Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Dilapidated state of Federal Government College, Port Harcourt
Ben Bruce Tackles Governors Over Minimum Wage
Senator Ben Bruce representing Bayelsa East Senatorial District has faulted the calls by some state governors to reduce the minimum wage of N18,000 downward.
He advised state governors against contemplating with the move which according to him is unjustifiable.
The senator in a series of tweets noted that reducing the amount which can barely take care of any family in the country is an invitation of crime and corruption among workers, Vanguard reports.
Bruce said: “A worker with a family earns less than a member of the NYSC who earns ₦19,800. Reducing his pay is unconscionable! A man earning ₦18k struggles to pay rent, feed family & pay school fees. To reduce his pay is to punish his family. If FG & state govts dont pay workers well they invite workers to steal. To end corruption we must pay workers well.”
State governors under the auspice of Nigeria Governors’ Forum at their meeting reportedly complained about the minimum wage of N18, 000 stating that they cannot longer paid due to dwindling economy fortune of the country following the free fall oil in the global market.
In a related development, Governor Adams Oshiohmole of Edo state had stated that the N18, 000 minimum wages must be paid against all the odds, thereby disagreeing with other governors, who were skeptical about it taking to consideration the present economic situation in Nigeria.
He added that the minimum was in force since the tenure of the previous administration wondering why his colleagues were calling for its reduction.
Hazard Has Disclosed Talks With Mourinho
The main Chelsea’s disappointment of this season, Eden Hazard, has disclosed the conversation with Blues manager, Jose Mourinho.
Last season the 24-year-old scored 19 goals in 52 appearances ah was named Player of the Year (PFA).
This season he has only one goal in 12 matches.
The Belgian said: “We spoke together before the Stoke game. I said to him: “Maybe we have to try something, to change something. Maybe I have to play a No.10 because we have to try.” We did and I played a very good game in the League Cup in Stoke. And, [against Norwich], it was the same.I tried to play my own game. I didn’t start the season well. I know that. I gave everything in training and on the pitch when I played. Now I hope I can get a lot more form and try to help the team win games.”
According to the rumours, Hazard could move to Real Madrid due to a poor relationship with Jose Mourinho.
However, the player stresses: “I don’t have a problem with Mourinho. I’ve heard a lot of things about this, but no. Everything is good with him. He is the best manager.”
Bode George Advises Biafra Agitators, FG
Chief Bode George, a former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that it will be disastrous for Nigeria to experience another civil war citing that no country had ever survived two civil wars.
Nigeria engaged in a civil war from 1967 to 1970 in which millions of lives were lost. In recent times, there has been agitation for an independent Biafra state by some Igbos championed under the aegis of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra.
The Punch reports that the PDP chieftain warned against the emergence of another war at an event to celebrate his 70th birthday in Lagos on Monday, November 23.
George advised the federal government and the pro-Biafra agitators to tread softly as secession was not the answer to the problem the country was facing.
He also advised the government to make an even distribution of resources and appointment so as to give every tribe a sense of belonging.
“I want to plead with the Biafran protesters to be patient and I urge them to tread softly. No nation goes to civil war twice and survives. We are still meandering to build nationhood.
“Let us build this nation together. We must ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging. Sharing of resources and appointments should not be a winner-takes-all affair. Let us debate and deliberate over our affairs. Dismembering the system through protests and agitations is not the solution.”
The PDP chieftain also claimed the party lost the election because some people within the party were empowered by being made ministers when they didn’t deserve it.
Capt. Tunji Shelle (retd.) who is the chairman of the party in Lagos said the party lost because some people absconded with money meant for campaign. He however expressed optimism that they party will do well as an opposition.
“Money went into the wrong hands. The people who should not handle money were the ones who handled money for the PDP. I don’t want to start mentioning names but they know themselves. Some of them cannot even stay in Nigeria today because of the damage they did to the party.
“We will continue to pray that they change their attitude and character. The PDP is a strong party but I know that Chief George has done his best.”
Wayne Rooney Wanted In China
Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney is wanted to become the face of Chinese football, The Sun reports.
Despite the striker has three years on his contract at Old Trafford, the source claims the cash-rich Super League is keen to bring him to the Far East, after a massive TV deal injected funds into the league.
The Sun states that Rooney has reportedly been identified as the superstar China needs to give their competition a worldwide profile.
Rooney has scored seven goals in 18 appearances this season.
Inside the 'Ant Trade' - how Europe's terrorists get their guns
Weapons black market is served by army of underworld foot soldiers who smuggle arsenals in bit by bit
When they first pulled him over for a routine check on the Bavarian Autobahn, police saw little unusual about the middle-aged motorist in the rented VW Golf.
Aged 51 and from Montenegro, he told police he was on off on holiday to Paris, and was looking forward to climbing the Eiffel Tower.
Only when officers searched his car under a new procedure to check for illegal migrants did they discover there seemed rather more to his itinerary than sightseeing.
For stashed in hidden compartments was a terrifying arsenal of weapons, including several Kalashnikovs, hand grenades, a pistol and 200 grammes of dynamite.
An underworld armourer off to supply a gangster client for a particularly bloody feud? Or a would-be quartermaster to the terror network that brought carnage to the French capital last weekend?
As of yet the exact plans of the suspect, who was arrested eight days before the Paris attacks, are still a mystery. Identified only as Vlatko V by German officials, he remains in the custody of German police, who are “intensively investigating whether there is a connection with the events in Paris”, according to Bavarian interior ministry.
• EU chiefs defy French demands for border controls on jihadist fighters
Either way, though, the case provides a disturbing snapshot of what security experts call the "Ant trade", the cross-border weapons traffic that arms criminals - and now also terrorists - all over Europe.
"We call it the Ant Trade because in Europe, it tends to be lots of individual operators carrying one piece at a time, rather than big lorry loads," said An Vranckx, an expert with the Belgium-based Group for Research and Information on Peace and Security, which monitors the global black market in small arms. "But if that ant column is big enough, it all adds up."
In Britain, the "Ant Trade" showed its deadly cumulative effect two years ago, when Dale Cregan, a Manchester gangster, used a hand-grenade in an attack that killed two female police officers.
The grenade was part of a batch of several hundred from former Yugoslavia believed to have been been used by everyone from Ulster paramilitaries through to drug gangs in north-west England. And as David Dyson, a British firearms analyst, told The Telegraph last week: "If a guy like that in Manchester can get hold of this kind of stuff, people who follow Isil may be able to do the same".
Mercifully, true weapons of war are still rare on Britain's streets, thanks to draconian gun laws imposed in the wake of the Hungerford and Dunblane massacres, and to our easily-policed island borders. Indeed, when Scotland Yard parades confiscated underworld firearms stashes, they are more likely to be made up of World War II antiques and converted blank firers - a sign that the gun black market is not exactly a land of plenty.
It is, however, a different story on the Continent, where thanks to the borderless Schengen zone, those involved in the "Ant Trade" face little more than a long-distance commute to and from their supply sources in the ex-Communist countries of eastern Europe.
In the Soviet era, the likes of Bulgaria and Ukraine maintained vast small arms silos in anticipation of all-out war with Nato, and when the Iron Curtain finally fell, those weapons leaked all over the world, fuelling conflicts from West Africa to the Balkans.
In Albania alone, for example, some half a million weapons were pillaged from state depots following the collapse of the government in 1997, while in Serbia and Bosnia, nearly two million illegal weapons are believed to have remained in private hands since the civil war.
Neighbouring Montenegro, the home of the man arrested on the German Autobahn, is similarly awash. Indeed, it may be no coincidence that Montenegro is also the home Europe's top armed robbery gang, the Pink Panthers, whose raids on high-end jewellery stores in London and Paris netted them £100m in the last decade.
But while the Panthers' exploits have made them folk legends - a drama about their exploits, featuring John Hurt, hit British TV screens earlier this month - the same weapons supplies that made them so formidable are now also being accessed by terrorists.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Why Sylva will win Bayelsa guber election –Asu Beks
As the December 5, Governorship Polls in Bayelsa State draws near, Elder Asu Beks, President, Ijaw People’s Assembly, takes a look at the chances of the APC candidates, Chief Timipre Sylva, and says he is the man to beat.
What are the chances of Chief Timi Sylva?
A The December 5, Polls in Bayelsa present the brightest of opportunities for former Governor Timipre Sylva. In 2007 when he ran for his Governorship election, his major challenger was an incumbent Governor Goodluck Jonathan who carried the banner of the party at the centre. The story is however slightly different in 2015. On December 5, Chief Sylva’s main challenger, is Governor Seriake Dickson, a man who has been openly rejected by the old and young, men and women due to his anti-people policies in the past 4 years. Don’t also forget that our people have had a long history from the days of late Melford Okilo, of not playing opposition politics and since APC is at the centre, it should be expected that Chief Timipre Sylva would have a clean sweep. And if you also consider the fact that Chief Sylva is a youth and gender friendly Governor during his first term you can be rest assured that December 5 would be a mere formality. The people of Bayelsa crave for change and the change is Chief Timipre Sylva.
Governor Seriake Dickson had often described Chief Timipre Timipre Sylva as a very violent man whose reign as Governor witnessed the darkest days in the history of Bayelsa State. Do you agree with him?
Nothing can be far from the truth than this assertion. At the defunct National Concord Newspapers where I worked for several years and cut my teeth as a journalist, the Motto is: Truth is constant. Those who attempt to distort history do so at their peril. Now lets go down memory lane. Chief Sylva took over as Governor of Bayelsa in May 2007 at a time where militancy in the Niger Delta was at its peak, youth restiveness in the region was at its peak occasioned by the call for the enforcement of the Kaiama declaration. The JTF and Niger Delta Militants were engaged in daily confrontation. Oil installation and expatriates working in the region were no longer secure. As a proactive and youth friendly leader, Governor Sylva then approached late President Yar’Adua with an olive branch where he presented a blueprint for peace in the Niger Delta which ultimately led to the establishment of the Federal Government Amnesty Programme. And this was now the Niger Delta Youth laid down their arms and embraced peace. Today, it is on record that y this singular gesture of Chief Timipre Sylva won for him various accodates both from local and international bodies.
But barely four years after Chief Sylva stepped aside, Bayelsa has now become the hotbed of kidnappers. All the structures that he put in place to curtail violence and criminality was dismantled by Governor Dickson and rather than take responsibility for his failure he has gone on a wild goose chase and name calling, nothing could be more unpatriotic.
Governor Seriake Dickson is an enemy of peace. A few examples may suffice. Early this year, Governor Seriake Dickson led thugs and some members of his anti crime out fit, called “DOO AKPO” to sack a court in session in Yenagoa. A pregnant lawyer was beaten to a state of COMA and court properties were destroyed. The video of this dastardly act is still trending in the social media. I have on good authority that the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA has issued him a querry with possibility that his practicing license as a lawyer might be withdraw. And only recently, Governor Dickson sent thugs to beat up APC volunteers who were on ‘clean up Yenagoa City’ campaign.
With the foregoing it has become clear to Bayelsans who between Sylva and Dickson is the violent one.
Some Bayelsans insist Chief Timipre Sylva was a colossal failure during his first tenure. what are his chances on December 5, against an incumbent Governor Dickson?
There is no Governor in the history of Bayelsa that had achieved as much as Chief Timipre Sylva. It is on record that Chief Timipre Sylva constructed and commissioned 52 internal roads within his first 100 days in office. Given an obvious empty treasury he met when he took over from Dr. Goodluck Jonathan political pundits have been kept guessing as to how he was able to achieve this rare feat.
When Sylva took over he did not toe the path of other politicians who when they take over would abandoned projects embarked upon by their predecessors and start new ones. Some of the uncompleted projects he took on and completed with record time included the Banquet Hall, the State Secretariat Complex, the Gloryland Castle. Others include the construction of the Peace Park, the Nigerian Law School, Construction of New Commissioners Estate and New Legislative Quarters. In the Health Sector, the 500 bed hospital which the Sylva administration redesigned to 350 would have been commissioned in May 2012 but for the termination of his tenure. Sylva also constructed and commissioned the Ultra Modern Diette Koki Memorial Hospital, Opolo.
In the educational sector, almost all the courses at the Niger Delta Universities were accredited unlike the current situation when NUC has withdraw accreditations of almost 15 course. Sylva also built 8 senatorial model schools, constructed Modern UBE schools, the construction of a Modern Library for the state, and was instrumental for the citing of the federal University of Otuoke, the Federal Polytechnic Ekowe and Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education. Under him, the NDU was properly funded and allocations were gotten as at when due. As a youth friendly Governor, Chief Sylva employed over 8,000 youth from the 8 Local Government Areas under the Bayelsa Youth Volunteers Scheme. Chief Sylva also initiated the three Senatorial roads project which remain very dear to his heart. The Peace Park and the construction of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Centre are among other laudable projects of Chief Timi Sylva. These and many other laudable projects are why Bayelsans say Sylva is the man to beat on December 5.
Chief Sylva was in Lagos recently to launch his blue print for a new Bayelsa. some Bayelsans believe this event should have held in Yenagoa, not Lagos.
Let me correct an impression here, that event was not a political campaign event, it was a forum designed to show case the vast potentials of Bayelsa to the business community in Lagos. Don’t forget that receipts from oil have reached an all time low and the incoming Sylva administration came to Lagos primarily to woo captains of Industry to take advantage of the vast opportunities such as oil and gas, maritime, fisheries, tourism, agro based industries majority of which have remained untapped. As it were the audience you saw at the “Evening with Chief Timipre Sylva” was essentially captains of industry and a few political associates of his. You will agree with me that it is much easier and expedient to meet these great minds in business here in Lagos than inviting them to Yenagoa.
Former President GEJ once described the PDP as “Ijaw Party” to which every Ijaw son should belong. Will Bayelsans dump PDP for APC?
I want to believe that former President Goodluck Jonathan was quoted out of context. First and foremost the PDP which prides itself as the only “National Party” cannot be ascribed to be an “Ijaw Party” Tell me, who are the Ijaws in the PDP NEC? Besides what Ijaws gain from PDP? Was it in terms of appointments? Is it on allocation of federal projects? But for the doctrine of necessity occasioned by Yar’Adua’s death Dr. Goodluck Jonathan would not have become President of Nigeria
In fact, PDP was anti-Ijaw in the sense that the only project which mattered to the Ijaw people – the East West Road – was left uncompleted at a time the federal government was busy commissioning super highway project in other parts of the country. Our sons, Mike Zuokumor and John Atte, who were eminently qualified to head the police and Customs respectively, were blatantly told to their face that they could not be IGC and CGC.
One Timi Frank, a national officer of the APC said recently that the APC was doomed to lose this election when it went ahead to field Chief Timi Sylva. Do you agree with this view?
This is the most myopic vie w I have heard from a party member. In the contrary Chief Timipre Sylva remains the best brand for the APC on December 5. Anything to the contrary would have been a water shed. No one changes a winning team, and the APC is very mindful of this. Sylva remains the most credible candidate for the December 5 Polls. Don’t forget how he was robbed in 2011 by the PDP to pave way for Dickson. Today, the PDP will pay dearly for fraudulently denying Chief Timi Sylva the mandate for a second term. You can imagine how a sitting governor who successfully went through the party’s screening process was given a provisional clearance only for the clearance to be withdrawn. You will recall how the Governor Ameachi led Governor’s Forum made several trips to Aso Rock to plead with GEJ but he refused to shift grounds. December 5, Chief Timi Sylva would have the last laugh, and what a sweet ending for four agonizing years for a man who was scorned, haunted and humiliated.
One night, nine outfits: J Lo's epic, body-baring AMAs costume marathon
Jennifer Lopez must be exhausted this morning. Last night the 46-year-old mother of two gave a stomping performance at the American Music Awards which included a dance routine that would make even Beyonce wheeze, compered the show and managed to get changed nine times in the process. Just the thought is enough to make us break out in a mild panic sweat and contemplate an under-desk nap.
Claudio Ranieri builds on Leicester City momentum and restores his reputation
Italian arrived after torrid spell with Greece and 'Tinkerman' nickname ready to be revived but his methods are bringing the good times back to the Foxes
Toppings on pizzas were all Claudio Ranieri had on his mind at Leicester City earlier this season. Topping the Premier League was never on the agenda.
But whether it becomes known as 'the Italian Job' or 'Mission Improbable', Ranieri’s recipe has been one of the surprise stories of the season so far as he prepares to face Manchester United this weekend at the top of the table.
With his squad riding a wave of optimism from last season’s scramble to safety, Ranieri’s reputation has been spectacularly repaired and completed a remarkable renaissance at the grand old age of 64.
Twelve months ago he was unceremoniously dismissed by Greece, after a humiliating home defeat by European punchbag the Faroe Islands, with the Hellenic Football Federation apologising for a “most unfortunate choice of coach”.
The critics were queueing up when he made return to English football in July, too, with bookmakers instantly predicting that the Foxes would be extinct as a Premier League club by the end of the campaign.
Yet Leicester’s 3-0 victory at Newcastle on Saturday ensured they have now racked up 50 points from a possible 66 since April and the feel-good factor is showing no signs of fading.
Jamie Vardy’s remarkable run of goals, scoring in 10 successive league games, have been crucial while the impact of players including Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater and summer signing N’Golo Kanté cannot be overestimated.
Yet Ranieri already has a 62 per cent win ratio and has done little tinkering since his appointment, preferring to stick with the attack-minded approach employed by predecessor Nigel Pearson.
Ranieri is too genial and polite to point it out but he is already 14 points above one of his former clubs Chelsea, who dumped him in favour of the Special One 11 years ago.
“I'm proving I’m not past it, as it looked after the defeats with Greece. I think that the Greece situation has not improved since I left but I’m very positive and happy to be at Leicester,” he says.
“I have a duty to keep our feet on the ground. We will aim for 40 points and then we will see. Now comes the hard part: between now and New Year we have a terrible cycle. We have to play against Manchester United, Swansea, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Cristiano Ronaldo more likely to join Paris Saint-Germain than Manchester United, if Real Madrid sell
Louis van Gaal faces competition from Ligue 1 for Portuguese star, who may yet opt to stay in Spanish capital
The European city with the largest Portuguese population outside of Portugal is Paris.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is expected to part company with Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expires at the end of this campaign leaving a vacancy for a superstar and the money freed up to pay superstar wages.
And PSG will undoubtedly want a big-name replacement for Ibrahimovic to be the club’s new figurehead. A replacement who would immediately also become the star of France’s Ligue 1.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president, was in Madrid last Thursday and met with the super-agent Jorge Mendes.
Al-Khelaifi, of course, meets leading agents all the time and on the agenda that day was an understandable desire to re-assure one of Mendes’ biggest clients, PSG’s Angel Di Maria, following the Paris terror attacks. But it may have not been the only thing on the agenda.
So already it is clear that Manchester United could have at least one formidable and highly-attractive rival if the club reignites its interest in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo – Mendes’ biggest client of all, of course - back to Old Trafford.
And that is if a number of very significant ‘ifs’ can first be crossed: if Real Madrid are willing to sell; if president Fiorentino Perez, under severe pressure through poor results, and with an impromptu news conference called for Monday evening when the future of unpopular coach Rafael Benitez will be discussed, is prepared to gamble and let him go.
And then if Ronaldo is willing to leave and if a realistic fee can be agreed – and, finally, if his financial demands can be met.
But Ronaldo will be 31 in February. By the end of this season he will still have two more years left on his contract at Real. So suddenly it feels like it is now or never – or at least next summer - if he is ever going to leave Real and join another leading European club.
If Ronaldo waits much longer (another if), and despite his outstanding physical condition, it will be too late. No big club is going to pay big-money for Ronaldo when he is 33. No matter his ability; his profile; his cache.
Given the state of flux and air of unhappiness at Real, given Louis Van Gaal’s comments over the weekend, given PSG’s interest, and given Ronaldo’s own ambition and desire to remain number one then a move is possible despite Mendes’ previous insistence that his fellow Portuguese will remain in Spain until he retires.
The comments by Van Gaal that United are “looking at all players, not just Ronaldo. But these players are mostly ungettable” were consistent with the club’s position for the past two or three years. Nothing appears to have changed. But there was the added tease from the manager – “with Ronaldo, let’s wait and hope” – which maybe suggested there is already extra encouragement, from somewhere, this time round. But United are understandably wary.
It confirmed again United’s continued interest – nothing more - but also revealed that, this time, Ronaldo needs to help make the running.
And that has been United’s stance for the past two years. They need him to come to them, it seems. Or, at least, to offer a sign that he will help engineer his departure from Real if that is what he wants.
There will be little concern at United about the finances if a deal can be brokered this season. Paying upwards of £60million – and no price tag has yet been discussed - for a player in his 30s would appear incredibly wasteful. But senior sources at United have already suggested that such is his shape that he can be expected to play at the top-level until he is 35, 36. And such is his marketability and commercial value – he remains the most valuable player brand in football – that the figures would stack up. After all this is Ronaldo.
Whether Van Gaal sees him as a fit for his team is another matter. Gone – temporarily at least – are the days when United figures complained about there being few “swash-buckling” performances under Moyes and a betrayal of the club’s attacking DNA. Under Van Gaal it has been reduced to a desire to win. Would Ronaldo fit for him? It does not seem likely unless there was a change in Van Gaal’s approach.
Then there is also the question as to whether, given his age, given what he achieved at the club previously, given, importantly, that his father-figure Sir Alex Ferguson is no longer United’s manager, Ronaldo would want to expose himself with a return to the Premier League?
PSG would appear a more likely move for Ronaldo - a different league; a club with huge resources and a desire and ability to win the Champions League. And also a club that would be prepared to build things around a star such as Ronaldo, something he craves as he wants to win the Ballon D’Or, as the world’s best player, for a third time.
Neither should anyone doubt PSG’s ambition. They know what a difference Ronaldo would make to their image and worldwide profile. He would make a bigger difference to them than United.
There will be other offers – other European clubs, the Middle East, maybe even the MLS in the United States. But United’s interest – just as they are interested in Ronaldo’s team-mate Gareth Bale - remains. The question is what will Real do? It is saga that will run.
The Wackiest Beauty Looks at the American Music Awards
The stars hit Sunday niDismissght’s American Music Awards red carpet taking major beauty risks. From Gwen Stefani’s beehive and Joe Jonas’s blue hair to Selena Gomez’s colored contacts and Kat Graham’s yellow eyeshadow, the AMAs attendees used this more low-key red carpet to experiment with hair, makeup, and nail looks that were totally outside the box.
Related:
The Wackiest Beauty Looks at the American Music Awards
The stars hit Sunday niDismissght’s American Music Awards red carpet taking major beauty risks. From Gwen Stefani’s beehive and Joe Jonas’s blue hair to Selena Gomez’s colored contacts and Kat Graham’s yellow eyeshadow, the AMAs attendees used this more low-key red carpet to experiment with hair, makeup, and nail looks that were totally outside the box.
Related:
The Wackiest Beauty Looks at the American Music Awards
The stars hit Sunday niDismissght’s American Music Awards red carpet taking major beauty risks. From Gwen Stefani’s beehive and Joe Jonas’s blue hair to Selena Gomez’s colored contacts and Kat Graham’s yellow eyeshadow, the AMAs attendees used this more low-key red carpet to experiment with hair, makeup, and nail looks that were totally outside the box.
Related:
Irate youths have expressed their displeasure with the fake prophet who refused to raise late Audu Abubakar, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in last weekend’s election, and have threatened to kill him.
The former governor of Kogi state, was not only confirmed dead after the purported prayers, but was also buried afterwards, thereby putting to rest insinuations that he may have been brought back to life by the prophet.
The youths who were irked by the move, reportedly went berserk and threatened to kill the prophet.
The prophet may have taken courage from the fact that popular Lagos prophet, Temitope Joshua recently prayed for a dead man and he came back to life.
The controversial Nigerian prophet, in a video which went viral on the internet, offered prayers to the deceased man in the room alone, the dead man regained life and went to meet his people afterwards.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the demise of the late Kogi politician, stating: “We are obviously devastated at the loss. He was immensely courageous.”
The doomsday ideology of ISIS
The terror group’s apocalyptic vision is a powerful recruiting pitch
In a boastful press release after the Paris attacks that left 130 dead earlier in the month, ISIS celebrated its “victory” over the city it called the “lead carrier of the cross.”
“Allah granted victory upon their hands and cast terror into the hearts of the crusaders in their very own homeland,” the group wrote.
The medieval language is a glimpse into the terror group’s little-discussed apocalyptic ideology, one that draws on prophecies written after Muhammad’s death that were used to motivate Muslims to battle by caliphs who lived more than a thousand years ago. While al-Qaida occasionally hinted at these doomsday writings foretelling a grand battle with infidels at the end of the world, ISIS has made them the bedrock of its brand.
These prophecies are so entwined with ISIS’ identity that the group has pasted a line from one of them — “a Caliphate in Accordance with the Prophetic Method” — on the coins it has minted, on the badges soldiers wear and even on a billboard marking the beginning of ISIS territory. In that prophecy, Muhammad said that after a “tyrannical monarchy,” an Islamic caliphate would return. The formation of the caliphate would lead to a grand battle with the West that would bring along the end of the world.
The prophecies ISIS relies on were written dozens and sometimes hundreds of years after Muhammad’s death and are not included in the Quran, as Brookings scholar Will McCants explains in his book “The ISIS Apocalypse.” But the prophecies are widespread and believed by many — one poll in 2012 suggested half of Arabs believed the end of the world was nigh.
In ISIS’ interpretation, the figure of the Mahdi, or “the rightly guided one” will appear to lead final battles against the Western infidels, called Rome, in northern Syria before the end of days. After the day of judgment, only those who supported the Mahdi will be saved. The Mahdi will appear after the establishment of an Islamic caliphate. (Medieval caliphs, attempting to gin up support for their own battles against the Christian crusaders, claimed to be the Mahdi in the past.) In some of the prophecies, Jesus descends from the heavens to assist the Mahdi in his battle against the infidels, who are led by an Antichrist figure.
ISIS leadership has made key military decisions based upon these prophecies. It fought in the summer of 2014 to take over the small and militarily unimportant village of Dabiq close to Turkey because it is name-checked in one of the prophecies as a place where the final great battles will occur. The infidels are supposed to gather under “80 flags” in this village, before their defeat. (Dabiq is also the name of ISIS’ monthly magazine.)
ISIS’ claim that the apocalypse is nigh is a powerful recruitment tool, not unlike an “Act now! 24 hours only!” sales pitch.
“The belief that the end of the world is coming and you’re going to be fighting on the side of the good guys when the world ends is a powerful motivator,” McCants told Yahoo News. “Young people going to join [ISIS] believe they are participating in a apocalyptic prophecy.”
“The really interesting thing here from the psychological perspective is the sense of urgency,” said John Horgan, a psychologist and terrorism expert at Georgia State University. “They’re sending the message that the forces of evil are about to reach their goals so you need to act now rather than later. You don’t have the luxury of waiting for this to happen.”
It’s unknown if the leadership of ISIS really believes in these prophecies or is simply using them to establish legitimacy in the eyes of their supporters. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has a Ph.D. in Quranic studies.
McCants tracked down examples of ISIS supporters and members trying to fit current events into the murky and sometimes conflicting timeline of the prophecies. “Thirty states remain to complete the number of eighty flags that will gather in Dabiq and begin the battle,” one jihadi Tweeted, seemingly waiting for more nations to sign on to fight ISIS before the last grand battle could occur and usher in the end of the world.
One can imagine ISIS leaders running into trouble if their apocalyptic vision takes too long and supporters begin asking questions and become impatient.
“Part of why ISIS is trying to goad the West into action is it’s a critical part of fulfilling their prophecies,” Horgan said.
The group has also refrained from explicitly calling its leader al-Baghdadi the Mahdi, which means its followers know they have to wait for him to appear before the world is ending. Sunni and Shiite beliefs about the Mahdi diverge in one key way: Sunni Islam, the branch of the religion ISIS adheres to, posits that the Mahdi, the prophet’s successor, has yet to come. According to the Shiite tradition, the Mahdi came but will remain hidden until he brings justice to the world.
That fighters believe they are fulfilling a grand destiny helps explain why thousands of them have been willing to leave more comfortable lives in nations all around the world to join the dangerous and reviled group. “It’s definitely more cultlike than al-Qaida,” said Karen Greenberg, the director of Fordham’s Center on National Security. “It’s got all the accouterments of a cult".
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