The dismembered body found in a New York City apartment on Tuesday was said to belong to the founder and CEO of Gokada, Fahim Saleh. His gruesome demise was confirmed Wednesday in a tweet posted by the Gokada handle.
“We are deeply saddened to inform you about the sudden and tragic loss of our founder and CEO, Fahim Saleh, Fahim was a great leader, inspiration and positive light for all of us.
“Our hearts goes out to his friends, family and all those feeling the pain and heartbreak we are currently experiencing, here at Gokada,” the post said.
It was a tale of horror coming from Fahim’s Manhattan condo on Tuesday afternoon. When his sister went to check on him, after not seeing or hearing from him for some days, she found Fahim’s body dissected with an electric saw which lay beside his remains, local news reported.
Fahim was said to have bought the condo in 2019 for $2.25 million. The New York Police Department (NYPD) who answered his sister’s 911 call said the police don’t have a motive yet.
“We have a torso, a head that’s been removed, arms, and legs. Everything is still on the scene. We don’t have a motive,” said NYPD spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves.
According to local reports, a surveillance camera caught Fahim walking into the elevator for his seventh floor condo, and there was a man wearing a hat, gloves and mask hurrying after him. The police said the killer was a professional.
Fahim became popular among Nigerians when he started the motorbike hailing company, Gokada that ensured faster movement in traffic prone Lagos. But motorbike hailing was banned in January by the Lagos State Government, putting Rahim’s Gokada business in Nigeria to a halt.
Apart from Nigeria, Fahim is also popular in Bangladesh, his country of origin, where he co-founded the ride-hailing company Pathao, which is popular in Bangladesh and Nepal in 2015.
The 33 years old was known for his love for gadgets. He created his first company, prankDial.com while in high school at 16, a prank calling website, before he moved into venture capital.
In his story on Medium, Fahim shared three lessons that helped him get even: “When you’re serious about a project, you need to find others who will take it seriously also; focus your energy on one or two ideas; at the end of the day, you need to make sure it’s something you’re truly passionate about.”
It is not clear what the motive behind his murder is, but he is believed to be targeted.
Those close to Fahim said he is a cool, gentle and inspiring personality who has shown leadership in his capacity as a tech founder and CEO.
The co-founder of Pathao, Hussein M Elius, told Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper: “Fahim believed in the potential for technology to transform lives in Bangladesh and beyond.
“He saw the promise in us when all we had was a common purpose and a shared vision. He was and will forever remain, an incredible inspiration for Pathao and our entire ecosystem.”
As Fahim Saleh trends on Twitter, Nigerians are telling their stories about him.
“A great loss. Had a conversation with him about a month ago on their new B2Bdelievery, amazing guy and extremely friendly,” Shina Charles Memud wrote on Twitter.
Unfortunately, this tragic event is happening at a time when Gokada is struggling to find its footing. After the ban by the Lagos State government, the company has been exploring other strategies to stay alive. Pivoting with logistics companies was a top choice on its menu of options.
Fahim Saleh’s sudden death has thus thrown Gokada’s existence into oblivion. The company said “all updates and changes will be communicated…, as it unfolds.” Without Fahim in the helm of affairs, the expectation offers little hope.
Man by nature is good, but in the course of inter-action with external objects, bad elements were found, seen and grew.
I never knew how ethnically different I was in the circles of my “Contreymen” until I was rejected for a prefectorial position in high school, on the basis of “tribal” affiliation.
Though I took it in good faith, but in the course of life evolution I found it derogatory to use in defining my person and social band.
For which many have antagonized my perspective, which I have no problem with, because knowledge variety is the beauty of enlightenment.
The term “tribe” has a racist etymology, which refers to the social division of people, especially of a preliterate people, defined in terms of common descent, territory, culture etc.
However, the concept of tribalism has often been confused with a rational product called “ethnicity.”
Some scholars use the two concepts as though they carry the same meaning and are strongly inseparable.
However, it is pertinent to note that there is a difference between tribalism and ethnicity even though the difference is water-tight.
For instance, Nnoli (1978) sees ethnicity as a “social phenomenon associated with the identity of members of the competing communal groups seeking to protect and advance their interest in a political system.”
If we go by Nnoli’s position, tribalism which has to do with a tribe is only an element that could constitute ethnicity, hence ethnicity in this case is wider in context than tribalism.
My high school experience is still fresh in my mind, but that cannot deter me from addressing the necessity to half the social division experienced by citizenry on the basis of tribe or ethnic sentiment.
The thesis being posited therefore, is need to avoid the use of the term “tribe” to describe ethnic groups or social bands or as a defining parameter for social status acquisition or elevation.
More so, the term tribe is almost exclusively a label which emerges with imperialism in it’s application to those who were non-Europeans, which vividly show a racist inclination of the concept of tribe.
And as we are attempting to discard the prejudices of imperialism, it is in our best interests to discard the use of the term “tribe” when referring to the ethnic groups of Nigeria.
Ethnicity in the words of Nnoli above shows that it does not yet exist until a demand is made by one group to seek for advantage and benefits for its group relative to what another group is seemingly enjoying.
In support of this argument, ethnicity matters because of ethnicism. And ethnicism is absurd because it’s being rejective of an outside group. It’s not about the blood you have, it’s about the prevailing social construct of “We” versus “Them” kind of ossification.
Ethnicity is not biology; ethnicity is sociology!
Research has shown that over 60% of the cyber attacks in the last five years were targeted at SMEs (small and medium scale companies). This negates the notion that cyber attack is majorly targeted at large and famous companies. In fact, a Start-up company’s data was mischievously deleted by an angry ex-employee. So it is important that more than ever before SMEs should invest and pay more attention to cybersecurity.
In this article, I will point out some important things for SMEs to know in securing the data in their hands.
There are different data a business would have. They include :
We must know that the majority of the Data protection regulations is applicable to 2 and 3 above. i. e. NDPR, GDPR and others do not regulate number 1 above. That is to say that the data protection regulations compel you to secure the personal data in your hands as a business.
However, some sectors of the economy enforce the security of the company’s data e.g. the financial sector in Nigeria, regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, has a cybersecurity regulation.
Now, SMEs cybersecurity is aimed at securing all the data in SME’s hands whether personal or not. Let’s look at simple cyber security tips for SMEs.
If manually, shelves and locker rooms must be properly secured and access should be given to only trusted employees.
If artificially, whether cloud based or on devices, access should be limited. Remember to backup all folders offline and possibly off-site.
There may be sector specific cybersecurity policies in your business sector, find out and comply. Nevertheless, there is a need to have internal information security policies. These policies include but not limited to the following:
Contact your infosec lawyers for more info on policies.
Cyber security awareness of the employees is of utmost importance. Since employees are the ones who interact with data both online and offline, employees must be well informed on proper steps to discover phishing emails, identify fraudulent links and take other cyber precautions while online. Remember, If you build a strong firewall don’t forget to build a strong human wall. Continuing education of employees is key!
Note the following points:
Management must be properly aware of the importance of cyber security. They must be ready to make technical and financial decisions with cybersecurity of the business in consideration. Ensure compliance with information security policies
Management must also ensure that threats and breaches are handled technically and properly. Be ready to spend on cybersecurity because you will pay more in case of cyber breach.
Cyber insurance covers business risk in event of network failures and breaches of personal data. This may be a new area in most insurance companies but if your work is mostly online, you may need to insure against cyber risks you never can tell. This may sound like an expensive plan but talk to your insurance company, they can work out something for you.
Note that if it is a risk it is insurable, cyber risks are insurable. Get a cyber insurance cover today.
Conclusion
Finally, there are so many things to be considered in cybersecurity and one of it is time. You can’t postpone attending to a threat. Neither should you postpone updating of software. Be on time.
Cybersecurity is not about the length of the business but Cyber Strength