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[OPINION] Buhari, Good Governance Will Silence Social Media

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No government is short of opposition. In a democracy, the residence of an animated opposition signals the buoyancy of the system. Where there is democracy, there is opposition. In fact, opposition is the mitochondria of a republican system – it keeps the government on the mill working according to purpose.

Why is the Buhari administration after the only opposition platform of all citizens?

Really, the principal task of the administration from its conception was dismantling instruments and institutions of check. The Buhari executive thwacked the judiciary and effectively broke its back when agents of the state attacked judges in their homes and when the administration contrived the removal of Walter Onnoghen as chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), asphalting the path for a CJN to emerge from the region where the president comes from.

The national assembly was not spared from the bludgeoning of the Buhari government. So, effectively the two institutions which naturally provide the functional wheels in a democracy were amputated and executivised. The dominant opposition party, which should have been a rallying point of all genuine voices of dissent, is sterile – owing to its own internal contradictions and loss of moral authority. The kettle cannot call the pot black.

Therefore, citizens have taken their destiny into their own hands. Social media offers all aggregates of the citizenry a platform to vent, to criticise, and to offer suggestions on government’s policies and actions. It is the only effective opposition platform. It has become an apparatus for calling out government’s incompetence and holding it to account.

As a matter of fact, the campaign by the government to regulate social media comes from a place of personal insecurity. To most Nigerians who have expressed their views on the government’s convulsion over this utility, including me, the reason for the rabid pursuit of censorship is: ‘’So, the favourites of the government can steal without questions. So, they can harass Nigerians without the consequence of an outrage. To escape citizens’ judgment on their failures. Just so they can get away with anything.’’

Nigerians, who are patrons of this important utility, say they do not want it regulated by the government; so, the administration will be acting against the wish of the people it purports to represent if it does otherwise. This will further indict the government of dictatorship.

Citizens do not trust the government to act in their interest. The government has not given them a reason to. They are not categorically railing against the censorship of the ‘’underworld contrivances’’ of social media but against the government wielding power as the expurgator of this device. Every citizen apparatus appropriated by the government has always been abused, corrupted and deployed in violation of rights and liberties.

Really, the government should not hold the console to social media. Regulating the social networks should be the business of the fabricators. And already, they are doing that. On Facebook, you cannot post violent photos or videos, and hate speech is censored. There are variegated means of reporting fake news and hate speech on this platform and others as well. We have seen Twitter censoring the tweets of US President Donald Trump. The machinery of censorship on social media is already in operation by the creators.

So, the campaign to regulate social media is simply to silence the voices of Nigerians given oomph by this platform. It is compelling to believe those in government do not understand the social media. They are befuddled by the utility like Homo erectus and fire. They are afraid to see the unity of voices making demands on the government. They do not understand how citizens in distant locations can come to purpose on a single platform, standing up for themselves.

The government secretes its agenda in the excuse that social media can cause the collapse of the country. This is patently false. Nigeria’s bloodiest epoch was decades before the accouchement of social media. We experienced a civil war, pogroms, religious riots and political riots – all before social media. The triggers of the collapse of Nigeria are the internal contradictions – not social media.

The seeds of the mass violence of the past are still potent and the fault lines have been made more palpable by the misconstrusion of governance by the Buhari administration. If Nigerians were divided by an invisible line in the past, President Buhari came and built a towering wall separating them according to religion and ethnicity.

The occasional bouts of ethnic exchanges on social media are implicitly because of the provincial bent of the Buhari administration – which accented our differences. When a government does not treat all citizens equally, it is only setting up a furnace of disharmony.

To silence social media is simple. It only takes Leadership. Deliver good governance to the people and watch the dissenters become praise singers, and hate speech becomes love letters. It only takes leadership.

Fredrick Nwabufo

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The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”

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According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.

It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.

The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.

Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.

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Math Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With 2 Students And Getting Pregnant For One Tearfully Reveals The Baby Was Taken Away From Her

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The UK teacher who had a baby with an underage student while on trial for having sex with another teenage boy broke down in court after revealing her newborn baby girl had been “taken away” from her.

Manchester math teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, sobbed to jurors over how her baby was taken “24 hours after being born” this past January — and now she only sees her for nine hours a week, Joynes told jurors on Monday, May 13, according to the Manchester Evening News.

“At the moment I have contact with her three times a week for three hours and that’s it,” she said through tears.

Joynes was arrested and released on bail on orders not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 after allegedly grooming her pupil, known as Boy A in court, by buying him a $430 Gucci belt before bringing him to her apartment for unprotected sex.

She was suspended from school and eventually fired, but soon after, she began having a relationship with a 15-year-old boy, known in court as Boy B, whom she had a baby with in January.

Joynes, who has denied having sex with either boy when they were underage, told the court that when she learned of the allegations against her she had gone to the second boy in a “panic” and he deleted all of her phone’s content.

The former teacher denied having a sexual relationship with the second boy until after he turned 16 and she was already suspended from teaching.

According to her narration,

She said he had added her on Snapchat twice, which she only accepted the second time because she thought he “wanted to tell her something.”

Joynes said a friendship developed and he quickly became her “best friend” even though the boy would make flirtatious and sexualized comments toward her when he was drunk.

She told jurors that it wasn’t until after his 16th birthday that he messaged her saying “I’ve left school now” with a winky face.

After she received notice that she had been dismissed from her job, he went to her apartment, where following an emotional conversation, they had sex.

The two then entered a relationship that Joynes described as “quite toxic” telling the court how the teenager was “very controlling.”

After discovering she was pregnant, Joynes hid love notes for the boy to find around her apartment.

The notes eventually led to a piece of baby clothing that had the words “I love my daddy to the moon and back” written on it.

The court was told that she gave birth to their baby girl in January, but following an emergency court hearing, the newborn was taken away from Joynes.

Joynes has denied two counts of sexual activity with Boy A; two counts of sexual activity with Boy B; and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.

Her trial is ongoing.

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First Man To Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Has Died

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The first Man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which carried out the procedure in March, announced Sunday, May 12, that Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, has died.

They said there was no indication his death was a result of the transplant.

Transplants of other organs from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past, but the operation on Mr Slayman, who was suffering with end-stage kidney disease, was hailed as a historic milestone.

In addition to kidney disease, Mr Slayman also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

In 2018, he had a human kidney transplant, but it began to fail after five years.

Following his pig kidney transplant on March 16, his doctors confirmed he no longer needed dialysis after the new organ was said to be functioning well.

“Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” MGH said in a statement.

Xenotransplantation is the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.

MGH said it was “deeply saddened” at his sudden death and offered condolences to his family.

Mr Slayman’s relatives said his story was an inspiration.

“Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” they said.

“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.

“To us, Rick was a kind-hearted man with a quick-witted sense of humour who was fiercely dedicated to his family, friends, and co-workers,” they added.

While Mr Slayman received the first pig kidney to be transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.

Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients died a few weeks later.

In one case, there were signs the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.

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