Humanitarian workers killed in Gaza ambush blamed on Hamas; internet cut in territory

At least eight Palestinians who worked for the U.S-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation died in an ambush, the GHF said on Thursday, blaming Hamas militants for the killings that rocked the troubled food distribution operation.

A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was raked with gunfire on Wednesday night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the foundation said, adding that many of its staff were injured and some might have been kidnapped.

Separately, the local health authority said 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and 400 wounded in the past 24 hours across the battered enclave - including 21 people killed this morning near GHF sites.

Locals said the internet was down across much of the Gaza Strip, adding to the chaos and confusion. The United Nations said the blackout was probably caused by Israel military activity damaging the last cable into the enclave.

"Lifelines to emergency services, humanitarian coordination, and critical information for civilians have all been cut. There is a full internet blackout, and mobile networks are barely functioning," deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

GHF's interim director, John Acree, said his organisation had considered closing its centres on Thursday because of the bus ambush, but in the end, opted to remain open.

"We decided that the best response to Hamas’ cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us," he said in a statement.

Hamas declined to comment on the shootings.

Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying GHF workers tied to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan that has challenged Hamas's supremacy in the enclave.

Abu Shabab released a statement on his Facebook page denouncing images posted on social media showing Gazans allegedly killed by Hamas and as it seeks to safeguard its 18-year rule in the war-smashed territory.

"Rumours of executions and killings are being spread by the corrupt, mercenaries, and criminals of Hamas in an attempt to sow fear in the hearts of those who seek change and liberation from terrorism, oppression, and its unjust rule," he said.

MASS EVACUATIONS

The Israeli military said it was continuing to target Hamas fighters in Gaza, killing three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards its soldiers, and hitting a building near a medical centre that it said was being used to make weapons.

It also said it had arrested several Hamas members in Syria overnight, accusing them of planning to attack Israelis.

The military ordered residents of several neighbourhoods in central Gaza to evacuate and head to western Gaza City.

"The IDF is operating with great force in the areas where you are located," IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

He later issued a similar warning for residents in the city centre of Khan Younis, to the south, and nearby blocks.

The Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) association called for the protection of the city's Nasser Hospital and the hundreds of patients and healthcare workers inside, as Israeli attacks threatened to shut down the facility.

Israel has fought for more than 20 months to eliminate Hamas after it launched deadly attacks October 7, 2023 that ignited the war. All efforts to end the conflict through negotiations have failed.

Despite the bus attack, GHF said it handed out 2.6 million meals on Thursday - a daily record since it started operations in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of food distribution that the United Nations says is deeply flawed.

"This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian 'Hunger Games' cannot become the new reality," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X.

"The UN including @UNRWA has the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs," he added.

Israel has repeatedly called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of having ties with Hamas. UNRWA has denied this.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 180 people have been killed by Israeli fire near the aid centres over the past three weeks, as the aid effort repeatedly degenerated into chaos and terror with locals scrabbling for limited supplies.

Israel has contested the death tally, accusing Hamas of causing much of the mayhem.

Besides the GHF distribution effort, Israel is also letting into Gaza trucks carrying flour for the handful of bakeries that are still operating.

For the first time in months, Israel allowed humanitarian trucks to enter northern Gaza directly overnight - with 56 lorries carrying supplies from the U.N.'s World Food Programme crossing into the largely devastated region.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia creating dedicated drone force – Putin

Russia is in the process of establishing drone forces as a separate branch of the military, President Vladimir Putin has said, revealing that up to half of all battlefield kills in the Ukraine conflict come from UAVs.  

The president made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with top military and civilian officials dedicated to Russia’s armament plan for the next decade. Unmanned systems have been playing a crucial role on the battlefield, and the scope of their use is only growing, Putin stated.  

“They are capable of destroying armored vehicles, entrenchments, communication systems, transport, and enemy manpower. Our drone operators are currently responsible for a significant portion – up to 50% – of the destroyed and damaged enemy equipment and facilities,” the president said.

Apart from the direct combat use, drones are widely employed for reconnaissance, electronic warfare, mining and demining, the president noted.

Russia is currently in the process of forming a dedicated drone force, Putin said, adding that its development and deployment must be as “swift and top-notch” as possible.  

“I believe we have accumulated good experience in order to create this branch of the military. We are talking about training personnel, production, and deliveries of modern devices capable of enhancing the combat capabilities of our troops,” the president said. 

The establishment of the new branch of service – the Unmanned Systems Troops – was first announced last December as part of the effort to boost the use of unmanned technology on the battlefield. At the time, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said the branch would be formed in the third quarter of this year.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian refugees in Sumy fear Russian advance, shelling

Margaryta Husakova, her broken arm secured in a metal orthopedic fixation device, smoked nervously as she sat on the staircase of a refugee shelter in Sumy, a city in northern Ukraine, contemplating what the future holds.

In May, Husakova, 37, a mother of eight, lost her mother, sister, and uncle in a Russian drone attack on a van near the town of Bilopillia, west of Sumy. Nine people died in total and Husakova was among the five wounded.

"A man pulled me out of the bus, emergency services arrived, and I was sitting there on the grass," she said.

Despite talk of peace, the war is creeping closer to Sumy, a regional capital of 250,000 people, located just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border with Russia.

After the bus attack, Husakova and her family fled their native town Bilopillia, now a target of Russian artillery, and sought shelter at a refugee centre in Sumy.

"What’s next? We’re sitting here, but if they offer us somewhere else, we’ll go with the children," she said.

Her father, Vyacheslav, expressed worry about the future.

"I don’t know what’s next … the most important thing for me is to take the children away, because katsapy will come to Sumy too,” he said, using a pejorative term for Russians.

Russia, which controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has seized over 190 square kilometres (73 square miles) of the Sumy region in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open-source maps.

Russian troops have captured more ground in the past days, advancing to around 20 kilometres from Sumy’s northern suburbs, bringing the city closer to being within the range of long-range artillery and drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address on Thursday, said Ukrainian forces were "gradually pushing back" Russian soldiers in the region, but offered no details.

The number of displaced people arriving in Sumy is increasing, said Kateryna Arisoi, head of Pluriton, a non-governmental organization that operates the shelter for internally displaced people.

“We are seeing the frontline slowly moving toward Sumy,” she said. "So far evacuation has been ordered in more than 200 settlements."

Last week, a Russian rocket attack on Sumy killed three people and injured 28, including three children, while also damaging several buildings.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in their attacks, but thousands of civilians have died in the three-year-long conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

RT/Reuters

I encountered the relic of his presence long before I met Sam Amuka, known as Uncle Sam. Inside a room in the far corner of the old Kudeti PUNCH building, predominantly constructed of plywood and steel frames, there was a wooden armchair that had been a fixture in Uncle Sam’s office when he served as managing editor.

When I joined PUNCH as a staff writer eight years after his departure in 1981, this piece of furniture was in my first office, sitting like a totem in a shrine, while stories about Uncle Sam floated in whispers.

The stories could not be told freely in PUNCH at the time because of the bitter dispute between Uncle Sam and his friend and Publisher, Olu Aboderin, which would later end in an out-of-court settlement.

So, if one were looking for stories about Uncle Sam’s early professional life, particularly his works, the Daily Times would have been a good place to find them.

In the 1990s, however, the Times started having its own problems, leading to frequent changes at the top, and a dramatic sale that imperilled not only access to the records of the newspaper’s leading lights like Uncle Sam, but even the history of the newspaper which, in its heyday, was Nigeria’s most prosperous, authoritative and vibrant brand.

From ‘Offbeat Sam’ to ‘Sad Sam’

Uncle Sam made his name at the Daily Times, but his journalism career did not start there. According to Ben Lawrence, in an article entitled “An artiste and a builder,” published in Voices from Within, a collection of articles edited by Lanre Idowu to mark Uncle Sam’s 70th birthday, he made his first call at the Sunday Express,where John Pepper Clark was features editor.

J.P. Clark nurtured him, but it was at the Times that his talent blossomed. He started with “Offbeat Sam,” which, as the name suggested, was an unconventional, straight-from-the-heart weekly column that stripped many social and political issues of their cloak of hypocrisy.

Like many elites in the 90s who criticised gossip magazines as street rags but never missed reading them behind closed doors, “Offbeat Sam” made politicians and government officials uncomfortable. But it was a foretaste of what was to come.

When Uncle Sam moved from the Sunday Express to become editor of Spear magazine (he later edited the Sunday Times), a Daily Timespublication set up to rival Drum of South Africa, he started the “Sad Sam” column.His entry expanded a vibrant and robust field of punditry that included the likes of Alade Odunewu, Peter Enahoro (Peter Pan), Clarkson Majomi, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Haroun Adamu, and Uche Chukwumerije, amongst others.

Writing for a living

“Sad Sam” was not interested in the news. He exploited the foibles and follies of politicians and those in authority to entertain, provoke emotions, or instigate deeper thinking about who we are.

An article by Gbemiga Ogunleye, “The columnist’s power,” quoting Sad Sam in the Sunday PUNCH of August 12, 1973, said, “I (Sad Sam) write for the same reason that a houseboy cleans the house or a secretary-typist takes shorthand and types or a taxi driver rides the street, touting for fares…or an executive in business or government goes to the office or a professional burglar steals. For a living, that’s all. It’s none of my business to correct the ills or save this country!”

I’m a bit like Sad Sam these days, chastened by the years and weary of making any fuss about changing the world by writing. However, one area in which I could never be like Uncle Sam is his management style.

Be ‘a little mad’

In an industry where he once admitted in a sticker on the wall of the PUNCH newsroom, “You don’t have to be mad to work here, but a little madness helps,” how did he manage a steely coolness in his small body frame amidst the turmoil of the newsroom, never mind the many tempests of a life forged in the vicissitudes of the streets of Oguanja in Sapele?

Was his stoicism partly shaped in his formative years, including his time as a left-winger for the Government College, Ughelli football team and his education at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Enugu, where he studied architecture?

As Odunewu wrote, the intensity of the newsroom creates more of the likes of Lord Beaverbrook, the publisher of the Daily Express or MKO Abiola of the Concord – or even Sam Nda-Isaiah of LEADERSHIP – a breathless and restless stock in whose corner I find myself, than the likes of Uncle Sam who would rather go to the office with a peace offering than drag the office to their presence by the scruff of the neck.

An eye for talent

Eric Teniola, who worked with Uncle Sam in PUNCH between 1977 and 1981, as Oyo State Editor, Constituent Assembly Editor and Lagos City Editor, told me that one of Uncle Sam’s greatest gifts is his capacity to always look on the bright side, the opposite of the essence of a Sad Sam.

“He knew how to spot a talent and to bring out the best in the people who worked with him,” Teniola said. “From Muyiwa Adetiba to Toye Akiode and Frank Aigbogun, he identified some of the most remarkable talents in the newsroom and created the environment that inspired them to work. He was always informal, unpretentious and spontaneous, looking for a reporter to give a big break or a miserable bloke to give a free lunch.”

Ademola Osinubi, former MD/Editor-in-Chief of PUNCH, who started as a reporter in 1976, and later became the chief reporter under Uncle Sam, said, “With Uncle Sam, you couldn’t be sure your script would pass the test until it’s been published. He was an editor’s editor.”

Gene vs. lifestyle

As for his longevity, that is a different story. It’s probably part hereditary. Uncle Sam’s mother died at 109. Apart from his older brother, Oritsedere, who passed in 2002, the other three from the same mother are still alive, and the youngest is a woman, Amanaghan, 76. Uncle Sam’s daughter, Omasan Dudu, told me he is a good swimmer and, until recently, maintained a personal yoga coach.

“He still goes to the office every Monday and takes his exercises seriously,” she said. “I remember he fought against the attempt to convert the open space in his community in Lagos, Anthony Village, where he exercised. But most of all, his longevity is down to his generosity of spirit and God’s grace. That’s how he has managed multiple ulcer surgeries and other big challenges in life. It’s grace.”

In my obsession to live a long, healthy life, only God knows how many things I have given up. I can’t remember when I last used a sweetener or milk, even gluten-free ones, for my tea or pap. Last year, when I visited him, Uncle Sam had his tea with plenty of honey and topped his tea with several spoonsful of sachet Cowbell milk. Packets of Kemp’s crackers biscuits littered the cane table.

Daddy DJ!

To create the perfect ambience for his refreshment, he turned on music stored on a flash drive. “You don’t know I’m called Daddy DJ?” he joked in response to my puzzled look. That was new to me from a man I consider Nigeria’s answer to Jimmy Breslin.

In a tribute to Breslin after his death, The Guardian wrote that he was the champion of the trials and troubles of the ordinary people in New York. “He filled his columns with gangsters and thieves, whom he knew first-hand from drinking in the same bars. He told stories that smacked of blarney behind their anger.”

That could have been Sad Sam, a man punctual as the clock, passionate about press freedom and sustained by righteous rage.

Live and let live

Three years ago, he had a fracture. He had undergone a back surgery and was on his way to an appointment for an acupuncture procedure. Instead of walking over a plank in front of the place, he tried to jump over the gutter and fractured his leg. I asked the editor of Vanguard, Eze Anaba, how the Vanguard publisher, who was then 87 years old, had survived the fall.

“He believes that life has a NAFDAC number,” Anaba said. “Nothing can take you out if your number has not expired.”

I asked Osinubi how he would describe this man he has known for 49 years. “He lives life on his terms,” he said. “Live and let live.”

Here’s to another 20, Uncle Sam!

** Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book, Writing for Media and Monetising It.

Tension is high as the Take It Back Movement leads nationwide protests today, June 12, in at least 20 cities, including Abuja, Lagos, and Benin. The protests are aimed at highlighting rising economic hardship, insecurity, and misgovernance under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Tinubu, who cancelled his planned national broadcast, will instead address a joint session of the National Assembly as part of Democracy Day celebrations. Protesters plan to march on the Assembly in Abuja, and other key locations across Nigeria.

Security agencies have deployed personnel nationwide to maintain order. In some states, police warned against disorder but affirmed the right to peaceful protest. In Lagos, the NBA urged police to protect demonstrators, citing constitutional rights.

The organisers insist the protests will go ahead despite reports of harassment of coordinators in states like Lagos, Gombe, and Edo. They urged citizens to speak out against worsening poverty, insecurity, and what they call two years of “misrule.”

While some states, including Kano and Kwara, opted for lectures and workshops instead of street protests, groups in others like Niger, Delta, and Edo are mobilising crowds. Authorities have promised to ensure peaceful commemorations, but warned they would respond to any threats to public peace.

Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole has strongly refuted Air Peace’s allegations that he disrupted airport operations, instead accusing the airline of systematic extortion and arbitrary policy enforcement that exploits Nigerian passengers.

The controversy erupted when Air Peace publicly accused the former Edo State governor of causing disruptions at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed Airport after allegedly missing his scheduled flight. However, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Oshiomhole painted a dramatically different picture of events.

The Tuesday Evening Incident

According to Oshiomhole’s account, trouble began Tuesday evening when he arrived at the airport at 6:10 PM for a 6:50 PM departure to Abuja, well within Air Peace’s standard 30-minute check-in window. Despite having his luggage processed and holding a business class ticket, airline staff denied him boarding, claiming they had stopped issuing boarding passes.

“I saw others arriving after me who were allowed to board,” Oshiomhole explained, describing what he viewed as selective enforcement of policies. The denial forced him to secure hotel accommodation, where he spent ₦1.5 million to house himself and two stranded Ghanaian passengers.

Morning Flight Rejection Sparks Deeper Concerns

The situation escalated the following morning when Oshiomhole, having checked in online at 7:46 PM the previous night, arrived for the 6:30 AM flight at 6:05 AM. Despite meeting what he understood to be the airline’s requirements, he was again turned away due to what staff described as a sudden policy change requiring passengers to check in 45 minutes before departure instead of the usual 30 minutes.

“What is the purpose of online check-in, then?” Oshiomhole questioned, highlighting the apparent contradictions in the airline’s procedures.

Allegations of Systematic Exploitation

The senator’s most serious accusations centered on what he characterized as a deliberate scheme to exploit passengers. He described witnessing airline staff deny boarding to passengers with legitimate online bookings while simultaneously selling last-minute tickets at inflated prices.

Oshiomhole cited the case of a woman who purchased her ticket online for ₦146,000 but was denied boarding and told to buy a replacement ticket for ₦250,000. “That is not policy enforcement, it is extortion,” he declared.

The senator detailed how another passenger, a woman traveling with a baby, was eventually offered a seat on the next flight for an additional ₦109,000, bringing her total cost to approximately ₦256,000 for a one-hour domestic flight.

Rejecting VIP Treatment, Standing with Citizens

In a move that distinguishes his response from typical elite behavior, Oshiomhole revealed that he deliberately refused preferential treatment when Air Peace staff offered to “sort him out” after recognizing his status.

“I said, don’t help me, enforce my rights like every other Nigerian,” he recounted. The senator criticized what he termed “VIP impunity” in Nigeria’s aviation sector, where influential individuals receive special treatment while ordinary citizens suffer.

His decision to remain with stranded passengers rather than accept preferential access reflects a broader stance against systemic inequality. “Big men get sorted, and the rest of Nigerians are ignored,” he observed.

Regulatory Failure and Government Responsibility

Oshiomhole directed sharp criticism at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), accusing the regulatory body of failing in its oversight responsibilities. He characterized the situation as “ruthless, primitive capitalism” where Nigerians remain unprotected from corporate exploitation.

“How can you profit from your own inefficiency?” he asked, calling on the federal government to intervene in what he sees as systematic abuse of passengers’ rights.

The senator warned that continued exploitation could have broader social consequences, suggesting that when people lose hope in institutional protection, they may resort to more drastic measures.

Financial Support for Affected Passengers

Demonstrating his commitment to the affected passengers, Oshiomhole revealed that he provided ₦500,000 to assist the woman who was denied boarding, illustrating the personal cost of his principled stand.

The incident has highlighted broader questions about airline practices in Nigeria and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight in protecting consumer rights. Oshiomhole’s refusal to accept VIP treatment while advocating for ordinary passengers has added a unique dimension to what might otherwise have been dismissed as another celebrity tantrum.

As the dispute continues, it raises important questions about corporate accountability, regulatory effectiveness, and the protection of consumer rights in Nigeria’s aviation sector.

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday to their highest in more than two months, after U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East, which raised fear that escalating tensions with Iran could disrupt supply.

Brent crude futures rose 15 cents, 0.2%, to $69.92 a barrel at 1230 am GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude 22 cents, 0.3%, to $68.37.

Both Brent and WTI surged more than 4% to their highest since early April on Wednesday.

Trump on Wednesday said U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place," adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.

Iraq is OPEC's No. 2 crude producer after Saudi Arabia.

A U.S. official said military dependents could also leave Bahrain.

Meanwhile, Iran's Minister of Defense Aziz Nasirzadeh said Tehran will strike U.S. bases in the region if nuclear talks fail and conflict arises with Washington. Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with bombing if it does not reach a new nuclear deal.

Optimism around a trade deal between the U.S. and China, which could boost energy demand in the world's two biggest economies, also buoyed oil prices.

In the U.S., crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a draw of 2 million barrels.

Reuters

US slams UN conference on Israel-Palestinian issue, warns of consequences

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is discouraging governments around the world from attending a U.N. conference next week on a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a U.S. cable seen by Reuters.

The diplomatic demarche, sent on Tuesday, says countries that take "anti-Israel actions" following the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences from Washington.

The demarche, which was not previously reported, runs squarely against the diplomacy of two close allies France and Saudi Arabia, who are co-hosting the gathering next week in New York that aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security.

"We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages," read the cable.

President Emmanuel Macron has suggested France could recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territories at the conference. French officials say they have been working to avoid a clash with the U.S., Israel's staunchest major ally.

"The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognise a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies," the cable read.

The United States for decades backed a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would create a state for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.

Trump, in his first term, was relatively tepid in his approach to a two-state solution, a longtime pillar of U.S. Middle East policy. The Republican president has given little sign of where he stands on the issue in his second term.

But on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a long-time vocal supporter of Israel, said he did not think an independent Palestinian state remained a U.S. foreign policy goal.

GAZA WAR

"Unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state would effectively render Oct. 7 Palestinian Independence Day," the cable read, referring to when Palestinian Hamas militants carried out a cross-border attack from Gaza on Israel in 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

Hamas' attack triggered Israel's air and ground war in Gaza in which almost 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of the 2.3 million population displaced and the enclave widely reduced to rubble.

If Macron went ahead, France, home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities, would become the first Western heavyweight to recognise a Palestinian state.

This could lend greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations generally more critical of Israel.

Macron's stance has shifted amid Israel's intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, and there is a growing sense of urgency in Paris to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.

The U.S. cable said Washington had worked tirelessly with Egypt and Qatar to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, free the hostages and end the conflict.

"This conference undermines these delicate negotiations and emboldens Hamas at a time when the terrorist group has rejected proposals by the negotiators that Israel has accepted."

This week Britain and Canada, also G7 allies of the United States, were joined by other countries in placing sanctions on two Israeli far-right government ministers to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the Gaza war to an end.

"The United States opposes the implied support of the conference for potential actions including boycotts and sanctions on Israel as well as other punitive measures," the cable read.

Israel has repeatedly criticised the conference, saying it rewards Hamas for the attack on Israel, and it has lobbied France against recognising a Palestinian state.

The U.S. State Department and the French Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev’s unwillingness to compromise to lead to more territorial losses — Russian negotiator

Ukraine’s unwillingness to compromise in talks with Russia will only lead to more territorial losses for Kiev, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads Moscow’s delegation to negotiations with Ukraine.

"We want peace," he pointed. "But if Ukraine keeps being driven by the national interests of others, then we will be simply forced to respond," Medinsky added.

He also "warned that a lack of compromise from Kiev would only lead to more territorial losses," the newspaper notes.

"With Russia, it’s impossible to fight a long war," Medinsky noted, referring to a 21-year war with Sweden in the 18th century.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's military says it struck Russia's Tambov gunpowder plant

The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday that it had struck a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region overnight, causing a fire at the site.

The Ukrainian military characterised the plant as one of the main facilities in Russia's military industrial complex. "It produces gunpowder for various types of small arms, artillery and rocket systems," it said in a statement on Telegram.

Tambov regional Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said early on Wednesday that Russian defences had repelled a "massive attack" by Ukrainian drones on the town of Kotovsk, which independent Russian media identified as the site of a gunpowder plant.

He said one downed drone had caused a fire but no casualties, and the situation was under control.

Pervyshov also told people not to film and publish images of air defence operations and attempted attacks, as this would provide "direct assistance to the enemy."

The Tambov gunpowder plant produces propellant powders used in charges for ammunition for 122 mm and 152 mm howitzers, according to a report from the Royal United Services Institute and the Open Source Centre.

The Ukrainian military also said that it recorded explosions at an ammunition depot in Russia's Kursk region and an airfield depot in Russia's Voronezh region.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the incidents.

Sometime in March this year, I gave a young woman a ride in my car. The radio was beaming out King Sunny Ade’s track where he elegantly eulogised the late Moshood Abiola. The young woman’s eyes opened in recognition as she listened to the song. “MKO Abiola! I heard so much about the man that I went to read about him on Wikipedia. I read they killed him and all that.” I was taken aback. This young woman was probably in her late 20s or early 30s, but she had only learned about MKO through Wikipedia? That much time had passed that an entire generation of children born around June 12, 1993, has grown into adults who now read the history that some of us lived through. She glistened with the innocence of a generation untainted by the messiness of history. Reading about the events of history from behind the sanitised screen of electronic devices affords the luxury of detachment.

It is another June 12, and even those who witnessed those years have been remembering differently for reasons ranging from sheer nostalgia to disillusionment with the present. Some of the editorials marking the death of Sani Abacha, the brutal dictator whose death paved the way for the return of civil rule, try too hard to posture objectivity by speaking of his “good” sides. To supposedly balance their report, they first come up with a list of what he achieved before highlighting the abuses he inflicted on the country. They end up painting a picture of a benevolent dictator, a man who broke some eggs because he needed to make an omelette of national development. Painting such a sympathetic image tempts me to question if they, too, read up on the history informing their perspectives on Wikipedia. Whatever is wrong with the present cannot justify the past. This was a man who unleashed darkness upon the nation. Nothing redeems Abacha’s history.

It is fine to talk about the increased foreign exchange reserves under his watch and how he reduced the external debt, but how about sparing a thought for the Nigerians whose lives remained impoverished throughout the Abacha years? We tend to look wistfully at the past and convince ourselves that the world was better, but those were never part of “the good old days”. The post-June 12 years during which Abacha ruled the nation with an iron fist were really hard times, and it was not for nothing that we burst into the streets when nature took care of his nuisance. He was not a man who cared about the collective welfare that he governed to alleviate poverty and suffering. Whatever economic progress was recorded under his watch was, at best, merely incidental. Nigerians suffered, and we have probably never fully recovered from those years of economic crunch.

The economic deprivation was one, and the atmosphere of fear he created was another. Under Sani Abacha’s watch, the Nigerian press faced a severe crackdown. Some of the journalists who drew his ire are still alive to tell their stories. Those were also the days of political assassination. We still have no closure on the deaths of Kudirat Abiola, Suliat Adedeji, Alfred Rewane, Toyin Onagoruwa, Sola Omatsola, Tunde Oladepo, Admiral Olu Omotehinwa, Rear Admiral Babatunde Elegbede, and many others whose assassinations were attributed to the infamous “strike force” run by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. Then, there was Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine, who were brutally killed by the Abacha regime. These are outstanding moral debts. Knowing Nigeria for what it is, all these will likely fade away when the generation that witnessed this history dies out entirely.

Then, there are hundreds or possibly thousands of unnamed Nigerians killed by the trigger-happy soldiers. Yet, our media archivists go on and on about how Abacha established PTF as if that cancels out the evil he did. Watching a TVC journalist’s recent interview with Abacha’s widow, Maryam, I was put off by the overly deferential attitude he maintained towards her. This was a woman who could not have been entirely oblivious to the sins her husband committed; she must have averted her eyes while her husband trampled on the soul of the nation. Yet the journalist kept asking her solicitous questions. Why does this woman’s opinion on anything even matter?  Other than asking for forgiveness for the sins of her late husband, why does she deserve any attention?

But it is not only ordinary citizens who have been demonstrating poor memory where the history of June 12 is concerned. Even our leaders have twisted history, all in the bid to deodorise the maniac. In 2014, it was Goodluck Jonathan who first used one hand to swipe off history when he conferred Abacha with an award for “Outstanding Promoter of Unity, Patriotism and National Development”. Jonathan, ever-apologetic for even his own existence, must have thought he could appease the all-powerful North by erasing a fraction of Nigeria’s odious history. If Jonathan’s pandering could be understood as a shameless solicitation of Abacha’s followers because he was desperate to win an election, how does one explain the reverential attitude the present administration maintains towards the Abacha family?

A mere few months after they got into office, Oluremi Tinubu, the first lady, renamed the main auditorium of the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development after Maryam Abacha. For her to have been in such a hurry to endow an Abacha with honour, there must have been a favour somewhere she could not wait to repay. Then, just last December, Mrs Tinubu also called for the renaming of the radiotherapy centre at the National Hospital, Abuja, in honour of Maryam Abacha. It makes you wonder what exactly Mrs Tinubu (and her husband) owes either this woman (or her late husband) that makes her eschew optics just to celebrate her? It gets even funnier when you recall that President Tinubu earned his activist clout for his supposed role in confronting the Abacha regime. As soon as they got into power, they could not wait to confer honorary awards on the same set of people whose high-handedness supposedly pursued them into exile. Looking back on June 12, some 32 years later, I wonder if the whole NADECO story deserves a re-examination to separate the genuine fighters from the double agents who merely played both sides of history.

But then, it is also unsurprising that Tinubu does not maintain a principled stand against Abacha. Doing that would require the husband and wife to stand on the sure ground of social righteousness, and we all know why that is impossible for them. Much of the abuse of power and corruption that we witnessed under Abacha’s draconian rule has become a staple of their own government. Tinubu’s administration feels a lot like the Abacha leadership, except that we now have social media. And of course, there are far fewer political assassinations. It is no longer necessary to assassinate dissidents these days. Just invite them to Aso Rock or Bourdillon Road for “quality time” with the President, stage a photo-op with them, and you will effectively turn them into lickspittles. Some days, I wonder what the MKO Abiola family thinks about all these.

Punch