International

By Aliyu Nuhu

Ukraine without US military intervention is somewhat like a sacrificial lamb in the hands of Russia. Putin is not Hitler. He has already outlined his objective; to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. On this, it seems Russia has a valid reason. If Ukraine joined NATO it will jeopardize Russia’s access to the black sea. It is a war of survival as Ukraine failed to balance its act and be friends to both EU, NATO and Russia.

Unfortunately for Ukraine, America will not fight Russia on its behalf for many reasons, not that America does not have the strength to face Russia. President Putin had done his calculations very well.

America is a democracy and unfortunately for Ukraine, the party in power in America is not a war monger like the Republicans who are neither in control of the White House today, nor in control of the Congress. Under Donald Trump, Putin would never have invaded Ukraine despite the cordial relationship that existed between him and Trump. The second reason why America will not be involved is that, America has no obligation to defend Ukraine because there is no any treaty making it obligatory to do so. Ukraine is not Latvia or Poland who are members of NATO. And Putin knows all these. The third reason is that, the United Nations has not passed resolution asking for the world to stop Russian invasion by military force. The UN resolution also needs the endorsement of China, a Russia’s ally that is unlikely to allow the resolution to fly. Furthermore, Russia has a veto power and can shoot down the resolution.

The truth is Ukraine is under unprovoked and unjustified attack on its democracy by a dictator that does not know the value of human lives. Already 46 people, most of them civilians have been killed. But Russia is also careful with Ukraine because Ukraine was the second most powerful state to emerge from Soviet Union after Russia itself. The two countries have been at war since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. They are officially at a full stage war today. Ukraine is a nuclear power. Russia must tread with caution. The country has 130 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six nuclear warheads each. It also has 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece, as well as 33 heavy bombers, totaling approximately 1,700 warheads. In retrospect Ukraine is not a meatloaf that can be eaten without Russia itself committing suicide.

President Putin said he only wanted to demilitarize Ukraine and de-Nazify it. He has no intention of occupying it. A task that would have been impossible with Western powers meddling in the crisis.

Aliyu Nuhu writes from Abuja, Nigeria.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is a “catastrophe” for Europe, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has asked for an emergency summit of the NATO military alliance led by the United States.

He was quoted as saying on Twitter: “This is a catastrophe for our continent.”

Mr. Johnson added that he would make a national address on the developments.

“I will also speak to fellow G7 leaders and I am calling for an urgent meeting of all NATO leaders as soon as possible,” he said.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on citizens to fight

Zelenskyy has appealed to all civilians who are willing to protect Ukraine against Russian soldiers to come forward, stressing that Kyiv will provide firearms to anyone who requests them.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also urged Russians to resist Moscow’s plan to invade their country’s neighbour.

Recall that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the launch of attacks on parts of Ukraine as part of the move to support intending breakaway regions in the Eastern part of the country.

The attack has caused outrage and condemnations from world powers as citizens flee Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital city, although Putin stated that the attacks were not targeted at unarmed civilians.

Ukraine claimed that it had shot down fighter jets belonging to the Russian forces stationed in the unresting part of the country.

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

It is no longer news that another African coach has won the African Cup of Nations, bringing it to six out of the last nine editions won by African coaches. Coach Aliou Cisse of Senegal joined the illustrious list of African coaches that have won it in the period under review:  Hassan Shehata of Egypt, three times, Steven Keshi of Nigeria, Djamel Belmadi of Algeria,  all once.

While I don’t know have anything personal against expatriate coaches, I have everything against the perception that our African coaches are not technically sound to manage our national teams. This is absurd. There are good coaches all over the world.

There are brilliant football managers all across mother Africa who should not be disapproved merely because of what can be referred to as our syndrome of not valuing our own. It shouldn’t be so. 

Of course, Nigeria’s best coach in history is a Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof, who coached Nigeria from 1989 to 1994: winning silver in Algeria 1990, bronze in Senegal 1992, and winning gold in Tunisia 1994.

Westerhof Qualified Nigeria to her maiden World Cup, played some of the most entertaining football ever in Africa and achieved the highest ranking by an African national team, 5th in April 1994 FIFA rankings.

Thus, there isn’t any way I would despise foreign coaches. It isn’t logical. However, I advocate that they be given fairgrounds to compete with our local coaches, and when appointed, all should be supported sufficiently to succeed. 

It is still fresh in my mind how Nigeria Football Federation got itself trapped in a web it is still striving to overcome. They sacked Gernot Rohr at the eleventh hour, which I still think is debatable. Yet, they went ahead to ‘appoint’ a new manager while an interim manager was in place. Who does that before a major tournament and the World Cup playoff around the corner? 

I had thought they should have waited for the AFCON to conclude before appointing any manager, especially with an interim manager already appointed. And all those who shared my views have been proven right with the latest development of allowing the interim manager, Austin Eguavoen, to continue until after the World Cup playoff against Ghana.

I think we would have been saved all this rigmarole if the NFF had at least trusted him enough to be the interim manager and not gone ahead to supposedly have an agreement with someone to succeed him regardless of his performances. 

Until, the Nigerian football fanatics reigned and rallied around the interim manager after some spectacular displays at the group stage of the AFCON, which seemed to have been adequate to make NFF take this recent decision, despite our shock elimination at the last 16 by Tunisia.  May we learn to give our best any job, support, and trust them to deliver. God bless Nigeria. 

Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani wrote from Turaki B, Jalingo, Taraba State via abdulrazaksansani93@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Kenya High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Wilfred Gisuka Machage died in an Abuja hospital on Saturday, February 19 at the age of 65. Machage’s twin brother, Sopester Magitar who was a Kenya Ambassador to Russia told newsmen of the sad development.

“It is a very sad moment that I have today lost my best friend and confidant” he reportedly said.

It was also gathered from sources close to the deceased that he fell ill and was rushed to the hospital where he died around 1pm.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Following a horrific attack on foreigners by criminals, the Nigeria Union South Africa (NUSA) confirmed the death of another Nigerian, Nicholas John, in South Africa on Thursday.

Mr. Collins Mgbo, the President of NUSA, disclosed John’s death in a statement to NAN on Thursday.

On February 12, a mob allegedly attacked John, an Ogun State native, at his shop in Kimberly, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Many young Nigerians who immigrated to South Africa to find work have continued to perish.

According to NAN, at least 128 Nigerians have been slain in the erstwhile Rainbow Nation since the beginning of 2019.

On December 12, 2021, a man named Olusola Solarin died after hoodlums attacked him and stole his money.

Mgbo revealed that John’s South African wife had just been married for three months.

On the circumstances surrounding Nicholas’ death on Tuesday, the NUSA president stated that a South African gang assaulted him on February 11 for allegedly purchasing a stolen laptop.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

A stadium is set to be named after Sadio Mane in his home town of Sedhiou in Senegal after helping his country to win the just concluded AFCON.

Senegal’s minister of culture and communication, Abdoulaye Diop, confirmed the news this past week.

According to Diop, the stadium is named after the region’s favourite son.

“I would like, through this decision to give the name of Sadio Mané to the Stade de Sédhiou, to express the recognition of all the daughters and sons of the region, towards a man who makes known to the humanity as a whole, Bambali and its regional capital, namely Sédhiou,” Diop was quoted saying by the local media.

Diop added that “Sadio Mane really deserves this honour.”

The Liverpool forward scored the winning penalty as Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 to win the 2021 African Cup of Nations held in Cameroon for the first time in history. Mane also earned the love and respect of millions of people owing to his charity works.

By Sa’adatu Aliyu

In August 2020, the Port of Beirut came under explosive attacks, which shook the country’s very foundation. After many reports came in after that, it was said that another attack to have shaken the country with such intensity was that which killed the then Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

Before the explosion, however, Beirut had been struggling with its economy, thanks to its widespread corruption. That already had it standing at the doorstep of the World Bank begging for financial relief. It also saw many of its populace unemployed, uncertain of the future.

Therefore, for a country already grappling to pay its citizens their salaries, with families finding it increasingly hard to feed their children or send them to school, the explosion added fuel to the fire. After much investigation, it was gathered that the port officials had been indirectly responsible for the incident, which killed and injured many. This is because the large amount of chemicals initially bound for Uganda was instead stashed up in the Beirut port, left without any safety preservative precautions taken to prevent an imminent attack.

After that, Beirut was indeed to see itself knocking at the gates of the World Bank, yet again-if once silently and with patience – then now it was with desperation for help. It would, in fact, at this point turn its hands to accept any offer coming in from any country but most importantly, the Saudi government with which it maintains a close political tie.

What makes me liken the Nigerian state to the status quo in Beirut is its corruption and the most recent proposition by the government on the possible removal of fuel subsidy. For a country whose system is heavily built on corruption and even more so we can say still thrives because of it, I am afraid to say that I hope we, too, do not one day wake up to the smokes of our country in flames with everyone running helter-skelter in search for safety.

Beirut’s reality stares Nigeria in the face. The trudging of its imminent collapse is ever so closer. Abject poverty remains the order of the day with the larger part of the population living below one dollar; price for education forcing worry heaves and sighs out of its largely lower-middle-class population, price of food items costing twice more than before. To make matters worse, the state of our country’s security has never been so fragile and then to have life becoming more difficult by the removal of fuel subsidy by a government on which many have placed the hope of a better living condition is to assert to the population that the government lacks any sense of good direction.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic. However, with the country’s challenges rising every day and a government that focuses more on enriching themselves and their families, I cannot see a brighter future for us either.

With the drama in display and the Nigerian state calmly maintaining its dance on the tracks of lagging-behind countries, and as we face yet another upcoming election next year, I pray we do not wake up to the scorching burns of increased crime rate, escalating terrorism, among other ills.

One thing that doesn’t require divine telling is that Nigerians have never felt more apathetic towards the system. We are all bracing for what lies ahead.

Sa’adatu Aliyu comes from Kogi state. She is a graduate of English Language from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a Masters student in Literature at the same institution. Her email is saadatualiyu36@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Miss USA 2019, Cheslie Kryst commits suicide. Law -enforcement sources told reporters that the woman who leaped to her death in New York on Sunday, January, 30, is the beauty peagant, Cheslie Kryst.

Just hours before her death, she wrote on her verified Instagram, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”

Her family confirmed her passing in a statement.

“In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie. Her great light was one that indpired others around the world with her beauty and strength.”

“Cheslie embodied love and served others through her work as an attorney fighting for social justice, as Miss USA and as a host on EXTRA. But most importantly, as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and colleague – we know her impact will live on,” Her family wrote.

By Yusuf Shuaibu Yusuf

Though there is still one form of slavery or the other worldwide, I was particular on this topic after watching recent footage showing how a housemaid was savagely killed by her supposed Arab employer. I, therefore, aim to join multiple voices clamouring for the governments of some Gulf countries, United Nations and other international communities to end the practice of domestic servitude whose victims are primarily African and Asian migrants. These poor people are stuck in many Gulf countries. The housemaids undergo horrendous treatment. Among these victims are many Nigerians who leave their country for political or economic reasons. 

At first, I couldn’t have expounded on issues so sensitive as this, even more so, as it involves the place of birth of our Noble Prophet, the country inhabiting the holy sites, the Qibla and the pilgrimage of any Muslim. Still, the issue at hand transcends any sentiment. 

While many Arabs in Gulf countries are piously angelic, treating their housemaids with honour and dignity, others are contrary to that. Instead, they are fiendishly sadistic as they take delight in humiliating their African and Asian housemaids, turning them into modern-day slaves.

Since time immemorial, it has been a long tradition for African Muslims to stay in Saudi Arabia and work as domestic servants after performing their religious obligations. Consequently, domestic service in Saudi Arabia came to be considered lucrative jobs among many Asians and Africans, particularly Nigerians.

Recently, due to political and economic challenges, Nigeria has witnessed the proliferation of bogus travel agents who fill their clients with utopian ideals about Gulf countries and who themselves are loosely linked with the recruiting firms in those countries. Desperate to leave the country, these clients easily fall for these lies and illusions. Hence, there has been an influx of youth from Nigeria into Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai, Qatar, Lebanon and some few Arab countries in Africa like Libya and Algeria. 

While most of the pilgrims working as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia before were primarily people of diverse age and sex, the recent influx has seen political refugees and economic migrants constituting of youth – predominantly females. Some of these migrants usually become disillusioned a few days after their arrivals in such countries as their recruiters leave them at the mercy of their employers. Having nobody to turn to for help, they often become subject to molestation and other forms of gender-based violence.

Women are believed to be more exposed and vulnerable to all sorts of these harassments than men. Perhaps their relatively delicate biological constitution and the fact that most of them live in the same compounds with their employers heighten their risks of being abused. 

The emotional story of “Sarah”, a Ghanaian maid in Lebanon who narrowly made her escape from the abusive family she had been working for, is an excellent example of how prone to abuse housemaids are. Sarah is not her real name for privacy sake. Shortly after her escape, she narrates to Mark Stone, a Middle East correspondent, how she was raped at knifepoint by her employer’s brother while taking a bath. 

It was also recounted, in another video clip, by a former housemaid in one of the Arab countries that a housemaid can be called to work at any time. A housemaid is not assigned one particular job like cooking, cleaning, or attending to children. Instead, she is given different tasks like attending to the sexual needs of her employer or some members of his family or both. Should she fail one of these tasks, she is treated savagely. 

The case of housemaids being thrashed by their bosses in Gulf countries has become a norm. Racist and invective are the common languages used to address the housemaids on slight provocation.

I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw in one footage sent to my sister on September 16, 2021, from Saudi Arabia via WhatsApp. I had never before imagined a barbarous and atrocious act of that magnitude could be perpetrated against animals at this so-called civilized age, much less a human being. The footage videotapes a person, allegedly a Saudi nobleman, attired decently in Arab dress, closing in on a black lady, supposedly his maid, who is lying on the floor, screaming, frantically struggling to disentangle herself from her supposed killer. But, on the other hand, stands, a broadly built woman, dressed in a green jacket, clenched in her left hand is what looks like a syringe, yelling at the struggling and screaming woman to stop resisting (at what only God knows what). This second black lady could be a nurse or anything else.

I’m sure that she is also under the payroll of this assumed killer. Even though the man’s intention is bent on killing the other housemaid, this woman has never attempted to intervene. Throughout the footage, she can just be seen yelling and pleading with the screaming girl to stop resisting. The man is captured in the video clip incessantly hitting the face of this screaming lady with his right hand and his right knee while pinning her down with his left hand and his left knee so that she can’t escape. Finally, the man ruthlessly strangulates her.

Prompted by this macabre footage, I tenaciously grew more curious and went further to download some television interviews, more violent footage and audios (some of which I have already hinted about) of some ex-housemaids in Gulf countries recounting their harrowing experiences while conducting their jobs as housemaids. 

According to Middle East Eye, the first video is of Sumi Akter 25-year-old Bangladeshi maid, bitterly and soulfully crying and begging for her escape.  She shares how she was beaten, tortured and abused by her employer and his family in Saudi Arabia. She is said to have posted the video from a hidden location to her Facebook account, where millions viewed it, which prompted protests in Bangladesh. 

Another footage of a black lady trying to get out from what looks like a toilet while being sent back by repeated flogs by her supposed Arab boss. As shown in the video clip, the incident occurs in a family room in an Arab quarter in an unidentified country. Arab family and other black housemaids are in the footage. An Arab lady asks the enraged boss to stop beating the black lady, but he doesn’t seem to listen. Later the beaten housemaid is captured standing in the middle of the living room, desperate, her back awash with blood. 

An ex-Nigerian housemaid in Oman shared her tormenting experience in audio recently trending on social media. She recounts how she had to leave two jobs because of advances made to her by her lesbian mistresses.

To end this crime, the countries these victims come from should impose laws checkmating the activities of those bogus domestic service agencies and their clients internationally. They should also ensure the rights of their citizens are not only protected within their countries but also in foreign countries. The governments of the Gulf states should crack down on those households who take advantage of the defenceless migrant domestic workers in their states. The killers such as the one described above shouldn’t go unpunished. They should be tracked down and brought to justice to serve as deterrents to others. United Nations should also formulate stricter laws safeguarding the rights of domestic workers internationally. 

Yusuf Shuaibu Yusuf sent this via yusufshuaibuyusuf@gmail.com.

By Khadija Muhammad

So many atrocities and crimes against humanity continue to grow everyday in the so called  developed nations, however, their justice system is powerfully functional, as it never allows a criminal to go unpunished no matter who he is, how smart he seems to be or how highly placed someone is. This is a report of Nicholas who evaded justice but a functional judicial systems trails him to his hiding place.

According to Aljazeerah, “Nicholas Alahverdian, 34, who fled the US to evade prosecution, has been arrested in Glasgow after being hospitalised with COVID.

The fugitive, who lived under an assumed name of Nicholas Alahverdian, was arrested by police in Glasgow.

Nicholas is a Rhode Island man who is believed to have faked his death and fled the US to evade prosecution in Utah and other states. He has been apprehended in Scotland after being hospitalised with COVID-19, authorities have said.

TDR’s source disclosed that “Nicholas Alahverdian was discovered after developing a serious case of the coronavirus and being placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Glasgow, Rhode Island State Police Major Robert Creamer told The Providence Journal on Wednesday.

Alahverdian 34, who was wanted by Interpol, now faces extradition to the US to face a charge of first-degree rape in Utah in 2008.

Court documents unsealed on Thursday show Alahverdian met a 21-year-old woman on MySpace in 2008, when he was living in Orem, Utah, and going by the name Nicholas Rossi, WPRI-TV reported.

The woman said that she ended the relationship, but that Alahverdian owed her money, promised to pay her back and instead sexually assaulted her in his apartment.

Utah County Attorney David Leavitt’s office said on Wednesday that DNA evidence collected at the time was not tested until 2017 as part of a state effort to test backlogged rape kits. The Utah evidence ultimately came back as a match to a sexual assault case in Ohio.

“Investigators also learned that Nicholas Rossi had fled the country to avoid prosecution in Ohio and attempted to lead investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased,” Leavitt’s office said in a statement. “Mr. Rossi was discovered to be living under an assumed name in Scotland.”

Rhode Island State Police have also said he is wanted in that state for failing to register as a sex offender, while the FBI has said he is also wanted in his home state of Ohio on charges he took out credit cards in his foster father’s name and amassed more than $200,000 in debts.