Pictures Of Sumo Wrestler

Nigeria: Give Them the Cage

Speaking at an African Leadership Conference, Obasanjo said the treatment meted out to Mubarak was bad for the image of Africa as a continent. He said, "Put him in a cage? It is not proper. He deserves a better treatment. This is not good for the image of Africa." Obasanjo also demanded dignified treatment for Mubarak, saying as a former head of state, he was entitled to personal dignity befitting his status.

Very good. I am not surprised at all that Obasanjo was horrified by the caging of Hosni Mubarak, the last in the long line of Egyptian Pharaohs dating back 5,000 years. Old man Obasanjo must have seen many parallels between his own life and that of Mubarak. Hosni Mubarak was a soldier [actually an airman] who became a civilian ruler, though not a very civil one. Obasanjo too was a soldier who later became a civilian ruler, though he never really became civil; one day in 2001, he snatched a cane from the hands of a Civil Defence corpsman in Lokoja who was whipping spectators at a public event and gave him several strokes of his own cane.

Mubarak was once the Chief of the Egyptian Air Force before he became one of Anwar Sadat's three vice presidents. Obasanjo had been the General Officer Commanding the 3 Marine Commando Division during the Nigerian Civil War, and was later Federal Commissioner [Minister] for Works before he became Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, i.e. vice president, in 1976. Both Mubarak and Obasanjo rose to the top jobs when their bosses were assassinated, Obasanjo's in 1976, Mubarak's in 1981.

Obasanjo's biggest regret, from all indications, was that when he took over after Murtala's killing in 1976, he made the mistake of handing over power to civilians in 1979. By 1995 he was in the Yola Prison cage, and he didn't like the taste of it. He was lucky to have bounced back to power 20 years after he handed over. He must have been envious that Mubarak, who took over in 1981, was still there when he returned in 1999. Obasanjo ruled for another 8 years and Mubarak was still there. 5 years after Obasanjo left Aso Rock, Mubarak was still there, so he was very envious of this exemplary sit-tight African ruler.

Come to think of it, Obasanjo's Third Term agenda must have been inspired by Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron hand for nearly 30 years. Even the alleged crimes for which Mubarak was put in a cage, i.e. the shooting protesters at Tahrir Square, old man Obasanjo had pioneered them, for under his watch, soldiers shot protesting students at Unilag and ABU, Zaria in 1978, and still later under his watch, soldiers ransacked Odi and Zaki Biam towns, killing scores of innocent people.

Sumo Wrestler | Internet Images

Sumo Wrestler

Today’s image comes from Jean-Francois and bring us the epic sumo wrestler. This shot is a particularly nice look at a very traditional setup, even if it has a touch of camera shake to it.

I’ve always been a little fascinated with sumo wrestling , since the early days of the ultimate fighting challenge. Sure, as a kid sumo wrestlers were just funny fat guys, but as I grew and did some martial arts myself, I was really curious to see how a sumo wrestler would fare against other martial artists in the UFC.

I mean, these dudes outweigh the rest of them threefold. I distinctly remember one match with some massive, 6’8″ sumo wrestler who must have been over 600 lbs fighting a 180 lb karate guy in the UFC. It was a comical match up. The sumo wrestler just steadily advanced and advanced and when the karate guy tried to throw a kick the sumo wrestler just casually slapped it aside. At one point he shoved the karate guy so hard he went flying through the chainlink gate and they had to pause the fight to get things closed up again.

Finally the karate guy got too close and the sumo wrestler picked him up and threw him down. As the karate guy went down he threw a wild thrashing punch that connected to the sumo wrestler’s nose, which started bleeding profusely. The sumo wrestler hardly took notice, and went about pinning the karate guy, but then the ref jumped in, stopped the fight due to the bleeding, and called it in favor of the karate guy (who got whipped in the next round, I think).

It always disappointed me, because the sumo wrestler clearly had that fight and I wanted to see him go up against more challenging opponents, and eventually see what the heck Gracie would possibly do against him. It was sad to see the fight called in a situation where the sumo wrestler clearly wasn’t injured or even slowed down — though I’m sure that nose was broken.

Jet

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