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October 7: Israel’s Raw Footage Not Seen by the Public and Cannot Be Unseen by Those Who Have Viewed It

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By Dolapo Aina

Wednesday, 8th of November 2023 was the 33rd day of the war between Israel and the terrorist organisation called Hamas. The Israeli Government released a raw footage which was not made for public viewing and as at Thursday, 30th of November 2023, still has not been viewed by the general public.
For the 43-minute raw footage of the Hamas Massacre, the Government of Israel had to vet which groups of individuals and countries could view the images which had the personal lives of people displayed. Their lives were exposed in the 43-minute video which the whole world has only seen 10 minutes of several clips which are online (as at the 8th of November 2023). It was revealed that special approval had to be specifically granted by the Government of Israel for the raw footage to be shown in countries.

Before the viewing of the raw footage in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, by invited media personalities in attendance, an interesting conversation cum discussion with Israel’s top diplomats in Rwanda, Ambassador Einat Weiss and Deputy Ambassador Yossi Gadamo ensued and several questions were posed at them.
One of such questions had a spiritual cum moral angle/dimension to it. Why is Israel not making noise about the dead citizens?
Ambassador Einat Weiss responded by stating that: “Family members of lost ones have come out to state that they would not want to see the images of loved ones in public. In Israel, we know the value of lives but Hamas seem not to have value for lives. The first challenge as a country: How do you come out publicly in terms of public diplomacy against a group that does not have value for lives? Hamas took photos and images of their brutality and 33 days later, the world still needs Israel to justify their actions. Israel cannot just go and release images as we need to inform their families and get their consent. Israel is an organised country and we are dealing with a terrorist organisation. The war cannot be symmetric.”

The Ambassador went further to state that: “Propaganda is one of the tools terror organisations use and Israel is not into propaganda. Propaganda has been an age-long tool of terror organisations and propaganda is still being utilised by Hamas 33 days after the war commenced.”

Another poignant question was on Christianity versus Islam which Israel’s Ambassador to Rwanda responded to and quoting her verbatim: “It isn’t a religious conflict. But there are public displays of anti-Israeli stance. The irony is that in private a lot of these countries know what is going on. In private conversations, a lot of representatives of other countries present in Rwanda, openly inform me that Israel has the right to defend herself. And everyone knows that Iran is behind almost all terror organisations’ activities. If the world doesn’t speak up about the activities of Iran, other terror organisations would be very confident and would replicate the same attacks on other lands and continents. Those who criticise us on our current war with Hamas don’t understand international law. Countries are allowed to exercise their rights to defend themselves but when it comes to Israel, Israel should not? Israel like other countries is bound by the international law but terrorist organisations don’t abide by international laws. How many countries go to war and still provide water and electricity to citizens? Journalists have to hold the torch to disseminate the right information on the current Israeli-Hamas war.”

A question bordering on the implication on Israel and the region had this response from Ambassador Weiss; “There is much more pressure on Israel to finish operations and humanitarian breaks. But something is different this time: The realisation that Israel has to finish what she commenced. How does the Army conclude the operations when citizens have not been released? The humanitarian angle of the war is not rosy as people are getting affected. Why? Because we are at war. Why are we at war? Because we were attacked.”

On the question of why the public condemnation of Hamas is important, Ambassador Einat Weiss stated that: “This is the moral majority we are looking for. It is very important because when countries designate Hamas as a terror organisation, the open statements give leeway for Governments to make legislations and vote against Hamas thereby making it difficult for leaders of Hamas to travel, move funds etc.”

After the brief interaction with those present, the 43-minute raw footage commenced.

At this juncture, it is noteworthy to state that a day earlier (7th of November 2023), the video titled: October 7th 2023 Hamas Massacre: Collected Raw Footage; was shown to the US Congress and Hollywood directors and viewed by them. The video is not in the public domain and only a select few have seen the 43-minute video. As at Wednesday November 29th, only a select few in 80 countries have seen the footage.
We commenced watching the raw footage cum videos at 14: 30pm.

The raw videos from Hamas terrorists’ body cameras should not be seen by the public. Live footage from bodycams of terrorists and live footage from home CCTVs of people who were attacked in their homes.

One footage with a time stamp of circa 6am showed a father running with his two sons (all three in their shorts with no shirts) into their bunker/shelter and shortly afterwards a grenade was thrown inside by two/three Hamas terrorists who climbed out of another window. After the explosion and shouts from the terrorists, his sons came out trembling but their father didn’t come out. Another CCTV footage of their living room showed the elder son asking his younger brother if he could see. The younger one could not see what his elder brother was showing him. Later on, they both realised the younger one could only see with one eye. There were a couple of times when they cried Mama Mama. The CCTV at their backyard later showed the terrorists had found the boys’ mother and they took her to the entrance of the shelter, where she saw her husband’s lifeless body. And she broke down in tears.

Footage of actually beheading of a man from Thailand who wore a jersey that looked like it was a Brazil national football team’s jersey. The footage was from a terrorist’s mobile phone and one could hear the terrorists speak; saying (God Is Great in Arabic) as one of them was using a hoe to decapitate the head of the man from Thailand. I couldn’t watch the full clip of the barbarity. I turned away from the screen, turned back my seat and faced the window whose view was of the peaceful Kigali landscape.

There was one Hamas terrorist who called his family from an Israeli woman’s phone who he had killed. He was euphoric and gladly stated in Arabic which was translated that he had killed 10 people with his bare hands. His father rejoiced and urged him on. His mother came on the same call and she cried for joy and urged him on.
Another audio which was an intercepted phone conversation between one Hamas terrorist on the ground in Israel on October 7th and his superior was chilling and revealing. The superior authorised the operative to ensure he brings an Israeli soldier, so that the body can be hung (in the superior’s own word: crucified) in the market square.

There was a footage of public toilets at the venue of the music festival. The public toilets were shot at one by one.

Watching the footage, I realised that delicate attention was made to aggregate a lot of the videos. For instance, some particular videos were from different angles: dashcams from cars, whilst another angle was from a street CCTV and another angle was from a deceased Hamas terrorist’ bodycam. This meant that for some footages, you actually viewed the same scene but from different angles.

One of such footages stood out. A mobile phone video recording from a deceased Israeli citizen who was holed up in a shelter. He recorded himself as he was talking. Behind him, you could see other people who were in the same shelter, some talking whilst some were silent. Some of them had blood stains. The next footage was from a bodycam. The footage was the entrance door of the same shelter. The people in that shelter with the same clothes were on top of each other; not sleeping; they were gunned down.

Several other videos left me confused as I was not quite sure if the heavily thick red crimson, I saw on the floor was actually the human blood. I had to ask and I was informed it was.

There were several videos captured on bodycams of Hamas terrorists who walked into several kibbutz and shot at anything at sight including tyres of ambulances, so that no one could make use of ambulances to rescue or treat wounded people. There was a particular video of one Hamas terrorist’s bodycam, who shot thrice at a dog before the dog succumbed to the bullets. Watching this, I uttered the word barbarity and Rwandan media practitioner who witnessed the 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi said; “what kind of a human being would shot a dog? Genocide is the appropriate terminology to use.”

It is noteworthy to state that not all those invited who commenced the viewing of the footage concluded it. After seeing the raw footage (and it is widely known that there are more gruesome videos which have not been released by the Government of Israel), there is no country which would not take action.

This piece took 22 days to compose as I had to grasp the enormity of what had been viewed which cannot all be described. There are several videos that cannot be described in this piece. The eyes have seen what cannot be unseen. And it best that the eyes of the readers not read what the eyes of others have seen and cannot be unseen.

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Umahi Apologises to Tinubu, Lagosians, Denies Knowledge of Bridge Closure

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The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi on Thursday, said the closure of Independence Bridge in Lagos for urgent rehabilitation of the collapsed retaining wall was made without his knowledge or authorization.

Umahi said this while apologising to Lagos residents and President Bola Tinubu for the disruption caused by the sudden closure of the bridge on Wednesday.

Umahi who spoke when he toured the bridge in Lagos said: ” Unfortunately, when the bridge was to be closed, I was not informed. It is very unfortunate because for a bridge to be closed, especially in Lagos, as has been the tradition, I should be informed as the minister.

“We should also have studied the implication of it even in an emergency situation. We would have deployed emergency evaluation of the implication of closing the bridge.”

Umahi warned that controllers of works and engineers would face disciplinary action if such an incident would happen again.

“I use the opportunity to warn all controllers and engineers all over the country. Never you close a road or close any bridge without running through the permanent secretary, who will seek for permission from the honourable minister of works,” he said.

The minister acknowledged the efforts of Lagos State Government in managing traffic flow during the closure.

He also took responsibility for the error, saying: “I take responsibility for it, even though I did not order it, but every action by any staff of the ministry of works, I take responsibility for it.”

Umahi said that the closure, which caused significant traffic congestion, was avoidable.

He said: “If we were to do this properly, there would have been a different kind of method deployed and it wouldn’t have necessitated the total closure.”

According to him, even if closure was necessary, it would have been done in a way that it would take three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and necessary remedial work would have been put in place.

“What we are doing now is to restore the bridge temporarily within the next three days. By Sunday, this place will be totally open.”

He added that a permanent solution would be implemented after a two-week assessment.

“Then, after two weeks, we will look at the settlements, and then we will take out three days to put the permanent structure. That is what we are going to do,” he said.

The minister emphasised the competence of the contractor handling the project, Build Well.

“Build Well is a reputable company, and they have been restoring a lot of failures on our bridges in Lagos, some of them 53 years old.

“Some bridges’ spans have been lifted, especially Eko Bridge, Marina Bridge, and even the Lagos-Ibadan Bridge. They are also intervening in all of them,” he added.

The minister also said that the design of the bridge would be varied to address the emergency situation.

He said: ” The design will be varied according to the emergency situation we have on ground, and the contractor is going to cooperate with us.”

He pledged to personally oversee the restoration efforts, saying, “I am not going until the bridge is fully restored by Sunday, we will work day and night to restore it, and then we will evaluate it.”

The bridge was initially closed on April 1 for essential maintenance and rehabilitation works, with the government planning to complete the repairs by May.

NAN

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Communal Clashes: Adeleke Threatens Royal Fathers with Dethronement

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Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has threatened stern state action against traditional rulers of Ifon, Erin Osun and Ilobu communities if they fail to sustain current peace, and de-escalate the crisis in their communities.

The Governor issued the warning against the backdrop of online reports that some faceless groups across the conflict areas are planning another round of attacks.

“In the midst of sallah celebrations, I got reports of some people planning another round of conflict around Ifon, Ilobu and Erin Osun towns. The security agencies have tightened surveillance to ensure no attacks take place.

“The security agencies are also speeding up the interrogation of key chieftains and actors in the conflict. I will remind top leaders of the towns that the peace undertaking they are signing are not for joke. They will be held accountable. There will be accountability before the law.

“The curfew we relaxed was on humanitarian grounds. As a compassionate government, we know many innocent people are suffering because of the evil agenda of a few elements across the conflict areas. Any attempt to exploit the adjustment of the curfew for renewed violence will be met with full re-imposition of the 24-hour curfew.

“Additionally, I will remove from office, any traditional ruler where violence recurs. This card is on the table. Royal fathers of each town must call their subjects to order. I will wield the big stick. Enough is enough”, the Governor was quoted as saying in the statement.

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Celebrating a Hero of June 12, Humphrey Nwosu

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By Eric Elezuo
In as much as unnecessary controversy ensued in the Senate when some senators led by the Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, sponsored a motion to honour and immortalise Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the electoral officer in charge of organising and conducting the June 12, 1993 General Elections; the highly freest and fairest elections in the history of Nigeria, many Nigerians have stood stoutly the defend the late electoral officer’s conduct, concluding that he deserved to be honoured for his meritorious service to nation, especially as the substantive Chairman of the then National Electoral Commission (NEC).
The election held, but was truncated by the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd) at the announcement of results stage.
Those, who joined the Abia South Senator to jointly sponsor the motion were Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South), Orji Kalu (APC, Abia North), Austin Akobondu (PDP, Abia), Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) and Victor Umeh, (LP, Anambra Central).Others are Okechukwu Ezea (LP, Enugu North) Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West), Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC, Ebonyi North) Anthony Ani, Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West) Patrick Ndubueze (APC, Imo North).

However, as the motion hit the floor of the senate through a point of order, majority of the members fought against it, and finally had their way after a voice vote as supervised by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, giving verdict to the ‘nays’.
The Senate threw out prayers contained in the motion as it sought to honour Prof Nwosu by renaming the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters after him. The rejection was the second time in quick succession, in less than 24 hours.
In the heated debate before the proposal was thrown out, Abaribe, while presenting the proposal, noted that Nwosu stood his ground to conduct the June 12, 1993 elections despite threats from military dictatorship.
“His courageous defense of democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections led to the famous June 12, which ultimately confirmed Alhaji M.K.O Abiola as the winner of the election.“He stood his ground, ensuring that Nigeria’s electoral wishes and aspirations were realised, which culminated in June 12 being marked as the authentic democracy day due to his unwavering stand as an umpire.

“Professor Humphrey Nwosu laid a landmark foundation for the present independent National Electoral Commission today and that Professor Humphrey Mwosu passed away on the 20th of October 2024, aged 83 years old.

“Despite his contributions, Professor Humphrey Mwosu was seemingly neglected until his death, which highlights complaints of unfair treatment of notable public servants,” he added.

In support of the motion, Senator Osita Ngwu that “there was no way he would have announced the results with a gun to his head. That doesn’t change the fact that some of us see him as a hero.”

Senator Austin Akobundu described it as most uncharitable for lawmakers to dismiss Nwosu’s contributions, insisting that he deserved a place in Nigeria’s hall of honour.
On his part, Tony Nwoye representing Anambra North under Labour Party, accused senators of deploying personal, political and ethnic sentiments to judge the motion.“We should not allow our personal sentiments and party affiliation to affect our judgement. I was a presiding officer during the June 12 election. He did his best despite the court order. Despite the threats by the military cabal, he went ahead to announce the election. It is very disappointing that some of us are distorting facts because Nwosu is an Igbo man,” he said.

Among the several senators, who opposed the immortalisation motion, with excuses of Nwosu’s lacking courage to announce final results, were Senator Jimoh Ibrahim from Ondo State, who stated categorically that “nothing should be named after him”, Senator Cyril Fasuyi, who argued that history does not reward efforts, but only results, saying “As long as he did not announce the result, whether under duress or not, I am against naming INEC headquarters after him”, Senator Sunday Karimi, who criticised Nwosu for lacking the courage to speak out; Senator Afolabi Salisu, who said that immortalising him would undermine the memory of MKO Abiola, Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Adeola Olamilekun, who claimed he lost his brother in the aftermath.

But Nigerians have argued in favour of the immortalisation of the former chief electoral officer, admonishing that he did his job very well. Most of them reasoned that if the likes of Babagana Kingibe, the running mate to Abiola, who ditched the struggle to join the government of General Sani Abacha, could be honoured with a GCON honours, the second highest in the land, how much more the proponent of the most viable option to voting, Option A4.

In his accessment, celebrated journalist and Chairman of Ovation Media Group, Chief Dele Momodu, said Nwosu performed his duty to the very best of his abilities, and very well. The well traveled journalist wondered on what pedestal the opposing senators stand to deny him honours.

Also lending his voice to the immortalisation of Prof Nwosu, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, said all honours Abiola is enjoying today is credited to Nwosu’s honesty.

“It is very important that Prof. Humphrey Nwosu should be recognized, the genesis of having a free and fair or the foundation of having a free and fair June 12, 1993 elections was through having a sincere NEC chairman like Humphrey Nwosu.

“Humphrey Nwosu conducted free and fair election that gave Aare MKO Abiola the mandate that the Nigerian government then did not install him as president.

“And the respect and the glory that Aare MKO Abiola is having today is as a result of the honesty displayed by the then NEC chairman and the products that worked with him that made it happen,” he said.

HUMPHREY NWOSU AND JUNE 12 DEBACLE 

Nigeria’s electoral umpire during the period leading to the June 12 debacle, Prof Humphrey Nwosu, appears to be one of the few democracy apostles, who have been neglected, when heroes of June 12 struggle are mentioned. This is no longer a case of ‘either by commission or omission’, but a typical example of by “commission and omission”, going by feelers coming out from members of the upper chamber. Nwosu was a man who had nothing to gain or lose by doing the right thing; and he went ahead to do the right thing.
Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who was born on October 2, 1941, and died on October24, 2024, was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), as it was then called. He was appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1989, and held the office till 1993, when the election was annulled. He replaced Prof Eme Awa, who was said to have resigned due to a disagreement with Babangida.
Prof Nwosu is remembered for his administrative and organizational prowess, inventing the popular Option A4 system that ensured optimum transparency during the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election between MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Uthman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He persevered in announcing of the results even as tension from unknown quarters were rife. He abandoned the results after his life was threatened, according to reports.
Prof Nwosu became a Professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and served in the government of Samson Omeruah, who was governor of old Anambra State. Among his highs in office were assisting traditional rulers to gain staffs of office, receive salaries and settled intra and inter community land disputes. He also served as chairman of a Federal Technical Committee on the application of Civil Service Reforms in the local government service.
Nwosu conducted the June 12, 1993 election which was seen as the freest and fairest election till date in which Chief Moshood Abiola was presumed to have won. Nwosu’s commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open ballot system.
Nwosu had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime.
In 2008, he published a book in which he claimed that Babangida was not to blame for annulling the election. The book was severely criticized for failing to accurately account for what happened, and that could explain the reason behind his sudden oblivion in the political and social circle as well as why he has not been recognised as champion of democracy, and June 12 in particular.
Noting that the story of heroism attached to June 12 is not complete without Prof Nwosu, a pro-Igbo youth group, Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), urged President Bola Tinubu to honour the former NEC chairman. They believe that he played a vital role prior, during and after the elections of 1993.
In a press statement by its President General, Mr. Goodluck Ibem, the group said: “A team that wins a match scored by one of the players was not made possible only by the player who scored the goal. The winning came as a result of the input of other players.
“That a free and fair election was conducted by National Electoral Commission, NEC, on June 12, 1993 was made possible because a man who believed in transparency and integrity was at the helm of affairs of the electoral body at that time.“We must tell ourselves the truth that, if not for the impeccable integrity of Professor Humphrey Nwosu who conducted a free and fair election where Nigerians from all works of life, tribe and religion spoke their minds through the ballot box, there won’t be any Democracy Day to celebrate today,” the group noted.Also, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) called for the overdue recognition of Prof Nwosu.The CNPP in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, highlighted the pivotal role played by Prof. Nwosu in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

The CNPP lamented the continued exclusion of Prof. Nwosu from the list of heroes celebrated on Democracy Day, despite his significant contribution to the nation’s democracy through the introduction of the Option A4 voting system.

“It is time to transcend petty biases and to embrace the spirit of inclusivity that Professor Nwosu’s legacy warrants,” the association of all registered political parties noted.

An online platform, Businessday.ng once captured Prof Nwosu’s contribution as follows:

In the middle of the night of June 10, 1993, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Bassey Ikpeme, in breach of the relevant decree, ordered the electoral body to put on hold the presidential election that was some 36 hours away from happening.

The plaintiff in the case was an unregistered body known as the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) , which consisted of a group of politicians generally believed to have government backing. Nwosu took the risk of his life and found his way in the morning uninvited to a meeting of the MILITARY COUNCIL, ASO VILLA, to explain the grave consequences of Ikpeme’s indiscreet pronouncement. After intimidation and harassment of Prof and other deliberations at the uninvited meeting, it was agreed that NEC could discount Ikpeme’s order and continue with its arrangements and preparations for the elections.

At the end of voting, when it became clear from the majority of the results already collated from the states that the candidate of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola could not be stopped from winning the contest, the then Chief Judge of Abuja, Justice Dahiru Saleh ordered NEC to halt the process. Again, Nwosu stormed the Aso Villa, but this time, he found that the government had withdrawn their support.

The then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Clement Akpamgbo, who gave Nwosu legal backing earlier, did not only ditch him but also ensured that a bench warrant to arrest Nwosu issued by the Chief Judge of Abuja was duly served. From then, Nwosu became labelled as the problem, while his Electoral Commission was formally suspended forthwith. The only other option left to Nwosu was to seek judicial cover from the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, headed by Justice Achike. With no one else behind Nwosu except the Commission’s vibrant Director of Legal Services, Bukhari Bello, with Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN, OFR, one time Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission. NEC drew attention to an earlier judgment by a higher court in which Oguntade JCA as he then was, established two main points.

The first was that where a court makes an order in a case where it lacked jurisdiction, the order was null and void; and second, that it was unnecessary to go on appeal in such circumstance.

This suggested that Nwosu had no business obeying the erroneous decisions of the lower courts. Interestingly, NEC produced in Court the COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION, which he had been stopped from announcing and which confirmed the victory of MKO Abiola. The real problem was that some ambitious military fellows aided by a set of compromised politicians wanted to prolong military rule. At this point, the government, sensing that it might lose the case, decided to annul the election a few hours before the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Prof Nwosu is an apostle of democracy, and of June 12, 1993 more especially,  and deserves to be honoured and celebrated.

In his tribute at the burial of Prof Nwosu, President Tinubu, though acknowledged that the deceased upheld democratic principles, he was however, silent on any form of honour for the June 12 chief electoral officer. He noted:

“As we mourn the death of Prof Humphrey Nwosu, we are invited to celebrate him for his profound accomplishments and personal fulfilments as a public administrator, political scientist, and academics icon. We are urged to reflect on his democratic ideals and his sense of commitment to a democratic Nigeria. These are the hallmarks of his life and times that will be cherished beyond this generation,” Tinubu said, through his representative, the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi.

As the south east governors prepare to meet and present their proposition of honoring Nwosu before President Tinubu, Nigerians have said that whatever the situation, Nwosu remains and etched in the hearts and minds of the real heroes of democracy and June 12; the average Nigerians, as democratic force to reckon with, and a man without whose name the story and history of the freest and fairest election in Nigeria cannot be written.

According to Yusuf John Imam, who wrote from Abuja, in an article titled Senate’s failure to immortalize Humphrey Nwosu, disservice to democracy, “if the Senate cannot honour Nwosu, then every state in the Southeast should take it upon themselves to immortalize their son. Build monuments, name streets, and establish scholarships in his name. Push his narrative and celebrate his legacy. The Southeast must rise to the occasion and ensure that their son’s legacy is preserved for generations to come.”

The bottom-line remains that Professor Humphrey Nwosu is a hero of June 12, and deserve to be honoured, immortalised and celebrated.

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