The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Macaulay

  • Maguphobia

    Maguphobia

    In the country’s fight against corruption, anti-corruption fighters should be prepared to experience corrupt politics as well as the politics of corruption. It may well be that the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, underestimated the antagonism he was likely to experience from pro-corruption forces when he was appointed to antagonise them

    By now, however, Magu must be more enlightened about how far the friends of corruption are ready to go to protect their relationship with corruption. His improved understanding was clear enough from a November 3 statement released by the anti-graft agency’s spokesman who spoke on Magu’s behalf, alleging plots to damage Magu’s image. The statement declared: “The plots are already manifesting in clandestine campaigns of misinformation in the social media intended to impugn his integrity and pit him against certain interests both within and outside of government.”

    In addition, the statement observed: “In the last week or so, the social media has been awash with fictitious reports, all painting an uncanny picture of desperation by Magu over his purported non-confirmation as substantive chair of the EFCC, and of stricture within the rank and file of the EFCC workforce leading to resignations.”

    No doubt, there is a problematic situation concerning  the Senate’s puzzling delay in concretising Magu’s appointment, following a July letter from the Presidency seeking that Magu be screened “expeditiously” towards his confirmation as substantive chairman of the EFCC. Magu became acting chair of the EFCC on November 9, 2015, and his acting status over a year later is certainly a cause for concern, considering his applaudable performance in the anti-corruption fight. It would appear that pro-corruption forces are fighting to prevent further applause for Magu.

    It is curious and thought-provoking that the attention-grabbing statement also said: “The EFCC wishes to put it on record that Mr. Magu does not bully anyone, and has not embarked on any mission aimed at blackmailing ‘some highly placed personalities in the country such as Emirs, President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointees’ or any other individual, lowly or highly placed in the society.”  The intriguing statement quoted Magu as saying: “I came to this job with an open mind to do my best for my country. My actions are dictated by my professional instinct and the love for my country. It is not personal and I have no issues with anybody.”

    Interestingly, Magu seems not to get the point by saying he has “no issues with anybody.” The point is that there are people that have issues with him and his anti-corruption involvement. These people have minds that are closed to an open mind and don’t care about doing the best they can for their country for love of country.

    Two months after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu on January 20 described corruption as “deliberate and calculated wickedness” against the country’s existence, meaning against the people, during a visit to the headquarters of The Nation in Lagos.

    “The impunity is too much,” he declared. Then he painted a picture of personal pain. He said:”Sometimes I shed tears in the morning before I go to the office. It is just unbelievable; the rot is terrible.” When the arrowhead of the anti-corruption agency is overwhelmed to the point of tears by the sheer scale of confirmable corruption, it is a telling statement about the place of conscience in the anti-corruption war. The fight against corruption is ultimately a fight for conscience.

    It is a corroboration of the conscience dimension of the anti-corruption battle that Magu said: ‘We need to let people know that corruption is bad because some people don’t seem to know.” He continued: “What I am saying is that people who know they have stolen our commonwealth should bring it back…They have taken our money and are bold enough to say they are not going to return it. The money belongs to the people; they should return the money quietly; let there be voluntary compliance. Let them voluntarily come out to say ‘this is what I have stolen’ and the government will take it. I think that is the best thing to do.”

    Thanks largely to the efforts of the EFCC, the Federal Government in June publicised a list of recovered corruption-related money.  Also given credit for the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth were the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Department of State Services. A statement by the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the loot was recovered between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016.

    The breakdown of the recovered money:  N78, 325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250. Based on the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the time, the money amounted to N115, 792,760,499. The Muhammadu Buhari administration also disclosed that cash and assets worth over N1.9tn had been seized separately, but that these were under legal contention. The assets and cash seized under interim forfeiture totalled: $9bn, N126bn, £2.4m and €303,399. Based on the CBN exchange rate at the time, this totalled N1, 918,113,864,063. According to the government, “Recoveries under Interim Forfeiture (cash and assets) during the period totalled: N126, 563,481,095.43; $9,090,243,920.15; £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17.”

    It is in the country’s interest that, as much as possible, its looted resources are urgently recovered for its benefit. This is why the anti-corruption fight should be treated as a national project, with all hands on deck. This is why Magu, who has been a conscientious fighter in this critical confrontation between anti-corruption forces and pro-corruption forces, deserves to be backed by the full force of law, meaning that he should be confirmed for the official four-year tenure of the EFCC chairmanship without further delay.

    The EFCC is an important factor in the anti-corruption fight, and Magu has demonstrated a desirable capability that only unpatriotic and uneasy compatriots will ignore. It does the Senate no honour to dishonour Magu’s work so far by failure to act promptly and decisively in a matter that concerns the country’s redemption.

    In the country’s fight against corruption, anti-corruption fighters should be prepared to experience corrupt politics as well as the politics of corruption. It may well be that the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, underestimated the antagonism he was likely to experience from pro-corruption forces when he was appointed to antagonise them

    By now, however, Magu must be more enlightened about how far the friends of corruption are ready to go to protect their relationship with corruption. His improved understanding was clear enough from a November 3 statement released by the anti-graft agency’s spokesman who spoke on Magu’s behalf, alleging plots to damage Magu’s image. The statement declared: “The plots are already manifesting in clandestine campaigns of misinformation in the social media intended to impugn his integrity and pit him against certain interests both within and outside of government.”

    In addition, the statement observed: “In the last week or so, the social media has been awash with fictitious reports, all painting an uncanny picture of desperation by Magu over his purported non-confirmation as substantive chair of the EFCC, and of stricture within the rank and file of the EFCC workforce leading to resignations.”

    No doubt, there is a problematic situation concerning  the Senate’s puzzling delay in concretising Magu’s appointment, following a July letter from the Presidency seeking that Magu be screened “expeditiously” towards his confirmation as substantive chairman of the EFCC. Magu became acting chair of the EFCC on November 9, 2015, and his acting status over a year later is certainly a cause for concern, considering his applaudable performance in the anti-corruption fight. It would appear that pro-corruption forces are fighting to prevent further applause for Magu.

    It is curious and thought-provoking that the attention-grabbing statement also said: “The EFCC wishes to put it on record that Mr. Magu does not bully anyone, and has not embarked on any mission aimed at blackmailing ‘some highly placed personalities in the country such as Emirs, President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointees’ or any other individual, lowly or highly placed in the society.”  The intriguing statement quoted Magu as saying: “I came to this job with an open mind to do my best for my country. My actions are dictated by my professional instinct and the love for my country. It is not personal and I have no issues with anybody.”

    Interestingly, Magu seems not to get the point by saying he has “no issues with anybody.” The point is that there are people that have issues with him and his anti-corruption involvement. These people have minds that are closed to an open mind and don’t care about doing the best they can for their country for love of country.

    Two months after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu on January 20 described corruption as “deliberate and calculated wickedness” against the country’s existence, meaning against the people, during a visit to the headquarters of The Nation in Lagos.

    “The impunity is too much,” he declared. Then he painted a picture of personal pain. He said:”Sometimes I shed tears in the morning before I go to the office. It is just unbelievable; the rot is terrible.” When the arrowhead of the anti-corruption agency is overwhelmed to the point of tears by the sheer scale of confirmable corruption, it is a telling statement about the place of conscience in the anti-corruption war. The fight against corruption is ultimately a fight for conscience.

    It is a corroboration of the conscience dimension of the anti-corruption battle that Magu said: ‘We need to let people know that corruption is bad because some people don’t seem to know.” He continued: “What I am saying is that people who know they have stolen our commonwealth should bring it back…They have taken our money and are bold enough to say they are not going to return it. The money belongs to the people; they should return the money quietly; let there be voluntary compliance. Let them voluntarily come out to say ‘this is what I have stolen’ and the government will take it. I think that is the best thing to do.”

    Thanks largely to the efforts of the EFCC, the Federal Government in June publicised a list of recovered corruption-related money.  Also given credit for the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth were the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Department of State Services. A statement by the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the loot was recovered between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016.

    The breakdown of the recovered money:  N78, 325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250. Based on the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the time, the money amounted to N115, 792,760,499. The Muhammadu Buhari administration also disclosed that cash and assets worth over N1.9tn had been seized separately, but that these were under legal contention. The assets and cash seized under interim forfeiture totalled: $9bn, N126bn, £2.4m and €303,399. Based on the CBN exchange rate at the time, this totalled N1, 918,113,864,063. According to the government, “Recoveries under Interim Forfeiture (cash and assets) during the period totalled: N126, 563,481,095.43; $9,090,243,920.15; £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17.”

    It is in the country’s interest that, as much as possible, its looted resources are urgently recovered for its benefit. This is why the anti-corruption fight should be treated as a national project, with all hands on deck. This is why Magu, who has been a conscientious fighter in this critical confrontation between anti-corruption forces and pro-corruption forces, deserves to be backed by the full force of law, meaning that he should be confirmed for the official four-year tenure of the EFCC chairmanship without further delay.

    The EFCC is an important factor in the anti-corruption fight, and Magu has demonstrated a desirable capability that only unpatriotic and uneasy compatriots will ignore. It does the Senate no honour to dishonour Magu’s work so far by failure to act promptly and decisively in a matter that concerns the country’s redemption.

  • One hundred days of inaction

    One hundred days of inaction

    This is certainly one anniversary that deserves contemplation. It re-enacts aspects of a corruption related drama that is still on the stage. It is interesting that a major character in the drama, by highlighting the anniversary, showed an awareness of time and timing that attracts attention.

    The significance of this particular anniversary is its expansion of the expanse of corruption related activities in the House of Representatives. No less a person than the beleaguered former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who has been singing about the alleged rot and stench in the House of Representatives, introduced new lyrics.

    In an interview to commemorate 100 days since he dropped a devastating bomb about alleged corruption involving the leadership of the House of Representatives, Jibrin dropped another bomb. Jibrin was quoted as saying: “With what I have seen happening, the whole process of forming a small group, inviting the Minister of Budget and Minister of Finance has started and that is where the whole problem on the process of appropriation starts. You form a small team, you agree on certain fundamentals; then you come back and try to impose it on the Chairman of Appropriations or Chairman of Finance. When he declines, he becomes an enemy and you start blackmailing him.”

    Jibrin continued: “I have heard that the Minister of Finance has been invited to brief one leadership; Minister of Budget and National Planning has been invited to brief another leadership. That is where the whole budget fraud and padding issue is negotiated. When they go there, there is nothing that is being discussed apart from personal interests. Oh, I have this contractor; I want you to pay him his money. Oh, put my project in the budget. They go there and commit the House at such meetings and when they commit the House, they come back, they try to impose it on the Chairman of Appropriations who has to now take the whole load on his head   and his colleagues are not aware that this is what is going on. With what I have seen so far, I don’t think that the National Assembly has learnt its lessons. That is the pattern that Dogara has adopted.”

    Again, the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has been mentioned in connection with allegations of corruption in the federal legislature. It is a new song about an old dance.  In an earlier interview published on October 9, Jibrin had declared: “The corruption in the House of Representatives is massive. I have not exposed more than 10 per cent of the corruption going on in the House of Representatives. It is that bad.”

    Jibrin had added: “I have said a whistleblower is not necessarily a saint. But people often support him (a whistleblower) because what he reveals is usually beneficial to all. This issue is beyond Jibrin. If someone has any issue against Jibrin, he should write a petition and take it to the anti-corruption agencies. I will go to the agencies and respond to the petition. Nobody among the 359 members of the House has written a petition against me to the anti-graft agencies. I had written a petition against the Speaker and three other principal officers in the House. I am talking about people who committed budget fraud of N40bn, another budget fraud worth about N20bn and there is another budget fraud with a cumulative sum of N284bn. I am talking about a person who diverted Federal Government projects to his farm; short-changed members in the N10bn Sustainable Development Goal projects of 2015; used subterranean means to create a new House rule that is the subject of litigation; and a man who collects rent from multiple sources. I have also exposed the fact that members are collecting votes for running costs. I am not saying money should not be voted for lawmakers’ running costs. The point is that this money is (sometimes) diverted to private pockets.”

    When progressive action is countered by reactionary reaction, it is a sure sign of a clash of values and a collision of conscience. When an urgent need to combat and crush political corruption is downplayed by political inaction, the result is political absurdity.

    Jibrin correctly painted a picture of striking absurdity in the interview that marked 100 days of his own astounding allegations and the astonishing aloofness of the House of Representatives. He said: “I never thought that some members of the House would choose to act in a very reckless manner. I have never seen such impunity in my life because while I was dishing out the allegations, I had thought my colleagues would do the right thing which was to insist that the House should investigate the allegations and collaborate with the anti- graft agencies, the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Security (DSS) which had already commenced their investigation into the matter.”

    What followed Jibrin’s allegations showed that he was wrong to think that his fellow legislators would do what he thought was “the right thing” to do. In the view of his colleagues, Jibrin had just earned himself a punishment for his posture, and he got a controversial 180-day suspension.

    It is food for thought that Jibrin is still on the path of probity and still pursuing a probe of the accused.  There must be something that makes him unrepentant and unapologetic. Listen to him: “I have had a lot of assurances that we will get to the point where every Nigerian wants to see – where of course, Speaker Dogara and the remaining crooks in the House of Representatives will be arrested and prosecuted. I have no element of doubt that, at the end of this, Speaker Dogara will go to jail.”

    Of course, it remains to be seen whether the public will see any new development in this developing story of alleged political corruption in the supposedly honourable legislative institution. By the time another 100 days have passed by, what will be the situation concerning Jibrin’s explosive exposé?

  • Spots on Spotless Hotel

    Spots on Spotless Hotel

    It is said that a good name is better than silver and gold. But it must also be said that a bad name is not made any better by silver and gold. Talking of names, a particular hotel’s name is in dire need of rehabilitation following negative publicity arising from its owner’s pursuit of political power and the accompanying financial empowerment expected by most Nigerian politicians.

    It is food for thought that the hotel’s name came up again while a former Minister of State (Defence) was being questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with the distribution of over N4billion taken from the Office of the National Security Adviser. The former Minister, Musiliu Obanikoro, and a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, are in the soup; and those stained by the soup include Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose and a former Osun State gubernatorial candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    Obanikoro was quoted as saying: “Out of N4.685billon transferred to Sylva McNamara Limited, N3.880billion was transferred to both Ayodele Fayose and Senator Omisore through cash and bank transfers. The dollars contents were handed over to Fayose personally by me in the presence of some party leaders and he collected it and took it to the room next to where we were all seated.”

    Then Obanokoro interestingly introduced the name of a hotel reportedly owned by Fayose: “The location where I gave the dollars to him is called Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti. One of the party leaders that were present is Dr. Tope Aluko, who was then the secretary of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”

    He continued: “I transferred N1.7 billion to Omisore. The money was paid into his account and companies nominated by him. He gave the list of companies for the transfer of the N1.7billion that was released by the NSA to him. The funds were therefore transferred as prescribed by Omisore in full. That is to the account of the companies he provided. Details can be obtained from the bank that transferred the money. I, Musiliu Obanikoro, did not buy or sell any landed property from Sen. Omisore. The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) did not disclose to me what the funds were meant for and neither did I ask or I did not know the source of the funds.”

    The funds allegedly given to Fayose are believed to be part of the war chest used in fighting for votes and fighting for victory at all costs in the 2014 election that brought him to office. Fayose’s reported reaction: “Let me believe that Obanikoro did not say all these because whatever you say, you would have to prove it in court. It is not enough to just say it. If he’s saying all these to get out of trouble, it is just a drama of the moment. I know he is looking for ways out of the quagmire as his house was seized, his bank accounts were frozen and all that.”

    While the story is developing, it is noteworthy that the hotel named by Obanikoro had been named earlier by another participant in another context equally connected with corruption. In February 2015, revelations by a Nigerian Army Captain, Sagir Koli, rocked the country. In a statement titled “How Nigerian Army personnel were used to rig Ekiti and Osun States Gubernatorial Elections 2014,” Koli gave first-hand details of corrupt activities involving his commanding officer, two ministers and some politicians towards election rigging in Ekiti State, and also mentioned a plot to corruptly achieve electoral success in Osun State. Audio evidence leaked by Koli implicated some top officials of the then Federal Government and the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Captain Koli said in his statement: “I was officially deployed as the 32, Artillery Brigade Intelligence Officer to provide credible Intelligence to the success of Ekiti State governorship election. At about 2030 hours on June 2014, a day to the election proper, the commander, Brigadier General A.A. Momoh told me to escort him to a place where the State Minister for Defence wanted to see him. Reaching the place (Spotless Hotel in Ado- Ekiti), which serves as coordinating campaign office for the PDP candidate Mr. Ayodele Fayose, we met the Minister himself, Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Fayose, Mr. Iyiola Omisore, one Honoruable Abdulkareem and host of other top PDP  chieftains.” He added: “The outcome of what was discussed…gave the party victory during the election.”

    Against the background of these significant instances of moral impurity, it is apt to ponder the appropriateness of the name of the hotel concerned. It is unclear why the hotel was given the name it is called, but the place has been clearly unworthy of its name. Obviously, there are sufficient spots on the structure to crush its claim to spotlessness.

    From the look of things, Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, has secured a sure place in the expanse of infamy. It has a bad name, no doubt. The country’s political history, especially that aspect of it relating to political corruption and politically corrupt actors, cannot be complete without a mention of this hotel and its unsightly spots. Additionally, the hotel’s defining marks of dishonour are tough stains that would require more than an ocean to wipe off.

    It is worth considering whether those who use the hotel’s space are conscious of its story and its place in the narrative of negativity. It would be interesting to know what goes on in the hotel during its normal business hours. Does the hotel’s history and historical stains mean anything to its regular patrons?  Does it indeed matter whether events of such negative national impact ever happened there?

    Perhaps the hotel’s name is no more than a statement of aspiration, in which case it does not necessarily mean a declaration by its owner to live up to the hotel’s billing. In other words, it is just hype; no more, no less.

    But the hotel’s name has its uses as a metaphor for the desirable. The country certainly needs politicians that are spotless, which is a hyperbolic way of calling for a culture of anti-corruption.

     

  • Felabration as cerebration

    Music is the weapon of the future.” Who said this? Where and when? Afrobeat phenomenon Fela Anikulapo Kuti made this definitional declaration when I interviewed him in December 1996, seven months before his death at the age of 58 on August 2, 1997. It was perhaps Fela’s last major interview, and I rank my interaction with the music legend among the high points of my journalism career.

    How did I get to interview the great one? I was Features Editor, Today’s News Today (TNT), an ambitious Lagos-based evening newspaper, and the organisers of a series of Fela renaissance concerts tagged Fela Don Come O had chosen the medium for publicity purposes ahead of a planned show on Boxing Day at Lekki, Lagos. The first show at Water Parks, Ikeja, Lagos, was inadequately publicised, the organisers had reasoned. So they came to TNT’s Oregun office to arrange an exclusive interview with Fela that would run for two days as a publicity stunt to draw a crowd.

    Naturally, I was over the moon about the job. I had a partner for the interview in the person of Akintunde Ojo, now deceased, who was the paper’s entertainment expert at the time. For several days before the interview, we prepared and kept reviewing our preparation. On the eve of the date, we had to consult one of Fela’s aides for some guidance on the kind of questions that would hold his interest.

    We watched Fela’s pulsating performance at his club, the Afrika Shrine, on Pepple Street, Ikeja, till the show ended just before dawn; and then the maestro sat down with us for an interview that lasted about three hours. If there were signs that he was battling with symptoms of a grave illness, we didn’t notice. He had stopped playing the saxophone on account of some challenges, but he boasted to us that he would one day start playing the instrument again. He made us laugh, he made us think, he made us wonder, and he made us feel we were capable of great things.

    After the session, he left the club in a waiting taxi, which was a thought-provoking statement about his diminished financial resources despite his undiminished stardom. The interviewers went away inspired by the magical meeting and the unforgettable encounter.

    There is no doubt that Fela’s AIDS-related death meant that a critical progressive voice had been silenced. He was not just a musician but a musical icon with a sense of mission. It is a point to ponder how he would have reacted to Nigeria’s renewed democratic experience that began in 1999, about two years after his death. His unapologetic activism on the side of the people was daring and defiant; and he was willing to pay the price for his anti-establishment campaign. Music was indeed a weapon for him, and he used it against the enemies of progress with all the potency of a visionary iconoclast.

    My reflections on Fela were prompted by Felabration 2016.  The yearly celebration of Fela’s legacy is applaudable. It is interesting that this year’s concert, the 19th edition, was tagged ‘Everybody say yeah yeah’, a catchphrase popularised by Fela. From October 6 to 16, Fela came alive again in more ways than one. Although his remains lie in an inventive tomb on the grounds of his former residence on Gbemisola Street, Ikeja, which is now Kalakuta Museum, Fela’s spirit soars beyond the restriction of the grave.

    Fela’s enduring relevance is reinforced by the country’s current unhealthy condition. The country’s sickness did not begin today, and Fela sang several songs about the deterioration.  I remember his song titled Authority Stealing. Fela sang: “Authority stealing pass armed robbery.”

    An October 21 report justified Fela’s insightful lyrics. This alarming report based on information released by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) said: “In its report of activities from August 2015 to July 2016 presented to civil society organisations (CSOs) by its Executive Secretary Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye during an interactive session in Abuja yesterday, PACAC said corruption brought Nigeria to its knees under Jonathan. The report says: “His (Jonathan’s) tolerance of corruption was reflected in the sunset of activities of anti-corruption agencies under his watch and exponential increase of other vices no doubt fuelled by corruption.”

    PACAC continued: “For example, it is widely believed that insecurity escalated because of the massive embezzlement of $2 billion through the Office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of Col. Sambo Dasuki, who allegedly diverted the money appropriated to fight insurgency. The problems in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry reached the zenith with multi-billion dollars subsidy scams while President Jonathan looked the other way. At the same time, other vices spread like cancer – kidnapping, import duty waivers, financial recklessness, a profligate legislature, corrupt judiciary, etc. There was no single high-profile conviction under his watch, yet there were allegations of high-profile corruption within his cabinet. Jonathan’s legendary comment that stealing is not corruption underscored his perspective on corruption and remains a watershed in the history of anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria. Under his watch, corruption brought Nigeria to its knees.”

    Now,  the most chilling aspect of the report, which highlights the scale of stealing by people in power and the  consequences of ‘Authority Stealing’:  “PACAC said using World Bank rates, one-third of the N1.3trillion allegedly stolen by only 55 people in seven years could have provided 635.18 kilometres of roads, built 36 ultra-modern hospitals in each state, built and furnished 183 schools, educated 3,974 people from primary to tertiary level (at N25.2 million per child) and built 20,062 units of two-bedroom houses.”

    This picture makes it so easy to see why Fela sang that political corruption is more terrible and more terrorising than armed robbery. This is why Fela remains relevant. His lyrics are undying in a country dying from corruption.

  • Corruption needs no conference

    A curious two-day conference will be held in Abuja on October 18 and 19. It is curiously called “National Conference on the role of the legislature in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.” More curiously, it is organised by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption and the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) in collaboration with the European Union, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the Africa Development Studies Center (ADSC).

    Among the curious high-profile participants expected at the conference are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara. Others are the Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Chukwuka  Utazi, the Chairman, House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Babajide Akinloye, and the PACAC Chairman, Prof. Itse Sagay.

    It is unclear whether the forum is intended to school the country’s federal legislators in the fundamentals of anti-corruption. It is worth noting that the Director General, Kenya School of Law, Prof. P. L.O. Lumumba, is expected to shed some light on the subject.

    Without doubt, it is one thing to be taught and another thing to be teachable. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the targets of this training programme of sorts is not their learning capacity but their capacity for unlearning and relearning.  It has been observed that knowledge is incomplete without values, and the lawmakers have continued to demonstrate to the public that they may indeed be irredeemably challenged in that critical department.

    To give a striking illustration, consider the loud and clear voice of the beleaguered former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who has been singing about the alleged rot and stench in the House of Representatives. Who is listening to Jibrin?

    In an interview published on October 9, Jibrin declared: “The corruption in the House of Representatives is massive. I have not exposed more than 10 per cent of the corruption going on in the House of Representatives. It is that bad.”

    Jibrin continued: “I have said a whistleblower is not necessarily a saint. But people often support him (a whistleblower) because what he reveals is usually beneficial to all. This issue is beyond Jibrin. If someone has any issue against Jibrin, he should write a petition and take it to the anti-corruption agencies. I will go to the agencies and respond to the petition. Nobody among the 359 members of the House has written a petition against me to the anti-graft agencies. I had written a petition against the Speaker and three other principal officers in the House. I am talking about people who committed budget fraud of N40bn, another budget fraud worth about N20bn and there is another budget fraud with a cumulative sum of N284bn. I am talking about a person who diverted Federal Government projects to his farm; short-changed members in the N10bn Sustainable Development Goal projects of 2015; used subterranean means to create a new House rule that is the subject of litigation; and a man who collects rent from multiple sources. I have also exposed the fact that members are collecting votes for running costs. I am not saying money should not be voted for lawmakers’ running costs. The point is that this money is (sometimes) diverted to private pockets.”

    Is anyone listening to Jibrin?  It is food for thought that those on the receiving end of his accusations are likely to be at the planned anti-corruption conference in the capital city this week. The accused have done little or nothing to prove that Jibrin does not know what he is talking about. Those who should investigate Jibrin’s weighty allegations have done little or nothing to disprove his scandalous claims. With the move by the House of Representatives to tame Jibrin through a controversial long-term suspension, it would appear that the battle has been lost and won, even though the hurly-burly is not over.

    Jibrin’s response to his 180-day suspension: “The constitution is clear: you can only get a member out of the House through recall and the constitution is supreme. The Legislative Privileges Act only allows the House to suspend a member for one sitting day. The House rules stipulate that you can only suspend a member for only 14 days. Therefore, legally, there is no way this can stand. They only suspended me because they wanted to save face. I raised allegations, but they have not responded.”

    Evidently, the anti-corruption fight cannot be fought by fighters who are themselves pro-corruption. On the question of the incompleteness of knowledge without values, another striking picture reinforces the failure of values in the federal legislature.

    A September 19 report on cheating by members of the National Assembly said: “NAN gathered that some of the lawmakers, especially principal officers, have more than the statutorily approved number of aides in their employ, who also draw their salary from the assembly’s funds…It was also revealed that many legislators draw the emolument of their aides from the assembly’s funds but pay them fractions. Some of the lawmakers employed only one or two aides but are collecting the full salary for the five they are entitled to.”

    The report continued: “This act was discovered to be perpetrated more by the members through their constituency offices, which they are mandatorily expected to have in their areas, but deliberately failed to do so. They submit names of non-existent staff in the constituency office to the national assembly service commission and collect their entitlements directly.”

    It is noteworthy that these are the characters expected to play a positive role in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. What will they learn at the coming conference? What can they learn? How will the results of the teaching be measured and monitored?

    In the end, this publicised conference may be no more than another stunt to create the impression that corruption is unwelcome in the National Assembly when there are enough signs that corruption enjoys a warm welcome in that supposedly honourable  space. Indeed, it is not far-fetched to observe that corruption usually gets the red-carpet treatment from members of the National Assembly. What the fight against corruption needs is not a conference but conscience.

     

  • Why blame the biographer?

    When a biographer gets a biography wrong, it may ultimately require an autobiography to correct what is incorrect.  The complication is that the biography in question, which is being questioned, has been described as an “authorised biography,” which suggests that it should have the essence of an autobiography. In other words, it may well be described as autobiographical because, by definition, “An authorised biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject’s heirs.”

    The greatest casualty of an embellished biography, of course, is History. What is presented as actuality is simply reverse reality.  But where was the man at the centre of the narrative when the biographer was led astray and coloured it with an inventive interpolation of significant magnitude?

    Not surprisingly, a critical inaccuracy in a new book on President Muhammadu Buhari has drawn criticisms from critical observers, and the biography’s fictional flavour makes the biographer look like a fabulist. By extension, since it is an authorised biography, this makes the biographical subject appear as tainted as the biographer.

    The book, entitled Muhammadu Buhari – The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria, was presented with ceremonial elaborateness at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on October 3, but it has turned out that an important aspect of the biography is nothing more than an elaborate concoction. Interestingly, the biographer, Prof. John Paden, said of his effort: “This book seeks to answer the questions: who’s President Buhari and how he’s grappling with the many challenges of Nigeria. My initial motivation was to introduce President Buhari to the international audience on the assumptions that Nigerians already knew their president. But increasingly, I came to feel that, perhaps, Nigerians might find it useful to review. I also wanted to address the issue of leadership.”

    He added: “In the past, one such period was the civil war; another was the time of influx of petroleum dollars. The book follows Buhari through his challenges in and out of the office, his military training in the UK and elsewhere, his roles in military regime, including his time as military head of state for 20 months, his detention, his reemergence as a civil society leader and his eventual engagement in politics in the Fourth Republic since 1999.”

    It is intriguing that what is considered as the book’s major historical howler escaped the reviewers at the event. How did that happen?  Even the figure perhaps most injured by the fabrication failed to highlight it and hit it in his review of the book. The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was on the receiving end of the damaging falsehood, said at the book launch:   “The formation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is an important event that the book addresses. The merger was the result of teamwork, belief in the democratic will of the people and a commitment to national purpose…So many people made contributions that made the historic merger possible. It would be impossible to give each person the accolades they deserve in a concise work such as this one. However, it is an account that we must begin to chronicle fully, and with care, for it is the story of when reform came to the land.”

    This story of reform was reformed by the biographer whose claim that Tinubu was sidelined by Buhari in the search for a running mate ahead of the country’s 2015 presidential election has been rubbished by those who were in the picture. It is worth noting that Tinubu’s version in his review contradicted the biographical account but he curiously failed to counter the biographer.

    Tinubu said: “After the successful merger and the birth of APC, it was time to pick a flag bearer. At the Lagos convention, President Buhari emerged as the new party’s choice in a transparently-honest process. His speech to the convention was greeted with ovation, even by those who had opposed him. This set the tone for the campaign to come. But first, there was the sticky issue of selecting a running mate. After careful study and discussion, it was agreed that we should field a religiously-balanced ticket given the sensitivities of the moment.” He continued: “Based on this conclusion, the name of Yemi Osinbajo, renowned law professor and former Lagos State Attorney-General during my tenure as governor, was proposed as an excellent running mate. Osinbajo was also a pastor in the largest church in the entire country, and this would answer those who wrongfully tried to paint Buhari as intolerant.”

    The big question is: Why did the biographer misrepresent the facts?  The bigger question is: Why did the subject of the biography allow the misrepresentation? A report quoted a source as saying: “The president gave him unfettered access and has had long interviews. He really encouraged him by giving him audience.” So, why blame the biographer when the subject of the biography has not blamed him?

    For obvious reasons, an authorised biography is less likely to be critical of its subject, but this cannot be an excuse for uncritical historiography. The American biographer, a Professor of International Studies, has succeeded in encouraging the view that, apart from the Tinubu twist,  there may well be other aspects of the book that are no more than distortions. The permanence of the printed word means that this discredited biography will continue to be credited with information that is actually misinformation.

    It is noteworthy that a few days before the biography was released, on September 29 another new book on Buhari which was launched at the Presidential Villa made the headlines. It was a pictorial book entitled Buhari: A New Beginning, by his personal photographer, Bayo Omoboriowo.  The book presentation also had its own share of negatives. Presidential Villa watcher Olalekan Adetayo reported: “The reviewer became very blunt at a point. In listing the sources of some of the photographs in the book that were not taken by Omoboriowo himself, he had said the author got some of the pictures from a former photographer in the Ministry of Information who he called Baba Shettima. He then alleged that the man left government service with the negatives of all national photographs he took from a particular period till the nation’s capital was relocated from Lagos to Abuja. This, he said, forced the author to buy some of the photographs from Shettima.  “Baba Shettima should be made to return the negatives of all those photographs,” he said apparently to Buhari who he knows hates such behaviour.”

    Well, so much for Buhari and his new books.

  • A fever of faith

    It began in the mind as a stinking thought before its outward manifestation as a stinking action. The happening mirrored a dangerous and disturbing religious intolerance which did not start today but which should not be allowed to taint tomorrow.

    This is how the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, presented the event that made the headlines on September 25: “The Command got the report at its Division in Ayetoro that one Evangelist Wale Fagbire went to Ketu to destroy traditional worshippers’ shrines. After the destruction, the man became unconscious, motionless and could not talk. When the policemen visited the place, the traditionalists claimed that the subject cannot be taken away until some spiritual exercise was performed.”

    Oyeyemi continued: “The Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba AbdulAzeez Adelakun, waded into the matter which led to the release of the man. The victim has been revived and handed over to his family. The Police’s next step would be determined by the traditionalists. If they complain to the Police about the destruction of their shrine, the victim would be charged for sacrilege and malicious damage. Everybody has a right to worship anything he so desires.”

    On September 30, five days after the report that quoted the police spokesman, the story changed. A fresh report said Fagbire of Christ Apostolic Church, Ona-Iye, Ayetoro in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, told reporters: “About what happened at Ayetoro, it was from God and direction from the Holy Spirit for the deliverance of Ayetoro from darkness. God told me I should go to the shrine to bring out those things for the liberation of Ayetoro. When I started what God told me, he told me to do three things in the shrine. That is, I should evacuate the items, step aside and watch the film. I should not say anything when people come out to see me. So, I did as instructed by God on September 20.”

    Fagbire added: “When I was taken to the palace, I told them all my actions were directed by God. Although they beat me with charms, none was effective on me. I am healthy and sound. When we got to the palace, I expressed my mind about it; nobody treated me.” The pastor at the centre of the story served his own version at a briefing organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun State chapter, in Abeokuta.

    The reconstructed narrative was reinforced by the Regional Coordinator of Yewa/Awori, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Apostle Lola Dada, who said: “He was handed over to the police and the police charged the case to court. The idol worshippers withdrew the case from the court, saying they cannot take the son of their late Oba to court and the case was withdrawn the same day.”

    Dada also said: “The idol worshippers went to Jesus Triumphant Army Church at Ayetoro, which is headed by Pastor Wale Olojede. The church, which had hosted Prince Fagbire, is close to the shrine. The worshippers said it was the church that encouraged him to do what he did. So, the idol worshippers’ transferred their aggression to the church. They went there and barricaded the church with sacrifice and palm fronds, but the Christian youths removed them. They demanded for things they want to use for sacrifice and asked the pastor’s family to pay N300,000, while CAN should bring N200,000, making it N500,000, for the sacrifice to appease their gods. But no money was given to them and peace has returned to the town.”

    This is, of course, a simplistic definition of peace. By his action, Fagbire has fed a monster that may become uncontrollable. He was quoted as saying that his father, the late Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Taiwo Fagbire, who died in 1981, used to take him to the shrine. Having found his way to Christianity shouldn’t give him a feeling of spiritual superiority over those who continue to stick to their indigenous religion which works for them. To refer pejoratively to traditionalists as “idol worshippers,” as members of his camp do, is a reflection of unhelpful narrow-mindedness.

    My mind goes back to July 2013 when I experienced the 10th Orisa World Congress that was held at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. It was an eye-opener on the place of Yoruba religion, also known as the Orisa tradition, in a global village of multiple faiths. It was an appropriate setting for a focus on the challenges facing the Orisa way of life, especially in the context of contending faiths, some of which have the advantage of apparent numerical dominance. The variegated gathering, which included participants from the U.S., Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico, demonstrated the appeal of the religion beyond its local provenance and brought instructive international perspectives.

    There is no doubt about the international status of Yoruba religion, which is reinforced by the reality that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2005 added the Ifa Divination system to its list of the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” A multitude of gods or orisa makes up the Yoruba pantheon, with Ifa as the oracular mouthpiece of Olodumare, the Almighty in Yoruba religion.

    Who would have thought the Orisa tradition could be seen as a redemptive factor in the Boston Marathon bombings in the U.S. on April 15, 2013, when two pressure cooker bombs exploded, killing three people and injuring 264 others? A 47-year-old woman who lived in Boston, Clemencia Lee, an American of Columbian origin initiated into the religion 10 years earlier, said that being a devotee of Yoruba gods saved her and members of her family from the bombings. She said to me: “It was definitely the Orisa that watched over us to not be there and right where the bomb was.” She attended the congress with her husband, Tony Van Der Meer, an American academic of Suriname-Dutch origin and Orisa devotee, and their second daughter who was also an initiate with a Yoruba name, Adetutu. This illustrates the complexity of faith.

    The Ketu incident highlights the inferiority of those who credit themselves with a superior knowledge of divinity. This thought-provoking episode exemplifies what could happen when there is a lack of enlightenment about the reality that the human quest for spiritual truth is essentially personal.

    In the final analysis, the attack against the shrine in Ketu community was unprovoked and provocative. It was an anti-social violation of the right of others to choose their spiritual path, and only succeeded in giving Christianity a bad name.

  • Applause for Theatre Republic

    There was a play to be staged. The producer, who was also the playwright, needed a director to put the play on stage. Someone who should know recommended a director who knows his stuff. I was invited to a preliminary meeting between the producer/playwright and the preferred director. That is how I met Wole Oguntokun.

    It was around mid-year in 2014. We met one afternoon in the office of Sam Omatseye at the headquarters of The Nation in Matori, Lagos. Omatseye, Chairman of the newspaper’s Editorial Board, had just published a play titled The Siege, which he planned to stage to celebrate the milestone 80th birthday of literary luminary and Nobelist Wole Soyinka in July that year. Oguntokun came to the meeting with two members of his organisation called Renegade Theatre.

    It was a stimulating interaction. I got to know that Oguntokun was a lawyer and had an advanced degree in Law. I also found out that he was deeply into drama. Questions and answers about Omatseye’s play, and about the planned production, turned the office into a theatre of ideation and ideas. By the time the session ended, there was no doubt about Oguntokun’s passion and professionalism.

    This is how Oguntokun captured the play: “Charles Gordon was a British Army General, who was in charge of Sudan, Khartoum in the 19th century. He was asked to leave Sudan by his government, which felt they couldn’t hold Khartoum anymore but he thought he could hold it for his country. So, he refused to leave. Unfortunately, he met a man who was as zealous and strong as him in the person of the Mahdi, who fought to hold his country back from the British. The play is about the siege laid on Khartoum with Gordon unwilling to give up the city. It led to the death of Gordon during the face-off between Gordon and Mahdi’s men. The play is about people who hold and believe in their own ideologies; the two men fundamentally believed in the cause they were fighting. It’s based on a true-life story.” The drama doesn’t end with Gordon’s defeat and includes the British reprisal attack spearheaded by Lord Kitchener.

    The play is opposed to philosophies of exclusion and self-promoting ideologies that deny the relevance of diversity. Oguntokun treated its decidedly international colour with striking fidelity. To achieve a compelling interpretation, the director had four UK-based British actors in the cast, Sam Quinn, Angus Scott-Miller, John Glynn and Paul Garayo. I interacted with these foreign actors during another lively session in Omatseye’s office. The director had brought them to the producer/playwright.

    Ahead of the production at MUSON Centre, Lagos, on July 24, 2014, Oguntokun said: “It’s challenging because it deals with another culture, and we have to be careful that we stay true to the Sudanese culture in terms of dresses, music and mindset that existed at the time.” On stage, the serious issues were spiced with spectacle, producing what Oguntokun called “a fusion of play and dance.”

    My mind replayed this background when I heard the news of Oguntokun’s latest theatre project, which he described as “The birth of a theatre republic.” On September 11, he lifted the curtain on his Theatre Republic at Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. The place was formally opened by Soyinka who “attended the Ideas Cafe at the Theatre Republic to share lessons on his artistic journey of more than five decades.” Soyinka’s presence and participation testified to Oguntokun’s respectable professional rating.

    It is nearly two decades since Oguntokun in 1998 “emerged as a player on the Nigerian Theatre landscape.” His own artistic trajectory has seen him become Artistic Director of Renegade Theatre, and now President of the Theatre Republic, described as “a performing arts hub which provides production and rehearsal space for theatre and dance companies, musicians and visual artists.”

    “Everything is self-funded,” Oguntokun reportedly told Omatseye in a phone conversation that the columnist referred to in his column. This is where the picture becomes clearer, showing Oguntokun’s clarity of vision. As a playwright, stage and film director, and theatre administrator, Oguntokun has demonstrated a remarkable professional consistency. A report published last year quoted him as saying: “The stage is what it is; a place of beauty; a place where magic happens. It cannot be replicated in any other arena. It’s where I’m the happiest, where I feel complete the most.”

    Surely, with the Theatre Republic within Lagos, the megalopolis is in the realm of rarefied reinvention. Oguntokun said in the report, which was published while the republic was being built: “At present, there is no single venue in Nigeria with daily programming dedicated solely to the performing arts. It is our desire to create a self-sustaining performing arts organisation that will encourage copycat establishments around the country, which in turn, would help artistes realise their own artistic visions and thus create the ability in them to effect positive change in their individual communities.”

    A megacity deserves thriving artistic centres, and this artistic republic deserves an environment where it can flourish. The show has started. The Waiting Room, a play written and directed by Oguntokun, was staged at the republic from September 15 – 18. It will also run from October 27 – 30.

    The beauty of Oguntokun’s spatial presence is the promise of stability. It is his republic. It is also his empire. There is no contradiction, only a clarification of status and signification. But, obviously, stability is not the same thing as sustainability. The republic deserves decent support for its cultural services. The place is a fertile ground for corporate giants to sow seeds of social responsibility.

    Theatre is alive and alert, despite the potent antagonism of various anti-theatre forces. Oguntokun is proof that the thespian world is willing; but the outside world may be weak. It is food for thought that the report mentioned earlier quoted Oguntokun as saying: “The obstacles facing the presenter/producer from Nigeria are many and they range from unfriendly government agencies to non-supportive state policies.” But enemies of the performing arts and foes of cultural production are not to be found only within the structures of power. Philistinism is also alive and alert, regrettably.

  • A contrived crisis

    It may well be that schemers are at work, or at play, in the unfolding drama in which a high-profile university in the country has been turned into a theatre of theatricalities. The ongoing show at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State, is certainly anti-intellectual, which is an intriguing irony in a space where the intellect should be king.

    Trying to understand what is happening at the university is trying to understand what is happening to the rule of law. At the centre of the confusion is the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor for OAU, which ought to be guided by well-defined and unambiguous guidelines.

    It is thought-provoking that members of OAU’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non- Academic Staff Union (NASU) protested against the selection procedure that produced Professor Ayobami Taofeek Salami. Their disruptive protest attracted the attention of the Federal Government, which also acted disruptively and arbitrarily by dissolving the university’s Governing Council.

    A report said the protesters “took over the University Senate building singing and dancing”, following the puzzling intervention by the authorities. The report continued: “This is a victory for all and one that is well-deserved,” the Chairman of SSANU, Ademola Oketunde, told the workers. “We have seen that President Buhari has a listening ear and we will continue to appreciate him for dissolving the Governing Council. However, we have not won totally as we will stay here till we have an Acting VC who will steer the affairs of the university.”

    This is the crux of the matter. In a reaction to the development, a statement by Concerned Obafemi Awolowo University Community Members said: “The truth is that currently there is neither vacancy in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor nor is there any ongoing process for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor in OAU. That process has been completed as far back as June 6, 2016, when the Governing Council at its special meeting considered the report of the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board for the appointment of a new helmsman for the university and decided to appoint Professor Ayobami Taofeek Salami as the 11th Vice-Chancellor of OAU for a term of five years with effect from June 24, 2016.”

    Interestingly, the statement titled “Federal Government’s orders on OAU are wrong”, also said: “To validate the appointment, the Federal Character Commission under the Presidency on June 20 issued a ‘Certificate of Compliance’ to the Registrar of OAU authorising him to ‘issue a letter of appointment to Professor Ayobami Taofeek Salami as the substantive Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University’. And on June 24, a day after Prof. Bamitale Omole’s five-year tenure ended, Prof. Salami assumed office as the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the university. His address on assumption of office to the university community can be accessed by anybody on the Internet. Prof. Salami’s assumption of office was even widely reported in the media. How the Ministry of Education and the Visitor who were duly notified of the completed process that produced Prof. Salami ignored both that and the media reports on it is perturbing and incredible! Just what makes them think there is an ongoing process for the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor in OAU when in reality that process has been effectively completed?”

    This background suggests that the Federal Government acted in bad faith by dissolving the university’s Governing Council without any legal basis. The law-based concept of university autonomy is not cosmetic, and should not be treated with contempt.

    It is noteworthy that, in a statement, Ademola Oketunde and Wole Odewumi – chairmen of OAU’s SSANU and NASU – replied the opposing group with what they called “the following few facts, lawful and superior arguments on the matter”. They said: “At its meeting of March 8 to 10, 2016, the dissolved council unlawfully developed criteria and used them to score, rank and shortlist applicants for the VC’s post (scoring Prof. A. T. Salami 100%), rather than basing the short listing on whether or not the applicants met the advertised eligibility criteria. The Joint Council and Senate Selection Board (JCSSB) is the only statutory and lawful body empowered to interview, score, and rank VC applicants; and subsequently recommend three “suitable candidate” to Council, with full report of its activities. By this unlawful act, the dissolved Council usurped and hijacked the responsibility of JCSSB and rendered its purposes and functions irrelevant and outright useless.”

    This makes the matter curiouser and curiouser. Where lies the truth?  Indeed, the Federal Government should have been curious enough to get to the bottom of the matter through a thorough investigation before taking a decisive step.  It is unclear how the administration arrived at the decision to dissolve the university’s Governing Council, and why it seeks to invalidate the selection of Prof. Salami as VC. But it is clear that the administration needs clarity on the issue.

    The situation means that the institution is doubly challenged without a Governing Council and a VC, although the administration cannot unlawfully dissolve OAU’s Governing Council, which has the responsibility for lawfully selecting the university’s VC.  Furthermore, the idea of an Acting VC, as conceived by SSANU and NASU, cannot be lawfully concretised by the administration, given the extant legal framework of university autonomy.

    Relevant to the possibility of an Acting VC is a paper on “Appointment and Removal of a Vice Chancellor under Nigerian Law” by Prof. Ehi Oshio.  The Professor of Law argued: “The President/Visitor has no power under the Universities Autonomy Act to appoint even an Acting Vice-Chancellor as a matter of pure law. This is because the Act empowers only the Governing Council to appoint an Acting Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Senate. Section 3(13) & (14) of the Principal Act as amended provides “In any case of a vacancy in the office of the Vice-Chancellor, the Council shall appoint an Acting Vice-Chancellor on recommendation of the Senate” “An Acting Vice-Chancellor in all circumstances shall not be in office for more than 6 months”.

    In other words, where there is no Governing Council, there must be a Governing Council. The Federal Government would do well to immediately reconstitute a Governing Council for OAU, “for the effective functioning of the University”, if it is too far gone to reverse the flawed dissolution.

    When all is said and done, the rule of law should not be the rule of lawlessness.  It is a point to ponder that SSANU and NASU had taken the matter to court, hoping to get a ruling restraining the VC’s selection process, but they have also taken the law into their own hands by forcing a shutdown at the university while the court case is still unresolved. Surely, the Governing Council could not have been expected to restrain itself in the absence of a valid injunction.

    In the final analysis, it would appear that the so-called OAU crisis is a contrivance by internal forces and may well be inspired by ulterior motives. As things stand, the ultimate casualty is the rule of law, and that is tragic indeed.

  • Camps of hunger

    Alarming news from the country’s theatre of terrorism further raised the alarm about the dimensions of torment triggered by the agents of terror. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that nearly 250,000 children were suffering from “severe acute malnutrition” in Borno State as a result of Boko Haram’s terroristic activities.

    UNICEF Nigeria representative Jean Gough was quoted as saying: “We estimate that there will be almost a quarter of a million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno this year. Unless we reach these children with treatment, one in five of them will die. We cannot allow that to happen.” The agency put the required intervention funds at $204 million.

    It is appropriate that the Federal Government has declared a nutrition emergency in Borno State following an emergency meeting with the Borno State government on the malnutrition crisis. Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewale said: “We are declaring a nutritional emergency in Borno. We try to put a rapid response team in place following Mr. President’s directive. We had an emergency meeting with the Borno State emergency response team, because more children might die if we don’t do something quickly.”

    The question is: How quickly can the Federal Government do something? According to acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Munir Safieldin, “While the Nigerian Government and humanitarian organisations have stepped up relief assistance, the situation in these areas requires a much faster and wider response.”

    The conflict in the country’s north-eastern region is said to have displaced 2.4 million people and has stretched food insecurity and malnutrition to emergency levels. Over half a million people require immediate food assistance, and the majority of them are either displaced by the conflict or members of the communities hosting the displaced.

    It is expected that by October, the number of those needing assistance will increase. There is no doubt that additional donor funding will be needed for continued humanitarian response in the region.

    This is why the example of Aliko Dangote deserves emulation. When on May 9 the President of Dangote Group made a donation of N2 billion to internally displaced persons (IDPs), he also made a powerful statement by his example. Apart from being the single largest donation by an individual, what Dangote gave reflected his appreciation of the enormity of the humanitarian crisis caused by terrorism.

    It was a humanitarian gesture that helped to highlight the needs of the people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State as well as the need to help them. It was particularly remarkable because the support came from private pockets and not from the public purse.

    This exemplary humanitarian response was reinforced by Dangote’s presence. It was a demonstration of empathy that communicated the humanity of Nigeria’s and Africa’s richest man. He was touring IDP camps in Dalori and Bakassi in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when he announced his relief package which he said would be delivered through the Dangote Foundation.

    Dangote said: “This is not the first time I am coming here and it will not be the last. So far, we have expended about N1.2 billion in efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. The first major challenge is the physiological needs of these people, and food, nutrition rank right on top of that ladder. So we will first make serious effort to ensure that hunger is eliminated from the IDP camps and thereafter, we will begin to make effort to create jobs and boost entrepreneurship.”

    This is a welcome expression of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and it should be emulated by the country’s big private-sector players. Dangote’s action should galvanise others into action, especially considering the picture of inaction painted by no less a person than the Chairman of Northern Traditional Rulers Council and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who had observed that funds raised for the sake of the IDP’s had not reached them.

    At the opening of the Council’s second General Assembly in Kaduna in November last year, the Sultan said: “When we go into closed session, we will discuss that thorny issue of displaced persons, mostly in the Northeast. It is a very sad situation; people are suffering. Billions and billions of naira have been collected or put aside for their welfare… It is important that this money be disbursed immediately via the governors.”

    The Sultan added: “We want the governors to take the issue more seriously; take it up with Mr. President and ensure the release of the funds because I was part of the team when this money was collected for the IDPs during the last government. They should find out where that money is and disburse it immediately.”

    What happened to the money? Considering the ongoing revelations of corruption in high places during the tenure of the previous government, it may well be that the funds raised to help the IDPs ended up in corrupt pockets.

    This background helps to further underline the value of Dangote’s charity. The innocent people, who are not only displaced, but also distressed, deserve help. Ultimately, giving back to society, which is the essence of CSR, is a desirable social action. Dangote’s example should serve as a wake-up call.

    In a thought-provoking drama, IDPs in Abuja on July 1 asked for direct donations when members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) visited the New Kuchingoro Camp on a relief mission. Their Chairman, Mr. Philemon Emmanuel was quoted as saying: “We have been here since 2014; we are 1467 persons from Borno State Kozar Local Government Area and 56 from Adamawa. And we have been surviving because of the help of some churches, organisations, mosques and private individuals. We hear many times that people have donated items to assist IDPs in Abuja but don’t get to see the donations. Recently, we heard that Dangote donated items worth millions of Naira to IDPs in Abuja but we are yet to receive the items. We however want to appeal that if some people want to help, they should come through the IDPs camp so we can get the assistance directly. ”

    Of course, it is easy to express concern about the plight of the IDPs who are products of acts of terrorism by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which has tormented the country since 2009. It is easy to say something about how these victims of terrorism need help but do nothing to help them. There is such a thing as putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.

    It is lamentable that the country’s terrorism-related internal refugees are hungry and dying while those who can give assistance internally remain onlookers.