports from our Chief instructor, the examiner, one we mysteriously nicknamed the 'Prefect'.

We stayed strong, fighting for that trophy.
yes we won. 

Now we are not locals we are world class. 

A poem dedicated to the University of London 

The war I never fought

That's me at age 24, 28th Feb 1970 immediately after the Nigerian civil war, I had just finished a telephone conversation in Cape Coast the Capital of the Gold Coast,  trying to secure Asylum for my commander,  General Odumegwu Ojukwu in Rhodesia(Zimbabwe) but all efforts failed though eventually we succeeded in securing Asylum for him in Ivory Coast(Cote d'Ivoire). With me is Philip Akanu,  Ukpabi Asika and late Chinua Achebe. I departed Nigeria through Badagry into Dahomey (Benin Republic) at about 11:59PM on Sunday 27th of December 1969 after a six hour walk on foot,  at one stage disguised as a woman and at another inside a lorry loaded with fertilizer. It was a bitter experience of war and terror.  the Biafran side recorded a total casualty of about 100,000 (military) deaths while the Nigerian side recorded about 44,900 Military deaths. I personally worked together with Chinua Achebe under the Publication and Media team which General Gowon called Lies and Propaganda committee in Aburi, Gold Coast during the Aburi Accord for calling the Mbaise and Uli air strike and the repeated bombing of humanitarian relief aides a case of Progrom. Our committe was a huge success although suffered many setbacks as only Israel and France recognised Biafra with other countries like Southern Rhodesia(Zimbabwe),  Spain, South Africa,  Congo and Tanzania giving Humanitarian aid alone with little military and technical support. China and Vatican then under His Holiness Pope Paul VI played much of a passive role during most or all of the conflict as their stake was needed by both fractions adopting the policy of deliberate military ambiguity in the conflict of Nigeria,   one of which I heavily frowned at in my letter to the Knights of St John's secretariat in Baltimore and the chineese consulate in Rhodesia in 1968. USA, UK, Egypt, USSR(Russia) and Egypt heavily supported Nigeria while Algeria provided Nigeria with most of the landmines that though wasn't used during the war because of lack of technical skills. It was a very bitter experience.  as a 91 year old man and  now a two time Nobel Prize recipient in Peace and Literature respectively I will tell the people of Nigeria and Africa in general that No price is too expensive when bargaining for Peace.
Paulinus Chukwuebuka Rap Ikeorah. 01/03/2017.

Note: the story, events and names are all fiction any person dead, alive or in persistent vegetative condition who bears thesame name(s) mentioned is just a mere coincidence.

DANGERS OF PLASTIC BAGS ON OUR ECO SYSTEM

As a typical African bachelor not cooking on this faithful day wasn’t much an issue other than the fact that I had to walk a few blocks down my street in search of food to buy.  Beans with plantain, a West African delicacy familiar to citizens of Ghana and Nigeria was my best hope to a perfect meal at that moment. Upon buying the food the vendor wrapped my beans in first, a white nylon popularly known as rubber bag in Ghana  and (incorrectly called) ‘leather’ in NIGERIA, then to  kill the visual attention,  she further wrapped it in another black rubber bag. In addition I requested to buy sachet water and this was also wrapped in a bigger plastic bag,  this time to carry both the beans and the two sachet water.

On getting home I realised that I have more than enough plastic bags for the day's business which got me asking a few environmental questions.

What are the effects of the use of plastic bags on our eco system?

•well I don't intend to scare you my esteemed reader(s) but for the record I will like to let you know that Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits,  contaminating the soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest them.
•A plastic bag can take between 400 to 1,000 years to break down in the environment.
•Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food.

Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

•Nearly 90% of the debris in our oceans is plastic.

Residents in Accra-Ghana (La) can attest to that. 

　Plastics are a subspecies of a class of Materials known as polymers. These are composed of large molecules, formed by joining many, often thousands, of smaller molecules (monomers) together. Plastics are made from low-molecular-weight monomer precursors, organic materials, which are mostly derived from petroleum, that are joined together by a process called “polymerization.” Plastics owe their name to their most important property, the ability to be shaped to almost any form to produce articles of practical value. Plastics can be stiff and hard or flexible and soft. Because of their light weight, low cost, and desirable properties, their use has rapidly increased and they have replaced other materials, e.g. metals and glass. Plastics are used in millions of items; including cars, bulletproof vests, toys, hospital equipment, and food containers. More than a 40 billion kg of plastic were produced in 2000. Their increased use has resulted in concern with the toxicity associated with their manufacture and use, and the environmental impact arising from discarded plastics.

The increased production of plastic bags has over the years been quite alarming, figures put it at over 1 trillion over the years with the united states using over 100 billion bags annually and Nigeria at about the same figure, as a petroleum product this could be estimated as throwing away 12 million barrels of crude oil a year, I know this sounds surprising, but before you exclaim OMG let me feed you with more reasons of hating the use of plastic bags. Research shows that about 6% to 10% of our total oil supply goes to making plastic. Now from the beans story I narrated above it can be seen that just in the purchase of a few items, over half a dozen plastic bags where given to me. This places me just as an average Nigerian citizen in el rufai bus or an Accra resident in tro-tro with no option other than throwing away  about 10 bags a week, 520 bags a year which is a fuel equivalent of 60 miles of driving. Now call to mind the Nigerian population of about 173.1 million and Ghana at about 26 million people. (now you can shout) this is exactly how little things make huge negative impacts without consciously thinking about it. Research has further proven to support the assertion that South Africa uses 85 billion plastic bags annually while Ghana is at about 71 billion. 

If forcing down the bitter economic truths about using plastic bags doesn't scare you at this point you might as well want to look at it from a purely scientific basis.  scientists have calculated the petroleum equivalent of a bag: it takes about 48 mega joule to produce a bag. This is exactly the same energy required to heat water to a boiling point. That 48 mega joule comes from the petroleum that the plastic itself is made from as well as the petroleum burned as energy in the manufacturing process to make the bag. An average car consumes 6.7 mega joule in driving one mile or the equivalent of 14 bags per mile driven.

In spite of these steeping evils of the use of this product, plastic bags have a record of causing untold harm to both the environment and human beings with plants being no exception to its evils .

As stated above plastic bags do not decay (in the strict scientific terminology biodegrade) as quickly as would human waste or paper when it is disposed off. In the event of it ever degrading that will take a whopping 1,000 years to eventually degrade and even at this, it is more so through the help of the sun in a manner known as photodegradation i.e. the sun breaks the nylon into smaller toxic particles. This process releases harmful waste into the eco system, polluting land, air and even water bodies. A good number of these plastic bags are swallowed by cows, goats and even dogs with aquatic animals like sharks falling victims. Especially, turtles mistaken it for jelly fish which is among its food chain.

Surprisingly the ugly picture I have tried to paint about plastic bags only points to the direct causal link it has on its users. However more remote effects of its use can be identified. It affects even the tourism sector for instance. In the last five years I have spent considerable amount of time in most west African countries and throughout I have noticed that plastic bags are a serious eyesore to the environment making tourist rethink their choice of ever lodging and spending time in most west African countries like Ghana, NIGERIA, Togo, Benin  Republic and Ivory Coast. For instance the streets of Accra which boasts of massive hotels with multiple stars suffer decline in the customer index due to the state of the environment. Plastic bags are seen hanging right through hotel fences becoming an eye sore, polluting  the air especially during heavy down pour,  choking drainage systems and even killing animals that mistake them for food. Labadi beach one of the best sites for tourist attraction in the capital of Ghana has been heavily plagued with this predicament with close to over 90% of debris coming from the Atlantic Ocean being plastic bags. Despite my closeness to the beach I am discouraged from ever thinking of spending time at the beach due to its eyesore nature. These plastic bags have also been the leading engineer of the flood cases in Accra as they choke the drainage system forcing water resulting from heavy downpours to seek for other passages thereby resulting in the loss of properties and even lives. The good news is that some African nations like Uganda and South Africa have taken the bold initiative to ban and curtail the use of this product.

Humans who in turn consume sea foods that have this product in them risk having cancer. In fact research suggests that mental retardation in humans to some extent is owed to this including other birth defects like down syndrome. Sometimes we try to incinerate these plastics but this also has proven to be unsafe because when the product comes in contact with fire it produces DIXONS and FURANS which have all proven to be harmful to humans. A better suggestion for a safe environment is for the government to issue a statutory rule aimed at curtailing the use of plastic bags in our society. But before that is done we as individuals owe ourselves some basic moral duty to stay safe and few of those ways are to buy food in ceramic or paper containers. 

Further practices we can adopt is to stop  the following,  microwaving of edibles whilst still in plastic bags, buying fatty foods in plastic bags, storing acidic foods like tomatoes or citrus in plastic bags as those tend to draw out the plastic poisons, and finally to also stop the use of plastic utensil like spoons, knives and cutting boards. Stay safe and remember. 

 

HEALTH IS WEALTH.

Most of the statistics quoted in this article is owed to the non-profit organisation for Marine Conservation & UNEP.  

CEDAW a discrimination against Men!

CONVENTION TO ELIMINATE ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN(CEDAW):

Hey guys, my last article was on the topic 'society, religion and culture the tripartite relationship against feminism'. Although I wrote this article sometime ago, I believe it is a great piece that would add some spice to the one sided research expounded earlier on my blog. in this piece i intend discussing the very few instances the law is discriminatory against men. For a start .........

HOW IS 'CEDAW' DISCRIMINATORY AGAINST MEN? 

On 18 December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It entered into force as an international treaty on 3 September 1981. Among the international human rights treaties, the Convention takes an important place in bringing the female half of humanity into the focus of human rights concerns. The spirit of the Convention is rooted in the goals of the United Nations: to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity, and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women. The present document spells out the meaning of equality and how it can be achieved. In so doing, the Convention establishes not only an international bill of rights for women, but also an agenda for action by countries to guarantee the enjoyment of those rights. 

As defined in article 1, discrimination is understood as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on .1 the basis of sex...in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field". The Convention gives positive affirmation to the principle of equality by requiring States parties to take "all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men"(article 3). In its approach, the Convention covers three dimensions of the situation of women. Civil rights and the legal status of women are dealt with in great detail. In addition, and unlike other human rights treaties, the Convention is also concerned with the dimension of human reproduction as well as with the impact of cultural factors on gender relations. The preamble of the Convention stresses "that a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality of men and women".
Article I 
For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. 
Article 4 
1. Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be considered discrimination as defined in the present Convention, but shall in no way entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate standards; these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been achieved. 
2. Adoption by States Parties of special measures, including those measures contained in the present Convention, aimed at protecting maternity shall not be considered discriminatory. 
Article 17 
1. For the purpose of considering the progress made in the implementation of the present Convention, there shall be established a Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (hereinafter referred to as the Committee). 

The struggle to see women rise up to the same level as men has been a long and tedious one over the years and even though some progress has been made the question begs to be asked if men are now also the victims of sexism. In paying attention to the plight of women we fail to recognize also the plight of our men. Is it ok to say that since women have suffered and still continue to suffer as compared to men then it is ok to ignore or at least for now not concentrate on the men? 
In my view the attention should be on how both men and women should be treated so as to enjoy all the fundamental rights that come with being a human being as opposed to making one side of the coin that is women enjoy the same rights as men. Why should the thresh hold or standard be that women should have the same rights as men instead of women should have rights as any human being would enjoy either male or female. If we are to agree that women should enjoy equal rights as men then whatever is being meted out to men that smells much like discrimination should also be enjoyed by women since we are after all drinking from the same cup. 
For example men have been at the bitter end of some of the laws and policies that in one way or form scream discrimination against men. Although women are discriminated against and sexism against women is widely acknowledged, few people take seriously the possibility that men are also discriminated against – which Benatar sees as fact. David Benatar, in his 2012 monograph The Second Sexism discusses a whole range of other ways in which men as men are disadvantaged. As evidence for sexism against men, he advances a number of different examples. One of his strongest ones is the issue of military conscription: it is virtually unheard of for women to be forcibly conscripted into a country’s armed forces, whereas this is common for men. 
Benatar thinks there are other spheres in which men get sacrificed and women get protected – such as in the old adage of ‘Women and children first’, when it comes to shipwreck etiquette, which he finds “inappropriate”. When it comes to capital punishment, he says there is “clear evidence of bias” towards putting men to death but not women. He cites the state of Virginia, where no women has been put to death in 100 years, despite the state having the second highest capital punishment rates in the US. 
Then there’s the issue of sexual assault. While he acknowledges that women are the primary victims of sexual violence, Benatar says men are nonetheless subject to discrimination in this area as well. He gives as an example the fact that some countries do not acknowledge the possibility of male rape under law. In other countries, penalties for sexual assault of males are less serious than female assault, and he cites studies which show there is less sympathy available for male sexual assault victims. (It’s hard not to think of South Africa’s infamous Pappa wag vir jou drunk-driving ad in this regard.) 
Men, for example, receive custody of children in only about 10 percent of divorce cases in the United States. As Jennifer Ludden reports, after divorce men can face burdensome alimony payments even in situations where their ex-wives are capable of working and earning a substantial income. Even in cases where temporary alimony makes sense—as when a spouse has quit a job to raise the children—it's hard to understand the need for lifetime alimony payments, given women's current levels of workforce participation. As one alimony-paying ex-husband says, "The theory behind this was fine back in the '50s, when everybody was a housewife and stayed home." But today, it looks like an antiquated perpetuation of retrograde gender roles—a perpetuation which, disproportionately, harms men 
Along the same lines, physical violence against men is often minimized or seen as normal. Benatar refers to the history of corporal punishment, which has much more often been inflicted on boys than girls. Society's scandalous tolerance of rape in prison seems like it is also related to a general indifference to, or even amusement at, sexual violence committed against men. 
Perhaps most hideously, men through history have been subject to genocidal, or gendercidal, violence targeted at them specifically because they are men. Writers like Susan Brownmiller have over the last decades helped to show how mass rape and sexual violence against women are often a deliberate part of genocide; similarly, there has been increasing awareness in recent years of the gendercidal results of sex-selective abortion and infanticide in places like India and China. But the way gendercide can be directed against men is much less discussed. One of the worst recent examples of this was in the Balkans war, where, according to genocide researcher Adam Jones, "All of the largest atrocities... target[ed] males almost exclusively, and for the most part "battle-age" males. " Similarly, in Rwanda according to Judy El-Bushra (as quoted by Jones) it was principally the men of the targeted populations who lost their lives or fled to other countries in fear. ... This targeting of men for slaughter was not confined to adults: boys were similarly decimated, raising the possibility that the demographic imbalance will continue for generations. Large numbers of women also lost their lives; however, mutilation and rape were the principal strategies used against women, and these did not necessarily result in death. 
in Federal University of Technology Minna, although cited without authority, female indigenes were offered scholarship wereas Men were expected to pay. this i dont see in anyway as Positive descrimination because descrimination is descrimination. 
The above arguments do not suggest that the CEDAW is not to be applauded for the good work done to protect women but the argument is that men should also be paid attention to because they also suffer some form of discrimination however subtle it is. The focus should be on sex discrimination which is when you are treated unfairly either because you are a man or because you are a woman rather than on ‘discrimination against women’. As much as it made sense some years back to fight for the liberation of women so they could enjoy as much rights as men enjoyed, I think the time has come for us to focus on how each sex can enjoy all the rights that are inherently yours whether as a man or a woman because we are first and foremost HUMAN BEINGS.

ECOWAS the non-venomous viper

To understand the power wielded by ECOWAS, its foundation should be considered.
ECOWAS was founded on May 28, 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, and its mission was primarily to promote economic integration across the region of West Africa and build up support across several member countries.

ECOWAS is considered one of the pillars of the African economic community, and it has helped to achieve relative “collective self-sufficiency” for its member states by creating a single large trading bloc through an economic and trading union. However apart from its economic function, ECOWAS has also take on another function which is inevitably
tied to its economic function, that of being a
peacekeeping force in the region.

As part of its peacekeeping job, the ECOWAS court was created. Known as the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, it was created by a protocol signed in 1991
and was later included in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty of the Community in 1993.
The court officially began operations in 1991 and its protocol came into effect on 5 November 1996. It provides the ECOWAS Council with advisory opinions on legal issues (Article 10). Apart from that, like its companion courts the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches.

Despite the huge transnational duty the Leviathan (ECOWAS) has to play,  one constant character of infidelity and chronic disregard of directives can be repeatedly seen by member states either while this directive is handed by the council of presidents or by the ECOWAS court of Justice. 

These ranges from the blatant disregard of the Nigerian President in the Nnamdi Kanu case to the current successfully averted crisis in the Gambia. 

I asked Mr Jerry Ukaigwe a notable jurist in ECOWAS law what he feels about the disregard of ECOWAS directives and here is his views. 

ECOWAS may be modelled on EU  but they are not on the same wavelength. UN, EU and ECOWAS ply on the same or similar route in terms of the character of their legal framework- Treaties. UN may have security council that can authorise territorial encroachment, may be on human right/ humanitarian grounds. Some  of the laws relied upon may be customary  international law, which most countries consider-somehow-to be part of their laws-This class excludes treaties, in respect of which a non-party state can not be bound. Again, UN can also use non-legal strategies to enforce its decisions, e.g. sanctions and political ostracism(pariah- state). Because of the effect these may have on a country, the affected state would like to comply with UN. EU is somewhat unique because of the doctrine of supranationality, in that EU has power to ferry its laws down to the territories of members. So EU laws are laws of the members, therefore compliance is inevitable. ECOWAS lack these factors. It has no supranational powers over its members, it cant effectively use economic sanctions because the members trade often with foreign countries so they have nothing to lose in case  sanction is imposed by ECOWAS.

Side effects of social media.

As a young man in my mid-twenties I have discovered that not many people want to look at the disadvantages of social media because they know they can’t live without it. But maybe it’s time to face the dangers we are unwilling to look at, because that’s the only way we can make our experience online a healthy one. 

Today, almost everyone has an internet presence. Connecting with people is one thing we all love to do, sharing perfect moments, discussing personal and professional issues together,  even when ordinarily distance would have been a great obstacle. Social media has been one of the ground breaking inventions of our time. 

However, to this great invention and liberty, comes implied restrictions on our behavior and conduct and imposes on us a responsibility to be careful and circumspect. There have been remarkable amount of successful people whose posts on social Media platforms like Facebook and twitter have seriously affected their professional life and sometimes even reduced their worth in the eyes of reasonable and respectable members of the society. More probable than not, who you are affects how people treat the content of your post online. For example a bouncer in a local club down-town may not get the same backlash on social media for taking a ‘selfie with a lady on his laps as would a clergy man if he does exactly the same thing, (maybe the exception being if the lady is his spouse). 

The real questions we must all then reflect on now is, whether there is something on our social media account that can affect  our future job prospect or dwindle our respect in the estimation of reasonable men in the society?

Prior to recent years there was no internet presence like now, so obviously President Mohamadu Buhari in his mid-twenties could not have posted anything that will in recent times could have hampered his chances of getting into the then Nigerian war college or in 2015 blocked his chances of becoming the president of the most populous country in Africa. Quite a number of admissions offices of professional schools, including Human Resource Managers of companies and industries are all using tools that integrate social media into the way that they filter through applications for jobs and schools. This is accelerating especially in big companies who are concerned about the images of their staff e.g. insurance companies, brand companies and media stations. A recent example that is so fresh in our minds is the suspension of one of the most respected producer and presenter of one of the leading stations in Ghana, TV3. She was suspended because the managers of TV3 accused her of cyber theft when she cropped her friend out of his picture at a London stadium and put herself in his place, which falsely represented to people that she was at the London stadium. After receiving so much backlash she tried to explain that it was all a prank but because TV3’s image was so important to them they did not take it lightly. It is becoming more and more common for one’s social media presence to be looked at to judge an applicant’s suitability. Social media has given companies a window beyond your CV into your life. Employers use it to see if you would be a good image for their company.

Ashley Payne, a teacher in Barrow County, Georgia, was asked to resign from her job at Apalachee High School in August 2009 because of photographs and status updates she posted to Facebook. You may want to ask what on earth did she post online? Well; There were pictures that showed her drinking alcohol and in one update she used an expletive. Payne was on vacation in Europe and some of her photographs included her visits to the Guinness Brewery and a local pub in Dublin. Payne's Facebook page was private, however she had friended some other teachers in her school. When the principal found out about the photos, she was told to render her resignation or face suspension. Although ordinarily you might think drinking on social media is nothing, the position one finds him or herself, sometimes dictate what u can and cannot do.

It is easy for the non-weary in heart to say ‘I don’t intend wearing suit each morning to work in wall street or delve into the terrain of politics’ which requires a high standard of behavior or as some will put it, a play to the gallery. But whichever discipline one finds him or herself some minimum standard of good behavior is required.

Trevor Noah a South African born US based comedian who succeeded JON STEWART on The Daily Show has received one of the hottest backlash in recent times over posts he made several years ago when arguably he was held to be ‘nobody’ in the society. Noah’s post was dug up to as far as 2nd June 2010 to have had the following content ‘’ South Africans know how to recycle like Israel knows how to be peaceful’. Among some of his fans, this was held to be anti-Semitic in nature. Further tweets were dug up to have also contained the following, ‘‘so I must make my woman fear my penis? RT @UberFacts: The more you fear something, the bigger it appears’’. This amongst others was criticized for offending the very nature of womanhood. I am sure at the time Trevor wrote that, it never occurred to his mind that it would become such a huge issue during one of the most important stages of his life.

Lots and lots of people in high places have lost opportunities, been demoted, had issues in their relationship, suffered even undue peer pressure as a result of a so called better-of-contents in pictures uploaded by folks. All these suggests that social media is one platform youths and even the aged should thread carefully especially those guilty of cyber street fights and cybersex. Let us all review our internet presence and put up the best attitude virtually to avoid a comeback bite in the ass. 

Remember to be fore warned is to be fore armed.

PAULINUS. C. IKEORAH thatpaulinus@gmail.com