AHANONU KINGSLEY BLOG

As the novel 2019 Coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to increase and spread globally, forcing the World Health Organization (WHO) into acknowledging it as a health pandemic, it's been confirmed that the dreaded respiratory disease has touched down in Nigeria. According to the country's federal minister of Health, Dr Ehanire, the Nigerian case involves an Italian citizen, who has been working in the country but had to travel to Milan, from where he returned on the 25th of February, carrying the virus. Italy, especially its northern region, has been hard hit with the virus. The incidence was confirmed at the Virology Laboratory, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), which serves as one of the designated centres by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control as Laboratory Networks for the examination of suspected cases of the disease. The Italian is currently receiving treatment at the Infectious Disease Centre located at Yaba, Lagos state. He's stable clinically, showing n...

Today, the Justices of the Supreme Court led by Sylvester Ngwuta looked at the review sought by dismissed Bayelsa APC governorship candidate and his deputy. The court reaffirmed its earlier decision and chided the appellants for daring to seek for such. The final stamping by the Supreme Court of the gubernatorial tussle in Bayelsa state by the rejection of the appeal for review of the 13th February judgement of the apex court that disqualified Lyon and his deputy, what indication does it gives of future reviews? I'm forced to look beyond it, and ask. That the decision of the Supreme Court is functus officio, does it suggest that the Supreme Court cannot in whatever guise review and if possibly reverse itself? The Supreme Court should be final to the extent that it gives an unbiased and a clear judgement, which is basic in giving finality and certainty to legal litigation.  This is the rightful place of the Supreme Court: that its judgement settles every litigation with such...

The world we live in is a weft with myriads of threads, as it concerns human differences. People think differently, people act differently, just so much as they appreciate life differently. The uniqueness of the human race vividly is highlighted in their streaming differences. And so differently, we have people standing out in character, creed and colour, of passion, taste and purpose. The diversity is such that one wonders how it possible that the world still relates in a considerable harmony. The basis of our existential harmony and which is the pulling effect of our streaming diversity into a conscious understanding is in our appreciation of the need to take each individual for the person he is. This vital factor that has become central in guarding our world from the perceived disharmony it should be has had lasting effect where it's been seen as well as a negating effect where it's lacking. Tolerance, the very vital fibre in the sustained human coexistence is key towar...

Yesterday, 14th February, 2020 was Valentine's day, a day celebrated in many cities of the world, and I thought so much on what to write. For me, it was a quiet moment, so it afforded me the soberness needed to think and ponder. I thought about the day and why it could be called lovers day. Was it the necessary appellation to have given the day? Why was it so, was the personality whose name became the day a personification of love? Is lovely celebration just a thing so momentary? Even as much as I thought over these, I was struck to realize, and which is something that I admit: that beyond any connections to the day's reflection with the personality so name after, the commitment he offered spoke volume of what was love as to have the day reflectively connected to him. There are many stories associated with Valentine's. Whether it is the story of him encouraging the legitimate bonding of love for soldiers who had been so denied by the Roman Emperor or it's about t...

"Heart-raking, mind boggling", some would say, but personally, it's something totally despicable and highly disgusting; of the revelation of the gargantuan sleaze by the Orjis of Abia state. The recent revelation broached by Nigeria's antigraft agency of a whooping N521 billion traced to both Theodore Orji and his son, Chinedu just opened a can of wily condemnation and quietly too of a deep correlation of the state of massive dilapidation in the state and the extent of the robust systematic pilfering. And to say that this is coming just shortly after another ex-governor of the state was convicted for similar offences that bothered on the massive financial rape makes the matter quite pathetic. The current man in the picture,  Senator Theodore Orji was the immediate successor of the convicted Orji Kalu, where both individually held sway as governor for eight years. The economic state of Abia has become a sorry sight that has made the state a significant byword for ...

Nigeria, as we have it today, is a country rattled with the spikes of insecurity, and so we cannot say just enough about it's insecurity. The situation is incessant, almost throwing into an immediate stupor every right thinking citizen. Every day, we get inundated with news of one security hitch or the other. If not the noise about banditry and of marauding killer herdsmen, it is about the blowing tantrum of terrorism, insurgency-related abductions and kidnap for ransom. We do not rest. Nigerians as it's appeared have become a people denied of sleep, even when they rightly should. The terror inflicted by terrorists has seemed to stand out, for there's no day that passes by without a sneeze of their horror. It's either they have kidnapped some people- traveling and residents in their homes and villages, or they have descended with such diabolism upon their captives to behead and maim or they're heard to have attacked a people and/or community to blast, kill and ...

Each day, the need to properly check the mental state of our armed security officers is further amplified. The events involving the rift between soldiers and police men and the ones among police men against themselves continue to focus on this need. What more could be my purpose of revisiting this issue, if not another of the not so appealing tell-tale; this time around the never heard incident of a military officer using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a police man. The unnamed soldier killed Sergeant Rowland Tafida, who was part of the Mobile Police (MOPOL) Special Forces Team assigned to Gwoza, one of the insurgency hit areas in town in Borno state. Rowland became an unfortunate victim of a circumstance he was not part of and maybe never had the slightest knowledge. According to report, he was just stepping into the vicinity of the camp, where they were resident in the course of their duty to committing to the antiterrorism warfare in Borno state innocently and without any negativ...

Reading through the anecdote by one of the four seminarians abducted alongside the slain Michael Nnadi, I am made to understand that the death of the 18 year old young man  reveals a deep-seated callousness that for his murderers, has become a way of life and a mission to accomplish. Even when ransom was said to have been paid, a revelation which according to the narrator got them enlivened once again and excited, the young man was shot just as they endeavoured to run out as was instructed. If they were to wonder why he was shot, they were told how significantly it was to "send a message". Oh yes! We understand the message, it was very clear. The young seminarians, together with the other victims as was revealed by the narration were not kidnapped for ransom. Their abductors were not the mainstream "kidnappers" per se as we would know them. They were all victims of an ideological hatred, of which Michael was unfortunate to have paid a supreme price. Nigeria...

Have you ever been wrongly accused of? Have you experienced that dispiriting feeling, that emotional turmoil at having to hear of some totally untrue things about you- things that you have not done? It is at this instance that you'll very well appreciate the sacrosanctity of what fact and truth are; the instance that would spur you to insist that stories, rumours and news are verified before you accept or even give in to spreading them. The events of the past few days have got me thinking on this pedestal. And just yesterday, while taking my bath, I went meditative: brooding on the impact of fake news. I had brought in myself, just imagining how badly I'd feel if I was accused of something that I know isn't true. Of a truth, I know I'd feel devastated, regardless of how I may want to just dismiss it. Is it not said that a clear conscience fears no accusations? So, it was in that realm that I thought of Pastor David Oyedepo, the General overseer of Winners C...

The detection of a South Korean woman on the 21st of January, 2020 marked the first official recorded incidence of the 2019 new Coronavirus. The woman had just returned from Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China running a high temperature. On why it took the proactive step of the southern Korean health system to detect a disease that had origination in China fuels the speculation as to a possible insincerity on the part of the Chinese in bringing the world to alert of the emergence of the new disease. It gave a probable view on how this disease could have started at an even earlier period than its time of detection. More likely the reason it had an earlier period attached to its nomenclature- 2019-nCov. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the nCoV was first reported on the 31st of December, 2019 from Wuhan, a city in China. What's the Coronavirus? Aside the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MRS) and the Severe Acute Respirato...

As death toll approaches five hundred with over 24 thousand recorded cases of infection, the new Coronavirus has proven more fiery than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and a disease that just seems to be overwhelming China and yes, the entire world. And the numbers and figures recorded are just the officially sanctioned ones for a country that's so strictly bureaucratic. The fear that the situation could be worse more than reported is further highlighted by even the sanctioned reported cases of daily infections. Just Tuesday, it was gathered that 3,388 people were infected while about 68 deaths occurred. Hubei Province, the hotbed of infection, alone, recorded over 16,000 infections and over 479 deaths. Wuhan which allegedly is the epicenter of the viral explosion, is home to the bulk of deaths and infection. Over 250,000 are said to have been placed on surveillance. And on how the Chinese system appeared to be overwhelmed by the stoking fire of the Coronavirus ig...

With the many incidences of reported deaths by kidnappers and in the hands of kidnappers, one among many key questions could be on what best way possible to stem the tide. What should be done about kidnappers? For me, I think it's to kill them. Reason: for the very fact that the victims of kidnapping are sometimes killed, it suggests an assumptive conclusion that whoever that's kidnapped has a great likelihood of been murdered. The law is a respecter of nobody, or so it should be. And justice is not swayed by swirling emotions or sentiments. For to it, that which a man has decided to sow, should equanimously be what he reaps. That's to say, in a more strict term, justice serves a tooth for a tooth, a tit for a tat. It's principally for the above, and following logical direction, that I suggest a summary execution of criminals of kidnapping nature, whether it be for ransom, for outright terrorist invocation. The imposition of such equanimous penalty would impress ...

Michael Nnadi, one of the four seminarians abducted early January from the Good Shepherd Seminary, Kaduna has been  killed. Of the four that were whisked away that night, he was the youngest, and one wonders what would have made his abductors decide to kill. Verily, it is barbaric, totally devilish to have killed the young innocent boy. He was aged 18! Indeed, to not have had the fluid of a consideration of kindness, that could suggest that young Michael be released- at least if not for anything, for his age, to me gives a huge description of how just callous and wicked the killers could be. The murder of this boy is condemnable, just as the murder of other hundreds and thousands of Nigerian citizens, who daily have had to battle with the thralls of kidnapping, banditry and insurgency. This incident is one too many that continue to expose the crippling security situation of this country. The sad tales of kidnapping for ransom, killing just for some ideological leanings and...

The incidents of the last few weeks in Imo state have seen about 20 lawmakers pitching tent with the APC, just because of the coming of Hope Uzodinma as governor. Suddenly, and Apc has become such big fanimorous bride. These incidents, especially the crosscarpetting, speak of lack in substance in the thinking of our politicians and worse still, they reflect the kind of leadership we should expect from them. Many of the house members are culpable of this act, but I'd pick out the member representing Obowo LGA for obvious reasons. Before his inglorious defection, like a fledgling leaf just battling for balance in the face of a gentle breeze, to the APC, Kennedy Ibe had come up with plethora of justification- all wishy washy. Even before his needless explanations as to the reason he had to jump ship while he was yet finalizing his contemplation of seeking gravity in the PDP -party of the ousted governor, it was clear the kind of politician he was- the characterless jobman polit...