Continuum of hate.

Its been a great displeasure watching the latest edition of the Israeli Palestinian conflict unfold. It is even with a greater sense of sadness to have beheld the apparent disregard for the substance and phenomena that is Human Life. No matter what nationality it is. Regardless of its clad. 

I fail to see the judgement in retaliating with such disproportionate use of force. I also fail to see the sense in hiding behind your wife and little kids in order to fire rockets at your neighbors kids and wives.  Firstly you are categorically inhumane to use your own wives and kids as shields and secondly you are utterly barbaric for even coming up with the idea of shooting at your neighbors kids. No matter who they are. 

This latest conflict was no war. It was not even a conflict. It was the worst of human behavior being publicly exhibited. Relentless display of hate.

Imagine a little girl of 8 crying, not because she cant go to school, not because her friends were making fun of her not even that she was due to face some punishment from her mum or dad, no, it was for the utterly unimaginable reason that she was afraid a bomb was going to fall on her. The utterly terrifying thing was that her fears were not unfounded. They are real fears. Irrespective of whether that bomb does fall on her or not, she has been damaged for life. In her psyche that fear would settle and fester and ultimately define who she grows up to be. I wonder what warped mind would wish that on a child. Even on the children of his enemies.

Terrified Palestinian girls

Sadly though, this is the Israeli Palestinian reality, it is an existence of hate. Endless farms and nurseries where hate is cultivated. Little yearlings and offspring are traumatized and blasted into the reality even before they can comprehend who they are and on what side of the fence they have been born into. What a tragedy.

      

Israelis take cover in a pipe.

The latest outburst has ended with a truce. A truce which Israel interprets as an opportunity lost and Hamas counts as an opportunity to reload. To prepare for the next fallout. 

A war in perpetuity. A tragedy continuum which begins and ends in different shades of deaths and atrocities. All in the name of God. 

What a shame. 

Inhabitants of the throne room....

Speculate, make naive insinuations, talk about conspiracies and counter conspiracies, talk about holes in the government, treason and stories of unparalleled patriotism.

 

These are the attributes of the common man when he is faced with the machinery of power which constantly remains out of his modest reach. This is a factor of life that rarely changes. The little man afraid of change desires to swim in his little pool of mediocrity and royalty also afraid of change do all they can to make sure the little man remains little.

 

At some point, we must ask ourselves who are the powers that are? What gears are in motion? Who is the faceless kingmaker? In a country like Nigeria the term complexity cannot be overstated. The makeup of the country itself is as complex as anything could be.

 

Somehow though, a status quo is maintained. Her gears grind on albeit to certain ruin. I always wonder though. Who are the forces we feel but never truly see? With this question in mind I set out to profile and try to understand these forces.

 

First name that comes to mind strangely enough is Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi who listed the Seven Deadline sins as;

 

Wealth without works

Pleasure without conscience

Science without humanity

Knowledge without character

Politics without principle

Commerce without morality

Worship without sacrifice

 

How true his words are in present day Nigeria. All these factors present can only give rise to a nation whose citizens become numb to anything unbecoming. Atrocities are met with bland looks and indifference.

 

Present day Nigeria would regard the massacre of a hundred of its citizens with barely half an hour of news being aired. The country seems to be in some sort of convulsed spasm or death throw.

 

A change in the status quo cannot come any sooner.

Nigerian Transport Community...A story of rolling calamity.

The last few weeks have been an absolute nightmare when it comes to transportation in Nigeria.

When I say nightmare, I do not mean the funny dreams about zombies chasing you or your car being nicked. I mean a drawn out endless hell of persistent malfunction.

A Dam in the Northern part of the country a few weeks ago burst its banks, consequences were that it submerged nearby villages and some major roads connecting parts of the country. Being the kings of mis-use and mismanagement it's ironic that we never seem to be ready for disaster when it inevitably does strike. This was no exception.

The Federal Government has been hamstrung by its own decision to employ people not because of what they can achieve but solely as a result of their state of origin. This has left us staring at people with smirks on their faces telling us it would be just fine when they haven't got a clue about where to begin.

Now we all know that Nigeria has no rail infrastructure worth writing about, so this leaves us at the mercy of our famous space-age air industry. It so happens that it was at this most crucial time and time of dire need that our very own Princess Stella Oduah , Minister for Aviation allegedly decided to go to the impoverished airlines we have running our local airways to say "owo da?"

This "owo da" we have been told happens to be a 5% stake in Arik airlines. I mean the story beggars belief. I am bemused.

Well, it so happens that Arik Air wouldn't budge to this most cynical request and hence the whole country was plunged into the familiar tango of "he said - she said" while the common man languished and wondered if this entity called Nigeria is actually a Country or some bad dream.

Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah Vehemently denied the allegations and threatened Heaven and Hell and even parts of Purgatory. All the same, yesterday she declined to carry on with the case and made a statement saying Aso Rock had intervened and the matter (whatever it may have been, 5% or not) had been resolve amicably. Although Arik air does maintain that she has been banned from using any of their aircraft.

We must also note that our dear minister of Aviation a few weeks ago returned to Dana airlines their licence and apologised to them for having suspended it in the first place. An airline that was responsible for the deaths of over 150 Innocent Nigerian's in its callous quest to make some extra bucks.

From being a Champion for the Nigerian air industry, Stella Oduah has slowly but surely morphed into a very strange principality determined to wreck lasting damage on the Nigerian air industry.

Now it comes down to haunt us the very words of Richard Branson when he said that Nigerian leaders are dream killers. It turns out that they do not only kill the dream they also look to render impotent whoever dares to dream. God save our souls in this country of ours.

What chaos.

I really think there should be something in Economics called the "Nigerian factor" or an entity in Physics referred to as the "Nigerian Coefficient". An entity capable of rendering even the most ordered system eccentric.

Nigeria, a world of its own.

Congressional Liars...Fibbers of a generation.

We all accept that for a state to operate efficiently people often have to lie. Things have to be fabricated, credible and true stories have to be thwarted and made to look untrue and things have to be covered up.

However, some people go the extra mile to fabricate, discredit or blatantly lie about things they know are incorrect. All geared towards a selfish end or some private wet dream.

In all areas of society there are people like this. Here are some of my favourites: 

Going back to the Iraq war;

First and foremost the whole war itself was a lie. So I am sorry for calling it "the Iraq war". But for now we just have to go with that due to obvious reasons. 

Now topping this list is Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf The Iraqi Information minister who kept lying during the war. He lied about virtually everything. At a point he appeared on State television saying there were no American troops in Baghdad but two American tanks could be seen in the background. 

Al-Sahhaf

His was a whole new dimension in war propaganda. Nicknamed Baghdad Bob and Ali il Comico by the Italians, He was a one man state sponsored agency solely specializing in spreading bull-shit. (my apologies). The Only truth of this guys story was the fact he said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction which leads us to our next candidate Gen. Colin Powell.

Personally I view Colin Powell as a disgrace to anything in Uniform closely behind the Nigerian Generals who were shown weeping for their lives at the feet of  Gen. Sani Abacha who had a look of confusion and disgust on his face.

Colin Powell

I mean there is a limit one can be pushed to say "I resign". Colin Powell was the General who lied because he was told to do so without checking the story. The thing is he had all the resources to do so if he wanted to. I can understand Al-Sahhaf lying, he did it under pain of death. For Colin Powell I really do not understand why he didn't just get up and leave. 

Then we have Tony Blair. A master at what he does. The thing with Tony Blair is that he never really had to lie blatantly. He just fed out the truth in tiny drips and different shades of grey and in varying levels of concentration. 

Tony Blair

The resulting mixture was a potent story. Always more misleading than an outright lie with the truth within touching distance. This he delivered in the classic Blair manner with a flurry of gestures, head tilts  and direct eye contact. Most important to note about Blair stories, there were always suits and bodies between him and anything that could resemble a false story.Talk about the master puppeteer. 

The list goes on and on but then lets turn our attention to athletes of our generation. 

Andre Agassi; he lied about doping and a few days after the window within which he could be held accountable closed he came out with the true story. 

Agassi

If only there was a phrase such as "disgusting honesty" this would be a good time to use it. 

Then there was our dear super woman. Marion Jones. She fibbed and fibbed and fibbed some more. She even fibbed about the fibs she told. To everyone. To the IAAF, to WADA, to the FBI, to her parents, to herself, to the guy she bought the drugs off. She even went to church got on her knees and fervently fibbed. I mean how bad could it get. 

Marion Jones

All this while she believed she could not be tested positive. But like all things, there is only as much as you can fib. Eventually she came clean with the little words. I am sorry. I made a mistake. Which was in itself one last fib. You make a mistake when you unknowingly go down the wrong route and not when you "KNOWINGLY" go down that route in other to gain an advantage. 

Now we have some new guy on the list. 7 time Tour de France Champion and Mega star. Lance Armstrong.    In a battle that has lasted a few years he has constantly maintained his innocence. Meanwhile one after the other his team mates have come clean and have accepted their  fate. Mr Armstrong  has decided to give in, still maintaining his innocence and citing a one sided battle as his reasons for conceding.

Armstrong

He would be stripped of all his 7 titles including all Moneys and Trophies won in that time. a bit of a heart wrench. In all this though, he still does maintain his innocence. Good old Armstrong.

Chinas Wobbling Hurdling....A lesson in Choreography.

China would never give up a chance to be perceived as some sort of entity where everyone thinks alike, always smile alike, listen to the same songs and if we are to believe them, when everyone is asleep in China they all turnover in a perfectly synchronised way. 

Have you ever had the feeling when watching the Chinese grand prix that 90% of the supposed spectators are all Policemen, secret service and paid cheerleaders. All made to look like couples, teenagers and lovers having a wonderful weekend?  When Didier Drogba arrived in China to carry on his footballing career all you could see was a frenzied mob of fans, photographers and media personnel. However, if you took a closer look it wouldn't seem so at all. It was just Play acting. From the Policeman trying to push back the Photographer to the TV personnel scuffling to get a closer look to the fan waving a piece of paper waiting for an autograph. It was all a bunch of people paid to act out a script.  

Drogba arrives in China

In the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing China a little girl who was scheduled to sing was deemed to be "not pretty" enough by one Chinese big wig. So what did they do? Yeah, you would guess it. They pulled out the never failing card of deception. 

Ling Miaoke and Yang Peiyi

Letting TV kid star Ling Miaoke do the appearance, making her mouth (lip synch) the words that were being sung by Yang Peiyi who had her singing pre-recorded for the event. She wasn't allowed to appear because she had crooked milk teeth and a chubby face. 

Their latest sports antics in the just concluded London 2012 Olympics now involves their mega star Liu Xiang a world Champion in the men 110metres Hurdles. 

You see, "BEFORE" the race Mr Liu Xiang suffered a serious injury. The Honourable thing to have done would have been to pull out of the race. But what did they do. Yup, that old card once again appears on the table. Script writers were called in and instead of preparing for a race, they prepared for an act.

The gun went off and everyone took off on a flying start, except of course Mr Xiang who was injured and went down at the first hurdle, Bahamas' Braithwaite who tripped and fell and one other athlete who pulled a hamstring. Mr Xiang went ahead to hobble  and in a show of sportsmanship and patriotism kissed the last hurdle and waved to the crowed. He was wheeled off the tracks amidst loud cheers of love and understanding from the crowd. Even the Chinese commentator that day was heard to choke amidst praises for Liu Xiang, saying this is the cruel reality of sports.

The bottom line of this story and the question I am dying to ask is; what's with the Chinese government and its serious effort to choreograph everything it can. It leaves one thinking and begging to know what really is real in China. I wouldn't be surprised if a piece of the great wall of China fell of one day and underneath one of its bricks is a logo saying Shanghai plastics with a time-stamp of 2010. 

Prince Harry and his VIP friends. A show of Naked Royalty

Good Education, Fancy parties, Great social standing, Double barrel last names and a weekend in the palace. One would think this would be the little goodies that comes with being friends with royalty. 

It also turns out that the occasional betrayal and back stabbing is also thrown into the mix to make it all the good old acrid relationship. 

Prince Harry over the weekend was given a good serve of this mix when nude pictures of him were propagated by TMZ. Doing what they do best. You worry about your clothes, we would worry about the pictures. 

Royal Chatter

Harry has been portrayed in the media in recent times as a member of the Royal family who had finally come of age and had matured into a responsible young man. Full of prospects and a long career in front of him. 

I think he has come of age and is indeed the many good things people say about him. The thing is he has totally left out the part where he was supposed to trim his entourage of friends and acquaintances a large group of wannabes part of which consist of social ghouls intent on wrecking havoc at the slightest opportunity. 

Well, lets hope he learns from this show of  monumental immaturity. 

Date Rape gone horribly wrong.

Research in Motion in the last decade has made so much profit with its Blackberry product line. Completely revolutionizing the instant messaging service, It took Corporations like Apple, Microsoft and the makers of the Whattsapp application a while to catch up. 

The Blackberry messaging service meant a lot to many people. It provided a very easy way to communicate without incurring crazy charges, it played a pivotal role in the Arab spring up rising and the Nigerian fuel subsidy saga. It is a formidable method via which information can be spread efficiently. 

While it proves to be a source of information for some, for others it proved to be a very different tool. Like everything good it could be thwarted to an evil end.

A resident of Abuja Nigeria hooked up with a virtual friend via Blackberry chat and set up a meet date. A meet date  which was for the 21st of July proved to be her ruin when it all went horribly wrong. 

Miss Cynthia Osokogu 24, the Daughter of Retired Nigerian Major General Frank Osokogu was lured by 33 year old Nwabuzor Okumo and his Cousin 23 year old Ezekiel Odera to her death. 

Cynthia Osokogu

She arrived in Lagos and met Nwabuzor Okumo at the airport they proceeded to a hotel in FESTAC where  her virtual friend now in the physical sought to rob her. He proceeded to drug and rape her repeatedly for 12 hours and then murdered her in cold blood. 

Although he did claim his intent was not to cause her death, telling police he had actually drugged and raped unsuspecting ladies on 3 or 4 different occasions and it had never resulted in the death of any of his victims. 

He admitted purchasing four bottles of Ribenna and had spiked them up with Reflon ( this could be a drug called Flunitrazepam also known as Rohypnol nicknamed Roofies) Which is a Benzodiazipines one of the two main sleeping agents used to battle Insomnia. 

Though a sizeable quantity was administered, he claimed it did not have the desired effect and his victim Cynthia put up a fight resulting in her being tied up. 

Failing to get any sizeable amount of cash out of her and aided by his cousin he beat her up, chained her and left her. Though Okumo claimed they left her alive in the hotel room, staff at the hotel have indicated differently. They said an anonymous caller had called up saying; go and get the dead body of a bastard from your room. Which led to them finding Cynthia's body.

Ezekiel Odera and Nwabuzo Okumo

Ezekiel fled to Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria but was traced there by the police aided by his girlfriend and he in turn helped them trace Okumo who lived in FESTAC back in Lagos.

This is a heart wrenching story and bears all the hallmarks of barbarism, greed and sheer stupidity. 

Nwabuzor Okumo and Ezekiel Odera are to be charged to court shortly to answer counts of Robbery, GBH, Kidnapping,  Rape and Murder. 

Though she set out to do some shopping for her boutique and to meet a couple of new friends it ended in the worst possible way imaginable. 

This is not the first I have heard of date rape in sub-saharan Africa, but it is one of the most petrifying considering the victim, location and the fatal twist to the story. 

Tia Sharp

Like all crimes, the real facts have come home to roost. Police searching for missing school girl never seemed to have been interested in searching too far away from where she was last seen - her Grandma's house. Despite repeated attempts by her family to make them search far and wide.

Grandma Christine Sharp

Hazel. 

During televised pleas and interviews Tia Sharps Grandmother and Step-Grandfather never missed an opportunity to say the words "come home" or "walk in through the door" . The actual fact as it turns out is that Little Tia Sharp never actually left the house in the first place.

Little Tia Sharp

If the body found in Grandma Christine Sharps' house turns out to be Little Tia Sharp then my guess would be that her Step-Grandfather had done something to her at night and Christine arriving home from work in the early hours of the morning had played along in concealing the body.

Whatever it is, this has turned out to be a very sad story. It is a betrayal that is second to no other. My heart goes out to the Sharp Family. I do hope justice is ultimately served.

Bolting into history.

you good, but I am still the Daddy

Usain Bolt did successfully his 200m Olympic title. Although he did look somewhat on edge all through. He kept glancing sideways at his compatriot Johann Blake his greatest threat.

At some point it did look like Blake was going to unseat Bolt but it wasn't to be. Though not fully fit, it tuned out that Bolt was still up to it.

Bolt breezes away

By retaining his crown Bolt did make history being the first man retain the 200m Olympic Gold  medal.

Gold Draught!! As it was meant to be.

I always wonder why people are so afraid of contesting on a level playing field.

Africa as a whole has only managed to amass 12 medals at this years Olympics, 4 of which were gold medals being at par with the total number of gold medals won by Michael Phelps in this years events. 3 of those gold medals were won by South African Athletes. 

Its appalling to note that out of a total of 204 gold medals won so far only 4 have gone to African athletes representing African Countries. What could be wrong with this picture. Some could argue that it is all down to varying levels of commitment by member countries, poverty, corruption and a whole host of other excuses. That in itself could be a flawed view. 

If the status quo were maintained, this Picture would always remain the same. We would never see true potential unleashed. Hussain Bolts would remain undiscovered and potential  Michael Phelps's unknown. 

I just hope at some point in time we would be more concerned about unearthing wonderful talents and discovering amazing potential rather than just the usual boring World Domination/Muscle Flexing/Bragging Rights model and method of doing things. 

If this is to continue, I do believe the International Olympic committee has an obligation to ensure a level playing field for all athletes by putting pressure on member countries to develop and maintain their athletes to a particular level. Olympians from member nations should have access to the same level of training and preparation. 

At the end of the events our purpose and sense of accomplishment should be buoyed by the fact that an athlete took home a Gold medal not because he pays allegiance to the Union jack or Star Spangled Banner but because he is simply the best there is at that particular point in time.  

Humans are naturally driven by greed, it is inbuilt in us to want to deprive our opponents in other to gain top spot. People spend more time trying to knock their opponents off the ladder than making any meaningful attempt to climb up the ladder. 

An athlete who comes to the games with the thought of winning Gold, not because he/she is the best there is but because he/she knows fully well that they are coming to compete against a group of athletes who have little or no access to a meaningful method of training or a good trainer, that athlete has already lost. That athlete goes home with a large meaningless coin encased in a bloated ego and hung with a strap tainted with self imposed blindness and denial. How do you justify coming top in your class when you fully well know your course mates had no access to the study materials. You would never know where you really stand. 

The Olympics should be about unearthing the best athletes of our time...not about hoisting flags and squeaking to anthems. The story should be about the Athlete. The winning team should be Humanity.  

Summarily executed or casualties of war??

When key members of Assads regime turned up dead one day the regime hurriedly and somewhat uncharacteristically were eager to  feed news out to the press about an elaborate and deadly attack by opposition forces. However, as the days went by that explanation seemed to become highly improbable. Given the fact that people who were in the same building where the supposed attack took place did not hear or experience any attack by the opposition or anyone else.

What seemed at first to be a victory for the Free Syrian Army suddenly seems to have been a Coup inside the Assad regime, A coup that was brutally put down by Assad himself.

Hosni Mubarak failed to navigate one such coup during the closing stages of the uprising in Egypt. Now he finds himself in a Jail cell. So far for now, it seems Assad has survived this particularly deadly abyss. For now the at least.

Dawoud Rajiha

Mohammad Shaar

Hassan Turkmani

Assef Shawkat

.

Ghana shows Nigeria how it should be done.

John Evans Atta Mills (Late)

Less than 10 hours after the death of their beloved President John Evans Atta Mills, the People of Ghana have today sworn in the Vice President John Dramani Mahama as their new President.

President John Dramani Mahama

A few years ago Nigeria did go through an identical unfortunate situation but like all other things Nigerian, it had to have a special twist to it. After the Death of the late Nigerian President Musa Yar'adua, in some weird   development it began to seem his wife Turai thought she was to be made President in place of her husband. On the other hand world renowned petty thief and money launderer James Ibori seemed to think that as the most corrupt ex-Governor he was supposed to be rewarded with some kind important king making position. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo being the main cause of the problem flew up and down the country in his flowing robes like a ghost offering peace and war in his usual devious way. To make matters worse the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan thought he had to take permission from the Late Presidents wife in other to be made President. So the country remained in a very dangerous state of affairs all the while it slowly crept towards the edge of an abyss. While all these runnings around in circles went on,  looters were running wild up and down the country with sacks raiding and trading.

Ghana has shown a very high level of Democratic maturity and continues to exhibit a sense of focus and the willingness to push forward.

My heart goes out to the Late Presidents family. Congratulations to his Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama.

Mindless Carnage.

My heart goes out to the people of  Denver, Colorado. Its a sad weekend for everyone.

Bullet Proof Vest,
Gas Mask
Night Vision Goggles
Bobby Trapped Home
Radio Set to go off to attract people into his house

All these point to a carefully planned sick event. The style of these frequent mindless massacres has suddenly taken a disturbing turn. This one had the hallmark of disturbed young man.  How do you take aim at a six year old and pull the trigger. Even as people mourn and offer up their prayers there is the nagging realisation that it could all happen again.  What a world we live in.

Child victims of Pfizers illegal drugs test.

Over the last two decades Pfizer, the US drugs giant has been in somewhat of a long court battle which was as a result of Pfizer testing a new type of drug on 200 unsuspecting Nigerian children. Whose parents could barely speak English and were not aware that they were participating in a drugs test and were oblivious to the fact that they were actually qualified to receive more conventional medication at the same centre at absolutely no cost. 11 of the 200 children died with many more suffering blindness, deafness and cognitive damage.

Rewind to 1996, I was a secondary school student barely 100 kilometres away from Kano state were this atrocious and inhumane act took place. We had all heard about the outbreak of meningitis and were advised accordingly.  It was everywhere and Kano state in northern Nigeria took a fairly good hit.

No sooner had the WHO (World Health Organization) raised the alarm than Pfizer turned up, like a whole host of other pharmaceutical and medical groups.

Apart from offering their much needed help, Pfizer did have a much more sinister and ulterior motive for turning up. They had a new drug Trovafloxacin (a quinolone antibiotic) a drug which was untested on human infants and known to have very serious side effects on humans.

Trovafloxacin they administered to 100 of the 200 children. With the other 100 children, Pfizer deliberately reduced the dosage with the standard anti-meningitis drug Ceftriaxone.

Of the 12000 children who died during that terrible outbreak these 200 children were the most tragic. They along with their families thought they had a chance having arrived safely at the centre to receive medication, not knowing that awaiting them was certain death in the form of the drugs Giant, Pfizer.

Where else can you carry out an illegal drugs test better than a country ravaged with corruption and on unsuspecting children who were desperately in need of a saviour?  Children who had witnessed their friends, brothers and sisters die of the ravaging ailment that was meningitis. In Pfizer they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, they saw tomorrow. Not knowing that even as the Pfizer official coldly picked them at random off the queue they were being sentenced to a life of utter misery and for 11 of them, certain death.

The Survivors of the Pfizer drug test attempted to bring a number of legal actions against Pfizer in the United States. These attempts kept bumping into one legal obstacle or another. After repeated attempts to sue in an American court in January 2006 The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit  ruled that the Nigerian victims and their Families are entitled to bring suit against Pfizer in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute.

After months of fruitless wrangling and feet dragging by Pfizer A member of the United States Congress, Tom Lantos of California called on Pfizer to open its records.

Seeing some headway with the progress in the States, on the 5th of June 2007 the Nigerian Government filed a law suit against Pfizer claiming it never applied for, nor received approval to carry out the said test.

In February 2009 Pfizer on the one hand decided to settle the 200 families and on the other hand hired investigators to uncover damaging stories about the Nigerian Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, in other to force him to drop the Federal Cases against them. It was a ploy which seemed to work. The federal cases did disappear.

In March 2009 former Nigerian Military Leader General Yakubu Gowon and Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter brokered talks in Rome, Italy which resulted in Pfizer agreeing to a $75million settlement.

General Yakubu Gowon

President Jimmy Carter

As is wont to happen in any corrupt administration, in October 2009 it was announced that the medical records of the Pfizer victims could not be found. This was announced just after Pfizer had paid out $10million of the $75million.  No doubt that $10million went into somebody's' election campaign kitty.

A 1996 Trovafloxacin Victim

Not totally sure if the surviving victims and their families got any pay-out, I went ahead to contact Pfizer Uk. I stated that I had been unable to contact Pfizer US from England. I promptly received a reply stating that Pfizer had apparently met their obligations and funds had been disbursed to a trust Fund (no name) in Kano state. I sent another Email requesting more information with regards to the trust fund. After almost a week I am yet to receive a reply from the Pfizer press offices.

Somewhere in Kano State Nigeria there are 200 families who have been forever scarred by this reckless and criminal behaviour by Pfizer and ultimately possible betrayal by their own government. I still continue my quest to locate every single one of those 200 families and establish without any doubt that they were compensated.

Below is a series of emails exchanged with Pfizer press office.

Obi Awunor <obiawunor@googlemail.com>

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RE: request for information 7 messages

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Widger, Andrew <Andrew.Widger@pfizer.com>	Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 9:32 AM
To: "obiawunor@googlemail.com" <obiawunor@googlemail.com> Cc: Pressoffice PGP-UK <PressofficePGP-UK@pfizer.com>
Dear Mr Awunor, Thank you for getting in touch. Below is our latest statement regarding this matter, from which you may note that the management of claims is now with an independent Board of Trustees in Kano, Nigeria. I hope this helps. Best Andy ……………………………… Andrew Widger Director, Media Relations Europe, Middle East, Africa Pfizer ================ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 22, 2011 PFIZER, PLAINTIFFS ANNOUNCE GLOBAL SETTLEMENT OF TROVAN CASES NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. and all plaintiffs in the cases related to the 1996 Trovan clinical study today released the following joint statement regarding their global settlement of the cases. "We are pleased to announce that we have reached a final agreement to settle the Trovan cases pending in the United States and Nigeria. The parties agree that settlement is in the best interests of all involved. "Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the plaintiffs will join the ongoing Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund process, which is being managed by an independent Board of Trustees in Kano, Nigeria. "The cases have been amicably resolved after many years of litigation. The settlement will bring an end to all litigation pertaining to Trovan in the United States and Nigeria and allow for just compensation for participants in the study and their families." From: Pressoffice PGP-UK Sent: 04 July 2012 09:11 To: Widger, Andrew Subject: FW: request for information Hi Andy, We received the below email to the Press Office mailbox.  Would you be able to take  a look at this please? Thanks, Mel From: Obi Awunor [mailto:obiawunor@googlemail.com] Sent: 03 July 2012 18:43 To: Pressoffice PGP-UK Subject: request for information Dear Sir/Madam, I have been compelled to Forward this to Pfizer Uk because Pfizer US have no section on their website to receive emails from outside the United States. I currently run a blog and in my quest for material to write about I stumbled upon the infamous and very much distasteful Nigeria vs Pfizer court case.  Being born in Nigeria I did develop an interest for this particular case. This led me to try to establish some sort of fact that said the 200 or so Families which were affected by the Trovan drugs test in 1996 got their payout. Not too surprisingly I have not found anything to clarify this from the Nigerian Government.  I am about to write on this particular case. Any material you can provide to this effect will be very much appreciated. We fully well know that if the 200 families did not get their payout, Pfizer could still be held accountable by future Nigerian governments for failing to make sure that the victims got their payments.  Would be most grateful if you could provide any documentation to clarify whether families were compensated or not. Sincerely O. Awunor -- iCummunique!!

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Obi Awunor <obiawunor@googlemail.com>	Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 10:50 AM
To: "Widger, Andrew" <Andrew.Widger@pfizer.com>
Dear Mr Andrew, Thank you for your email. Very much appreciated. I am afraid though, I am no closer to determining the answer to my initial question. It would help a great deal if you could provide me with the name of the Independent Board of Trustees which manages the Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund Process in Kano so I could carry on this line of enquiry with them? Would be most grateful.  Thank you for your much anticipated reply. Much Regards Obi Awunor iCommunique!! [Quoted text hidden]

Serena Williams wins 5th Wimbledon Title

Serena Williams

It's been such an inspiration watching Serena blast her way to the Wimbledon 2012 shield. What she lacked in agility she made up with her ferocious service. 

Agnieszka Radwanszka

Centre court saw an emotional Serena almost loose it in the third set. However she found her golden hand once more delivery some powerful serves before breaking Radwanszka's service twice on the trot. 

Serena Williams

It is her 5th Wimbledon Title in 12 years. 5 of the other 7 have gone to her sister Venus who was knocked out in the 1st round of this years women's singles

Serena and Venus are due back on court to contest the women's doubles title. Sometime later today.

Central Bank set to launch New Nigerian Currency

Breaking News...Central Bank of Nigeria might in the near future be releasing a new currency....

Rumour has it that it would be called the Farouk. With 620,000 Farouks being equal to one Baban Barawo. It's Symbol will be the letter F  It is still unclear what the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Baban Barawo will be.

Happy birthday America....Gods' own Nation

Happy Birthday America....its been 236 years since we granted you independence...My, what a long way you have come. Big congratulations America. You set an Example.

Time called on Casino boss, Diamond.

There has been one accusation after another about wrongdoing in the banking sector in the United Kingdom. The most talked about being the PPI scandal that has raged on for quite a bit. Even as banks are still involved in paying out customers who were wrongfully forced to pay extra on loans they took out. Now we have the Euribor (European InterBank Offered Rate) and Libor (London InterBank Offered Rate) scandal. The funny thing is that these scandals always get blown open years after it had happened. It does beg one to wonder what scandal is going on at present, how big is it and when it is going to be found out. 

Bob Diamond .......out

I guess people got a bit frustrated especially with Bob Diamond. Barclay's CEO. You see, looking from the outside you have to think that Bob Diamond has always been one of the good guys. He was always at the fore front of the Whistle blowing process. Always looking to cut the quick deal.  He was always the first to own up and say this and that has happened at my Bank, we take full responsibility and  are willing to face the consequences. The fact is, it so happens that the penalty is always a fraction of profits raked in from the said deed. I mean if I made a profit of £2 Billion in 5 years over a particular endeavour, paying out £250 Million in fines and Penalties was a real bargain. I think they always had this in mind before they would embark on any such path. So like typical bankers they will weigh the odds, weigh the likelihood of a penalty and try to calculate what the penalty would be and then its business as usual. 

Some referred to him as a Casino boss, running his bank like a Casino. One thing was clear though, he had the swag and he had the looks and his books suggest he also had the tact. He would definitely be missed. Lets face it, in this day and age no bank can really survive going by the books. You have to be able to have you own definition of the phrase;  Honest Banking. 

You know in years past when you heard the words Bank Robber, you visualize a man wearing a black balaclava with a gun carrying a sack of bank notes and dashing down the street out of a bank with sirens blaring behind him and policemen bearing down on him. These days the picture has somewhat changed. You see, the guy in the Balaclava is actually a banker, running towards the banks with a sack full of money tricked out of the poor and needy. Behind him there are politicians racing to cover his tracks. Further down from the politicians you have a mob of angry people screaming and crying for justice.  

London is undoubtedly one of the most lucrative financial hotspots on earth. A fact which gives it's financial institutions some very serious clout. The Banking sector in the United Kingdom is Primarily its biggest export.  This fact left it a little bit too exposed to the global financial crisis and so it was imperative the Government got involved in some way making sure that the industry this side of the river did not go down or did not even seem to be going belly up. 

For ones Barclays has been made to pay something other thank meagre fines for its consistent nefarious acts. The fact that it sacked a couple of traders and paid a few pounds in fines did not seem to cut it. In a way it is a good thing that Bob did indeed step down. If only as a starting point. I do not think Bankers would be deterred though, not until they see one of there own behind bars playing checkers with a more conventional old school bank robber. I can't help but imagine what they would talk about.   

Mohammed Morsi Sworn in as President of Egypt

Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi has been sworn in as President of Egypt. A week after he was declared winner of the run-off elections.

President Mohammed Morsi

Egypt for a few days tittered on the brink last week as the then ruling military council kept on stalling when it came to releasing the results of the election.

Today Egypt saw their first ever democratic elected President assume office.

Tablets, Nexuses, Microsoft Surfaces and Big Massive Android Phones....

The Latest addition to the tablet craze: Enter the Microsoft Surface and Google Nexus 7. Seeming response to Apples iPad and the Android lot. 

Coming late to the table it seems Microsoft's main aim was to announce that it was still very much a force to reckon with when it comes to Information Technology. The truth be told,  they most certainly are. Did they need to come up with a Tablet? I don't think so. Although you never could tell. Fact is,  if you do not retain a noisy presence on the world stage when it comes to cutting edge Technology you could swiftly be regarded as being in a way synonymous to the phrase; old fashioned. A possibility which is becoming increasingly likely with Microsoft. 

Microsoft Surface

Becoming Old fashioned though does not automatically mean you capitulate and die, it just means your franchise becomes valuable history. The good old days some would say. A shiny Brand Name generating next to nothing in revenue. After 50 years or so you would then be promoted to the league of "Old School".

As for Google, they always want a bite of whatever seems to be the brightest idea in this giant cauldron of Technology Junk that has become the 21st Century. 

Google Nexus 7

Below are the specifications for the Microsoft Surface. Compared to Apple's iPad which is listed in like fashion further below.

Surface for Windows RT

OS: Windows RT

Light(1): 676 g

Thin(2): 9.3 mm

Clear: 10.6” ClearType HD Display

Energized: 31.5 W-h

Connected: microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video, 2×2 MIMO antennae

Productive: Office ‘15’ Apps, Touch Cover, Type Cover

Practical: VaporMg Case & Stand

Configurable: 32 GB, 64 GB

Surface for Windows 8 Pro

OS: Windows 8 Pro

Light(1): 903 g

Thin(2): 13.5 mm

Clear: 10.6” ClearType Full HD Display

Energized: 42 W-h

Connected: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort Video, 2×2 MIMO antennae

Productive: Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen with Palm Block

Practical: VaporMg Case & Stand

Configurable: 64 GB, 128 GB

Apple's iPad;

High resolution Retina display 2048x1536

Voice dictation

Faster processor A5X Quad core

5 megapixel iSight rear camera; autofocus; face detection

HD video recording at 1080p

4GLTE; 21Mpbs HPSA+ and LTE at 73Mbps

AT&T and Verizon will be the carriers

10 hour battery; 9 hours on 4G

9.4mm thin

1.5 pounds

Colors available in black and white

Price starting at $499..

Make your choice. Though, given the fact that all you are going to do is carry this for a couple of days, take a couple of pictures and some word processing before it becomes luggage, I would advice you to spend well.

iPad

Blackberry Tablet

I wonder what bite Microsoft and Google would take out of this very apple looking pie chart.