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As culled online, the Cambridge Dictionary defines suicide as "the act of killing yourself intentionally". Suicide is a social phenomenon, an instance of someone killing himself or herself or of multiple people doing it.

In Latin word, suicide is broken into 'sui'(yourself) and 'caedere'(to kill). It is an intentional self homicide of a person.

Foremost, taking a look at the spiritual perspective, God as the supreme being, created man and woman and gave them live.

Religions have often condemn suicide, it is being analysed as a sin against the creator. For instance, the fifth commandment in the scripture in Exodus 20:13 shows that  God is the Lord over life and death. He says "you shall not murder/kill"
Despite the clear instruction from the creator, some men and women have taken their lives through suicidal acts, therefore, sinning against their creator.

Nigeria as a case study, has high rate of suicide. Suicide has taken place in many places in Nigeria and the victims of this suicide are majorly young ones.

Nigeria has tried to curb the act legally. Attempt to commit Suicide has been criminalised in section 327 of the criminal code Act. It states "any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for one year".

However, there have been questions begging for answers as regards this. How effective has been section 327 of the code in preventing suicide in a country of high rate of illiteracy? Even the ones that are literate also commit suicide. Is the situation of the country so bad and has the leadership of the country made life difficult for people to commit suicide?  Has counselling sector been effectively activated in Nigeria? What are some of the causes of suicide in Nigeria?

The last question shall be our focus and conclusion. 

Stating the spiritual aspect first, it has been established above that God is the giver of life, and he takes it when it is time. In my opinion, only God has power to give life but he's not the only one who can take it.
There are powers and principalities in darkness who are in the business of pushing people to death, killing them and destroying destinies.
Suicide is evil, it is one of the weapons of the devil.

To overcome this, one must "GET GOD" because only through God shall we overcome them. 

A student confessed to me some hours ago, that she had wanted to commit suicide in year one in the varsity but the holy spirit ministered to her and warned her against killing herself. It was pointed to her that she would lose here on earth and also lose eternity.

One must believe in God and his name. The scripture says "the name of God is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and is saved". One must be truly saved, be righteous and always run to God in all situations.

Financial crisis may also lead a person to commit suicide. A situation where a person falls into huge debt or penury, such person may be forced by the forces of life to end it.

Anyone who finds himself/herself in this situation should cry out for help! Don't be silent about your predicament!!! Open up to as many as people and you will surely find someone to help you out.  Visit governmental(non) organisations, churches and other helping bodies to help your situation.

Another rampant cause of suicide, among the young ones especially, is that of failed relationship. Relationship failure has made many young girls/ladies and even the boys to commit suicide over the years. 
No boyfriend/girlfriend or fiance/fiancee, or husband/wife should make you kill yourself!!!
You are great and even greater than the person you want to kill yourself because of...If you lose your relationship, there are many people in the world, get another partner and move on!

Never kill yourself because of anyone in life, because you are more precious. THE WORLD NEEDS YOU, GOD NEEDS YOU!!!

 Academic problem is also another cause of suicide which happens in schools. Failure in an examination or  of a course is not the end of life. Seek for counselling, mentoring and tutorship. Seek to get better academically. Meet people that are better than you!!!

Other cause of suicide are; family problems, depression/boredom, personal or internal problems among others.
In all of these, don't not be silent, open up! Make friends, have a confidant, love companionship!! don't be silent!!!

In conclusion, I wish to submit that everyone should make it a responsibility to prevent suicide and stop it in totality. The Government should make active laws against suicide and also enforce such laws. Dangerous items used in commiting suicide should be made scarce, if possible, should be banned in the society. No need is more than human life!!!

Both spiritually and physically, everyone must be at alert to combat the evil called suicide! YES!! SUICIDE CAN BE STOPPED!!!

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Oluwafemi Adegbeyeni Disable advertisements : 
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Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu says more intimidation from the Nigerian government and its army will only draw the actualisation for the separate state of Biafra nearer.

The IPOB leader on Sunday vowed not to stop the agitation and promised to recruit more personnel.

Nnamdi Kanu

The Nigerian Army and other security agencies have launched a manhunt for members of the Eastern Security Network, the security arm of the IPOB.

In the process of flushing out IPOB and ESN members, there have been reports of killing of civilians in the South-East, notably in Imo State due to air bombardments and ground raids by military personnel.

Many Igbo leaders have criticised the Nigerian government and the military for this. 

However, Kanu, in a post on Twitter said the IPOB would stop the siege if it was not withdrawn by the government.

“Let this be clear: This unwarranted siege of Biafraland must stop. Or we stop it. The siege won’t make us back down from restoring #Biafra. It will rather strengthen our resolve and recruit more faithful to the cause. The more you siege, the closer Biafra beckons,” Kanu tweeted.

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Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has criticised Super Eagles players, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi for displaying the Nigerian flag after their FA Cup victory in England, United Kingdom.

Both Iheanacho and Ndidi play for English club, Leicester City and defeated Chelsea with a lone goal at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to lift the oldest trophy in England.

In their ecstatic mood, both players who are Nigerians of Igbo extraction displayed the Nigerian flag. 

However, they were criticised by the IPOB leader who noted that it shows they do not support his agitation for the state of Biafra.

Kanu, who has been a thorn in the flesh of the Nigerian government for his resilient and dogged call of Biafra nation and self-determination of the Igbo people expected the two compatriots to show support for his cause.

Kanu on his Twitter page on Sunday expressed his displeasure at the Nigerian internationals, citing a case of Spain and Barcelona defender, Gerard Pique, who openly shows support for his native region, Catalonia.

“Gerard Pique is a World Cup winner with over 103 caps for Spain. He never turned his back against Catalonia freedom. Severally, he has shown open support for Catalan freedom.

“But our Iheanacho & Ndidi with #Zoo flag? Broken heartBroken heartShame!

“Difference between White man and his Black counterparts,” Kanu tweeted. 

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The Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has asked members of the union to join the planned strike to be embarked upon by members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kaduna state from Monday.

 

SaharaReporters gathered that the proposed strike is in response to reform plans by the state government, including the recent dismissal of workers.

Various groups of state workers, including those in the electricity, health, and aviation sectors are expected to also join the strike.

NURTW in a letter signed by its National Secretary, Kabiru Ado Yau, asked members of the union in Kaduna  state to join the strike action.

“Sequel to the ongoing mass sacking of workers by government of Kaduna State, we wish to inform you that the NEC (National Executive Council) of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in a meeting last month resolved to embark on an industrial action and shut down of all social economic activities on Kaduna State as from Monday, 17th May, 2021.

 

“In view of the forgoing, the National Secretariat hereby directs your State Council to sensitise and mobilise all our members to partake in the strike action as from 12 midnight on Sunday, May 16th, 2021 until further directives to the contrary.

 

“The State Council must monitor and ensure total and strict compliance of the forgoing directives,” the letter read.

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It comes as the government faces fresh criticism for failing to support Australians stranded in India.

Peter Igbifa, President of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has narrowly escaped death in an auto accident.

The accident occurred along the East-West Road on Sunday evening. 

Mr Igbifa, who was heading to Bayelsa state for the celebration of Isaac Adaka Boro's Day when the car lost control during a downpour, crashed into a pole. 

The vehicle was said to have somersaulted three times.

However, he came out unhurt but his sports utility vehicle was badly damaged.

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Nigerians on social media have lambasted a former House of Representatives member, Ned Nwoko for allegedly using his influence to jail one Okey Ifejoku and 9 other community leaders of Idumeje Ugboko village in Delta state for years. 

A former beauty queen, Pamela Ifejoku, had in a viral video on her Twitter page accused Nwoko of putting her father in jail and causing her mother to spend her birthday in prison because their community resisted his attempt at land-grabbing.

Pamela, who was bestowed MBGN Miss Tourism after she emerged second runner-up when she contested as Miss Abuja in the 2019 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, demanded her father’s freedom.

She accused Nwoko and the police of malicious destruction of property, disobedience to the order of the court, assault occasioning harm, abuse of public office, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.

“Sometime in 2017, Ned Nwoko instigated a crisis in Idumuje Ugboko Community in Delta state, as a result of the community's firm refusal to give him additional 90 hectares of land, having mismanaged the over hectares earlier giving to him

"In the ensuing crisis, it was alleged that one Cyprian Kumaorun was killed. While this was ongoing, my father, Okey Ifejoku was several kilometres away in Asaba. He was neither present at the scene of the crisis nor participated in any alleged fight.

"However, since then, Ned Nwoko has made it a point of duty to terrorise the community until they fall on their knees and offer him the land on a platter.   

"By virtue of Mr. Okey Ifejoku's (My father) position as the President of the Idumuje Ugboko Development Union, he has borne the greatest oppression from Ned Nwoko. Ned Nwoko has unlawfully used the instruments of state, particularly the Nigeria police in Delta State and Abuja, to oppress the helpless members of Idumuje-Ugboko Community. 

“While this was going, Ned Nwoko moved to Abuja and got officers of the FCID Abuja to arrest my father Mr.Okey Ifejoku and 9 other members of the Idumuje Ugboko community. The 10 defendants were arrested, detained at FCID for up to six months, before they were charged to court in two batches, by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation for alleged terrorism and alleged murder of Cyprian Kumaorun," she had said 

Reacting, Nigerians on Twitter including former presidential aspirant and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, accused Nwoko of using his influence to oppress and intimidate the masses.
 
Sowore wrote, “#FreeOkeyIfejoku Ned Nwoko has ruined lots of lives using his influence, wealth & connections with the@PoliceNG and politicians. @pa_melanin is very right. In January when I was detained at FCIID in Abuja, I met innocent young men detained by Ned, having been framed for murder."

A Twitter user, @Vin77371545 said, “It hurts how some people come out here to defend this man. Don't defend what you don't know, I have a friend who's from Ned's family, she's one of the Nwokos. That man intimidates anybody, including his own brothers, that my friend once told me exactly this same story.”

Another user, @savndaniel wrote, “It is wrong for a man to use the colour of his station in life to oppress the common man. It is even a greater wickedness to charge an innocent man for murder at the magistrate court. He was discharged and acquitted on merit. 

“Not stopping there, you decided to charge him for treason at the Federal High Court, Abuja. There is nothing in the charge that discloses the offence he is so charged with. I feel for Chief Okey Ifejoku, he is a victim of arbitrary use of power, arising from communal land crises.

“I have seen a video by someone here - on this street - alleging that Chief Okey Ifejoku 'killed' his father or contributed to the death of his father. If that judgement is true valid and binding, then his claims are baseless and defamatory. I hope he understands that.

“I have gone through a Certified True Copy of the Delta State High, Asaba Judicial Division, judgement with suit no A/240c/2017, delivered on the 13th day of August, 2020 discharging and acquitting Chief Okey Ifejoku of the offence of murder.

“From the document in my possession, Mr. Okey Ifejoku is standing trial for treason at the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division. To the best of my knowledge, he is not standing trial for the offence of murder anywhere, as alleged by some folks - as seen in a certain video.”

@Mrchinazorduru1 said, “Ned Nwoko, I heard he is a lawyer. I think he is using his superior knowledge of the law to oppress the man. One can only hope that justice would be served.”

Another user, @Cuty_Tricia wrote, “Injustice to one is injustice to all; Ned Nwoko, release our Fathers!! Regina Daniels, talk to your baby daddy to release our daddy.” 

@themacketlady said, “NED NWOKO: It's not the first of many. If you don’t use your wealth to influence the lives of people positively, you’re still poor. A lot of wealthy people oppress the less fortunate, just to prove a point- I’m more superior than you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

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Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders have killed a catechist, Sydney Shirsha and two others during an attack on Amudu village in Giza chiefdom, Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa state.

It was gathered that the gunmen stormed the community with sophisticated weapons at midnight on Saturday, May 15, shooting sporadically and chanting war songs.

LIB

The majority of the victims were said to be deeply asleep when the marauding herdsmen surrounded the village, set houses on fire and opened fire on fleeing villagers.

The president of the Tiv Development Association (TIDA) in Nasarawa state, Comrade Peter Ahemba confirmed the incident.

Ahemba lamented constant attacks on his people.

He said several others sustained various degrees of gunshot injury during the attack.

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A former board member of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Senator Binta Masi Garba has reacted to the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as the Managing Director of the agency.

Garba in a statement accused Usman of insubordination, stating that she refused to follow the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

She claimed she was removed as a board member by the suspended MD after she requested for transparent financial statements of the agency.

“In January 2021, Senator John Akpanudoedehe and I were removed from the board and our removal was clearly orchestrated by the now suspended Managing Director (MD) of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman. Before my removal, I was not comfortable with the way the board and authority were run. I consistently expressed my discomfort and displeasure with the way the MD was running the place and this, I have no iota of doubt in my mind made her (sic) to orchestrate my removal from the board. Note, I was removed without the knowledge of the supervising ministry/Minister of Transportation, which was very uncommon.
 
“My observations and complaints with the suspended NPA MD were more with the financial statements of NPA and I was worried that if she continued (doing) so, there would certainly be trouble and her sudden removal (suspension) would be inevitable. I noted discrepancies, I raised observations, I asked questions but I was completely ignored and disregarded. Answers were never provided, until my removal was plotted.
 
“When the board came in, its first meeting was in June 2020, with the aim of deliberating on the financial report. I made some observations on the report which, obviously, the MD, Hadiza Bala Usman, was not comfortable with. At the time, the report covered 2 years but I objected, pointing out that, under normal circumstances, procedurally and international norms, it should cover a minimum of 3 years. It was after my objection that the MD grudgingly and resentfully provided the third year's report. I wasn’t really comfortable. I observed more discrepancies with the financials and asked questions about them. The MD was uncomfortable and even felt slighted by the objective comments and questions.
  See Also Exclusive EXCLUSIVE: How Bala Usman Unlawfully Frustrated NPA Contractors, Caused Huge Losses In Nigeria's Maritime Sector 0 Comments 10 Hours Ago
“Scrutinising the financial reports of the NPA is a very critical and very important aspect of my role and function as a member of its board, appointed by the President. I was not ready to abdicate that core responsibility. For me, my board membership of NPA, like every other public office I have held, was a call to serve my country and I was prepared to give it my all. But the suspended MD felt offended by my observations, questions, spotting obvious inconsistencies and acted like someone with a lot to hide. Answers were not forthcoming and, when they did, were less than satisfactory.
 
“Some members of the board felt I was the only one holding the financial report back. I had to meet with the Minister of Transportation and I told him I wasn’t comfortable with the way and manner the board was being handled and treated by the MD and that I wanted to resign.

“The board chairman, Chief Akin Ricketts (whose removal as board chairman was also orchestrated by the MD) and some other members, prevailed on me not to resign and that, if I did, it would send the wrong signal and would not be good for the President. We settled down to work on it (the financial reports). After sometime, my uneasiness did not go away. Again, I met with the Minister of Transportation and told him that I did not want to continue with the board with the way the MD was running the place. I met someone high up in the Presidential Villa and told him my own story and advised that the MD be called to order (sic).

“Instead of making amends, the suspended MD's next move was to go against the NPA Act by designing my removal from the board. The Act stipulates that it is the minister who should send names of appointees to the board to the President for approval. For someone to unilaterally go against the Act and the Minister that brought her on board was rather unfortunate.

“I made it very clear to everyone I spoke with about the situation in NPA, stressing that it was not about me but the system, rules and procedures, as well as the survival of our institutions. I could not keep quiet and watch the suspended MD run the NPA aground. I wished she had listened but she didn’t and opted to plot my removal from the board. Unfortunately, I have been vindicated.”

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Three teenagers said to be brothers working on their father's farm, were reportedly killed on Saturday by suspected herdsmen at Yelwata Community in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

The teenagers were shot after being attacked by unknown men suspected to be herdsmen, on the farm.

Benue State Map

Confirming the incident to Tribune, Chairman of Guma Local Government Area, Caleb Abah said another person was mistakenly shot dead when a security operative trying to disperse angry youths protesting against the death of the three teenagers, fired into the crowd.

“Sadly, in an attempt to disperse the angry youths who were resisting, there was a shot by the security agencies and unfortunately, one of the protesters was hit by a bullet and killed," he said. 

Abah said the protesters had blocked the Makurdi-Lafia Road, after dumping their recovered corpses of the three brothers there. 

He said it took thr intervention of the military, police and others to restore peace in the area. 

According to him, the state governor, Samuel Ortom, also had to intervene to restore calm in the affected area. 

“As we speak right now, calm has been restored to the area and we are already making arrangements for the dead to be buried,” he said. 

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Confusion has set in among pastoralists in Taraba state as 40 cattle died after allegedly eating a type of poisonous grass called ‘killer grass’.

According to Daily Trust, all the cattle belong to a pastoralist in Gamgam village in the Bali Local Government Area.

File photo used to illustrate story.

It was gathered that the incident occurred around 11am Sunday shortly after a boy simply identified as Ja’I led a herd of cattle into a grassland where the cattle ate the poisonous grass.

A witness in the village, Ali Bello, said that few hours after the cattle ate the grass,  40 out of the herd of about 200 cattle died.

He said the grass is found in some locations in the state and it is difficult to identify the species of the grass, especially at the beginning of the rainy season when animals rush to eat fresh grasses.

Bello stated that Ja’I  and his family soon after the incident took the remaining cattle to another location to a avoid a repeat of the incident.

He said such incidents were recorded from time to time and poisonous grass has always been a nightmare for pastoralists.

“As I’m talking to you, all pastoralists in this area have migrated out of the area to prevent their herds from eating the killer grass,” he said. 

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Confusion has set in among pastoralists in Taraba state as 40 cattle died after allegedly eating a type of poisonous grass called ‘killer grass’.

According to Daily Trust, all the cattle belong to a pastoralist in Gamgam village in the Bali Local Government Area.

File photo used to illustrate story.

It was gathered that the incident occurred around 11am Sunday shortly after a boy simply identified as Ja’I led a herd of cattle into a grassland where the cattle ate the poisonous grass.

A witness in the village, Ali Bello, said that few hours after the cattle ate the grass,  40 out of the herd of about 200 cattle died.

He said the grass is found in some locations in the state and it is difficult to identify the species of the grass, especially at the beginning of the rainy season when animals rush to eat fresh grasses.

Bello stated that Ja’I  and his family soon after the incident took the remaining cattle to another location to a avoid a repeat of the incident.

He said such incidents were recorded from time to time and poisonous grass has always been a nightmare for pastoralists.

“As I’m talking to you, all pastoralists in this area have migrated out of the area to prevent their herds from eating the killer grass,” he said. 

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On 30 May 2016, about one thousand women, men and children peacefully marching to commemorate the killing of roughly 2million Biafrans between 1967-1970 by Nigerian security forces (the army and police) were on the receiving end of a terrible, inhumane terrorist blitzkrieg by Nigerian Security Forces; under the malefic orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces General Buhari, Nigeria’s current president. 

On that day and the day before it, a report by Amnesty International confirms that no less than sixty of those peaceful Biafran commemorators were shot and killed, and at least seventy of them injured as a result of the attacks on those two days alone. Among those who died, the report narrates, was a man who had phoned his wife minutes before the bullet lodged in his abdomen was followed by merciless gunshots from Nigerian soldiers to ensure his coup de grâce. His wife was still on the phone when the Nigerian army brutally ended his life. Six others in that army truck were simply extrajudicially killed. The 2016 report by Amnesty International estimates that at least one hundred and fifty pro-Biafra activists were slaughtered by Nigerian security forces between August 2015 and August 2016. 

To understand the weight of that massacre, we can take a quick look at England and Wales – where the number of fatal shootings during contact with the police between 2007 and 2018 was twenty-four in all. That’s six times the number of Biafran activists killed by Nigerian security forces in two days, simply for commemorating those that the Nigerian state has refused to remember.

In September 2017, a senseless joint raid by the Nigerian army and police descended upon the palace of the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu, Eze Israel Kanu – also Nnamdi Kanu’s father, killed five people and injured about thirty in the process. Those who have not forgotten the video clips that emerged online from that incident would recall how dishevelled the military and police left the place, allegedly in search of Kanu, who would later lose his mother to the shock she suffered from that invasion. At the time, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was simply a non-violent secessionist group with a leader perceived by many as a demagogue.

Again to understand the weight of that incident, let’s return to the UK where Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, has told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that another referendum on Scotland’s secession from the UK is a matter of “when – not if”. Nobody – neither Britain’s Prime Minister nor Queen Elizabeth II – has ordered the invasion of her home or the traumatization of her parents. That is a society where mad people are not in leadership positions as we have them in Nigeria.

When Buhari exhausted his list of fabrications for the deliberate killings and human rights violations of IPOB members, he then went berserk and proscribed the group, designating it a terrorist organization whilst at the same time, more or less patting the actual terrorists – Fulani herders, on the back as “bandits” who deserved reintegration into the society. When Pythons were dancing in the South East, no reptile was dancing in the North West and North Central -- yet herders were raping and killing innocent civilians mindlessly. This background, though non-exhaustive, is necessary for us to understand how the Eastern Security Network (ESN) came to be.

According to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB, what led to the creation of the ESN were the endless incursions of Fulani herders, the indiscriminate raping of women and destruction of farmlands in the name of grazing in the South East and South-South; yet one cannot but recognize that there had always been enough reasons to create an ESN as a self-defence mechanism for IPOB members.

The sovereignty of a state does not and cannot legitimize its wanton use of violence against its own people. Peace is not a zero-sum pledge; it’s a commitment that involves more than one party. Buhari is not interested in peace and conflict resolution, except when it is about his Fulani tribe. If he were, he would have followed that path instead of unprovoked violence against IPOB.

The emergence of the ESN became necessary the day Buhari declared war on IPOB and none on Fulani herders. ESN is not the terrorist here – it kills no innocent civilians; the only terrorist in this snafu is the Nigerian state led by Buhari. Every action that Buhari takes as Nigerian president imposes a moral responsibility on us as citizens of Nigeria. Buhari has no justification for his aerial and ground raids on innocent civilians living in the South East under the guise of ending the ESN. Our duty as citizens is to let the state know whenever it goes wrong or diverges from the social contract that legitimized its emergence.

No Nigerian signed a contract of human rights violations and enforced disappearances; unprovoked killings of hundreds of Shia Muslims and burial in mass graves; unlawful detention and unscrupulous raids on homes of judges, activists and government critics; the wanton killings of EndSARS protesters; or other such nefarious things Buhari has done as president of Nigeria -- so it makes no sense, that a group impelled to emerge for the survival of its democratically-guaranteed interest is called a terrorist, but the real terrorist gets to hide behind the veil of sovereignty.

The Nigeria that Buhari desperately desires is one in which all Nigerians practice fatalism. The day we all become fatalists in the face of the mighty oppression and injustice happening under Buhari’s regime is the day we stop being free. The news mediums reporting ESN as a terrorist group are doing a great disservice to the Nigerian people: they are imposing on Nigerians a state of subservience to a terrorist state; they are reporting injustice with the language of an oppressive state; telling Nigerians to be weak, that defying oppression and injustice by the state means terrorism; they are telling Nigerians to not be free, that freedom means being targeted and killed by the Nigerian state. But I reject that. We cannot be free and not be free.

Adebayo Raphael is a Writer and Human Rights Activist. He can be reached via Asorosobioro@gmail.com

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Gazan officials say 42 were killed, as the UN head calls for an end to "utterly appalling" violence.

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The world's fastest ever train was launched in Japan in 1964.

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