KIDNAPPED BY ARMED ROBBERS

Nigeria paraded six arrested fake soldiers, kidnappers, and armed robbers in Abuja

One late Sunday afternoon, as soon as I had finished lunch, I took my backpack and set off to visit my cousin living at Alago-Meji, a suburb of Lagos, near Yaba, another suburb of Lagos state. A few minutes from the house, I met Mensah, a friend who lived at Oyingbo, a commercial center in Lagos..

Since both of us were heading in the same direction, we joined the same bus towards our destination. When we got down, along Okpebi road, in Ikeja, a suburb of Lagos state, as we were conversing and laughing, a white 504 Peugeot car suddenly stopped close to us.

In the car was a civilian, who was behind the steering wheel, and two armed men in military uniform sitting in the rear. The soldiers were focusing their attention on the little backpack I was holding. Presumably, they were thinking there was a large sum of money in it.

One of the soldiers descended from the car and subjected me to interrogation, asking what was in my bag. “Please, only half a loaf of bread and some books,” I replied.

“What else do you have in the bag?” The soldier pressed me with more questions. Actually, besides the bread and the books in the bag, my passport and a flight ticket were also inside because I was finally due to leave Nigeria finally to Europe the following month.

Like a flash of lightning, I was kidnapped and pushed into the car. “These are the kind of men we are looking for. You are a thief,” said one of the soldiers. I was driven off, leaving Mensah behind. Apart from Mensah, who witnessed the scene, there were a few people around who also saw when I forced into the vehicle.

Mensah stood speechless, watching me being driven off. Sandwiched in between the two soldiers at the rear, they struggled with me, trying to get hold of my bag. It wasn’t an easy task since the bag was firmly held between my knees.

There was no money in the bag. I should have given it to them to avoid any injury or possible death, but for the sake of my travelling documents, I made it a ‘do or die’ battle with them. I knew that once the bag was in their possession, I would never see my passport and the ticket again.

This had happened to many people in Lagos. Stolen passports and tickets were sold to individuals who were desperate to go to Europe. The visa requiring procedure is sometimes so difficult that many applications are rejected. In this case, stolen passports with visas, when sold, were taken to an expert, who gets the old picture removed and fixes the eager traveller’s picture in it.

When the change of picture is neatly done, it becomes very difficult for immigration officers both at home and abroad to detect. Some years back, most international airports were not equipped with devices that could detect false passports.

Hence, many of those people who bought passports are today living in Europe and America under false names and identities. But at the moment, both in Africa, Europe, and America, one can’t beat immigration with such fictitious documents. Most airports are now equipped with modern devices that can read or signal a fake passport.

When the soldiers couldn’t get the bag from me, they started hitting me repeatedly with the butts of their rifles, hoping I would let go of the bag. Meanwhile, I was screaming in agony, “I’ve been kidnapped!” But since the glasses of car remained shut, all my screams for help were in vain.

At the other end of the road where I was kidnapped, the police had mounted a barrier, checking the particulars of vehicles. The armed gang saw the police. They knew perfectly well that if they went further, they would be in trouble. The struggle alone going on behind the car could expose them.

The driver didn’t go any further. Instead, he made a U-turn, heading towards where I was previously kidnapped. They were still beating me up, but I was determined not to give the bag to them. It was like a movie, but this was real.

When the car was getting closer to where the kidnapped scene took place, I saw Mensah standing in the same place, with a few people gathered around him, as he explained to them the incident. He hasn’t seen me yet.

As soon as the car reached the exact spot where he was standing, I dived from the rear of the car to join the driver at the front seat, leaving the two soldiers behind. I got hold of the window roller and quickly rolled down the right window as fast as I could.

Then, with all my might, I screamed to call Mensah and threw the bag out of the window towards the direction where he stood. As soon as the bag landed on the ground, Mensah went for it and took to

his heels. He vanished within seconds.

When the gang saw that their plans had failed, they gave me a very severe beating and pushed me out of the moving car. I fell on the ground like a bag of rice and rolled to the opposite side to avoid the vehicles' tyres running over me.

I stood up, wiped away the dust from my body, and headed towards Mensah’s home. He was surprised to see me. In his lifetime as a young man of twenty-five, he had never witnessed any incident of that sort before. He was in trauma and looked more frightened than I, who was the victim.

For over ten minutes since my arrival, Mensah didn’t have the breath to talk to me. The sun was at its peak, and after the beating, I was feeling hot; therefore, I removed my shirt for some fresh air. It was a terrible thing to watch.

Every part of my body was covered with bruises and swellings. Could this be my worst tragedy? I asked him and smiled at Mensah. This happened in 1985, yet the marks from the beating I received from the hands of the notorious armed gang could be seen on my body today.

However, I thanked God for getting back my passport and ticket from my friend. A week after this incident, I said goodbye to Nigeria and flew to Europe. Here am I now.

https://www.amazon.com/Joel-Savage/e/B008SCTYI6/

THE FORGOTTEN DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA

African leaders: Have they forgotten their responsibilities as leaders? 

BY ERIC ONYEBUCHI

I begin this article by defining democratic leadership as the government of the people by the people participating in the governance of their territory of given areas. (Thus, in my opinion), the democratic leadership style is a very open and collegial style of running a team. 

Ideas move freely amongst the group and are discussed openly. Everyone is given a seat at the table, and discussion is relatively free-flowing. The democratic leadership style is essentially a mode of leadership that is found in participative management and human resources theory. 

This article will seek to explore the essence of democratic leadership and will, among other things, outline the advantages of democratic leadership, the disadvantages of democratic leadership, and the function of the democratic leadership council and provide democratic leadership. 

The definition of democratic leadership from an organizational standpoint involves the redistribution of authority and power between managers and employees to provide employee involvement in the process of decision making.

This style is needed in dynamic and rapidly changing environments where very little can be taken as a constant. In these fast-moving organizations, every option for improvement has to be considered to keep the group from falling out of date in Africa to keep the continent in order.

The democratic leadership style means facilitating the conversation, encouraging people to share their ideas and then synthesizing all the available information into the best possible decision. The democratic leader must also be able to communicate that decision back to the group to bring unity the plan is chosen. 

In Africa, this is very vital in order to put the region in first-class government so that people of the region will participate fully in leadership and will enable to checkmate corruption more the leaders of Africa nation.

When situations change frequently, democratic leadership offers a great deal of flexibility to adapt to better ways of doing things. Unfortunately, it is also somewhat slow to make a decision in this structure, so while it may embrace newer and better methods; it might not do so very quickly. 

A democratic leadership style can bring the best out of an experienced and professional team. It capitalizes on their skills and talents by letting them share their views, rather than simply expecting them to conform and also it can destroy corruption in Africa leadership.

If a decision is very complex and broad, it is important to have the different areas of expertise represented and contributing input – this is where democratic leader shines and will bring wise men to rule Africa not this milked brain leader that has been used by white corrupt and selfish colonial masters to steal our natural resources to white men land. 

Therefore, if we the African people have good complex and broad leaders in Africa region this corruption in Africa would have been things of the past, Africa will be for what God naturally made it for, Africa by nature is a cultured place where norm and value both respect and sincerity is our nature in our blood corruption is not part of us.

Good fit for Africa Democratic Leadership:

• Creative groups (advertising, design): ideas need to flow in creative environments to find creative new concepts and designs.
• Consulting: when paid to explore problems and find solutions, your role will be to explore the possibilities in-depth, and that means there has to be a great deal of exploration and open discussion.
• 
  
• Much of the Service industry: new ideas allow for more flexibility in changing customer demands.
• 
  
• Education: few places need to be open to different ideas than education, both by educators and their students.

MERIT OF Democratic Leadership:

• 
  
• Creative groups (advertising, design): ideas need to flow in creative environments to find creative new concepts and designs.
• 
  
• Consulting: when paid to explore problems and find solutions, your role will be to explore the possibilities in-depth, and that means there has to be a great deal of exploration and open discussion.
• 
  
• Much of the Service industry: new ideas allow for more flexibility to changing citizens' demands.
• Education: few places need to be open to different ideas than education, both by educators and their students.

How to be effective in this position:

• 
  
• Keep communication open: If the marketplace of ideas is going to be open for business, everyone needs to feel comfortable enough to put their ideas on the table. The democratic leadership style thrives when all the considerations are laid out for everyone to examine.
• 
  
• Focus the discussion: It’s hard to keep an unstructured discussion productive. It’s the leader’s job to balance being open to ideas and keeping everything on-topic. If the conversation begins to stray, to remind everybody of the goals on hand and then steer it back. Make sure to take note of off-topic comments and try to return to them when they are pertinent.
• 
  
• Be ready to commit: In the democratic leadership style, you get presented with so many possibilities and suggestions that it can be overwhelming and difficult to commit. But as the leader, when the time comes, you have to choose and do so with conviction. The team depends on the clear and unambiguous mandates to be committed.
• 
  
• Respect the ideas: You and your team might not agree with every idea, and that’s ok. It is important, however, that you create a healthy environment where those ideas are entertained and considered --not maligned-- or the flow of ideas will slow to a trickle.
• 
  
• Explain, but don’t apologize: You want the advocates of the solutions that were not selected to understand that their thoughts were considered and had validity, but that ultimately you had strong reasons to go a different direction. It’s important that the decision is communicated, but you should not apologize for deciding on what you think is the right decision.

DEMERIT OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

Democratic leadership can sometimes come across as being indecisive, in certain situations, especially during a crisis, leaders must be very directive and democratic leaders do not function well in an authoritarian role, in the midst of a crisis, no time is usually available to address everyone concerned.

The problems of Africa leaders

One of the problems I found out in Africa leaders in the region is the selfishness of our leaders in which many of them want to acquire all the wealth of their nation and also cage their citizens in a mess of poverty, this poverty makes the citizens turn their slave which they used anyhow they want. 

Even during election whether the citizens' vote or not they will still manipulate themselves to the sit or government power, the case of Nigeria 2002. Many other Africa countries are in the same mess as Togo, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and so on.

Most Africa leaders are highly corrupt in all areas both monetary and misuse of power while in office and many government establishments are corrupt, for instance, if you look for employment in the government established industries you will not secure it without bribery. 

Sometimes the white leaders team up with corrupt people in Africa to lead Africa nations in order to manipulate Africa resources and invent diseases into Africa. In Nigeria, 2015, ex-president Goodluck Jonathan was a force out office via America cabals, that's the reason Nigeria is in mess now on her economy and other security challenges.

I think African leaders should stop relying on white leaders for the development of the Africa region and use what they have to get any kind of development they want in their nations, it is high time Africa leaders look inward to develop their regions. 

Africa is blessed with human and material resources to develop their regions because development started in Africa, Africans think back because there is a saying in my place that said that if you did not know where you are coming from you will not know where you are going, let Africa leaders practice what they preach to their citizens.

Africans arise and say no to corrupt Africa leaders and let us build a united Africa nation and fight against corruption. Africa leaders have to use Africans to develop Africa because our land is really blessed with human power, resources, and intellectuals to handle Africa's developmental problems both in humans and technologies to derive Africa great.

Africans most stop collecting money before you vote for election so that they will bring good leaders that have their citizens at heart and leaders with lion heart to face the white leaders. We need to establish a union or group that will train young Africans that will take over leadership in the region of Africa.

Africans should look for a way to give scholarships to Africa citizens to study the history of Africa and Africa's oldest style of leadership within Africa universities and outside some country of Africa history. Our thinking toward fellow Africans needed to change their negative attitudes toward each other in spite of where we come from or the tribe we belong in order to achieve collective goals and results.

The negative perception of African leaders needs to change to a better life of Africans as citizens and leaders should truly face leadership trends in the region in order to bring out the best in Africa nations. Black is gold. Black is always brother’s keeper right from history.

One of the problems I found out in Africa leaders in the region is the selfishness of our leaders in which many of them want to acquire all the wealth of their nation and also cage their citizens in a mess of poverty, this poverty make the citizens turn to their slave which they used anyhow they want . please read it now, (it was an error of commission)

 Biography of the writer Eric Onyebuchi

Eric Onyebuchi was born in Lagos State and after his father falls sick, he relocated to a small village called Effium, in Ebonyi State Nigeria on December 6, 1984. He went to community center school from 1991 to1996, after which he attended Effium high school from 1996/97 till 2002.

In 2004, he received his certificate from the National Examination Council (NECO) at Community Secondary School Mbeekeishieke, for his senior school certificate in Ebonyi State.

Although Eric Onyebuchi is a friendly and happy person he became a 'drop-out' of school because his national certificate in 'Business Administration and Management' was withheld due to unpaid school fees. Due to this incident, he didn't get admission into the Federal Polytechnics Oko Anambra State Nigeria.

Notwithstanding, he urgently wants to be admitted, after collection of his certificate, he would like to obtain his Bachelor's on economics so that he will move into politics. That's Eric's dream when he walks on that small community road in Oko Anambra State. 

The road he used to walk on for brainstorming and writing some of his heart warm quotes. Eric is the eldest boy of  two boys from hardworking parents who try to deal with every difficult life with one main goal only; 'To educate their children.'

After his father, who was a factory worker in Lagos, fell sick and lost his work because of his illness, Eric moved to his village.

Through the help of his mother who was a farmer in the village, and the love a mother has for her child Eric had a successful education. 

Eric started some little jobs to enroll in polytechnic. In fact, life wasn't easy for him but his dream to become a Nigerian leader one day to fight corruption never disappeared. His questions are: “Why are African leaders not ready to develop Africa? Again,  “Why corruption became such a criminal part of the politicians' blood?”

Therefore Eric's dream to cope with widespread corruption throughout Africa still stands tall in his heart because of his background. Besides that, can an empty stomach go to war without food?

In 2008, Eric went to work with 'Chinees Facility Company'  in Ikorodu Lagos State, before enrolling in federal polytechnics in Oko Anambra State Nigeria.

At this very moment, he is managing a little business in order to get his national degree in 'Business Administration and Management'. 

Eric Onyebuchi's belief in 'Oneness Forever' never left him. He is convinced that God is black from the beginning and the ultimate fact that civilization started from Africa strengthens him. 

Yes, GOD started His work in Africa, and together with Him, he believes in making Africa great and forever green. His thoughts about the fact that evil white men do not want to see Africa's progress, is at foremost necessary to form a group around African nations in order to work together. 

African nations have to find a way to get together because the 'Oneness of African leaders' will be the ultimate weapon that can and will be used to fight this corruptive African mess without the interference of white rulers.

And Eric Onyebuchi wants to be one of those newborn African leaders. The view of these NEO African leaders has to change Africa towards a prospective life of Africans as world citizens. Leaders should truly face leadership trends in the regions in order to bring out the best to Africa nations. 

Black is gold and Black, with a capital letter, is always brother’s keeper right from history and it isn't a coincidence that GOD started His work in Africa by creating black from the same ultimate beginning of mankind.

Yes, Eric Onyebuchi from Nigeria West Africa is a great and proud son of that spiritual African soil. His belief in himself and what God will use him to do in the world inspires him. Eric never will surrender no matter how tough roads look like, he will fight on. 

It is his goal to make the circle round for the African future of the African youth and bringing the continent to the top of among the continents.

Eric Onyebuchi's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/eric.onyebuchi.5

THE LOVE PETER TOSH HAD FOR AFRICA

The great Peter Tosh

There are thousands of Africans in the Diaspora. Many hate to be called Africans,  some love the continent but have never had the chance to visit there, while others frequently visit Africa. One of them was the legendary Peter Tosh, one of the founding members of the original Wailers trio.

The fearless, tough man, whose vicious wit marked militant tunes, made him an international figure, visited Africa, including Nigeria, on many occasions. I never had the opportunity to see Peter Tosh performing,,g but I had a glimpse of him when he visited Nigeria and followed his activities in the country through ‘The Punch Newspaper.’

Peter Tosh was in Nigeria in 1982. During his visit, he stayed in the house of Sonny Okosun, another great Nigerian musician interested in the well-being of people. It’s like the two had something in common. In Nigeria, Sonny Okosun’s ‘Fire in Soweto, Papa’s Land’ etc, became international hits, for his concern for the suffering South Africans under Apartheid regime.

While in Jamaica, Peter Tosh recorded ‘Apartheid’ on his ‘Equal Rights’ album. “Inna me land digs out me gold, pearl, diamond, we gonna fight against Apartheid.” It’s not surprising that the two musicians were great friends. In 1983 while still in Lagos, Peter Tosh revisited Nigeria. This time, he cemented his love for his dear Africa by composing the song he named ‘Mama Africa.’

Peter Tosh sings 'Mystery Babylon.'

“Two thousand years of history can’t be wiped away so easily, sings Bob Marley in ‘Zion Train.’ Definitely, the achievements of Peter Tosh in the field of music can’t be easily forgotten. On April 20, 2016, Jamaica celebrated the second official International Peter Tosh Day. Like the sons of Bob Marley, Andrew Tosh is carrying on the works of his father.

The fall of Nigeria's Economy: Can Goodluck Jonathan restore its glory?

Goodluck Jonathan: With Nigeria under his administration, he has bitten more than he can chew


The present state of Nigeria, a country once richer than many European countries, shows how corruption could affect a country and ruin it without any immediate remedy. 


In the seventies and late eighties in Nigeria, even though it is an African country, due to its flourishing economy, its local currency, the Naira, has value more than even the Dollar and other foreign currencies. 

Corruption, tribalism, nepotism, and lack of good governance have made a country once worth living to be a nightmare for its ordinary citizens.

Each day, hundreds of people are trying to leave the poverty-stricken country overseas. Most of them, without proper documentation to facilitate the visa application, end up buying fake documents such as certificates of professional jobs, birth, and fake bank attests to the British Embassy. 

The embassy is overwhelmed by the number of fake documents it receives each day.

After the death of the long-ailing Yar'Adua, the president, Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president, was peacefully sworn in on Thursday, 4th May 2010, as president of Nigeria. But the country is set to hold presidential elections next year, and it remains unclear who the top candidates will be. 

In recent times, political instability, religious violence, and militant attacks on energy pipelines have significantly affected the country. The oil-rich Nigeria's economy isn't getting better but worse each day.

Now that Jonathan is in power, the question is, "Does he have a magic wand to save the crippled economy of Nigeria?" And again, who will be named the vice-president to Jonathan? 

At his swearing-in, Jonathan said that he would work to ensure next year's polls were credible. "Our total commitment to good governance, electoral reform, and the fight against corruption would be pursued with greater vigor," Said Mr. Jonathan, according to Reuters.

But Nigerians are tired of hearing this whenever a new president is sworn in, for corruption is an incurable disease not only in Nigeria but entire Africa. After independence, many countries in Africa seemed they can't manage state affairs without corruption.

What is the significance of independence when most African countries were better off under the colonial government? Africa has so many questions to answer. It's our duty to restore our country's dignity. 

Enough is enough; corruption must be kicked out of African politics.