Inviting a War Criminal, Terrorist, Genocidist, and Boko Haram Founder to the White House

 
President Buhari has a long and indelible history of ruthlessness, nepotism, entitlement, and tyranny. Having very limited education—because there is no proof that he has ever attended any higher or military institution—it is no surprise then, that he has always resorted to force, intimidation and violence, rather than reason and argument, to achieve his political goals, as he has consistently demonstrated throughout his career. I regret that it would be impossible to aggregate this septuagenarian’s history of atrocities in such a limited space, but I will attempt however to sketch a composite.

CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION

Citizenship is a statutory National Curriculum subject in state maintained secondary schools and a non-statutory subject with a national framework in primary schools in England.

What is citizenship education?

Citizenship involves people acting together to address issues of common concern to maintain our democratic culture and to improve society. To achieve this goal, Citizenship education teaches knowledge, understanding about politics, the law and the economy and skills to participate effectively and responsibly in public and democratic life.

Through citizenship education, students:

• explore questions about democracy, justice, inequality, how we are governed and organized;
• learn to work together to create solutions that try to address challenges facing neighborhoods and wider communities;
• Develop political literacy to make a positive contribution to society as informed and responsible citizens.

Some things you should know about citizenship education…

• Citizenship is the only subject in the national curriculum that teaches about the way democracy, politics, the economy and the law work.
• Half a million young people have achieved a GCSE or A level qualification in citizenship to date since 2002.
• Young people have initiated over 100,000 active citizenship projects in their communities since the GCSE was introduced.
• Citizenship is not about indoctrination: teachers and local authorities are required by the Education Act 1996 to make sure that students are presented with different points of views so that they can make up their own minds.
• Citizenship education is also not only a Labour project: it was introduced as a cross-curricular theme by a Conservative government in 1990.
• It’s been in the national curriculum in secondary schools in England since 2002.
• It was a long time coming – politicians and educators alike had been lobbying for citizenship to be a fundamental part of education for 100 years.

GOOD OF CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION

A consideration of the issues surrounding the teaching of controversial issues serves only to underline the importance of good citizenship education from an early age.
If children become accustomed to discussing their differences in a rational way in the primary years, they are more likely to accept it as normal in their adolescence.
Citizenship education helps to equip young people to deal with situations of conflict and controversy knowledgeably and tolerantly. It helps to equip them to understand the consequences of their actions, and those of the adults around them.
Pupils learn how to recognize bias, evaluate argument, weigh evidence, look for alternative interpretations, viewpoints and sources of evidence; above all to give good reasons for the things they say and do, and to expect good reasons to be given by others.

REASONS FOR TEACHING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

The purposes of citizenship education are many and varied. They include socializing children against juvenile delinquency, disrespect for elders and all sharp practices that often metamorphose into full-blown crimes. Our youths have acquired international notoriety in such crimes as drug trafficking and addiction, child trafficking, swindling and advance free fraud. For the home-based, the contemporary social ills that plague the nation include: armed robbery, indolence, truancy, smuggling, dishonesty, sharp-practices, and most recently and dangerously kidnapping and suicide bombing. Those in higher institutions pride themselves in cultism, robbery, violence, gross indiscipline, examination mal-practice and campus unrests. There has been public out cry over unemployment against the government, but it has been observed that those who have gained one employment or the other demonstrate unprecedented truancy and ingratitude towards their government employers. The magnitude of dishonesty, embezzlement of public funds, looting government treasuries, diverting public funds and materials to private use, bribery and corruption they practise is inexplicable. Ndukwe (2013) cried out:

Two distinct challenges are insidiously eating away at whatevergains Nigeria has made in the economic arena as well as its socio-cultural stage since pursuing a pro-democratic agenda. What are they? Insecurity and Inconsistent power supply. Lawlessness is a plague that steals the light of a nation. A lawless State is rife with insecurity and its citizens are slaves to such order. Nigeria is witnessing analarming trend in lawlessness and insecurity. There is hardly any breaking news in the mainstream media without an account of some form of security challenges, acts of violence, ethno-centered strife or religious fuelled clashes. It is either Boko Haram in the Northern corridor or Kidnapping in the South-South and South East geopolitical zone. (The National Question, Monday n20 – 23 May, 2013, p.1). There is still mutual distrust among the different ethnicities in Nigeria against each other. These and other vices have for decades ravaged our nation due to very poor socialization or complete ignorant of citizenship education. The purpose of education for citizenship is to create sufficient awareness, sensitize both the old and the young to imbibe the spirit of self-reliance, good citizenship, respect for our national emblems and ethics and the desire to build a strong and reliable nation. For our purpose, this paper restricts our discussion to the under-mentioned areas, since they highlight the basic aspects of citizenship education.

US to deploy small number of special forces to Syria in advisory role

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama plans to deploy a small number of special operations forces to Syria to advise rebels Washington deems moderate, U.S. sources said on Friday, a step he has long resisted to avoid getting dragged into another war in the Middle East.
Obama was expected to send fewer than 60 special operations troops, said congressional sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. One U.S. official said the number was likely to be in the range of 20 to 30 but could not provide details.
U.S. officials stressed the forces were not meant to engage in front-line combat but rather to advise and assist moderate rebels. One official said their key role would be "logistical" to ensure that weapons and other supplies are delivered to the moderate forces whom the United States supports.
The sources said the move, expected to be announced later on Friday, reflected a wider strategy of strengthening moderate rebels in Syria even as Washington intensifies its efforts to find a diplomatic solution to end to the four-and-a-half year Syrian civil war in which at least 200,000 people have died.

Gay priest decries 'inhuman' treatment of homosexual Catholics

 

A senior priest in the Vatican who was stripped of his post after coming out as gay has launched a scathing attack on the Roman Catholic Church.

In a letter to Pope Francis this month, Krzysztof Charamsa accused the Church of making the lives of millions of gay Catholics globally "a hell".
He criticised what he called the Vatican's hypocrisy in banning gay priests, even though he said the clergy was "full of homosexuals".

American pilot killed in fighter jet crash on way home from Middle East

 
U.S. pilot killed this week when his fighter jet crashed in eastern England was on his way home from a six-month deployment in the Middle East, a U.S. military statement said.

Maj. Taj Sareen, 34, died when his F/A-18C Hornet went down Wednesday while en route from Bahrain to California, according to the statement.

Before his deployment, Sareen was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, and was returning after a mission against ISIS militants in the Middle East.

Sareen was among a squadron of six aircraft headed home. The remaining five landed safely.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The Hillsborough, California, native joined the Marine Corps a decade ago, and has deployed at various times, including to Afghanistan in 2010.

His jet took off from a U.S. base in Suffolk and crashed in Ely, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of London.

The Hornet is a fighter and attack aircraft known for its all-weather capabilities, according to the U.S. military.

Sareen was part of Operation Inherent Resolve, which is conducting airstrikes against ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria.

Processed meats do cause cancer - WHO

Processed meats - such as bacon, sausages and ham - do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Its report said 50g of processed meat a day - less than two slices of bacon - increased the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18%.
Meanwhile, it said red meats were "probably carcinogenic" but there was limited evidence.
The WHO did stress that meat also had health benefits.
Processed meat is meat that has been modified to increase its shelf-life or alter its taste - such as by smoking, curing or adding salt or preservatives.
It is these additions which could be increasing the risk of cancer. High temperature cooking, such as on a barbeque, can also create carcinogenic chemicals.

‘DSS secretly arraigned Radio Biafra boss, Nnamdi Kalu’

on October 20, 2015   /   in News 1:00 am   /   Comments

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Igbo World Assembly, World Igbo Congress  condemn arrest
By Emeka Aginam, Chidi Nkwopara & Francis Igata
ENUGU—Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kalu,who was arrested at Golden Tulip Hotel in Lagos by the Department of State  Service,DSS, after he returned from  the   United Kingdom has been granted bail by the Abuja Municipal Council Magistrate court where he was secretly arraigned by the DSS. He is, however, yet to fulfil his bail conditions.
According to the Indigenous People of Biafra’s lawyer,  Mr. Egechukwu Obetta, “Nnamdi was put in the same cell with terrorists. He has  a health challenge  which is life threatening. He is sensitive to delicacies. He told us that he will never eat any food served by the Federal Government of Nigeria.“
But midway into Vanguard‘s  chat with the lawyer, a call came in indicating that Kalu has been granted bail in the sum of N2 million  or  with surety of N2 million with a civil servant of grade level 16.
“The DSS secretly arraigned him before the magistrate’s court and he was granted bail. He is, however, yet to meet the bail conditions and that is holding him  still in detention.

Director of pirate radio, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu

“Last week, the Afenifere threatened to secede, but nobody was vilified. I am talking about the recent Olu Falae’s kidnap case. The militants in the Niger Delta have  done same  and at all times, the political gladiators have appealed to the FG to douse the tension instead of using political brigandage and executive lawlessness.”