Connect with us

Lifestyle

How Over 360 Pro-Government Groups Sprang Up Under Buhari, Hinder Constructive Criticisms – Study

Published

on

The report stated that of the number given, about 90 per cent began operating in and around the capital, Abuja, since 2015.

A study has revealed that there are presently about 360 pro-government non-governmental organisations in Nigeria who thrive on government funding to champion illiberal causes and stop calls for reforms.

The study was conducted by Matthew Page, a non-resident scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It separated mainstream NGOs — those that seek to advance democratic values and defend human rights — from pro-government NGOs that defend corrupt, insensitive, or abusive acts.

The study said such groups are now over 360 under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

It, however, explained that many unregistered NGOs also do important work, deriving legitimacy from their local impact or niche focus.

The study said, “In the run-up to Abacha’s 1998 self-succession bid, more than 150 other such groups sprang up all across Nigeria, including the National Mass Movement of Nigeria, 21st Generation, Vision ’98, the National Movement for Peace and Stability, and the Northern Elders Forum.

“These pro-Abacha groups were also said to have attacked potential dissenters and played a prominent role in blunting grassroots opposition to authoritarian rule.

“They acted as a counterweight to pro-democracy NGOs like the Civil Liberties Organisation, Constitutional Rights Project, and the Transition Monitoring Group, many of whom were sustained by international support.

“However, after the Abacha regime, some of Nigeria’s pro-government NGOs lost both their reason for existing and their source of financing. Most groups evaporated overnight; others tried to reinvent themselves as the country’s political power networks rapidly realigned.”

In Nigeria’s early stages of democracy, it said, the activities of pro-government NGOs reached a low ebb particularly under presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua.

However, since the Buhari regime, pro-government NGO activity is said to have skyrocketed with more than 360 pro-government NGOs.

The report stated that of the number given, about 90 per cent began operating in and around the capital, Abuja, since 2015.

“This surge is unlikely to be coincidental, given that pro-government NGOs rely on senior officials—albeit often indirectly—for guidance and funding.

“It may also be the result of a deliberate but unspoken strategy on the part of a handful of the ruling party and military elites to resuscitate a familiar political tool, used during previous periods of democratic retrenchment to dilute civil society and international criticism.”

The study alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission has always been ready to accredit little-known groups as official domestic election observers without a proper research.

Page noted that these NGOs tend to target a similar set of perceived adversaries such as “Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their work on human rights abuses in Nigeria; Transparency International, especially its annual Corruption Perception Index, in which Nigeria consistently ranks poorly; international media organizations such as CNN, the BBC, and Reuters; and anti-government groups such as the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and the Indigenous People of Biafra”.

The study said Ali Abacha, the younger brother of former dictator Sani Abacha, has been identified as one of Nigeria’s most seasoned pro-government NGO leaders.

He is said to be linked to at least five such groups, one of which is the Northern Patriotic Front (NPF), which still operates 23 years after it first made headlines by advocating in favour of Sani Abacha’s self-succession bid.

Page suggested that media houses verify the status of NGOs before covering such events.

Culled from the Sahara Reporters

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Lifestyle

Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired

Published

on

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.

In the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Emilio Garcia said that after a night out in 2022 in Ibiza, Spain, he was in an SUV with the hip-hop star when she began having sex with another woman right next to him. He was unable to get out of the moving car, and would have been in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country even if he was able. Garcia was “embarrassed, mortified and offended throughout the whole ordeal,” according to the lawsuit.

Alex Spiro, Megan’s lawyer, said she would fight the lawsuit in court.

“This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” Spiro said.

The next day Megan told Garcia never to discuss what he saw and berated and fat-shamed him, the lawsuit said. The complaint also said Garcia, who had already considered quitting because he was overworked and underpaid in a hostile work environment aggravated by Megan’s possessiveness and abusiveness, was misclassified as an independent contractor but treated as an exclusive employee.

Garcia raised those issues in the conversation with Megan, and was fired the following day after four years of working for her, the suit said. He has since filed a job discrimination complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.

The lawsuit, first reported by NBC News, names as defendants Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete; her companies Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment and Hot Girl Touring; and her label, Roc Nation. A defense response has yet to be filed. There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from a representative of Roc Nation.

Garcia is seeking financial damages to be determined at trial, alleging he has suffered severely both emotionally and physically because of his treatment on the job, the firing and having to witness the scene in the SUV.

Megan, 29, was previously involved in major legal drama — and underwent a torrent of online abuse — as the victim of a shooting by rapper Tory Lanez, who a jury found fired at her feet on a street in the Hollywood Hills in 2020. She testified at the trial where jurors convicted Lanez of three felonies and a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Already a major rising artist at the time of the shooting, Megan has since become one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No. 1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”

Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Body of O.J. Simpson to be cremated this week; brain will not be studied for CTE

Published

on

April 15 (UPI) — The body of O.J. Simpson, who died last week at the age of 76, is to be cremated, a lawyer representing the ex-football superstar’s estate said, adding his brain will not be donated for research.

Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s longtime attorney and executor, told the New York Post that his client’s body is to be cremated Tuesday in Las Vegas.

He said Simpson’s family also gave a “hard no” to scientists seeking to examine the former running back’s brain for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is better known as CTE.

CTE is a rare and little understood brain disorder that is likely caused by repeated blows to the head. According to the Mayo Clinic, CTE results in the death of nerve cells in the brain and the only way to definitively diagnose it is with an autopsy of the organ after death.

Memory and thinking problems, confusion, personality changes and erratic behavior, including aggression, depression and suicidal ideation, are among CTE’s symptoms, the Alzheimer’s Association said.

The disease has been found in those who play contact sports, including football and hockey.

LaVergne confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that at least one person has called seeking Simpson’s brain.

“His entire body, including his brain, will be cremated,” he said.

Simpson died Wednesday following a battle with cancer.

Known by the nickname “The Juice,” Simpson was a NFL superstar during the 1970s, which made him a household name that propelled him into film and television during the next decade.

But his stardom would come crashing down in the mid-1990s when he was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

His high-profile trial lasted months, but ended with his acquittal.

In 2008, he was found guilty on a dozen charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, and was paroled in 2017 after serving nine years of his 33-year sentence.

Continue Reading

Houston

Houston’s Urban South Brewery Celebrates Fourth Anniversary

Published

on

Urban South Brewery Houston will host its upcoming Anniversary Party from Friday, April 5 through Sunday, April 7, in the HTX Taproom, starting at 11 AM, celebrating four years of crafting exceptional brews and fostering community culture. This milestone event will be an exciting day featuring live music, food, activities, and a vendor market.

Beer enthusiasts are also in for a treat with the release of four exclusive anniversary specialty beers. Highlights include “Press Start,” a crafted Czech Pale Lager brewed in collaboration with Parleaux Beer Lab. Additionally, beer fans can indulge in “Level Up,” an Old-Fashioned Cocktail Sour Ale infused with orange peel, Luxardo cherry syrup, and subtle bourbon barrel notes. The offerings continue with “High Score,” a robust Double IPA bursting with flavors of Mosaic, Citra, and Chinook hops, and “Game Over,” a decadent Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout layered with strawberry fruit, Tahitian vanilla bean, and milk chocolate.

To make the celebration even more memorable, fans can pre-order an Exclusive 8-Bit Beer Box featuring the four-anniversary specialty beers (Press Start, Level Up, High Score, Game Over), a 16oz can-shaped Silipint with discounted refills, and 2 tokens redeemable for draft beer.

The Anniversary Party is open to the public, welcoming families and furry friends. Urban South Brewery invites everyone to join in the festivities and toast to four years of brewing excellence.

For more information on Urban South’s Anniversary Celebration, follow the Houston taproom on Instagram and Facebook.

Continue Reading

Trending