Racism And Nigerians In Diaspora

By Paul Arhewe,
Online/Foreign Editor

Last Sunday another spate of maltreatment was meted out to some Nigerians living in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. This latest incident, like some past ones claimed the life of a Nigerian, while 32 other foreigners, mostly Nigerians were arrested.
The unfortunate Nigerian, Maxwell Itoya died of gun-shot injury, after police raided some Nigerian traders selling shoes at the bazaar at the Stadium in the Praga district of Warsaw. Maxwell was trying to intervene in the case of Police arrest and brutal treatment of another handcuffed Nigerian when he was shot in the stomach. Max, who had lived many years in Warsaw was legally married to Monika, a Polish woman, and has three children, aged 10, four, and two.

While Nigerian government through its foreign ministry has called for immediate and full inquiry into the killing of her citizen, Polish police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said his country’s prosecutor’s office has already began investigation into the assault against a policeman, and would determine if the policeman had broken the law by firing his gun.
However, the Polish police was quick to give the media another version of the same story reporting that the ill-fated Nigerian was running away from patrol team, and was chased into the market place, where the policeman handcuffing him mistakenly shot him when mob protesting his arrest tried to besiege him. Even if this version is true, resisting arrest shouldn’t be a justification to take the life of a foreigner, especially in a highly racist country like Poland, where such incident would definitely be associated with xenophobic outburst. In Nigeria, hardly would there be an incident of police brutalising white foreigners; even though the Nigeria police are good at brutalising their own countrymen.

Definitely, it is expected the Polish police would have to defend themselves and blame the protesting mob. Sokolowski in defence of his colleagues said "This man could have been saved and police officers started to resuscitate him, but they were repeatedly attacked with stones by a group of foreigners and were forced to defend themselves, and had to stop the resuscitation". In civilised society of which Poland belongs, tear gas is usually used by police to disperse angry or protesting crowd not live bullets? If the victim was to be Polish citizen I dare say the police man wouldn’t shoot him to death.
A Nigerian named Caesar living in Warsaw, who claim to be an eyewitness to this deadly act in the marketplace, said the Polish police are usually brutal to blacks, and highly segregate against them. According to him, “this is the latest in a long line of police abuse and brutality towards blacks in this predominately racist country”. “The open air market place, which is referred to as Stadium, is made up of mainly Ukrainians and Vietnamese traders, but the biased report would have you believe that it is only Nigerians that were arrested and causing problems”, he added.
While the police and government should be apologising sincerely, they are busy prosecuting the 32 arrested foreigners. According to report, 25 out of those arrested would face charges of assaulting a police officer, which when found guilty would send them to prison for 10 years.
Nigerian government should do more than calling the Polish authorities to probe the case, like in previous similar incidents. Our government usually make statements, after which no further deliberations or actions are taken. Nigerian government, through its embassy in Warsaw, should follow thoroughly every phase of this particular probe.
Nothing has been heard again on Emmanuel Egisimba’s case. Egisimba died last year in Chinese town of Guangzhou after trying to avoid police brutality. He jumped headlong from a second floor shop and died. Hundreds of blacks’ after the death of Egisimba protested calling Nigerian government to intervene in the frequent maltreatments and molestations they face in this Asian country.
In another similar case, in 2008, a Nigerian businessman, Ojide Ekene, was said to be descending the steps leading to a subway metro station to look for some place to urinate when the security men accosted him and began to beat him. He was allegedly hit on the head with heavy iron battens, knocking him to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
But the Chinese consulate had said that Ekene fell on the staircase of Yulong building as he tried to run to urinate, adding that in the process he got a heavy hit on his head. Many of such dehumanising cases come up frequently, but Nigerian government usually do little to address them.
The frequent brutalities and xenophobic treatments that Nigerians are made to suffer in Poland, and other racist countries should be properly addressed, and their governments should be held responsible anytime such ill-treatments occur. The bland and indifferent attitude these governments have put up in addressing the frequent and continuous maltreatments of Nigerians in their countries has prompted their police to have a field time in this intolerable act Nigerians are made to pass through.
While these foreign countries hear news of those brutalities Nigerian police melt out to their citizens on daily basis, they tend to see our citizens in their countries as trash that can be maltreated knowing full well Nigerian government would only make noise and cannot bite anytime such ugly trash happens.
Our government usually dream of making Nigeria to belong among the leading 20 economies in the world, one wonders how this tall hallucination and mirage of a dream would come to reality when the same government have little value for her citizens especially those in foreign lands.
Unites States can sacrifice huge resources in order to rescue an American in distress no matter where the challenge is coming from. Last year, when some Somali pirates hijacked a U.S. ship and held its American captain, Richard Phillips, as hostage the US Navy immediately diverted its guided missile destroyer, Bainbridge, and successfully rescued Phillips alive after keeping watch on the pirates movement for days.
Poland is among the less-developed countries in Europe. One wonders, supposing our country is well managed by our past governments and leaders, what would Nigerians still be doing in a society that overtly shows they hate them. I believe they would in drove be returning to their fatherland. As the popular maxim goes ‘no place is like home’. It is then a task on Nigerians and our government to ensure things work here in order to prevent such beastly treatments our brothers and sisters are made to pass through in unfriendly countries. While, waiting for that time to come, our government need to show it cares and values her citizens no matter where they are reside.

Cameron’s Daunting Task Of Changing UK

By Paul Arhewe, Online/Foreign Editor

The political terrain in United Kingdom has embraced a new atmosphere. This is not only because the Conservatives, in a coalition with the Liberal democrats, have taken the rein of power from the opposition position it has been subjected to since the past 13 years , but that young stars, like Obama, are now calling the shoots in one of Europe’s biggest economy. 43-year-old David Cameron is UK’s youngest Prime Minister since the last 200 years (since Robert Banks Jenkinson in 1812), with six months younger than former PM Tony Blair, and his deputy from Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg is also 43.

The results of UK general election last week have shown that there are neither vanquished nor outright winner for the three major political party leaders. For Cameron, prior to the votes, he was greatly favoured to sweep the polls and maintain an exclusive government, but he ended up with a hung parliament; embracing a plea bargain to woo the liberal democrats in coalitional government. Clegg was the hero during the great debates; outshining his opponents, but became the loosing team that others must take along in realising their kingship. Gordon Brown of the Labour party outrightly admitted his flop and party’s failure, but his decision to quit was really timely, and has won him the respect as a quintessential contemporary politician, what Blair would have loved to achieve during his time.
The tasks before Cameron, no doubt is daunting. As the loquacious and major critic of Brown, especially since the latter became Prime Minister in June 2007, Cameron would need to outshine Brown’s performance and proffer results to those many economic and financial criticisms he had levelled against his predecessor. He will be assessed based on how successful he is able to turn around the British post recession economy, and manage those many flaws Brown had incurred.
The British society is one that is conservative in nature; hence, there is the need for the new Tory administration to cut down the rising government expenditures, another pitfall which Brown administration carried along. The taxpayers in Britain are the ones bearing the huge cost used in maintaining the about 100 ministers, where there are about 170 cars for ministers alone that gulp 20 million pounds annually. No wonder, a segment of the British society are calling government to introduce public transportation to ministers so as to save the huge cost in funding cars and the entourages that go with public officials. Boris Johnson, a columnist with UK Telegraph, sums this up by arguing that “Politicians should stop wasting our money and start taking public transport”.

Britain is a major player in the global economy. Cameron has a huge task in cooperating with his America counterpart, Barack Obama to give a facelift to the world’s economy that is still finding its feet after the great recession that hit major economies last year.
The realities of contemporary challenges on global economy may just be a different ball game in tackling by extrapolation from the past. There is also the challenge emerging super economies are portending to the developed western states, of which UK belongs. China, India, and Brazil are all set to surpass the ‘old’ economies of the west within no more than a decade or two. The Third world or developing economies in Africa and part of Asia are no longer developing; they are ever ready to continue their plea for aids and bailouts, even though they provide the raw materials on which engine the global economy. The new British government under the leadership of the Tories need to put the machinery in order to provide a deep and valuable trading partnership with the aforementioned nations.
On the political scene, Cameron would really need to win the trust of his co-travellers, especially in the coalition government that is formed with the opposition, as a writer rightly puts it “The formation of a coalition means conspiring with political enemies and smiling in front of the cameras pretending to agree”. There is also the glaring eyes of Labour party that will be watching to catch on the flimsiest gaffe.
In addition to this the new government need to rebuild the trust of the electorate in their government, which was the undoing of Brown at the later part of his administration. Cameron’s speech when assuming the mantle of power as PM lays credence to this: “One of the tasks that we clearly have is to rebuild trust in our political system. Yes, that's about cleaning up expenses, yes, that's about reforming parliament, and yes, it's about making sure people are in control and that the politicians are always their servants and never their masters”.
The UK support with U.S. on the Iraqi and Afghan wars is another tough decision Cameron would need to look into. Of recent, the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan are on the rise, and this is not too appealing to the British citizenry. Cameron would decide whether to cut short the number of UK troops in these war zones or decide to totally hands up, which is not too possible, as it would not be a pleasing pill that the American government will love to swallow.
The tasks before Cameron has made his new position not too enviable, as he has a lot on his hands today, but changing the expectations of the British people has to be high up on his priority list.

UK 2010 POLLS: Nigerians Put Up A Good Fight

Paul Arhewe,
(With Agency Reports)

The 2010 United Kingdom general elections made history as the numbers of foreigners who vied for seats in British parliament was unprecedented. Out of the 4,149 candidates battling to secure seats in the parliament, 315 of them were independent candidates. 89 Asians partook as candidates in the poll while Africans from Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria were among the hundreds that vied in the election.
Three out of the five Nigerians that contested in the election won parliamentary seats in different constituencies, while the forth gave a hot contention for her constituency.
Helen Grant a 48-year old attorney, whose father is a Nigerian and has a Briton mother and the Conservative Party's parliamentary candidate, faced hostility after surviving controversy in 2009 when it emerged she was once a member of the Labour Party.
Grant born in London became the Conservative Party's first black female Member of Parliament for the mostly white, rural, and staunchly Conservative district of Maidstone & The Weald of Kent. She was chosen by Conservative Party leader David Cameron to succeed Ann Widdecombe, who is retiring. Ms. Grant is running on a platform of reforming Maidstone Hospital, defeating Kent International Gateway “to protect our beautiful Kent countryside from predatory developers”, and emphasizing local suppliers and producers.
She secured the seat for Maidstone and the Weald constituency with 23,491 votes (48 per cent), beating second and third runner ups Peter Carroll of Liberal democrat who garnered 17,602 votes (36.0 per cent) and Rav Seeruthun of Labour with 4,769 (9.7 per cent).
Conservative Party activists who complain that the A-lister was "foisted" on them by the party's leadership predicted that some local Tories will not campaign for her but will instead help Tory candidates in neighbouring seats. Donal Blaney, a Tory activist and blogger, said: "There are a number of people in the association, activists who go out in the pouring rain, that are upset and a lot of them have said they will not campaign to help Helen. They will help Greg Clark or Damian Green, people who have a track record as Conservatives. "Parachuting people into safe seats and imposing them is a disservice to activists. Part of the bitterness that has arisen over Liz Truss [a candidate whom many Tory activists oppose on their A-list, because she had an affair with a married Tory MP while she was married] and Helen Grant is that activists have been labelled the 'Turnip Taliban' when they are the people who have kept the Tory party afloat and are now being denigrated."
Grant first emerged on Booker Rising’s radar screen in 2008. The Maidstone & the Weald seat is the Conservative Party’s 10th safest district. I.e., barring a massive catastrophe, expect to see her in Parliament this year. There have been minor complaints from local activists that she is “insufficiently Conservative” (because she was once a Labour Party member, she’s only been a Conservative Party member for four years, and some local activists didn’t like that she made the A-list so quickly), but nothing serious. She was inspired to become a Tory by Mr. Cameron.
Grant was raised by her single mother on the Raffles council estate in Carlisle ("council estates" are called public housing projects in America) without a car or a television. She later became captain of her school tennis and hockey teams, and also did track & field and cross-country. Ms. Grant is a former under-16 Judo Champion in North of England and Southern Scotland.

Grant later obtained a law degree at the University of Hull, undertook solicitors' finals at the College of Law in Guildford and qualified as a solicitor in 1988. Her law experience lies in family law and health care. She is now Senior Partner at Grants Solicitors LLP, Croydon, where she has been since 1996. She is also the founder of Grants Solicitors, a specialist firm focused on solving family breakdown.
Responding to a question about why she wants to enter politics, she said: "I have always had strong views and I have always fought for what I believed in. I believe in individual freedom combined with personal responsibilities, free enterprise and a non-interfering state. I have also always felt strongly about being compassionate toward other people and have held firm opinions on issues surrounding families, women, social justice and social mobility, probably because of my work and my personal background. My party political awakening came in 2004. My children were no longer babies and were becoming more independent, my business had started to mature, with a good management team in place, and I was ready for a new challenge where I might be able to continue helping other people both as individuals but also on a broader scale. Politics seemed to be the obvious route. I had a brief flirtation with the Labour Party because at the time they were holding themselves out as the champions of social justice, which was important to me, but I quickly realised that they were not. Moreover they were failing to deal with the aspirations of normal people in our country. When David Cameron became leader of the Conservative party in December 2005 I was instantly attracted and inspired by his views on all of the above issues and I joined the Conservative party shortly after, in January 2006."
Now a wealthy woman due to her law practice, Ms. Grant is married and has two teenage children. She has lived in Surrey, England since 1994 and enjoys tennis, movies, major sporting events, and family life. She is a member of the Conservative Party Family Law Reform Commission, the National Advisory Group for Domestic Violence, and the Society for Conservative Lawyers.
Grant would join MP Adam Afriyie and Lord John Taylor as black Conservatives in Parliament as the emerged victorious.

Another Nigerian who pulled a big win in the UK 2010 poll is Chuka Ummuna. He contested under the Labour Party, won the constituency seat for Streatham with 20,037 votes (42.8 per cent), beating Chris Nicholson of Liberal Democrat with 16,778 votes (35.8 percent), Rahoul Bhansali of Conservative with 8,578 votes (18.3 percent), Rebecca Findlay of Green Party with 861 votes (1.8 per cent), and Geoffrey Macharia of Christian Party with 237 votes (0.5 per cent).
Ummuna who was born and bred in Steatham is well known in his community and sometimes referred to as ‘the UK Obama’.
Prior to becoming Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Streatham, Ummuna was Vice Chair of Streatham Labour Party from 2004 to 2008 and had held a variety of positions throughout the local party. He is a member of the GMB and Unite trade unions and sits on the Management Committee of progressive pressure group, Compass
“I know our party will do everything we can for the residents of this fantastic place”, Ummuna said after emerging victorious on Friday.
In March 2008 Umunna was selected by the Streatham Labour Party as its parliamentary candidate at the next General Election. He succeeds Keith Hill, the current Labour Member of Parliament who has held the seat since April 1992 and is to retire.

He has lived in the Streatham parliamentary constituency all his life (save for a short stint away studying). In his formative years Umunna attended Christ Church Primary School in the Brixton Hill part of the constituency and he is presently a School Governor of Sunnyhill Primary School and sits on the Board of Sunnyhill Children’s Centre, both in Streatham Wells. He lives on Streatham High Road.

Umunna is a specialist employment law solicitor by profession and works at a Central London law firm where he primarily acts for employees but also employers. In addition, he sits on the Board of Generation Next, a not for profit social enterprise which provides activities for young people in London, and has been involved charitable youth work in Lambeth too.
Prior to becoming Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Streatham, Umunna was Vice Chair of Streatham Labour Party from 2004 to 2008 and had held a variety of positions throughout the local party. He is a member of the GMB and Unite trade unions and sits on the Management Committee of progressive pressure group, Compass.

As a person of mixed Nigerian, Irish and English descent, Umunna would become the first person of Black parentage to represent one of the three parliamentary constituencies covering the Brixton area. Aged 30, Umunna also become one of the youngest MPs in the country.
Commenting in March 2008 on his selection as Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Streatham, Umunna said “Streatham is my home – I grew up here – so it is a great privilege to have been selected as Labour’s next Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in this constituency.
“Labour has achieved a lot and this country is a far better place to live than it was in 1997 with unemployment in Streatham down from 10.2 percent then, to 5.2 percent now, but we still have lots of work to do.
“I am very grateful to Labour Party members for selecting me to succeed Keith Hill, who has been a fantastic MP for Streatham, and I relish the prospect of getting out and about and taking our message to the community with him between now and the next general election.”
Local residents welcomed Umunna’s selection as Labour’s parliamentary candidate. The Rev. Lisa Wright, retired curate at St Leonard’s Church, Streatham, said:
“Myself and Chuka’s family were members of St Margaret’s Church in Streatham for many years. I think he would make a wonderful MP for the area and the fact that he is a local boy will definitely appeal to the people here. He is part of the new generation in this new political era!”
Richard Guy, a local firefighter from Streatham said:
“Chuka is a childhood friend – we both grew up in Streatham together. I remember how proud he was of me when I became a firefighter – his admiration for those (like me) working in our public services to keep this country functioning is unswerving
Also, Chi Onwurah, another Nigerian won the Newcastle Central seat under the Labour party flagship. Onwurah secured the parliamentary seat with 15,692 votes (45.9 percent), beating Gareth Kane of Liberal Democrat with 8,228 votes (24.1 percent), and Nick Holder of Conservative with 6,611 votes (19.4 percent).
Onwurah was born in Wallsend in 1965, grew up on Hillsview Avenue in Kenton and went to Kenton School before studying Electrical Engineering in London. She lived in many different cities around the world, always remember Newcastle where she was brought up. Her maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in the shipyards of the Tyne during the depression. Her mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on the quayside. In the fifties she married a Nigerian student at Newcastle Medical School. Her father practiced dentistry in Gosforth. She said in her profile “I was still a baby when my father took us to live in Awka, Nigeria. But two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it and, as described vividly in an Evening Chronicle article in 1968, my mother, my brother and sister and I returned as refugees to Newcastle, whilst my father stayed on in the Biafran army”.
Two Nigerians, Abiodun Akinoshun and Kemi Adegoke lost to other candidates in the polls. While Adegoke put up a good fight by clinching 22.2 per cent (10,684) of the votes in her constituency, Akinoshun got the worst result with 438. Akinoshun contested for the Erith and Thamesmead parliamentary seat as an independent candidate. He got 438 votes, losing to Labour candidate, Teresa Pearce who got 19,068 votes. Adegoke contested under the flagship of Conservative Party for the Dulwich and West Norwood parliamentary seat. She lost to Labour candidate Tessa Jowell who scored 22,461 votes (46.6 per cent).