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Senior female armed police officer made to STRIP and told ‘just because you have tits does not mean you can’t do a press-up’

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A senior female firearms officer has won £30,000 in a sex discrimination and harassment case after being stripped down to her underwear during a police training course.

A case of emotional abuse

Detective Inspector Rebecca Kalam was told ‘just because you have t*** does not mean you cannot do a press up’, and forced to pose for a photoshoot when five months pregnant, an employment tribunal heard…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

She was also lined up to be the ‘poster girl’ for the West Midlands Police firearms unit she worked at and told she would not pass the training course ‘if she did not agree to it’.

DI Kalam – who was one of only seven women in a unit with 250 men – complained about a ‘toxic and discriminatory’ culture in her unit.

The 40-year-old said she had been left feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’ by her male colleagues who also drew male genitalia on notice boards around the station.

The lawsuit

DI Kalam – who has been medically retired as a result of the ordeal – successfully sued West Midlands Police at an employment tribunal.

The officer, whose husband is a Detective Sergeant with the force, was originally seeking £1.2 million in compensation.

But the panel dismissed her claim for ‘aggravated’ damages and instead awarded her £30,000 after finding the force liable for her claims of sex discrimination and harassment.

The Birmingham tribunal found DI Kalam would have made the rank of Superintendent if it were not for the mistreatment.

In March 2012 she was required to act as a ‘stooge’ in a mock training exercise, had her clothes cut off and was ‘stripped down to her underwear’ so first aid could be given.

What the Tribunal reads….

The tribunal heard the scenario was based on a bullet hole on the top of the left breast which officers would then have to treat – which left her feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’.

Later that month, while doing press ups, a male trainer pushed her neck down with his foot and said ‘just because you have t*** does not mean you cannot do a press up’. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Discriminatory culture in police force

The tribunal heard DI Kalam wasn’t given an easy trigger hand-gun like male officers and was told to wear a compression bra in order to fit into the body armour she was given, which was designed for men.

Employment Judge Christopher Camp ruled West Midlands Police were guilty of sex discrimination by not ordering PPE including body armour specifically for her – ‘irrespective of when male body armour was being ordered’.

He said the force had harassed her related to her sex by making her the ‘poster girl’ and ensuring she acted as the ‘stooge’ in the exercise where she was stripped to her underwear.

The tribunal also found DI Kalam had been victimised by not allowing to attend assessment days and by delaying her transfer to a different unit.

The judgement

In a judgement published last Thursday, Judge Camp said the ‘ambitious’ former officer was made so unwell she ‘has been rendered unable to work for the police again for the foreseeable future.’

He said a significant psychiatric injury which developed in February 2021 remains a ‘relatively severe’ disorder today.

Regarding her overall claim for compensation, the judge said: ‘Objectively, much of the admitted harassment and so on that [DI Kalam] suffered during the 2010s is very serious.

‘However, there is scant evidence before us that (she) was, prior to her return from maternity leave in 2020, significantly affected by any of it other than relatively briefly, at the time.

‘The experts agree that there was no psychiatric injury prior to the end of 2020 at the very earliest. The overwhelming majority of loss and damage – including injury to feelings – being claimed in these proceedings was clearly suffered because of what occurred from December 2020 onwards.

‘Our focus is therefore on those events.’

 

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METRO

I Just Met This Guy, He Took Me To a Hotel When We Got There, What He Did Left Me Outraged

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I walked into an eatery one afternoon to order takeout. While I waited for my food I kept busy with my phone. A man walked up to me with determination on his face. He smiled and said “Hello my name is Victor. I have been trying to get your attention from my table over there (he points to a far-off table). READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

You didn’t even blink in my direction.” I looked at him and said “Sorry I’ve been engrossed with my phone.” He said “I can see that. I suppose that’s how to get your attention, through your phone. Can you give me your number then?” I didn’t mind giving…Read Full Story Here……..

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1999 Toronto Saga: How Former Speaker, Salisu Buhari, Declared False Age and Forged University Certificate

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On the 3rd of June, 1999, Salisu Buhari, a 29-year-old Nigerian businessman who made his fortune dealing in computers, was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria, a position which constitutionally made him the fourth most important person in Nigeria.

Unknowing to his colleagues, the government and the whole of Nigeria, Salisu Buhari was not qualified for the office he occupied. Few weeks after he was elected, findings revealed that Salisu Buhari, the sixth Speaker of the House of Rep. forged his way to power…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The News Magazine released an article on the 19th of July, 1999 claiming that Salisu Buhari is seven years younger than the 36 years he claimed to be and that he didn’t attend the University of Toronto in Canada not to talk of graduating from the institution. The News Magazine had more than enough proofs to back their claims thus suppressing all threats made by Salisu Buhari and his lawyers to sue them for libel.

Salisu Buhari
Salisu Buhari

It was made known to the world that Salisu Buhari, the self-acclaimed Toronto University graduate, was actually born in 1970 and not in 1963 which he claimed. This rendered him unqualified to be the Speaker as section 65 subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria disqualified anybody under 30 years from contesting membership of the House of Representatives.

Also, it was made known that Salisu Buhari didn’t attend the University of Toronto in Canada not to talk of graduating with a degree in Business Administration in 1990. The University of Toronto, when asked, denied knowing Salisu Buhari. The management said they couldn’t find any record relating to the his name. Carlo Villanueva, an official of the Institution said,

Regarding your request for confirmation of degree for Mr. Ibrahim Salisu Buhari. We have searched our records and could not find anybody with the name you are inquiring with”.

Letter from University of Toronto
Letter from University of Toronto

Also, Salisu claimed that he did his national youth service at Standard Construction in Kano. This was proven false as records at the NYSC secretariat in Abuja could not produce his name among the 1991 corps members who served in the scheme. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Blocked in every way, he had no means of escape. After several open denial of the allegations and threats to sue The News Magazine, Salisu Buhari, on Thursday, July 23, 1999, eventually faced Nigerians and admitted declaring false age and forging certificate. In tears, he said,

“I apologize to you. I apologize to the nation. I apologize to my family and friends for all the distress I have caused them. I was misled in error by the zeal to serve the nation, I hope the nation will forgive me and give me the opportunity to serve again.”

He then resigned and walked into the shadows. In 2013, he made his return to the news and the public space when he was appointed as a member of the governing council of the University of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Normally, the move garnered a lot of criticism. In a feeble attempt to justify the appointment, the Nigerian government explained that Buhari’s apology had earned him a presidential pardon from President Olusegun Obasanjo.

 

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The Man Called Adegoke Adelabu ‘Penkelemesi’

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Joseph Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu alias Adelabu Penkelemesi was a colossal in the political arena of Ibadan and the then Western Region before the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

He was born in Oke-Oluokun, Ibadan, on September 3, 1915 to Mr. Sanusi Ashiyanbi Adelabu and Mrs. Awujola Adelabu. At the tender age of five, Adegoke Adelabu lost his mother and then lived with his paternal aunt. Adegoke Adelabu attended St. David’s C.M.S School in Kudeti, Ibadan from 1925 to 1929; CMS Central School, Mapo, Ibadan in 1930 and Government College, where he was a head boy, from 1931 to 1936…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

In 1936, Adegoke won a U.A.C scholarship to study commerce in Yaba Higher College but eventually left the college six months later to work as an assistant to the UAC Ibadan district manager. After working with UAC for sometime, he was promoted to an Assistant Manager due to his hard and clever work. However, he left UAC in 1937 to start a business of his own which was unsuccessful. He later took up a civil service job, then returned to UAC in 1945 only to leave after a short period to start a textile trading business which was successful.

After acquiring little wealth from his textile business, Adegoke Adelabu got involved in politics. The starting point of his political career was traced to the period when Ibadan lineage chiefs (Mogajis) rose against Salami Agbaje, the then Otun Balogun of Ibadan, from becoming the Olubadan of Ibadan. In 1951, during the local elections, Adelabu and some other political elements formed a new party called the Ibadan People’s Party to challenge the already established Ibadan Progressive Union and fortunately for Adelabu, the new party won all six seats to the Western Regional Assembly. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

However, the Ibadan People’s Party broke apart after an informal alliance with NCNC was proposed by Adelabu. Adegoke Adelabu stayed with NCNC and became the secretary of the party’s Western Province Working Committee. In 1954, Adelabu became the chairman of Ibadan District Council. Also, in the Federal elections of 1954, Adegoke Adelabu won a seat to the House of Representatives and later became the First National Vice President of NCNC and appointed Minister of Social Services. He held this post along with his chairmanship of the Ibadan district council.

He later resigned from both positions after allegations of corruption by the opposition party, Action Group.
In 1956, Adelabu ran for a seat in the regional assembly as the leader of NCNC in the Western Region but his party lost majority seats to Action Group thus making Adelabu the leader of opposition in the Western House of Assembly.
Adegoke Adelabu alias Adelabu Penkelemesi was a strong politician, leader and had his ground, a firm ground, in Ibadan. He was found of using the phrase “Peculiar mess” whenever he address the public. The non-literate segment of his followers who had never heard of the words peculiar and mess and never knew its meaning Yorubanized the phrase into “Penkelemesi” and then added it to his name- Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi. The people so much loved Adelabu. He was indeed a ‘man of the people’. OldNaija gathered that when he became the Minister of Labour, he was given an official limousine car which he drove to Ibadan to show his friends and followers and declared that the car belonged to them, not him. Also, when Adelabu was given an official residence in Ikoyi, the most exquisite part of Lagos inhabited mostly by the British and French, he called drummers from his hometown to celebrate the success which the British and French residents found disturbing. Adegoke Adelabu simply said, “If they do not like noise and drumming, they are free to go back to their own country.” Adegoke Adelabu admitted being an egoist in a book he wrote in 1952 titled ‘Africa In Ebullition: Being a handbook of freedom for Nigerian nationalists’.

Adegoke Adelabu and Obafemi Awolowo
Adegoke Adelabu and Obafemi Awolowo

On March 25, 1958, at the age of 43, Adegoke Adelabu met his untimely death in a fatal car accident on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. His death sparked protest and chaos in Ibadan as many of his supporters claimed he was assassinated by his opponents with juju. Several properties were destroyed and people also lost their lives. The police arrested over 500 persons of whom 102 was charged with murder and others discharged and some, jailed. It was indeed a big loss, a “peculiar miss” for the people of Ibadan.

 

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