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

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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.