18 Dec 2008 |
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I thought I had accessed the depth of the congenital incompetence of the Nigerian ruling elite. I was wrong. It took the on-going juvenile attacks on Saharareporters.com by the panicky targets of the outfit’s revelatory reporting, to reeducate me. Their latest gambit is to broadcast a speculation that Omoyele Sowore, the founder of the popular site, owns several properties in the US and that this is evidence that he is being sponsored to destabilize Nigeria (see advertorial below). Never mind that the investigative reporting and advocacy journalism of Saharareporters.com have always assaulted elite corruption and incompetence and not the character and cohesion of Nigerians, the casualties of the systemic rot and the emotional beneficiaries of Sarahareporters' patriotic offerings. Saharareporters itself anticipated and foreshadowed this campaign of the corrupt in its revealing reports on an evolving but amateurish attempt to deflect critical attention from the corrupt practices of those mandated to fight sleaze. But let’s quickly take the drivel about Sowore’s alleged property ownership off the table and get into the implications of these acts of desperation by thin-skinned incompetents in the current administration. The “evidence” for this allegation is the product of a two-minute people search on any popular search engine: a list of Sowore’s residential apartments and addresses in the US since he was compelled into exile by the ruthless persecution of the ruling elite. Ordinarily, one should not dignify such inanity with a response, but the gullible and uninformed deserves the education that comes with debunking such dubious antics. Any US resident who has lived in more than one location amasses a record trail of such residential mobility in public databases, from which search engines draw their results. In fact a simple search of my name will yield all my previous residential addresses and, of course, my current one. The information advanced by Sowore’s incompetent blackmailers is a simple download of such publicly available records. Investigators, bill collectors, and other agents of state utilities and providers of services require easy and cheap access to such information to provide efficient services and fulfill their inquisitional obligations. Such is the informational transparency of US society. The United States is the ultimate information society, its government the quintessential documentary state. In a sense, then, the high-ranking Nigerian officials who commissioned such a shoddy inquiry are the second biggest suckers in all of this, next to Nigerian taxpayers whose monies were probably used to finance this charade. The smart crook at the dirty core of this mischief swindled the sponsoring officials by playing on their ignorance of advanced public record-keeping and of the banality of the information marketed to them as a product of painstaking, esoteric inquiry. Given the desperate irrationality of guilt-ridden Nigerian officials, it is plausible that they even paid the opportunistic crook to travel to the US on a mission to uncover Sowore’s purported property ownership only for him to simply steal into one of Nigeria’s internet cafes to do a simple people search on one of the search engines. A fancy printout from some foreign-managed search engine would have blown the desperate minds of his IT-challenged sponsors. In addition to criticism, shame, and outrage, the Nigerian ruling elite deserves pity for their unconscious incompetence. They don’t even seem to know what they don’t know, hence their investment in this embarrassingly puerile attempt at blackmail. They are the victims of their own incompetence and of the enduring rot in the Nigerian public system. If Nigeria’s post-independence leaders had bordered to set up functioning public information systems in the interest of effective planning and policymaking, would the targets of Sowore’s patriotic exposés not have figured out the worthlessness of the list of Sowore’s previous residential addresses for their mischief? Would they not have known that a simple list of current and previous residences does not indicate property ownership? If Nigeria had a publicly accessible database housing the records of residential mobility, would they not have identified the genre of the record given to them and spared themselves the ridicule and shame of being exposed as uninformed buffoons? The failures and incompetence of the Nigerian ruling elite have a sneaky way of catching up to them and shaming them in the public domain. Even in my critical characterization of their abilities, I am probably according Nigeria’s current gang of rulers too much credit. If they didn’t know what a residential address history looked like, given their own failure to generate such informational instruments of modern governance, why did they not apply the simple, non-specialized logic of rationality? Why would Sowore display such residential nomadism when he allegedly owned the houses/apartments in which he lived? Is it possible that a scrappy internet journalist—or anyone for that matter—would be so vain as to keep buying and moving to a new house almost every two years? Such vulgar vanity would be rare even among the Wall Street and Hollywood superrich. That Sowore’s high-powered pursuers never applied such elemental logic to their material is a compelling, if tragic, indication of their desperation to shut down Nigeria’s premier conduit of truthful and credible information on the political shenanigans and corruption of those we did not elect but who insist on ruling us. Desperation is the enemy of rationality. Once Sowore cranked up the pressure and began unleashing the intimate details of the current government’s sleaze, rationality took flight among the rank of his corrupt targets. The result is a blackmail effort so abysmal and bereft of credibility it has not only galvanized active and fence-sitting supporters of Sahararerporters, but has also illustrated the graphic tragedy of the nexus of corruption and incompetence in the Nigerian government. The officials behind the failed blackmail are also victims of their own self-reflexive narrative on Nigeria and Nigerians. Relying on their own moral debasement as an index, these officials consider every Nigerian corruptible. Their working assumption is that every Nigerian has a threshold of moral resistance to corruption. Having bought into the immoral cliché that every Nigerian has a price and is bribable, dealing with an incorruptible, implacably patriotic anti-corruption activist like Sowore presents to them an unfamiliar curve ball, for which they have no answer in their filthy ethical system. The tragic-comedic implications of this affair are depressing to say the least. If the morally embattled officials who want to see Saharareporters go out of business could not tell an innocuous public information from an esoteric one and could not interpret a simple US residential record, foolishly believing it to be evidence of property ownership, how can they intelligently evaluate and sift through the policy and project proposals that routinely cross their desks? How can they ever grow from that level of administrative incompetence to a level where they can articulate their own visions for governance? Destroying, by all logical tenets, is easier than constructing. If Saharareporter’s corrupt traducers cannot manage a destructive project, how can they competently supervise a constructive one? My initial reaction to this shamefully desperate tactic of the current ruling elite was a mix of incredulity, depression, and jubilation, in that exact order. For the sake of my mental soundness I had always clung to the illusion that Nigerian leaders, even the dumbest and most corrupt of them, were informed enough to know how governance and institutions should work and that they were only indifferent to Nigeria’s institutional failures. As a result of this willful and blissful illusion, I refused to believe that Nigerian officials, for whom Saharareporters is a bête noire, would sink to this depth of idiocy to protect the status quo. I now know better. Nigerian officials are not only callous, they are clueless. But incredulity soon gave way to depression as I went through the substance of their allegation against Sowore. Depression because here was the commanding echelon of governance in Nigeria committing resources, time, and anxious energy to the decimation of a lowly internet activist in a distant foreign locale. I was depressed because, instead of actually fighting corruption (the prevalence of which has been the fodder for Saharareporter’s phenomenal growth and popularity), officials are busy trying to stop the site from publishing the most egregious evidence of their misrule. It was depressing, above all, to know that, instead of tackling the nation’s growing socio-economic and political challenges, the Nigerian state in all its oppressive might is being pressed into the petty and futile service of urging internet domain hosts to shut down a website dedicated to fair, truthful reporting on the state of the nation and its leadership (see below one example of several recent attempts by the Nigerian authorities, using faceless entities, to shut down the site). I soon got over the depression and became jubilant. It occurred to me that this is turning out to be a seminal moment in the moral confrontation between the Nigerian people and their self-absorbed and corrupt leaders. Consequently, this whole affair emerged to me in a more cheerful light. Sowore’s unrelenting truth telling has finally crept under the skin of Aso Rock and its hirelings. The irrationality and desperation displayed in their latest assault on the website is a clear indication of this strategic success. It is clear from this episode that the influence and reach of Saharareporters as an organ of progressive national mobilization can only soar with this woeful blackmail attempt, and that disdain for the enemies of transparency and truth will flourish. Putting Saharareporters on the pages of Nigerian newspapers in sponsored blackmail efforts is perhaps the best thing that could happen to the outfit. The website’s traffic is sure to increase, giving it more power to inspire progressive social action in Nigeria. This episode will only enhance the site’s visibility as a reference for information- and truth-seeking Nigerians, as an agenda setter, and as a socially-conscious investigative journalism project. These are positive fallouts from this affair. The ruling gang’s infantile damage control effort has the potential to propel Saharareporters into more prominence among its primary audience of suffering and disappointed Nigerians. This can only be a good thing for the future of Nigeria. It calls for measured jubilation in the camp of those committed to the evolution of a better country.
APPENDIX I WE ARE AWARE THAT DOMAINSBY PROXY IS A REPUTABLE COMPANY. WE ARE WORRIED THAT A WEBSITE http://www.saharareporters.com/ HOSTED WITH DOMAINSBYPROXY IS BEING USED FOR SUBVERSIVE DISEMMINATION OF INFORMATION AGAINST THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA. WE HAVE READ THE TERMS OF REGISTRATION OF WEBSITES WHICH STATES THAT ANY WEBSITE USED FOR ILLEGAL PRUPOSES, MORALLY OBJECTIONABLE/DEFAMATORY AND LIBELLIOUS ARTICLES WILL BE CLOSED DOWN. PLEASE NOTE THAT SAHARAREPORTERS.COM <http://saharareporters.com/> HAS VIOLATED THE LAWS BY WRITING ARTICLES THAT ARE TREASONABLE OFFENCE IN NIGERIA. WE THEREFORE REQUEST THAT AS A RESPONSIBLE COMPANY THAT YOU ARE TO SHUT DOWN SAHARAREPORTERS.COM <http://saharareporters.com/> IMMDIATELY TO AVOID ANY LEGAL PROCEEDINGS WHICH MAY AFFECT YOUR COMPANY AND AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS. PLEASE GO TO WWW.SAHARAREPORTERS.COM AND SEE. ARTICLES CALLING THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA AS MENTALLY SICK ETC. WE DO NOT WANT TO RESORT TO LEGAL MEANS WILL THEREFORE ADVICE THAT WEBSITE BE SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND URGENT ACTION. REGARDS SOLICITORS AND ADVOCATES REARDENILSON AND ASSOCIATES
APPENDIX II NETWORK FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 3rd Avenue D Close, Gowon Estate, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos. Tel:08054958441 WHO IS BEHIND SAHARA REPORTERS.COM? We are very much concerned about the online publisher called SAHARAREPORTERS.COM. it is worrisome note that www. Saharareporters.com have not been objective in their style of journalism. These on_line junk Journalist have become agents of destabilization rather than partner in nation building. Sahara reporters under its editor OMOYELE SOWORE has never seen anything good in Nigeria, and has been critical of every organ of government as though he was alien and not Nigerian. This sponsored media body has resorted to all manner of blackmail to disorganize the functions of government. We are very much aware that the patrons of this outfit have resorted to blackmail, falsehood and deceit. That the Editor of Sahara reporters Mr. Omoyele Sowore who has no visible means of livelihood in New Jersey USA has over four properties in the United States is an indication that there are people funding him. And the question is who are they, what is their interest and why are they interested in bringing the government down? The ideal thing would have been to ignore their puerile ranting and negative journalism, but greater wisdom demands that such tissues of lies be exposed to avoid unsuspecting public attaching weight to their lies In any democracy, the most effective mechanism for bringing about accountability is the media. Not just the media for its sake but the investigative aspect of the media. Sadly Sahara reporters have been demonstrating that they are not inspired by any democratic principles but by the action of a man who wants to impress his pay masters. This they do by standing logic on its head and engaging in brazen tirades aimed at putting the whole nation on the spot. It is a Shame that a man like Omoyele Sowore who cannot shun illicit acquisition of wealth in favour of reputation is masquerading as apostle of accountability and good governance. We must be vigilant! Signed: Abeam Oluwafemi Network for Good governance THESE ARE THE PROPERTIES ACQUIRED BY OMOYELE SOWORE [1] State Abbr = NJ Zip Code = 07631 Zip4 = 2105 City Name = ENGLANDWOOD House Number = 99 Pre Direction = Street Name = GLENBROOK Street Suffix = PKWY Post Direction = United Designated Number = County Name = BERGEN Latitude = 40.902265 Longitude = _73.982083 Telephone Number = 201_569_5017 Dwelling Unit Size = Combined Home Owner/Rentner = Homeowner Length of Residence = 2[in years] Residents & Associates Number of Persons Listed = 3 Person # 1 First Name = OMOYELE Person # 1 Middle Initial = Person # 1 Last Name = SOWORE Person # 1 Title of Respect = Person # 1 Gender = Date of Birth Person # 1 Age = 0 Person # 1 Marital Status = Properties Details: [if available] Home Purchase Price : $363,000 Home Purchase Date : 07/08/2004 Home Year Built : 1955 Estimated Current Home Value : $388,410 Home Total Value : $156,000 Home Swimming pool Indicator : Unknown Home FirePlaces : 0 Home Heat Indicator : 0 Mortgage Amount in Thousand : 0 Mortgage Lender Name : Mortgage Rate Type : Mortgage Term in Months : Mortgage Loan Type : Unknown Type of Purchase : R Air Conditioning : 0 Deed Date of Refinance Loan : 0 Refinance Amount in Thousand : Nil Refinance Lender Name : None Refinance Term [in month] : None Address : 99 GLENBROOK PKWY [2] State Abbr NJ Zip Code 07082 Zip4 1139 City Name TOWACO House Number 43 Pre Direction Street Name BELLOWS Street Suffix LN Post Direction United Designated Number County Name MORRIS Latitude 40.928828 Longitude _74.324612 Telephone Number Dwelling Unit Size Combined Home Owner/Renter Home Owner Length of Residence 5[in years] Number of Person Listed 1 Person # 1 First Name OMOYELE Person # 1 Middle Initial Person # 1 Last Name SOWORE Person # 1 Title Of Respect Person # 1 Gender Person #1 Date of Birth Person# 1 Age 2 Person # 1 Marital Status Home Year Built 0 Estimated Current Home Value $657,000 Home Total Value $411,000 Home Swimming Pool Indicator Unknown Home Fire Place 0 Home Heat Indicator 0 Type of Purchase Unknown Air Conditioning 0 Address 43 BELLOWS LN [3] O S SOWORE [4] OMOYELE SOWORE 34298TH ST 547 RIVERSIDE DR BROOKLYN, NY 11212 [718]342_0125 NEWYORK , NY Complete Report on O S SOWORE
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