Al Jazeera English: Police arrested in Nigeria killings

[SealLion]

Here's another story on corrupt police. Corruption most obviously exists in all states, regions, countries, and the like. It really don't matter if you live in North America, Europe, or some Asian developed nation like Japan.
Your still going to have corruption occur there with cops, such as having sexual relations as a tool for extortion, as was reported from there once as I recall having read on the internet.

Corruption is like a disease if you ask me.

so apparantly, some of this disease, if you will, also occured in Nigeria. Nigeria is a federal republic that apparantly is modelled like the US would be, if you were to compare the 2. The power of the president is checked by the Nigerian senate.

Nigeria, also has it's problems of corruption even in government. It also has a poor human rights record.

Let's check out the 6 o'clock news and see what's up:

Seventeen Nigerian security officers are reported to have been arrested in the country's north in connection with a series of extra-judicial killings........

Well, here's what I found on Wikipedia on Extra-judicial killings in Nigeria. Seems it's a common habit there:

........the most significant human rights problems are: extrajudicial killings and use of excessive force by security forces; impunity for abuses by security forces; arbitrary arrests; prolonged pretrial detention; judicial corruption and executive influence on the judiciary; rape, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners.....

The list is fairly extensive, so I only copy/pasted just a small amount of it.

Here's the link for that above qoute from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia LInk

but let's continue and see whatelse AJE says about this article.

The footage shows officers killing unarmed men, who were bound and forced face-down on the street, in the aftermath of clashes with members of a Muslim group in the country's north.

from what I understand there is also some ethnic tensions that exist in Nigeria and this could possibly exist in this particular event.

.....Since the end of the civil war in 1970, some ethnic violence has persisted........

After Nigeria gained it's independance, ethnic strive did continue:

........The cultural and political differences between Nigeria's dominant ethnicities, the Hausa ('Northerners'), Igbo ('Easterners') and Yoruba ('Westerners'), were sharp......

I think that the article did mention of the killings taking place in the north of that country, yes??
So perhaps, this was maybe a group that was involved in this event.

apparantly, in 1966, Nigeria was involved in even more ethnic strife:

....Nigeria became to an extent even more mired in ethnic strife....

So what do all these qoutes having to do with ethnicity and extra-judicial killings have to do with this post??
Maybe they are related. I'm just postering, but it is possible.
What do you think?

Let's continue with the AJE article, though...

Nigeria's 150 million people are nearly evenly divided between Christians, who dominate the south, and the primarily northern-based Muslims.

In the above, I feel that the article does allude to religious affiliation; however, that does not filter out ethnic differences IMO. One can still have religious combined with ethnic differences within him/herself, yes??

check this last bit out:

Islamic law was implemented in 12 northern states after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 following years of military rule.

From Wikipedia, there is this:

...... ( The head of state, Ibrahim Babangida in the 1970's)also inflamed religious tensions in the nation and particularly the south by enrolling Nigeria in the Organization of the Islamic Conference....

that's fine.

But here's what you get with religious sectarianism in Nigeria:

.....Nigeria is home to a variety of religions which tend to vary regionally. This situation accentuates regional and ethnic distinctions and has often been seen as a source of sectarian conflict amongst the population

Wikipedia Link

Now you might be wondering how else do police in Nigeria become poor other than potential ethnic and / or religious strife ......if one could even take those into consideration. '...

Well, as it turns out, my trusty Encyclopedia Brittanica on my HDD says the following:'

The Nigeria Police Force,.......The general inefficiency of the force is attributable in part to the low level of education and the low morale of police recruits, who are poorly housed and very poorly paid, and to the lack of modern equipment. Corruption is widespread

Ah...just like I said at the beginnig....corruption!!

SOURCE:

"Nigeria." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010.

ITs' really sad and destructive to people when there exists this ethnic strife potentially coupled with religious differences. However, things have been like this throughout history for millenia.
IT's equally saddening when there is also police corruption;however, what would you expect when the cops are poorly paid and have low morale??

I think in some way, you could expect this sort of behaviour.
Cops are also corrupt in many developed nations. I mentioned one a the top: Japan.
Yes, even such a developed nation like Japan has police corruption.
Corruption is a disease, I feel.
It knows no bounds.

FYI, Nigeria also has a history of colonialism.

Check this out:

Colonial era.......Nigeria remained divided into the northern and southern provinces and Lagos colony. Western education and the development of a modern economy proceeded more rapidly in the south than in the north, with consequences felt in Nigeria's political life ever since........

Wikipedia LInk

So what does that tell you about colonialism.....??

...should tell you more than enough.

Anyways,,,here's the link to AJE:

Al Jazeera English - Africa - Police arrested in Nigeria killings

eNJoy

[slikrapid]

Your still going to have corruption occur there with cops, such as having sexual relations as a tool for extortion, as was reported from there once as I recall having read on the internet.

this is a common worldwide practice of extortion/control/influence through threats, like the various evidence or 'dirt' on (government) officials, it is actually a customary habit to go out looking/digging for 'dirt' when handling lawsuits, or take lobbying for example, so it can be said that this kind of behavior is not frowned upon in some cases (double standards)

if you check out the different kinds of corruption like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption#Types_of_corruption

its interesting that many of them can be associated with a family & family relations (though in a most likely mild or benign form), so this may partly be the answer to where the (benign) roots of this kind of behavior originate from

on the other hand most of the examples of corruption, as described in the above link, are connected to our economic/financial/government system, or more generally to the power/control/profit trinity, meaning that if its already embedded in the people's mental picture of how things can work faster (or get done more quickly and so on) then many will ask themselves why would they always have to play the role of the exploited ones, when there are shorter ways (even though officially labeled as illegal or immoral) to accomplish their goals, besides the government will make sure one doesn't get proper solutions through normal/legal channels, combined with the inertia of bureaucracy it becomes a tempting option for those who could afford it

Corruption is like a disease if you ask me.

it may quite likely be a government sponsored one (intentionally or through incompetence/negligence)

Nigeria s a federal republic that apparantly is modelled like the US would be...Nigeria, also has it's problems of corruption even in government. It also has a poor human rights record

in many ways, it looks like the african version of usa (we had nollywood as the subject here before) or uk (through colonial influence), behaving just as a less wealthy & skilled version of them would, with a quite large population that is kept 'in check' through these religious conflicts, poor education, vaccination experiments and so on, and while enjoying their new found/created consumer paradise bubble, the citizens are probably unaware of who really owns their biggest companies, banks, the government itself, creates pointless conflicts, controls oil flow & so on

ITs' really sad and destructive to people when there exists this ethnic strife potentially coupled with religious differences. However, things have been like this throughout history for millenia.

i wouldn't bet on that one, our history earlier than a few 100 years BC is a territory filled with (intentional) mainstream historical ignorance & laughable theories (supported by corporate & university power/dogma wielders), trying to paint humanity as some kind of primitive ignorant prehistoric tribe supposedly far inferior (despite of for example obvious ancient architectural grandeur) when compared to contemporary over-inflated mainstream conformist 'team players' ('experts'), so scared of independent research that they resort to persecution as if the middle ages never went away

[SealLion]

it may quite likely be a government sponsored one (intentionally or through incompetence/negligence)

I don't think that I quite follow what you mean by the above statement.
How would it be possible for corruption to be state-sponsered??

the only way that I think that it might be state-sponsered is perhaps when some element in a country's constitution or legal code prevents some action to be undertaken due to the potential for corruption. the goal might be for something to be increased, such as higher profit returns to some government ministry, or maybe even something like the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980's in which the US sponsored financial and military goals for Iran.


Those are the only 2 ways that I can think of for state - sponsored corruption.

What specific methods were you thinking of, if I may ask??

Also, I don't quite follow what you mean by this statement either:

.......when compared to contemporary over-inflated mainstream conformist 'team players' ('experts'), so scared of independent research that they resort to persecution as if the middle ages never went away

Are you talking about how modern day science and theorists (some, not all) become very adamant in NOT accepting alternate theories or ideas on some things in humanity's lifespan on earth??
That is, to continually deny that any other theory could exist that might explain some other element in humanity's history or archeological history or even alternate theories to explain global warming or alternate theories of the beginnings of the human species.
Let me try to explain my question so that you understand it correctly as well as I'm not too sure that I understand your point above.

Take for example the global warming issue.

Everyone believes that global warming is bad and is caused by human activity when there exists plenty of viable proof that explains the very notion that global warming is indeed not caused by human activity, rather by cosmic rays from outer space playing a far greater role in changing our Earth's climate than global warming experts state and that if other scientists go against this train of thought and thinking, then they are labeled as some kind of herectic.

In addition to being labeled as a heretic and a person who is deemed unscientific, those so called 'heretics' are continuing their scientific research into global warming much more directly and diligently than the over 2,500 scientists who merely "agreed" on some kind of political position that was based on one particular theory of global warming and climate change.

So to use the global warming debate which IMO is a scandal at the least, is something like the example that I've mentioned about, akin to what your talking about??

Or is it something completely different as when reading your post, I think that is what you were kind of suggesting.

[slikrapid]

How would it be possible for corruption to be state-sponsered??

i was thinking about a more general connection between government & corruption where individuals or groups inside of the government use the system (lets say because they have high ranking positions or inside knowledge on how it all works or are influential enough...) for certain goals outside of the governments official working area or ethical standards - when this kind of behavior escalates up to the point when the corruptive forces are able to modify the core elements of the system or when for each area of the system there are groups with such power/influence (ones that lobbyists are searching for and cooperating with), furthermore when these are known issues, yet somehow largely remain unaddressed (unaccounted for), it is then not too much of a stretch to say this scenario is actually state-sponsored - intentionally (they want it to remain as is or further it), through incompetence (don't know) or negligence (don't care)

there is also a possibility that this was the original intention of the system creators and/or their successors

Are you talking about how modern day science and theorists (some, not all) become very adamant in NOT accepting alternate theories

well, i was referring to the perception (and self-perception) of contemporary scientists that they are positioned at the cutting edge of humanity's science, discovering previously unknown facts, whereas much of it is actually rediscovering/reinterpreting/rehashing of already existing knowledge (some of it 'painfully' old ), yet when we add their 'fear' for fragile? theories and other odd related behavior (corruption among others) it gives a different picture of science today, one that should probably get down from its 'high horse' and make some serious cleanup of its backyard

in addition to your quote, i'd say, exactly, and not only with 'not accepting' or 'verbally attacking', but also by using elements/methods of corruption (or being used by other corruptive forces, maybe not too scientifically oriented but with certain vested interests and influential positions)

its like there is a certain interest in keeping some mainstream-accepted theories as 'the only valid/acceptable ones', in a very dogmatic (ie. non-scientific) way, crushing all other opposition or alternative views, with all kinds of methods, as if they pose some significant threat to the majority of theories or to their creator's rating/status - for some of these incidents the reasons may not be too obvious, but for others, take the global warming (or 'climate change' as its nowadays more cleverly called) or vaccinations for example, the prevailing interest is to achieve the profit (and some control) from a plethora of people and organizations (affected by their belief that these theories have been achieved in a scientifically proper manner) taking expected or proposed actions that eventually benefit the theory creators or their direct/indirect 'partners'

it is a way for the corporate industry to lure people to 'consume' their products, creating/staging/misinterpreting events to induce panic with hyped disaster scenarios, rushing consumers to take the 'false promises of effectiveness' bait