The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • “Baba no dey drop!”: The misfortune of denying the obvious

    By Paulus Utser

    Self-incriminating words do not dignify silence; they defile it. The logic of this common sense is embedded in the Miranda warning to any suspect who has been arrested: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court.” But in today’s world of social media, sedatephobia (the fear of silence) seems to have become endemic, and people are hardly able to remain silent, even when saying nothing appears to be noble and more helpful.

    The recent Christmas message of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, Most Revd Matthew Hassan Kukah, presented Nigerians with a golden moment for silent reflection. But sedatephobia disorder ignited a chain of reactions; and while some of the reactions usefully attempted to help us further understand the magnitude of the already-known painful reality captured by the Bishop, others decided to embrace the self-incriminating defilement of the golden moment for silence.  Surprisingly, the response tweet by Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media, registered itself as an example of such violation of silence from a highly recognized podium.

    Understandably, Onochie was being active in her line of duty as Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media. Unfortunately, she seemed to have been caught off guard by the naked reality of government ineptitude captured in Bishop Kukah’s message. Or, perhaps, instead of responding with the same quality of substance that formed the Bishop’s message, she chose to represent her official responsibility as a national joke. In her “wailing” tweet, in response to Bishop Kukah’s message, she wrote: “They’ve met more than once. So, what is the problem? Baba no dey drop! He is rebuilding a nation battered by greed, political and religious favors. Buying the support of traditional/religious/political leaders is no longer on the table. Rebuilding our nation is the main focus.”

    Many have interpreted the tweet as an insinuation that Bishop Kukah’s criticism of President Buhari’s administration was an outburst of personal disappointment due to the fact that the Bishop could not lure the President into giving him pocket money or material favors. Probably, that was the point Onochie was also trying to make. And such insinuation may convince some people, but I had difficulty relating her logic to the context and content of the Bishop’s message because of some critical questions. Is there a way to make people with political offices in Nigeria to embrace the wise counsel of the former US First Lady, Michelle Obama, who said: “when they go low, we go high”? Every time a serious issue is raised about governance in Nigeria, government officials begin to go low with ridiculous defense mechanisms. But sometimes the humility to accept defeat is superior to an attempt to stage a porous defense. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was on the political procession to be baptized as one of the worst Nigerian presidents in history. But when he graciously conceded losing election to President Buhari in 2015, many Nigerians changed their perspective about him. Is it impossible to accept failure now?

    If, as Onochie indicated, Bishop Kukah and President Buhari have “met more than once,” in what capacity was the Bishop received by the President? Was he received as a regular citizen or as Bishop? What had been the agenda of their meetings? Or should we take it from Onochie that pocket money request has been the main agenda of those meetings? In that case, if exposing corruption has been a key agenda of the Buhari administration, why has the Bishop not been exposed since after several meetings of “loose change” request? Or was there some difficulty in establishing any corruption charges against the Bishop for a report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission? Are all the prominent Nigerian figures, like the Emir of Katsina and the Sultan of Sokoto, also disappointed “pocket money” hunters? Was pocket money also the basis for the EndSARS protest by the Nigerian youths? Is Buhari the only President Bishop Kukah has ever criticized? Is Cardinal John Onaiyekan (Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja), the Catholic Bishops Conference and every single religious leader, all voicing dissatisfaction or offering crtical reflections for the same reason of pocket money? Was it because of pocket money or material favors that some of our soldiers in the battlefield were complaining in the combat against Boko Haram?

    There is little hope to imagine that Onochie has answers to these questions, given that she also wondered: “What’s the problem?” What else can better affirm the “lack of direction” of the Nigerian government than such “official” expression of lack of knowledge about what is going on? But then she went on to suggest some knowledge in the tweet that our nation has been “battered by greed, political and religious favors,” and that the main focus of President Buhari is to rebuild “our nation,” not to buy the support of traditional, political and religious leaders. Hmmm! Who then remains part of the “our nation” that is being rebuilt by Buhari, if Nigeria is truly a nation where the influence of religion, culture and tradition cannot be reasonably dismissed? Or, is the “our nation” indicative of the Nigerian First Lady’s suggestion some time ago that her husband’s administration has been hijacked by a certain cabal? Moreover, who says that support must be bought by pecuniary or material favors? Many Nigerians like myself are supporters of some football teams in Europe, do we get money or material favors from those teams in exchange for our support?

    Onochie had the right to remain silent, but moved by a “difficult” determination to defend the charges of government failure against Baba, she decided to violate the “right to remain silent.” In the process, she fired a thoughtless shot that was both suicidal and patricidal, killing herself and Baba President, by ironically stating the irredeemable fact: “Baba no dey drop!” She is absolutely right. That has been the frustration of Bishop Kukah and many Nigerians with their President. Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, recently wondered whether President Buhari is not interested in understanding or is unable to understand the situation of the country.

    A simpler explanation, sometimes in few words, enhances a better understanding of complex emergencies. Yes, it was easy to understand the Nigerian political events in the simple expression of the Nigerian singer, Idris Abdulkareem: “everything jagajaga.” Now, thanks to Onochie, we can best understand that all the biting issues affecting Nigeria at the moment are due to the fact that our Baba President “no dey drop!” But we cannot fairly blame the President because he had already told us from the very beginning: “change begins with you.” The best way for every Nigerian to understand those words in the present context is to know that: “you are on your own!”

    But that should not be considered as the end of hope for Nigeria; we are only placed in a classroom of hard lessons. So, change must now “begin with us” instead of “with you,” since the one who says “with you” does not consider himself part of your problem. Every Nigerian of good will must become part of the solution for a better Nigeria. I believe that the EndSARS protest was inspired by the “with us” spirit of togetherness. Hunger, killings, kidnappings and poverty are “with us.” And a big lesson can be drawn from the great German theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We must maintain our faith that miracles do happen, but Nigerian youths also need to sustain an enduring determination, even if it hurts, to end the insane era of recycling old leaders and expecting a different result for a better Nigeria. Retirement age should be respected!

  • Archbishop Vining Memorial installs new Dean

    Archbishop Vining Memorial installs new Dean

    Our Reporter

     

    A new Dean of the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Oba Akinjobi Way, Ikeja Lagos, will be installed on Sunday, 24th January, 2021.

    The installation will be performed by Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lagos West, Rt. Rev’d Dr. James Odedeji, assisted by other Bishops and clergymen of the Diocese and from other Dioceses of the Communion.

    The new Dean is Venerable Ebenezer Adewole, who was Vicar of the Anglican Church of His Ascension.

    Read Also: Church holds annual prayer

    A statement by the chairman of Planning Committee, Professor Babajide Alo, said Adewole is the sixth Dean of the Cathedral since the Diocese of Lagos West was created in 1999.

    “As Dean of the Cathedral which is statutorily the principal church of the Diocese of Lagos West, he is expected to support the Diocesan Bishop in activities of the Diocese, and see to the spiritual growth of members of the Cathedral,” the statement explained.

     

  • Does laptop, cell phone radiation cause brain tumour?

    Does laptop, cell phone radiation cause brain tumour?

    By Femi Kusa

    Largely overshadowed by COVID-19, the number of brain tumour cases may be growing in Nigeria. Doctors have not said what exactly may be causing the upsurge. Medicine’s lay folks who comment on brain tumour occurences in other parts of the world suspect many culprits, including electro pollution especially from over use of laptops and cell phones.

    The arguments are unending. While some people believe cell phone radiation is too weak to ionize or dismantle molecules in the brain, thereby causing genetic changes which may lead to brain tumours and even cancer, reference is made to a study in which the natural lifestyle of honey bees in a specific colony were altered by magnetic radiation in the environment. A medical doctor in Nigeria told me last year that a fruiting mango tree near his office became unfruitful after an internet service provider mounted a signal boosting dish nearby.

    In Enugu, a medical facility reporting pediatric cases said an average of three patients were seen yearly between 2007 and 2014, but the number jumped to eight cases a year between 2014 and 2017 and, from there, to 54 by September 26 in 2018, the following year. Researchers at the department of pathology and forensic medicine and the department of oncology of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), published a study on  January 9, 2015 in the Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN 1937-8086) titled spectrum of intra-cranial tumours in a territory healthcare facility. The researchers were Sunday Sokunle Soyemi and Olugbenga Olayide Oyewole. They discovered 56 cases of inter-cranial tumours in 12,610 biopsies involving patients of who average 36 years. The male-female ratio was close at ratio 1:1.1. The tumours did not spread to the brain. Astrocytomas, one of the three commonly sighted brain tumours was prevalent, corroborating patterns in many studies.

    From Ibadan, a recent publication on pediatric tumour showed a six fold increase from 2.2 percent to 12.9 percent over 50 years. The publication said children accounted for 37percent of all “CMS neoplasms at our centre”. It added:”A similar trend can be inferred for other centres in Nigeria.” The researchers were Chika Ndubuisi, Wilfred Mezue, Martin Nzegwu and Samuel Ohaegbulam. John Richard OMA, commenting, said:

    Studies seen in other parts of the country,  showed age range between 33 to 50 years. The mean age for children was eight years and this is similar to that reported by Idowu et al. In this study, meningiomas accounted for the most frequent diagnosis for all intracranial tumours. At 41 percent followed by pituitary Adenomas 22 percent and gliomas at 20percent. The high prevalence of meningiomas in our study compare with the findings of Idowu et al , Ibebuike et al in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, with both reported meningiomas as the most common brain tumour in their studies

    Symptoms

    According to www.mayo clinic.org, the symptoms include

    “New onset or change in pattern of headaches, headaches that become more frequent and more severe, unexplained nausea or vomiting, vision problems such as blurred vision, double vision or loss of peripheral vision; graduation loss of sensation in an arm or leg, difficulty with balance, speech difficulties, confusion in everyday matters, personality or behaviour changes, seizures especially in someone who doesn’t have a history of seizures, hearing problems”

    Science and medicine are still at their wits end about what causes brain cancer. But several studies have been suggesting some risk factors . Some brain cancers are more prevalent in certain races. Some sufferers were genetically predisposed. There are all sorts of genes in the body, including tumour suppressor genes. These suppressor genes may be functioning suboptimally or a good number of their population may have been wiped out or altered by DNA changes, which may occur for many reasons. Dangerous chemicals in the environment are suspected culprits as well. So is HIV disease. Ionising radiations are not left out. They damage and dismantle molecules. Well known examples were the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in the second world war (1939-45) and the Chernobyl radiation disaster in April 1986 which traversed some countries, contaminating water, vegetation, poultry, cattle and humans. Many farm animals and food crops were destroyed to avert human contamination. Outside ionizing radiations, CT scans, x rays, radiotherapy are suspected to be contributory factors. Nowadays, overweight and obesity are being evaluated for possible roles.

    About two decades ago, medical investigations diagnosed some tumours in the brain of one of my high school class mates who had been complaining about persistent headaches. When the scalp was opened up, the surgeons found far more tumours than they thought their skills and equpment  could cope with, and closed it up. He died soon after. That was soon after the cell phone arrived in Nigeria with all the controversy about whether over exposure to it was safe for the brain, eyes, ears and the nervous system. The controversy spins back and forth arguments. In such a situation where there is still no settled opinion, I like to pitch my tent on the side of caution. When Nigerian studies suggest that more children are developing brain tumours,I wondered if there was  any correlation with the fact that many adults yield to the pressure of  infants and children who also want to speak with Auntie A or Uncle Z. These infants and children hold the phone too close to the ear or directly on it. Yet the energy of the phone is microwaving. There have been many videos made of how the brain cells are “cooked” or “microwaved” and how they “struggle” to “heal” themselves after a phone conversation. What if the intervals between conversations are too short and they never really completely recover, losing a few cells now and then or suffering instalmental damage?

    Laptops

    The spur for this column is a post I received from a member of my chat group on Green Pasture Herbs. An avid reader of this column, and an unrelenting advocate of Alternative Medicine, Mr Rafiu Dotun Odunaye wrote…

    “Most of your kids will be attending online classes and addicted to gadgets, please be very careful. I am writing about the current happening.

    My very close, best friend’s younger sister son is studying

    12th standard. A very bright student from his childhood,and only son to my friend’s sister.

    His online classes starts daily at 10am so laptop is on by 9am. Due to peer  school pressure with the online classes going on, he used to either be on laptop or mobile at least till 10 pm daily, No physical activity at all, no one to play due to COVID-19 fear  and being a single child in their family.

    On October 27, 2020, morning, he was saying he was not feeling well. Two days prior to that, he had mild pain on his left hand. No one took that seriously. On Tuesday, he was saying he did not want to attend on line classes and wanted to be with parents’. Parents were surprised and asked him to rest. He tried to sleep but was not able to, he asked his father not to go to the office. His father asked if we should go to hospital, child said everywhere there is corona which hospital to go, I will be alright after a good sleep. He asked his father to go to work. He said he was very hungry and asked his mother to feed him dosa. He again tried to sleep but could not, then around afternoon, he called his father to come home immediately and take him to hospital. His father came home within 15 minutes and the son came and hugged him and said ‘take me to hospital’.

    By the time he started the car, child collapsed. They rushed to a hospital 4 km away and doctor checked for pulse. It was not there. They tried CPR and the heart started to function. They took all scans and found the child was brain dead.They tried all medication till Saturday, October31, 2020 morning ,and finally decided to remove the ventilator.

    He is now no more.

    A case of Brain death

    Pathetic thing is that hospital has handed over the body to police since the child was unconscious when brought to hospital and in his teens. They will hand over the body only after postmortem and corona test. So not sure if they would get it on October 31, 2020, or November 1,2020.

    Doctor said this is 20th such case during

    The past 20 days, Heavy usage of gadgets, radiation has affected the brain and stopped the supply of oxygen.

    Use gadgets sparingly, avoid earphone/headset to the maximum extent possible. Humble request to all parents and guardians. Please take care of your kids, teenage boys, girls, ask them to read only hard copy books and no gadgets except for honeybees.

    According to Nashaat El Halabi, Gaby Abou Haidar and Roger Achkar of the American University of Science and Technology reporting in www.researchgate.net:

    “As many other species, honeybees are becoming extinct in the world; this phenomenon is called the Colony Collapse Disorder. Many reasons have been proven to be behind this environmental disaster like climate changes, pesticides, fungal pathogens and others, in addition to radiations generated by mobile phones, especially, since in recent years wild life has been exposed to microwaves and radio frequency’s radiation signals from various sources, including wireless phones. Bees have a specific organ for sensing magnetic forces, enabling them to navigate using their own compass. The claim of the research is that radiations generated by mobile phones are disturbing the life cycle of honeybees and affecting their reproduction system and honey producing. The research involves testing the behaviour of honeybees away from mobile phones, with a mobile phone in its standby mode and active communication mode. The results of the experiments verified that mobile phone affect the honeybees’ life system.

    There is clear evidence that honeybees exposed to high or low energy fields or electro-magnetic radiations tend to suffer dramatic behavioral and physiological changes in both laboratory-and field-based experiments. Exposed honeybees showed increased aggressiveness, irritability and hyperactivity (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2011; Warnke, 1976), resulting in a premature swarming process (Favre, 2011). Cell phone radiations can alter even navigational skills of bees: numerous authors measured statistically significant decreases in the number of adult bees returning to their colonies under field conditions (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013 Ferrari, 2014; Sahib, 2011; Sharma and Kumar, 2010). …

    … Exposed honeybees showed increased aggressiveness, irritability and hyperactivity (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2011; Warnke, 1976), resulting in a premature swarming process (Favre, 2011). Cell phone radiations can alter even navigational skills of bees: numerous authors measured statistically significant decreases in the number of adult bees returning to their colonies under field conditions (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013 Ferrari, 2014; Sahib, 2011; Sharma and Kumar, 2010). Several authors observed also that colonies exposed to electromagnetic pollution were subjected to a strong decline in their brood productivity with a reduction in egg laying rate of queen (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013 Sahib, 2011). …

    … Cell phone radiations can alter even navigational skills of bees: numerous authors measured statistically significant decreases in the number of adult bees returning to their colonies under field conditions (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013 Ferrari, 2014; Sahib, 2011; Sharma and Kumar, 2010). Several authors observed also that colonies exposed to electromagnetic pollution were subjected to a strong decline in their brood productivity with a reduction in egg laying rate of queen (Dalio, 2015; El Halabi et al., 2013 Sahib, 2011). In addition, Kumar et al. (2011) and Kumar (2012) recorded a considerable increase in the concentration of biomolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids in the semen and a significant decrease in the activities of seminal enzymes in drones exposed to electromagnetic radiations from cell phones. …

    … This research is a complementary process to a previous paper called ” The effect of cell phones radiations on the life cycle of honeybees ” , which has been published in July 2013 in proceeding of IEEE EUROCON 2013. It studies the effect of cell phones’ radiations on the life cycle of honeybees and demonstrates that mobile phones affect honeybees’ life system [3]. This project has great significance because honeybees are a very important part of the ecological system since they pollinate 80 percent of the flowering plants, which makes up the  one third of what humans eat. …

    … The first step in the study, described in the first paper written by the same authors [3], was to study the effect of mobile phones radiations on the life cycle of honey bees; the claim is that such radiations disturb honeybees’ life system and affect their reproduction and honey producing. In addition, a jammer was used to study the effect of mobile phones’ radiations of higher power. …

    … The behaviour of bees was studied in three different settings: in their normal setting, which means without the presence of a mobile phone in the near vicinity, with the presence of a mobile phone operating in its standby mode, and finally in its active communication mode. Two hives were used, one as a reference hive which was not exposed to any mobile phones’ radiations, and the experimental hive that was exposed to these radiations [3]. The results of various experiments showed that honeybees in their normal case produced sounds at lower frequencies of around 450 Hz, and with lower intensity 0.3 normalised amplitude. …

    … The sounds emitted by bees under the action of EMR were similar to those produced during swarming and nest abandonment (Favre, 2011); this indicates that bees perceive EMR as a danger or stress signal. Such changes in behaviour, and also the decline in queen fecundity and development of drone-only brood in irradiated colonies (Sharma and Kumar, 2010;Halabi et al., 2013) inevitably reduce the vitality and productivity of the honeybee colony. In some experiments (Kumar et al., 2011), both honey and beebread was completely absent in colonies by the end of EMR exposure”. …

    Brain health

    Like the heart, the brain hardly rests. In the process it produces dangerous substances called “free radicals” by products of its activities and is also hit by “free radicals” from inhailed air, food and water, and the waste products of germs and parasites which inhabit our bodies. Not only should we eliminate as many of these as possible, we should also eat for the health of our brain as we do for other organs such as the heart, kidneys, bowels, bones and joints, lungs  the reproductive organs and even the skin, hair and nail. Many of us leave the brain out of our calculations. We also do not help our children who are overloaded with tasking unecessary education before their brains can adequately cope with it, especially in this generation of the laptop, cell phone and distance learning popularised by COVID-19 pandemic.

    We cannot exhaust here the list of herbs or food supplies which energise the brain, make it function optimally , protect it against mishaps and rescue it from danger. I have not listened here in terms of proficiency but as I remember the ones which helped me out through about three decades of 18 hours of gruesome brain work everyday without brain or physical fatigue.

    Magnesium is a gem. Insomniacs who have used it in cured form or in such supplements such as natural calm, perfect calm or ionic magnesium know its value for the brain and the nerves. Gotu Kola is reverred by Asians for longevity promoting qualities. It balances function of both the brain, a good value for not only restful peace and calm nerves but helpful in depression as well. Gingko biloba, like magnesium and gotu kola, reverses failing memory , empowers the brain to store more information, promotes blood circulation, like gotu , to the brain and within it, and to the eyes. It was originally called maiden hair because it made the hairs on the scalp of women grow long and well through support for blood circulation. Omega 3 fatty acid is indispensable for the brain, a fatty organ. It protects it against “rusting” and prevents cellular wall from penetration by unwholesome entities. Alpha Lpoic Acid (ALA), another antioxidant (“killer” of free radicals) is useful to the brain because it functions in both fluid and fat media, unlike some other antioxidants which work in one and not in the other. Grape  Seed Extract easily crosses the blood-brain-barrier and is, therefore, more readily available than those antioxidants which cannot easily cross the buffer zone . LECITHIN is a purveyor of choline and inositol, two nutrients which keep brain cells on the go. That is not forgetting L-carnitine, mushrooms, vitamin D, vitamin A, C and E especially zinc, thealine and many more.

     

  • Akeredolu right on herders

    Akeredolu right on herders

    By Kazeem Olalekan Israel

    SIR: The recent statement issued by the Presidency against the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN is most divisive. It is a deliberate attempt to plunge the country into unnecessary strife.  The statement undermines and ridicules the essence of the constitution which grants each tier government the power to promote policies towards enhancing the well-being of the people.

    The order, proclaimed by the governor, ordering herders to vacate the state’s forest reserves is not out of place. It is basically an attempt at ensuring that the destruction of government properties most especially forest reserve is not encouraged all in the name of grazing. It is also an attempt to guarantee the safety of the people of the state as the forests are being turned havens of terror by herdsmen.

    One would have expected the federal government to support the call made by the governor given the dire security situation. Rather, the presidency’s statement not only appears to support the invasion of government land by the herdsmen, it opted to misconstrue the intention of the Ondo State government. This is most unfortunate.

    Merely by the text of the statement issued by the federal government, it is tempting to conclude that the Buhari-led government is making change from the old ways difficult while making new ways a journey into the unknown.

    By the letters of the law, the state governors are the custodians of all the lands in their domain.  Also, the governor is duty-bound to protect lives and properties of the citizens and he can go to any length permissible by law to ensure that the security of the people is guaranteed. That the herdsmen are being ordered to vacate the government reserve is certainly a far cry from the narrative being promoted by the Presidency that the governor has ordered that Fulanis vacate Ondo State. The misinterpretation of the governor’s proclamation shows how low and mischievous this federal government can go.

    It was Chief Obafemi Awolowo who declared at the convocation ceremony of the then University of Ife in 1971 that “except the country urgently go back to agriculture, our country may soon be importing food to feed the population.” Today, herdsmen have discouraged many people from engaging in farming with invasion and destruction of farmlands with their cows which has in many cases resulted to blood-letting. Meanwhile, the federal government has maintained a deafening silence as regards this which shows the level at which the lives of the citizens matter to this ‘change’ government.

    I appeal to the Ondo State Government to ensure that the proclamation is enforced to the letter not just to ensure prosperity in the agriculture sector but to ensure that lives and properties of the people are guaranteed.

    • Kazeem Olalekan Israel, Ibadan.

  • All herdsmen are not bandits

    All herdsmen are not bandits

    By Fredrick Nwabufo

    SIR: Crime has no ethnic face. When criminality is defined according to ethnic origin or religion, social cohesion is threatened. There are people of criminal inclinations in every group, race, place and religion. In fact, we defeat the fight against insecurity if we lend ourselves to ethnic prejudices. The insecurity devouring Nigeria affects everyone – Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Idoma, Jukun — and people of different religions. The criminals pillaging the country do not select victims based on ethnicity and religion. The devourers only come to steal, kill and destroy.

    A few days ago, bandits invaded the home of Professor Aliyu Mohammed at Wusasa in Zaira, Kaduna State. They kidnapped him, killed his young son and shot his brother – not minding his religion or ethnicity. There have been countless cases of attacks on commuters on Abuja-Kaduna road. The victims of these attacks have been Nigerians of all shades and contours.

    These bandits do not even spare their own kin. Mohammed Adamu, a suspected kidnap kingpin, had to pay N1.5 million ransom to a rival kidnapping gang led by one Buba Babu when he was abducted. Adamu ’’was held and shot in the hand until his gang members paid a ransom of N1.5million only for his release’’. We have to see these pillagers purely for what they are – criminals from Hades born without a soul.

    The evils of these vultures on citizens in the north could escape ethnic tinctures largely because of the false perception of ‘’na dem dem’’, but in the south they are spurring divisiveness and atavistic prejudices. As a matter of fact, many families are in mourning. Many have lost loved ones to the Mephistophelian enterprise of bandits. So, it is natural for Nigerians to be angry. I recall the killing of a young agro-entrepreneur in Oyo whose life was extinguished by his abductors after his family had paid N1.6 million ransom — such a tragedy. The killing of the daughter of Pa Fasoranti and a first-class traditional ruler in Ondo is still fresh. These are very depressing incidents.

    Really, Nigerians have a right to defend themselves against certain death. The constitution guarantees this. But what the constitution does not sanction is the profiling of any citizen based on ethnic origin or religion. So, we should not make the problem of banditry an ethnic one. These are criminals who will leisurely kill their own kin for ransom.

    On Monday, Rotimi Akeredolu, Ondo State governor, ordered all herders to vacate the state’s forests. I construe his action from a point of helplessness. The governor is tired of the killings and abductions in his state. He is the chief security officer of the state but he cannot marshal the police or the army to black out the nightmare in Ondo. He lacks the constitutional power to do so. One of his closest staff has been a victim of these devourers. The wife of his chief of staff was kidnapped in November 2020. A first-class traditional ruler, the Olufon of Ifon was killed by bandits in the state. And there have been jarring cases of kidnapping and murders. So, it is only natural that the governor acts to check the slumping of his state into a kidnappers’ paradise.

    Also, that states are embarking on parallel security outfits to defend themselves indicts the federal government of failure. The consequence of the Buhari administration’s ineptitude is clearly the resort to self-help by citizens. If the Buhari administration was responsive in tackling security threats across the country there will be no Amotekun or any other divergent regional security outfit.

    State governors are helpless. What options do they have? Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, publicly lamented that governors were ‘’frustrated and tired’’ over the parlous state of security. The Buhari government has failed to secure the country, hence the resort to panic remedies which impede national cohesion by governors.

    But we must take caution not to tinge the enemy in brushstrokes of ethnicity. Asking all herdsmen who congenitally take to the forest to vacate the forests of Ondo may come off as ethnic targeting. The intentions of the state government may be genuine but we live in a divided and delicately unbalanced country.  Nigerians have a right to reside anywhere they want to.

    Let us not make banditry about ‘’all herdsmen’’ or any ethnic group.

    • Fredrick Nwabufo, <fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com>

  • Sex party and El-Rufai’s romance with a demon

    Sex party and El-Rufai’s romance with a demon

    By Ladesope Ladelokun

    SIR: With Nigeria ranked at 131 out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, the giant of Africa qualifies to be among the unenviable league of the worst countries to do business in the world.

    But, who needs the World Bank to paint a pathetic picture of a situation that is already in our faces? Is it, for instance, a fairy tale that Nigeria is battling a multifaceted security challenge that is capable of scaring away local and foreign investors? What shall we say about Nigeria’s grotesque power situation?

    But, in spite of the prevailing harsh business environment, there are Nigerians who have braved all odds to make a heaven of a hellish situation. That is why Aisha Yakubu’s story is touching.

    Remember Aisha Yakubu – the woman whose restaurant was demolished by the Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Agency (KASUPDA) allegedly on the instruction of Governor Nasir El-Rufai because it was suspected to be the proposed venue of a sex party that never held until the state government made a U-turn on the original reason for its action.

    The travails of Aisha Yakubu has once again brought to the fore how Nigeria kills her own by literally having her knees pressed against the necks of enterprising Nigerians struggling to shake off the effects of the failings of  their leaders.

    If we pretend to concede that there was actually a sex party, should the state government have been the prosecutor, judge and executioner in its own case?

    Didn’t El-Rufai sign the Urban and Regional Planning Law, 2018, which its section 79 disapprove of demolishing a building without an opportunity for a defence? It must be said that destruction is not the attitude of a mature society. Not when it is done with the brashness of men of power and contempt for decency. Apparently overwhelmed by the opprobrium it attracted for its action, the Kaduna State government changed the narrative; something the late Afrobeat creator, Fela Kuti, would have described as government magic.

    According to Ismail Dikko, Director General of KASUPDA, the demolition was not hinged on the sex party that never held as previously stated on the Twitter account of the agency. He blamed the ‘misinformation on an error by its social media handler. Dikko argued that the building was demolished for its lack of permit.

    These are definitely not the vibes to get from a state looking to attract investors. Impunity must not be encouraged under the guise of keeping law and order. Back to the sex party that never held. One man whose crucifixion nails were quick to get the back of Aisha Yakubu to the cross, even without any particle of evidence is the Director General  of the National Council for Arts and Culture(NCAC), Segun Runsewe. Runsewe had hailed the Kaduna State government for its action, expressing confidence that the demons of immorality will one day be defeated.

    While it is gratifying that Runsewe is passionate about defeating the demons of immorality, it is also apropos to add that the war against immorality can never be won when the warriors see with one eye, or fail to lead by example.

    Was it up to a year that not less than 67 women groups demanded the prosecution of El-Rufai’s son, Bello, for threatening violence and gang-rape of a woman on Twitter?

    Truth be told, the sins of the vilified organisers of the purported Kaduna sex party and Bello El-Rufai who issued a sexual violence threat are in the realm of sexual immorality. But, neither Runsewe – the now vociferous warrior of morality- nor El Rufai publicly condemned Bello, let alone call for his prosecution.

    Advocates of morality must be reminded that there is a wide gulf between law and morality. While it is important to fight immorality to a standstill, it is equally important for the law not to be trampled upon.

    • Ladesope Ladelokun, ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com

  • Trump’s baleful legacy and Biden’s challenges

    Trump’s baleful legacy and Biden’s challenges

    Our Reporter

    With the swearing of Joe Biden ago as the 46th American President, the rest of the world joined America in celebrating the resilience of her democracy and institutional durability, all of which came  under severe stress and strain with twice impeached President Trump’s four-year war against American political ethos. But the tragic Trump episode must also be seen as a sad reminder of an enduring systemic racism, America’s original sin through which 10.7million African slaves were taken to America and the Caribbean.

    Obama as president was merely tolerated by Trump and his white supremacist groups. For two years, Trump lied to his base, claiming Obama was not born in America. Obama by all account was a great American president.  He inherited Bush’s avoidable two wars, a depressed economy and a frightened Americans who for the first time became conscious of the level of anger of some of her enemies with the 9/11 bombing of the New York American World Trade Centre. Obama ended the two wars, took America out of economic recession, eliminated Osama Bin Laden effortlessly using brain instead of brawn thereby rekindling American hope and restoring her confidence.

    Obama had warned that Trump was not fit to govern. The 70million Americans that voted against Hillary Clinton, Obama’s candidate cannot be said to be uninformed. In any case, besides Obama, nearly all Republican leaders especially those who contested against Trump in the primaries agreed he was unfit to govern and that his presidency would be a disaster for America.

    Despite the analysis of those who try to play the ostrich by attributing Trump and ‘Trumpism’ to Obama’s neglect of American middle class, the only plausible explanation for emergence of Trump is systemic racism.  Trump as a leader of the white supremacist was the only talisman he needed to overcome his disabilities as an American presidential candidate against a tested Hillary Clinton that had devoted all her life to public service.  Republican leaders including Mitch McConnell, the Republican senate majority leader who once swore to make a Obama a one-term president, who mobilized their base to vote for Trump, are all racists.

    It was not lost on them that Trump’s battle-cry of “let us take our country back”, was a denunciation of Obama, who Trump and his white supremacist supporters could not stand because of “the colour of his skin despite the content of his character’.

    They were all accomplices in Trump’s four years of trying to undo everything Obama did including Obamacare, that provide health care for millions of less privileged Americans, taking America out of Paris climate change international agreement and Iran nuclear deal, co-authored by Obama and American allies not because Trump and his Republican white supremacists had a better alternative, but out of a desire to erase Obama’s legacies.

    With about 400,000 projected to die from Corona virus by the end of March and the millions he had literarily directed to commit suicide by not wearing their face masks as directed by doctors , with thousands of small businesses closed down and thousands of those who lost their jobs queuing up for food rations, Donald Trump still  got 74m votes in the last November election. Egged on by Republican senators and Congressmen, he continued to lie that the election was stolen from him. Many of them still stood by him after the mob he had incited took over the Capitol shouting ‘hang Mike Pence’ and ‘kill Pelosi’, two people that stood on the way of Trump’s creeping dictatorship.

    Joe Biden, with his almost 50 years of preparation however has his job – healing America of systemic racism – clearly cut- out for him. As he has eloquently put it: “The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy, of decency, honour, respect, the rule of law.”

    Although Biden’s task as America’s crisis president has been made more arduous with COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the land with a projected figure of deaths by March put at about 400,000  due to inept leadership of Trump, with a more divisive and divided America society accentuated by Trumps lies and falsehood estimated by facts check at 250,ooo according to Washington Post.

    For four years, Trump played politics of fear appealing, and mobilising victims of what one model builder called ‘politics of cultural despair”. He told his white supremacist supporters that voting for Biden means loss of identity of America as a country of white. He told them their country election was stolen and urged them to fight to take their country back so that he could guarantee their white privileges.

    For months after the election, Trump, a sore loser, continued to lie about the result of the election. Those he had driven in to frenzy believe his repeated lies despite his loss of all his challenges to the election result in courts. As Timothy Snyder, a Yale University Professor of history and the author of On Tyranny said, “big lies can outlive a big liar”. Trump has created a crisis of legitimacy for Biden. A survey has shown that over 64% of Republicans believe the election was rigged in favour of Biden despite the fact this was not true. Those he had deceived to believe Biden’s presidency is illegitimate because of his selfish interest will probably try to make America ungovernable for Biden.

    Biden, who was elected into the American Senate at 29 and for 35 years, travelled daily from his Delaware home to Washington DC by train to perform his duties is however bringing his unique qualities and the quality of responsible leadership he had offered his people all through the years to bear on his new assignment as an American crisis president.

    Biden with about 50 years in politics having made his first attempt at elective office with contest for New Castle County Council, in 1970, and two earlier attempts at the presidency has already indicated “he is on a rescue mission for a beleaguered country.” He understands American society more than any of his contemporaries, hence his new crusade for social justice which is a far cry from his 1975: “I do not buy the concept, popular in the ’60s, which said, ‘We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and… to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back, to even the race.” (Washington Post).

    He has already released his policy thrust on systemic racism.  It covers investing in Black-owned small businesses, creating a new tax credit to help Black Americans buy homes, and investing in historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

    His eight years as Obama vice president has also prepared him well for his foreign relations challenges such as relations with China, North Korea which has been projected to have both long-range missile capabilities on top of being a nuclear power and the current hacking of federal agencies by suspected Russia agents. Also re-joining the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord will also not be difficult with Democrat’s control of the senate and the Congress albeit with small margins.

    But above all, many believe Biden’s modesty, integrity, selfless service as well as the quality of leadership provided as a senator for 35 years and vice president for eight years adequately prepared him for his new challenges.

  • Petroleum ministry and Nigeria’s gas potential

    Petroleum ministry and Nigeria’s gas potential

    By Elizabeth Bivan

    With proven reserves of about 200.79 trillion cubic feet (tcf) as of January 1, 2019, and an additional upside of 600 tcf ranking Nigeria as the ninth in the world, domestic gas expansion and utilisation are imperative.

    Experts have long recognised this need, especially considering that several countries with smaller reserves are already major players in the international gas market.

    As part of the country’s resolve to join them, as well as to lay a solid framework for gas infrastructure expansion within the domestic market, the Nigerian Gas Master Plan was approved on February 13, 2008.

    The master-plan is a guide for the commercial exploitation and management of Nigeria’s gas sector. It aims at growing the economy with gas by pursuing three key strategies: Stimulate the multiplier effect of gas in the domestic economy; position Nigeria competitively in high-value export markets, and guarantee the long-term energy security of Nigeria.

    In furtherance of this objective, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources declared 2020 as a year of gas. The federal government then inaugurated the Nigeria Gas Transportation Network Code to deepen the growth of the gas market in the country. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, disclosed this on August 10, 2020, at the virtual launch of The Go-Live of the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code, in Abuja.

    He said the Buhari administration was driving key policy and regulatory initiatives that would enhance gas reserves growth to support domestic and export projects.

    The other focus, he explained, was to expand domestic gas supply and address the perennial challenges of gas flaring, with its attendant waste and environmental impact.

    Stakeholders had long recognised that the new gas code was long overdue. A lack of transparency in the industry had led to unfair and often discriminatory access to gas transportation networks and deterred investments.

    The absence of this framework hindered local gas use. The natural gas reserves volume of the operated deep-water acreages in Nigeria is about 21 per cent of the country’s total reserves of liquid hydrocarbons according to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Yet the acreages accounted for about 36.08 per cent of Nigeria’s total production in 2018. The absence of a uniform code for gas transport hindered investments.

    The government in recognition of the potential of natural gas put in place various interventions to stimulate gas utilisation and monetisation.

    The reforms were initiated to re-position the gas sector and deliver on the government’s key aspirations.

    Sylva explained that the aggregate impact of the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code hangs on three anchor programmes on gas, namely the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTNC), National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) and Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).

    This, he said, would help the sector achieve the presidential mandate of gas penetration, gas-based industrialisation, and economic diversification.

    It would also, according to him, unleash the potential of accelerated growth and economic development. The code, together with related interventions would enable the improved gas supply to power, growth of gas-based industries, domestic LNG, LPG, and CNG penetration, as well as enhance revenue to the government and create investment opportunities for Nigeria.

    Other countries too have realised the need for a master plan. Our next-door neighbour Ghana, for instance, approved its Gas Master Plan (GMP) in 2016 and, like Nigeria, is expected to be reaping the benefits.

    To make the Gas Master Plan run smoothly, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, developed the Network Code Electronic Licensing and Administrative System (NCELAS), which is being used by the regulator to receive, process, and issue all applicable licenses to all network players as well as administer all regulatory roles required to ensure the optimal market impact.

    The benefits of NCELAS, according to the minister, are many. He is right because the NCELAS is a secured online environment that provides optimum value for stakeholders operating under the world-class network code.

    With the execution of the network code framework agreement, the regime of gas transportation is now firmly established in the country for the benefit of all stakeholders.

    From February 10, the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code shall apply to all gas transportation arrangements between gas transporters and gas shippers as defined in the Code.

    The transporter and all existing users of the transportation network are expected to migrate from existing Gas Transportation Agreements to the Network Code by executing the necessary Ancillary Agreements.

    All new and intending users shall make use of the network based on the terms and conditions provided in the Network Code.

    The Network Code remains the uniform protocol for users of the Gas Transportation Network and can only be modified in accordance with relevant provisions therein, the ancillary agreements are negotiated by the relevant parties.

    It is expected that gas and its derivatives, as envisaged in the National Gas Policy, will catalyse Nigeria’s economic growth. This, of course, will give rise to a need for gas transportation infrastructure to be put in place for the sector to develop.

    According to Sylva, the Code has great potential to stimulate the domestic gas market, drive gas-based industrialisation and the realisation of the government’s aspiration to move 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

    Its in-built modification mechanisms make the Network Code dynamic and subject to periodic review to suit the dynamics of the industry.

    The project has, unsurprisingly, excited stakeholders.

    Reacting during the launch, the Group Managing to Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari said the code was an opportunity to widen the income source of gas in Nigeria.

    He noted that the development was the beginning of progress in the gas sector.

    The DPR Director, Sarki Auwalu, also noted that the gas code will address gas flaring, grow infrastructure and expand utilisation of gas in the country.

    It would, he added, help to achieve the mandate of the year of gas as declared by Sylva, adding that the portal for licensing will ensure enterprise structure and will serve as a one-stop-shop for network administration.

    Deregulation of the downstream sector had exposed many to price volatilities in the global market, raising the need for a more affordable alternative for energy.

    Thus, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, the auto-gas initiative came at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market. The federal government did right by focusing on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications, to cleaner, more available, accessible, and affordable energy source.

    As President Buhari noted, the outcome will not only cushion the effect of the downstream deregulation that the government has to painfully implement, but also create new markets and enormous job opportunities for our people.

    The auto-gas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilisation and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development.

    In summary, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources deserves commendation for the National Gas Expansion Programme.

    If all goes as planned – and there is no reason it should not – the programme will boost the utilisation of gas in the short and medium-term, create millions of jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition and enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation’s GDP.

    • Dr. Bivan, a public commentator, sent this piece from Benin City.
  • Pelosi’s ‘pound of flesh’

    Pelosi’s ‘pound of flesh’

    By Mohammed Adamu

    IF you ask me, I should say that my ‘heroine’ from the just-ended tragic-comic electoral melodrama in the United States of America USA, is that 80-year old ‘chic-ky’, Nancy Patricia Pelosi, the three-time (and need I say first ever woman?) Speaker of that country’s House of Representatives. And of course the villain of that abominably shameful display of democratic incivility we all know is that now Biden-vanquished, ignobly out-gone, one-term-only 45th President, the ‘Grand Panjandrum’ himself, namely our 74-year old Donald John Trump, -or need I say the first ever American president who, about now, rather than go into any of his country’s ‘Halls of Fame’, ironically is stepping rather into her metaphorical ‘Museum of the Ignoble’ as a pioneer honoree!

    But on a second thought too, Nancy Pelosi, it appears, has not only played the role of a ‘heroine’ here let’s be realistic, she too has her own share of pleasant melodramatic villainy. The Speaker is as much the excellent ‘heroine’ of her outstanding legislative one-arm-ed swordship role in ending the ruinous phenomenon called Trumpism, as she is also the veritable ‘villain’ of her wolfish demand from the out-gone president, for her legislative ‘pound of flesh’, and more than half of which, by the way, Pelosi has already fatally obtained from the under-ribs closest to Trump’s political heart. All things being equal soon in the upper legislative chamber, the man should profusely bleed (hopefully from a perforated ventricle) to his political demise. Or else this serpentine ‘snake’ of Trumpism has merely been scotched, not killed!

    And so in this villainous role therefore, Pelosi can be said to assume the brutally-gloating role of the Shakespearean character Shylock in that bitter-sweet tragicomedy ‘The Merchant Of Venice’, but she, without the tragic flaws of, or maybe even the tragic consequences that thereafter attended the character of Shylock. Pelosi’s irate democratic members are right now in the dramatic scene where they are acting out the vengefully unheeding character of a blood-baying Shylock where the brilliant disguised Lady lawyer, Portia pleads with him not to take his pound of flesh but to “render the deeds of mercy”, warning: “Though justice be thy plea, consider this, that in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation”.

    But the script has already been written. And the theatrics must go on. Pelosi already owes the senate a constitutional duty, even with Trump out of office, to transmit her impeachment findings soonest to the Upper Chamber; and the latter in turn owes the American public a similar duty, to try an already profusely hemorrhaging Trump. Meaning that a vengeful Pelosi still has some ‘unfinished Trump business’ to bring a closure to.

    Said Charles Colton “Most women will forgive a liberty easier than a slight”. Pelosi, it appears, has forgiven neither the presidential ‘liberties’ that Trump has repeatedly taken of her seeming cool-headedness nor the arrogant executive ‘slight’ he had directed at her equally eminently venerable status as head of a section of a sovereign arm that is co-equal with the executive. In fact Trump’s disdainful rebuff the other day of Pelosi’s parliamentary handshake across the mace, was probably the last straw on the back of his burgeoning wages of executive sin, prompting a bile-full and visibly choleric Pelosi to shred her copy of the president’s speech in a manner clearly suggesting she had now thrown her ‘hat’ in the ring of a future Foreman-Ali ‘rumble in the jungle’ with Trump!

    Unfortunately not only was Pelosi’s warring resolve lost on an obviously self-aggrandizing bully-Trump, but even the portentous sarcasm loaded in the Speaker’s politically-correct gesture of scornfully applauding Trump as he walked past by, was totally lost on him; how much less then would Trump have had the oracular sense to discern the insufferable meanness latent in that contorted octogenarian Pelosi-face that seemed subtly to promise: ‘Don’t you worry, I will spit on your grave sooner rather than later”.

    Although Shakespeare has said in ‘Macbeth’ that “There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”, it was not to be debated that no one needed any ‘art’ in this case, to find the mind’s construction on Speaker-Pelosi’s Trump-hating-face.  And so it was politically naive –not to say tom-foolish-  that a Jonny-Just-Come-To-Politics Trump himself, by his own political actions and inactions, advertently or inadvertently, would personally hand the dagger twice, to this 80-year old, nearly four-decades-at-Congress arch-enemy of his,  to stab wherever and whenever it pleaseth her. No situation better defines the absence of political tact, a “mental virtue” the lack of which William Gilmore Simms said is fatal even “to the best of talents”

    Nor was the role of Speaker Pelosi as a politically-progressive ‘heroine’ in the American electoral melodrama any less fascinating than her other role as the villainous one seeking Trump’s political pound of flesh. And in this too if you ask me, I should say that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is my ‘Lady Macbeth’, but again without the tragic flaws of, or the tragic consequences that attended the character of Macbeth’s murderously ambitious wife in that Shakespearean tragic play ‘Macbeth’.

    In the play, the Scottish King, Duncan invites his victorious war General, Macbeth, to pass the night in the royal forte in appreciation of the latter’s outstanding bravery. But because earlier some three witches had prophesized that Macbeth would be king, an ambitious Lady Macbeth, his wife now goads her husband to seize the opportunity, kill the king and make to come to pass the witches’ prophesy.  It is in the heat of her husband’s indecision that Lady Macbeth, in a desperate soliloquy, invokes the power of the gods to make her into a ‘man’ so to achieve the murderous purpose that her un-manly husband seems to vacillate over:

    “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” she says, “un-sex me here (make me a man) and fill me… from the crown to the toe, top-full of the direst cruelty! Make thick my blood”! And in the end Lady Macbeth does succeed in awaking the ‘man’ in her weakling of a husband: “screw your courage to the sticking place” she tells him, and “To beguile the time look like the time…. Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”.

    It is this scene of extraordinary feminine guts in the character of Lady Macbeth, her burning desire to relinquish her feminity, and like the female leader of a typical hyena pack, to grow a false phallus to rein-in the ‘men’, that that actually evokes instant reminiscence of the beguiling power of a Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who ironically –without coveting the physiological endowments of her fellow male parliamentarians- is still able, as a proud woman, not only to “screw (her) courage to the sticking place” but also to ‘beguile’ the men of her legislative fiefdom without the deterrence of a dissembling phallus. Twice Pelosi, without the villainous antics of a Lady Macbeth, has successfully managed to corral the male members of her legislative forte into line, charging them to “screw (their) courage to the sticking place” and to punish Trump with two impeachments for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’.

    A serial-Speaker Pelosi is proof that when a political dominatrix knows her onions well, the men are eminently controllable and are willing infidels in her masochistic scheme of things. The ‘Christian Science Monitor’ has adjudged Speaker Nancy Pelosi not only as “the most powerful House Speaker” in America since Sam Rayburn some 50 years ago, but also as “the most powerful woman in American politics”.

    How a political greenhorn such as Trump dared to traffic with such an entrenched legislative behemoth beats the imagination. Now look how many poisonous spikes the puny porcupine has left in the nosey whiskers of the unheeding leopard cub!

  • A presidential inauguration ceremony never like before

    A presidential inauguration ceremony never like before

    Our Reporter

    The presidential inauguration ceremony Wednesday didn’t look like anything we’ve seen before.

    The unparalleled nature of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration encapsulates much of what alarms America’s international friends about the turmoil engulfing the United States and the West. It’s also a neat summary of what’s emboldening America’s adversaries.

    Four years ago, a sea of spectators lined the streets and hundreds of foreign diplomats attended a pre-inauguration dinner hosted by Donald Trump.

    On Wednesday — prompted by the still-raging coronavirus pandemic, and the security fears after the Capitol riot — much of that looks set to be absent in a relatively quiet Washington, billeted by thousands of National Guard troops.

    Security was incredibly tight, given the attack on the US Capitol last week. There were no massive crowds, and coronavirus restrictions were in place for all those who attended.

    Moments before the inauguration ceremony began, honoured guests began arriving for the ceremony.

    Former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton attended the ceremony, as did former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

    Shortly thereafter, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were introduced to the crowd at the Capitol.

    Only two living presidents did not attend Biden’s inauguration: Jimmy Carter, the 96-year-old who served in office from 1977 to 1981, missed his first inauguration in 44 years, a precaution because of the coronavirus pandemic.

    President Donald Trump, who left Washington on Wednesday morning and became the first American president in 152 years to skip his successor’s inauguration.

    Shortly afterward, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden were introduced at the Capitol.

    After the dignitaries were seated and introduced, Grammy Award-winning musician Lady Gaga performed a moving rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. others stars also performed at the ceremony.

    Kamala Harris, the former Senator from California, was the first to be sworn in ? a historic undertaking in American history, as she becomes the country’s first female vice president and the country’s first person of colour to hold that office.

    Then, Joe Bidenn who spent 36 years in the United States Senate and eight years serving as vice president for Barack Obama, was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.

    Immediately after being sworn in, President Biden delivered his inaugural address, promising to be a president for all Americans and vowing to work to restore unity in America.