Forget not, our Fellow Nigerians are still in captivity, death threats every minute. No movement on the freedom trail for the train victims kidnapped so cruelly. The nearly 30 aspirants for presidential office seem gaily ignorant of the ongoing tragedy. Sadly, is the only way to rescue them ‘dinner with the devil’ and paying the ransom, since death seems almost certain unless the armed forces interfere spectacularly, decisively and successfully? An individual who has the power and raises, if given or gets by illegal means, the N100m to buy a form of Expression of Interest in the presidency should be questioned by the police. Why not decide instead to spend the money on ensuring the release of these Fellow Nigerians? After all, they were simply ‘enjoying’ the universally accepted and practiced right of a train ride to work, to family, to holiday, for pleasure or emergency necessity.
If one of the numerous and daily increasing Presidential Primary Aspirants, PPAs, did such a thing, and put the public interest above the personal and party interest of himself and his henchmen and hangers on, he, for there is no she PPA to my knowledge yet, would certainly be considered as really high on the list of potential PPAs. Perhaps we should call on these PPAs, if they will not reapply the already raised N100m, to individually or collectively, raise another N100m for the purpose of securing the release alive and well and with minimum additional mental trauma from incarceration under inhuman conditions.
Yes, government does not and should not negotiate with terrorists, and it is illegal to do such as it is a recipe for repeat offences by the terrorists. Many governments exchange spies. Is there a difference, especially where the government appears failing in its duty? A ransom is not gladly paid. Is it not criminal of government to close this door and loved ones to 15 years imprisonment when its own efforts to save citizens fail and kidnapper go free?
Perhaps we could use the N100m to empower the armed forces to purchase technical weaponry to ‘with immediate effect’ and prayerfully anticipate joyful release of victims. The PPAs should refocus and face the serious ongoing tragedy with these innocent citizens as pawns in the expanding terrorist agenda to destabilise Nigeria.
The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities Spouses, CVCNUS, is a fact. Google it. It exists. But should it? Most thought it was a late April fool joke. But it is not. With the outrage and disbelief it has attracted, the first meeting has been postponed, perhaps forever. Sadly, other first ladies meetings for presidential and governor and LGA, and spouses of the armed forces, security forces, and other arms of MDAs have almost without exception become contaminated with peacock dressing, wild publicity, much noise and fury signifying nothing or too little for too much spent in terms of progress and development of the organisation’s members and supposed recipients. Such associations have uniformly turned morbidly farcical, as citizens see little in exchange for the glitz and glamour of the events surrounding the associations. It is also to be noted that this is at a deeply saddening time when every relevant hand should have hands-to-the-plough to amicably terminate the colossal current prolonged
ASUU/Government imbroglio which has destabilised, disrupted, damaged and forced into despair millions of undergraduates and family members suffering collateral damage from being in the vicinity during the strike or dependent on an undelivered pension or pension. Please end this ASUU strike quickly and also stop this CVCNUS in its tracks.
The pardon of two governors after conviction by an EFCC-driven prosecution for huge common criminal corruption offences is wrong. The pardoning by a past president of a governor in similar circumstances was also wrong. Sadly, authorities seem to have lost their moral compass worldwide, saving friends while executing and imprisoning others quoting high moral law and ‘we do not care whose ox is gored’. Perhaps more of the prisoners in our overcrowded prisons need to be released/pardoned.
The announced and published capture of renegade soldiers and service personnel and even their wives and families caught sabotaging the effectiveness of our gallant forces is not unknown. Spies will be spies and there are spies in every warfront and every armed forces. Follow the USA, UK, and USSR and read the books and watch the films. Nothing new under the sun. However to be shot in the back by your own colleagues is a terrible fate to suffer and a terrible fear to have to endure.
The airlines want to shut down due to high costs of fuel. Cost of electric power has been unilaterally crazily increased from the crazy tariffs at present. Pure water price is going up. We lost the opportunity to have our refineries working with repeated mirages of mythical TAM, Turn Around Maintenance, now revealed as a criminal enterprise with nothing to show for it. We lost the opportunity to grow our power and our refineries and to move to alternatives solar from the sun, inverters etcetera. Dangote cement is among the highest costing in the world so no one really expects Dangote Refinery petrol, aviation fuel, kerosene and engine oil to be our saviour? We lost the opportunity to deliver pipe-borne water, condemning us to pure water/plastic bottle alternatives in billions annually. Our 60 year cancerous political failures to develop local alternatives are largely responsible for our current suffering.