Time to stop!

From: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of "Farooq A. Kperogi" <farooq...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 6:21 PM
To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Pita Agbese <pitaa...@yahoo.com>, "Dr. Bitrus Gwamna" <bgw...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pita Agbese's response.

Even you, Adeshina Afolayan, need to be told why the “group” is fraudulent in spite of all I’ve written about it? Na wa o. Since you want me to spell it out for you, let me oblige you.

1. Nigerian newspapers have called the “group” an “umbrella association of Nigerian scholars in the diaspora.” This characterization is based on a press release written by Bitrus Gwamna (and Pita Agbese). Curiously, all the stories have the exact same verbiage, which indicates that it was Gwamna (and Agbese) who intentionally called their “association” the "umbrella association of Nigerian scholars in the diaspora" (See the story in the Nation: https://thenationonlineng.net/emefiele-scholars-hail-buhari-task-fg-against-replacing-security-chiefs/ ; see it in the Nigerian Tribune: https://tribuneonlineng.com/213118/ ; see it in the Daily Independent: https://www.independent.ng/emefiele-scholars-commend-buhari-caution-against-replacing-security-chiefs/ ; see it in the Vanguard: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/05/emefiele-scholars-hail-buhari-task-fg-against-replacing-security-chiefs/ ).These are different newspapers, but the phraseology of the story shares uncanny mathematical similitude. That clearly shows that it was Gwamna (and Agbese) who willfully characterized themselves as "the umbrella association of Nigerian scholars in the diaspora." It's impossible for every single newspaper to publish the same wording the same day. That only happens when newspapers simply publish a press release as is.

Gwamna and Agbese wrote their press release like a news story and gave it to newspapers. The first paragraphs read like a reporter's authorial intervention of a press release, but it's actually not. It was set up that way to deceive the reader. Either out of laziness or because they were paid, all the newspapers published the press release verbatim. If you don't think that is fraudulent, you must have a really weak moral core. Plus, in his pitifully rambling response to me, Agbese said it was the newspapers that chose to call the “Association of Nigerian Scholars in the Diaspora” an “umbrella association,” not them. That was an embarrassingly intentional lie, and that’s fraudulent.

2. Agbese tried to be smart by half by claiming that his “association” is modeled after a previous 8-member association founded by Julius Ihonvbere of which he was a member. He implied that although the association had a broad name, its membership wasn't broad. But the contrast of context he attempted to draw was imperfect. First, the "Association of Nigerian Scholars in the Diaspora" is a two-member "association." Anyone with even an elementary grasp of English grammar would know that two people can't, properly, be called an association. At best, they are a dyad. I also doubt that the Ihonvbere association called itself an “umbrella association” of any set of people. If it did even when only eight people constituted it, then it was fraudulent, too. The decision to call an association an "umbrella association" is a strategic rhetorical move calculated to confer unearned social and political capital to it from unsuspecting people.

3. The Agbese-Gwmana dyad claimed in its latest press release that "The Association of Nigerian Scholars as a prelude delegated its committee on Economic Development that consists scholars versed in Economic Development to assess the tenure of Godwin Emefeile as the CBN governor in Nigeria and discovered that the Nigeria economy indeed gained substantial traction in the last four years and also commended the dexterity with which the governor of the CBN handled our economic crisis.” That's straight-up fraudulent. As I've pointed out repeatedly, Gwamna and Agbese, the only members of the "association," are professors of communication and political science and can't conceivably constitute a "committee on Economic Development," much less assess the economy of any country with any expertise, both because you can't have a committee out of a dyad and because a professor of communication and a professor of political science don't qualify to be called "scholars versed in economic development." Of course, the fact that Nigeria became the world’s headquarters of extreme poverty and recorded the slowest growth in recent memory during the tenure of the same CBN governor undercuts their claim and aggrandizes their duplicity.

4. Although Gwamna and Agbese live in Iowa, they sent out a press release in March 2019 where they claimed that they'd held a meeting in London. They DID NOT! I've confirmed this from sources. That's fraudulent. The lie was intentional: they wanted to give unsuspecting Nigerian readers a false impression of wide diasporan geographic spread of their dyadic pro-regime conspiracy. I study the rhetorical strategies of scammers. I know fraud when I see it. I have written more than 70 percent of a book manuscript on the persuasive techniques of scammers.

I can give you more reasons why the "Association of Nigerian Scholars in Diaspora" is fraudulent, but I have better use for my time than persuading a grown man with a PhD in philosophy what constitutes fraud.

Farooq

On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 1:59 PM 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thank you, Oga Chidi. May you prosper! I just wonder how scholarship or principles are preserved when we must undermine others through barbed words and essays. It makes no sense to me. Any group of persons can call itself any name, as long as my name is not included without my consent. And whatever politics the group decide to play is the group's or the individuals concerned. Why inflict negative words on them, if there isn't any other issue involved beyond what we are made to read here? Why call the group a "fraudulent" one? And, please enlighten me, what kind of patriotic fervor is that that is so close minded and refuses others their say and perception on what is good or bad? As the Yorùbá would say, we all cannot sleep and face the same direction. There's a whole world separating reckless writing from principled writing. When they collide, we leave bad feelings all around and that undermines friendship and even good sense.

Adeshina Afolayan

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

On Wednesday, June 5, 2019, 6:22 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

"Is it not possible for the group to have chosen a name that does not suggest an umbrella organisation representing Nigerian diaspora academics?"(Oluwatoyin Adepoju).

If a group of Nigerian poets decide, for example to form an association and name it "Nigerian Poets Association", without consulting me and decide to support the Buhari administration, which I do not support, it would not mean that the association is "fraudulent" and/or that what they are doing would be "wrong".

The best I can do is to come out and say that I am not associated with the association and that should end it!

I would not start some unnecesary arrogant postulations about the group being "fraudulent" and all that!

CAO.

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Victor Okafor

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Jun 5, 2019, 9:20:53 PM6/5/19

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Pita Agbese, Dr. Bitrus Gwamna

Toyin:

These sorts of debates run out of steam and ought to be allowed to run out of steam on their own. The debating parties will eventually drift towards something else. So, we need to be cautious about time-limiting digital debates as if we are in a time-bound classroom setting, presided over by an authoritarian instructor. Censorship is censorship--be it from governmental or non-governmental quarters. Starting with one instance, it may grow wings and become an urge down a slippery slope! Let’s resist it before it gets out of hand.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/9B97503B-79A5-4AA6-8BEB-92B37EE9E469%40austin.utexas.edu.

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Sincerely,

Victor O. Okafor, Ph.D.

Professor and Head

Department of Africology and African American Studies

Eastern Michigan University

Email: vok...@emich.edu

Tel: 734.487.9594

Harrow, Kenneth

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Jun 5, 2019, 10:43:10 PM6/5/19

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Pita Agbese, Dr. Bitrus Gwamna

it is not censorship to have postings limited or denied in a managed thread. if this were an open discussion group, it would be one thing. but it is a closed discussion group, with our moderator controlling who can join, and how the discussion is to be managed. he has done a very fair job of it, and deserves our gratitude for insuring we are not exposed to vituperative comments, as would be the case were the list entirely open.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Victor Okafor <vok...@emich.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2019 9:03:39 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: Pita Agbese; Dr. Bitrus Gwamna
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Time to stop!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAO3oEcyMH-W%3DWmpyLBcV%2B3g9mjTV0KnyxxO9Ph2KRr1FDTd-uQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Jun 6, 2019, 4:31:51 AM6/6/19

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Pita Agbese, Dr. Bitrus Gwamna

FQ,
You would be surprised to know how many organizations started off with two people - drawing in more people due to shrewd marketing and determination on the part of the founders. One of the world's largest religions today had just twelve male disciples from one specific geographical location. Today the religion is present in all the continents. Secular organizations such as Black Lives Matter or Me too started off with one person's passion. You have definitely aided their recruitment drive and I say to the founders of NAS, here is an opportunity to grow your membership.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Victor Okafor <vok...@emich.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2019 9:03:39 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: Pita Agbese; Dr. Bitrus Gwamna

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Time to stop!

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segun ogungbemi

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Jun 6, 2019, 4:31:51 AM6/6/19

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It was a mistaken-fraud pure and simple.

Segun Ogungbemi.

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Farooq A. Kperogi

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Jun 6, 2019, 4:31:51 AM6/6/19

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I have no problems with moderating to maintain decorum and conversational civility-- if it is even-handed. Unfortunately, it's not. The moderator sometimes allows some people to gratuitously smear, even libel, people here, and when they react, he calls for a cessation of hostilities and, in the process, makes the victims look like the aggressors just because they have a superior verbal and rhetorical arsenal. In a private message, I requested the moderator to either never post unproductive insults at all or post them but allow people who are insulted to respond the best way they can.

For example. Salimonu Kadiri, Agbetuyi, IBK, and some others do nothing more than throw childish insults at people, but when people react to their insults with superior venom, the moderator intervenes, calls for caution, and makes the victims look like the aggressors. That's not fair moderation, in my opinion. Because the moderator habitually restrains me when I defend myself from unprovoked ad hominems, I have decided to block the email addresses of the worst offenders, who I frankly think have no business being on this forum, so I don't even see what they write. What the eyes do not see, the heart does not grieve over. For instance, just yesterday Toyin Adepoju asked an innocent question to the forum, but IBK 's response was to call him "intellectually lazy"--and it was posted! That was needless scurrility, which could have degenerated into bitter recominations had Adepoju taken the bait. I would have missed it had Chidi not responded to it and wondered aloud why infantile insults are IBK's stock-in-trade. A fairmined moderation would never have posted that sort of unprovoked juvenile insult. (To be fair to the moderator, I admit that he also sometimes stops insults from being posted here, but this doesn't happen often enough, in my opinion).

I am going to repeat my request to the moderator. Either keep the forum professional by altogether disallowing gratuitous ad hominems or let the forum be a digital free-for-all, which I would hate because it would not only drive people away but would defeat the reason for the forum.

Farooq

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Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Jun 6, 2019, 4:31:52 AM6/6/19

to USA-Africa Dialogue, Pita Agbese, Dr. Bitrus Gwamna

Dear Moderator,

I have two quick points regarding the line you are drawing at this thread at this point.

1. I agree with Victor and not Ken about censorship. This is one discussion that would soon round out of steam. We have had several far more heated than this one on this forum. Indeed, this has been relatively more matured discussion with view, responses and challenging questions posed.

2. I am, however, disappointed and consider it unfair that you will be drawing the line just after Farooq’s comprehensive response to Adeshina Afolayan. Farooq made excellent points breaking things down as to why he has made the accusation he made. Yet the points themselves started with a prelude that suggests “I will oblige you” yet ended with a conclusion that I tried hard to place. Trust me I am still trying. Why does he need this sentence after those four simple points?

“I can give you more reasons why the "Association of Nigerian Scholars in Diaspora" is fraudulent, but I have better use for my time than persuading a grown man with a PhD in philosophy what constitutes fraud.”

If he paused a bit and swallowed at just before that sentence above, he would just have added his name and send the message without adding that sentence. These are the tiny bits and pieces that he does not add up and that I always just find difficult to decipher.

Finally, Mr Moderator, if you wanted to be fair and not to censor it was at that point you would have drawn and line and not post his entire message or if you are so keen, you would have sent it back to him to remove that sentence. To draw a line following that thus depriving others of responding is a serious infringement and unfair in my view.

I do appreciate the difficultly of your task, the humongous time dedicated to this and especially recognise how impossible it is to manage scholars, yet you must not be seen as showering tender loving care on some and not others.

I support Ken’s view that you deserve our gratitude, and many of us are indeed grateful. May you continue to grow from strength to strength in your effort to keep a vibrant forum.

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Adeshina Afolayan

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Jun 6, 2019, 5:37:43 AM6/6/19

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Oga Gbadamosi,

Thank you so much. I actually respect Kperogi a lot. I consumed his posts. I even at a time got an idea for an essay from something he wrote once. And it is that admiration that has kept me always trying to find a means of removing the insulting Kperogi from the brilliant one. The two are too combustible for comfort.

When I got to the point of me having a "weak moral core", I just became extremely sad. I mean, why that? It's as if Kperogi must always insert uncivil words and phrases. I once interjected on his behalf in a different thread, and I didn't get abused. But Farooq spoke in certain terms that he does not desist from insulting those who insult him. That is f ightening. So, it's easy to tabulated now: you disagree with Farooq, you get clobbered with uncouth words; you agree with, you get a pat on the head.

That ending about a grown man actually got me laughing. I am not grown but growing. Philosophy does not allow for "grown" humans. That will be certain epistemic death. So, this Adeshina Afolayan is still growing. Ask TF, and he will tell you that, white hairs to the contrary, I am very corrigible. Learn from all sides. And I learnt civility a long time ago, even with my traducers. I don't insult. I have white hairs and not grey. White hairs come from much suffering, and the grew belong to the elderly. I have suffered sufficiently to know that uncivility will get no one anywhere.

Adeshina Afolayan

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Ashafa Abdullahi

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Jun 6, 2019, 5:37:47 AM6/6/19

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Better Prof. We are fed up with it!!!

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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

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Jun 6, 2019, 7:31:29 AM6/6/19

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beautiful-

' I am not grown but growing. Philosophy does not allow for "grown" humans. That will be certain epistemic death. So, this Adeshina Afolayan is still growing. ...white hairs to the contrary, I am very corrigible. Learn from all sides.... I have white hairs and not grey. White hairs come from much suffering,,,I have suffered sufficiently to know that uncivility will get no one anywhere. '

quotable

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 6, 2019, 8:45:58 AM6/6/19

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"I have suffered sufficiently to know that uncivility will get no one anywhere" (Adeshina).

Adeshina,
Talking of suffering, did you ever sleep inside a forest because of bombs and bullets as a child? Etc?

CAO.

Adeshina Afolayan

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Jun 6, 2019, 10:36:44 AM6/6/19

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Oga Chidi,

I couldn't stop laughing when I read your interjection. No one has a monopoly of suffering, you know. And suffering comes in different shades and forms. And what's more, suffering is incomparable. Sleeping naked in the forest with bullets flying all around; wallowing in many weeks of hunger with a protruding belly as a counterfactual sign; being subjected to pedophilic exploitation; and so many more. Who are we to say one is greater than the other? Your suffering is yours; and mine is mine. Reason I will not dye my white hairs. They are my coming-of-age badge.

Magana yakare!

Adeshina Afolayan

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 6, 2019, 11:23:16 AM6/6/19

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Thank you Prof Gbadamosi for your perceptive observation. Unlike Prof Adesina Prof Kperogi knows I( or IBK or Kadiri for that matter) don't mind descending into the gutter for a roforofo fight with anyone when it suits us hence he pounced on the soft target Adeshina. What did the victim do except state the side he supports? What, pray, is wrong with that!

OAA

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Time to stop!

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