The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Makinde: Public policy and public progress

    For a woman who earned a PhD at the age of 60 in 2008, and went on to become a Professor, her Inaugural Lecture on September 12 provided a stage for philosophical reflection and scholarly thinking. Prof Juliana Taiwo Makinde said: “I feel proud and highly honoured to say that I am the first female Professor of Public Administration in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and also the first female Professor to give an Inaugural Lecture in the Department of Public Administration, OAU, Ile-Ife.”

    She added: “I never dreamt in my wildest imagination of becoming a university lecturer, let alone a professor.  My standing here before you today to present my Inaugural Lecture is, therefore, a special privilege from God who has used my husband, Professor Moses Akinola Makinde, as His instrument of positive change in my life.”

    After completing her secondary education in the mid-60s, she worked as a confidential secretary. Her life took another course in 1983 when her husband “went on Fulbright Fellowship to Ohio University, USA,” and he persuaded her to enroll for a degree programme.  “My own intention was to work and make money with which I planned to get some gadgets for our home back in Nigeria,” she recalled.

    As an Education/English student in the Faculty of Education at the Ohio University, her performance got her a place on the Dean’s list in her first year, after which she continued her degree programme at the   Faculty of Education, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1984.

    Her narrative continued: “By 1987, I completed my first degree programme with First Class Honours in Education/English.  My husband was excited and very happy.   He then persuaded me to go for a higher degree in order not to waste the first class degree that I had, always telling me that with my first class degree, I was a professorial material.  I agreed to go ahead on the condition that he would give me N200 a month throughout the programme. This was just to discourage him from persuading me from going further.  To my disappointment, he agreed.”

    Indeed, this journey took her to a professorial height. When she delivered the 307th Inaugural Lecture of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, she focused on “Policy Somersaults, Poverty of Policy Implementation and Corruption: Obstacles to Development in Nigeria.”  Expectedly, her lecture was informed by her research into policy matters, “especially the problems militating against the successful implementation of policies in Nigeria.”

    Makinde’s topic was well-timed.  Considering that policy making is a major function of government, and a major factor in governance, it is a reflection of her attention to fundamentals that she chose to talk about policy. She observed: “Various studies have shown that most government policies have failed, at the implementation stage, to achieve the desired results…This problem is what I refer to as poverty of policy implementation, resulting in policy somersaults and which has constituted a big obstacle to development in Nigeria.”

    Obviously, there is a concrete connection between development based on social service delivery by government and proper policy making. Makinde illustrated how “government has failed in many areas in the provision of social amenities to the citizens,” using examples in two critical areas, the health and education sectors. She said: “It is an open secret that education in Nigeria has been witnessing gradual but steady decline in quality in the last few decades resulting in parents sending their children out of the country for their proper education, as well as in pupils learning under trees and dilapidated buildings.”

    Quoting Africa Recovery (2017), she noted: “Healthcare also suffers from inadequate funding. Most health institutions lack basic facilities such as medicines and dressings while government health spending averaged just 4.5% of the budget.”

    Makinde’s list of areas where policy failure has resulted in arrested development includes shelter, employment, security, electricity and water supply. It is difficult to fault her observations because they are observable.

    She argued: “The role of public servants as the implementors of the various policies of government makes them part of the success or failure of public policies made towards ensuring development.”  On the causes of policy somersaults and poverty of policy implementation, Makinde identified problems at the Policy Formulation Stage, the Implementation Stage and the Evaluation Stage.

    Inevitably, she mentioned corruption: “Another critical cause of policy somersault is corruption.” Political corruption is so pervasive in Nigeria, and it may well be the most potent force against policy making and successful policy implementation.

    This list of “some of the policies that appear to have suffered somersaults” is thought-provoking: “They include policy on poverty alleviation, and policy on education.  Starting with policy on poverty alleviation, it is on record that since independence, many programmes, which include Operation Feed the Nation (OFN: 1979), the National Directorate of Employment (NDE: 1986), the Better Life Programme (BLP: 1987), People’s Bank (1989), Community Bank (1990), and the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP, 2001), had been established by various governments at one time or the other to tackle the problem of poverty and food insecurity…in spite of all the above-mentioned programmes, poverty is still very visible among Nigerians.”

    When a policy fails because it is poorly implemented, it raises questions about the intention of the policy and the intention of the policy makers, which may not be the same. Policy making without successful policy implementation amounts to daydreaming.

    Among Makinde’s recommendations, those concerning corruption demonstrate the gravity of the problem as well as the gravity of the solution required.  She proposed:  “No plea bargain should be allowed. Plea bargain only encourages looters to steal more so that at the end of it all, they will still have something substantial to fall back on after paying the bargained amount.  For instance, if the plea bargain is calculated on percentage of total money stolen, then the bigger the money stolen the bigger the percentage to be kept by the plea bargainer.”

    Her final words deserve public attention: “You and I contribute to these problems in one form or the other.  How? You may ask…  When we encourage corrupt politicians by honouring them with chieftaincy titles in our community, or giving them honorary doctorate degrees in our universities, we contribute to corrupt practices… Policy success is the sum total of the commitment of the government and the citizens towards prevention of implementation gap arising from corruption and poverty of implementation of policies.”

    It was a thinking lecture by a thinking lecturer for thinking members of the public.

  • Anambra APC: No Private Eyes

    Anambra APC: No Private Eyes

    The APC should be careful not to make itself a laughing stock of the electorate. We witnessed what happened in the Governors’ Form during the Jonathan era when state chief executives dramatised how the elite turned democracy into a system for jesters.

    We are hearing rumblings of that sort in Anambra State. The APC conducted a primary before the eyes and ears of all present. The Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima presided, and all 12 candidates submitted to the process. When the tally finally came, the clear winner was Tony Nwoye with over 2000 votes while contender Andy Uba tallied less than a thousand votes.

    Now, Uba is challenging it, and the Oyegun-led party should understand that we are all watching. We want to see how a process everyone present saw and followed can be turned into a dark circus.

    Andy Uba lost, and how hard is that to accept. Losses are not so easy but the majesty of democracy compels losers to accept and wait another day. This is not military rule where candidates come by fiat, especially when the ballots have been counted.

    There are all kinds of reporting about influence peddling, using all kinds of inducements. Some with so-called democratic credentials are in on this infamy. If Uba and his men want to win an election, do the work before polling day and secure your voters. If you fail, don’t hold the system responsible.

    When Governor Shettima presided, the evidence was unimpeachable. Everyone saw the votes, but are they trying to wipe out the evidence of the eyes? Everyone heard the votes counted and announced, so are they trying to condemn the evidence of the ears? Those who counted, felt the ballot, but are they trying to impugn the evidence of touch.

    The relevant senses were present and vigorous. Perhaps the most potent was the evidence of the eyes. But Uba and cohorts want us to deny the evidence of our senses, especially the eyes. Psychologists have said that sometimes we hear only what we want to hear. Our eyes select what to see. In his novel Blindness, Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago noted that “blindness is a private matter between a person and the eyes with which he or she is born.”

    Well, the election was not done by private eyes, and what the majority of the eyes saw was announced. The eyes were public. Even in eyes, majority wins. So in democracy. So in Anambra APC primary.

  • Deathwatch

    Deathwatch

    There is more to the dress rehearsal of Mama Taraba, as some call Aisha Alhassan, when she uttered what others thought was blasphemy. She had just set in motion what may become routine in the 2019 political sweepstakes. She said she would poohpooh Buhari and pitch her tent with her mentor, Atiku Abubakar, in the next election cycle.

    Not longer after, Atiku threw his own salvo straight at the heart of the Buhari presidency. Some may call it whining, some may call it wise, but what a way to use alienation to launch a political campaign. He let it be known that Buhari threw him out the window. He was defenestrated.

    Up to the time of writing, the presidency has ignored the wealthy man from Adamawa State. They probably know he said the truth and are happy the man is sulking. After all, Atiku never rejoiced over the Buhari victory, and he deployed his resources and machine to fluff his momentum. The “change” engine was, in spite of Atiku, revving gloriously to Aso Rock.

    Yet, the nation saw Atiku with him a few times after he won the polls. He once called Buhari “the father of the nation.”  Winston Churchill’s close friend, Lord Beaverbrook, made the immortal lines: “any man with a will to power can’t make friends.” President Truman was asked about loyalty in Washington and he said, “if you want a friend, buy a dog.”

    This is no time to shed tears for Atiku. Neither is it time to caution Buhari on his capacity to betray those who toiled for him. What Atiku and his hireling just did was to show a trend that few writers or even politicians are prepared to touch. The political class is now in a vanguard I want to call The Deathwatch. It is morbid vigil that began when his health began to flag.

    The physical side of this vigil seems to have disappointed quite a few who expected the Yar’adua experience. They knew if the man passed on, they would immediately begin manoeuvring for 2019. But it sets the stage for a different kind of deathwatch: for the end of the Buhari presidency.

    This means they want him not to run in 2019. And if he runs, they want to explore the possibilities of scuttling him. If he says he would run, many would raise questions about his health. Are Nigerians ready to abide a president whose health status is nebulous? He spent more time in 2017 under health watch and in hospital than he did working the perennial maladies of this land: poverty, illiteracy, infrastructure deficit, corruption, power, etc. It was a case of a sick man being asked to cure the sick. The physician had to heal himself first. But no one is sure of the state of the physician. Or how far he can go. Will he be able to run a campaign, make whistle stops in Taraba Monday, and fly a turbulent chopper into Ile-Ife on Tuesday?

    The APC as a party kids itself that it exists. It is a warren of caves and tunnels without exits and entrances. A chaos. Buhari is the last person anyone should give a party to chair. There are as many factions as many can guess. Buhari, often selfish and aloof, left the party from the very beginning to careen out of his control. He is unflappable in chaos. He sees it as an ascetic virtue, beloved of the Almighty, so long as his position is secure. Hence, he never succeeded to hold a party together in the past, including the CPP he took away from its parent ANPP. It was supposed to help his ego and ambition to be president.

    APC grew into a hodgepodge that worked to the extent it put him in power. He amassed bright and successful men on his cabinet and left them at the mercy of a legislature riddled by men and women more interested in their fairy-tale earnings than the good of the land. So, he has performed without grit, vision or cunning, and Saraki and Company has turned the National Assembly into a powerhouse of resistance within the party.

    That is why there is a deathwatch within the APC for his presidency. It is no cheering news if he wants to quit in 2019. The damage is done. The party is damned if he runs, and also damned if he does not.

    There are two types of watchers in the party. We have sycophants who want to be annointed by him, in case he decides to retire to his quiescent Daura home. Prominent here is the diminutive governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai. He calls himself and others like him Buharists.  They see the president’s world view as Buharism. I am waiting for someone to define it. Buharism means nothing other than personality cult. If, as some say, he embodies a fight against corruption alone. It would have made sense if he had a method other than insist on Magu and watch while his closest aides battle to the death under his indifferent eye. If it is handling the economy, he has no vision. On compassion, he has failed as the herdsman saga demonstrate. If it means he has a cult of lower class faithful who think he can walk on water, then he is entitled to his fanatics. Let us not forget that he could not walk on water when he trekked some showy distance in Daura to his come and enjoyed mouthfuls of ram during sallah break. He did not only cancel another FEC meeting, he did not “walk on water” in Benue where huge swaths of land drowned under a heavenly squall, snuffing lives and destroying livelihoods.

    Another septuagerian like him, Donald Trump of the United States, visited Houston twice. His vice presidents also did hard labour. So, the non-Buharists, like Atiku, already want to serve notice that they will run in 2019 elections.

    If Buhari runs, will men like Atiku pull out of the party and reduce APC to the shell that Buhari made of the ANPP and CPC? This is no good news for the nation when APC carpet baggers will return “home” to stir an already broiling pot.

    We are heading for a political season that will titillate and frighten. It is a quicksand; the sort history always provides when a big man quits without a system. It is one of the trapdoors of charisma. A charismatic personality, or one that generates such excitement, sees himself as the purpose of all things. He equates himself with the society.

    The issue with Buhari is that he is living in illusion. He has ruined his party and the consequence will become clear before long. Meanwhile, those who are on deathwatch will have to undertake a long vigil. The man may be enjoying the glories of office so much that he may want a second term. After all, El Rufai, who may not be sincere about it, says he wants him to run again.

    Buhari may be feeling like a character in Joseph Conrad’s novel Nostromo. A big bird circles over him when he is sleeping, hoping the man is a potential carcass. Getting up and stretching his body, he tells the bird in sardonic triumph, “I am not yet dead.”

  • A war without casualties

    Where are the casualties of Nigeria’s noisy war against corruption?  A war without casualties cannot be a war properly so called?  The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu may well be aware of the oddity of a war without casualties. Perhaps this is why he declared during a visit to The Nation headquarters in Lagos on September 7:  ”We’re now going to declare total war on corruption. It is our responsibility to crush corrupt practices in this country.”  This suggests that before now the war against corruption wasn’t total or was near total.

    What does “total war” mean in this context? A report said: “He described the biggest challenge to the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-graft crusade as “corruption fighting back”. “It’s real and they (those fighting back) have all the money,” he said. Magu said there were no fewer than 125 high-profile corruption cases still “hanging in court.”

    Does “total war” mean the completion of prosecution? Why are these high-profile cases up in the air? As long as high-profile corruption cases remain unresolved, public confidence in the war against corruption will remain uncertain.    Magu’s visit shed light on the slow pace of prosecution of corruption suspects. The report said: “On the delay of such cases, Magu blamed it all on Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), who he said were used by rich and powerful suspects to frustrate cases.”How can 31 SANs go to court to defend one (suspected) looter? Sometimes judges are intimidated. Why should 31 SANs appear for a suspect? We need to ask questions,” Magu said.”

    The report continued: “He said such lawyers adopt several strategies to delay cases, some of which have spent nearly 10 years in court. “They abuse the court process, file all kinds of applications and go on appeal, which goes up to the Supreme Court and back.

    They adopt different technicalities and delay tactics. Sometimes they provoke the judges and write petitions against them. “But I don’t control the judges. We don’t have control over what happens in court. Our role is to investigate,” he said… “We investigate better than any other law enforcement agency in this country, including the police,” he said.”

    Two months after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu on January 20, 2016, 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, and a fight against the enemies of conscience.

    A portrait of corruption in the temple of justice was painted by no less a person than the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption War (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), in an interview. Sagay said: “When we talk of the judiciary, we are talking of judges. As far as I am concerned, the judiciary is not the most blameworthy. That is the truth of the matter. The most blameworthy are senior lawyers – a number of senior advocates who have made it a speciality; who have developed particular skills to kill corruption cases so that their clients, after many years of delays and frustrations of prosecution, end up going away with their loot. And such lawyers, of course, share in the proceeds of crime. They get a part of the loot and that is why you see them buying private jets and so on. That amount of money from the proceeds of crime has completely blunted their consciences and they are as active as the accused persons – the looters – in trying to protect the loot because part of the loot now belongs to them by association.”

    Sagay added: “What I am saying, therefore, is that this is where it starts. These are the people who carry huge sums of money behind chambers to judges. They are the ones who corrupt judges. Really, if the struggle is going to be effective, we have to mark down the lawyers who are behind all these, not just judges. In fact, there are some retired judges too that are in the game. They are called consultants and they carry huge sums of money to their juniors they left behind in the judiciary and use their influence to get them to simply abandon justice and do the bidding of corrupt persons. It is a very serious situation. But, as I said, the very first port of call would be the lawyers that are behind it. Right now, they are doing it without control; they are doing it without consequences…”

    It is thought-provoking that these two major anti-corruption warriors, Magu and Sagay, accused senior lawyers of working against the anti-corruption war. If it is the case that senior lawyers are frustrating anti-corruption efforts because they gain from the ill-gotten gains of corruption suspects, it means that such lawyers are no better than those accused of corruption.

    The accusation against senior lawyers who play the unflattering role of justice delayers in the war against corruption is too serious to be trivialised. Magu said during his latest visit to The Nation head office:  ”Corruption is the worst developmental problem we have in this country. We need more support. This fight is for our collective good. We should not allow ourselves to be purchased to the detriment of our co-existence. We need to mobilise everybody. Let’s do it together.”

    Those who behave like friends of corruption are enemies of society. Those who behave like enemies of society deserve to be condemned by society. Magu reportedly said he “duly handed over the list of high-profile cases as requested by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN).” The public expects convincing action by the authorities to show that the war against corruption is a war properly so called.

  • Lawmakers: “You be thief”

    Lawmakers: “You be thief”

    Professor Itse Sagay must be giving our lawmakers nightmare on their luxurious beds. He unveiled their pay package. Rather than rebut it with their own “factual” counterpunch, they asked Buhari to call him to order. They had wanted to browbeat the former law teacher and Senior Advocate of Nigeria by summoning him to the senate. The SAN was not fazed. He would and did not attend.

    If the lawmakers don’t have anything to do, of course they don’t, they should at least keep quiet. How can they explain receiving N29million a month as salary. In hardship allowance of N1.2 million, when they already have furniture allowance, utilities allowance, cars, air-conditioners, etc. They take about N1.2 million on newspapers a month. I am sure they read all the newspapers in the world from Bombay Times to New Orleans Picayune times everyday, hence they have no time to do proper law making. Or maybe with wardrobe allowance of about N700,000, they have Taylor time and Gucci or Luis Vuitton shoe time. After getting new cars, they will spend about N1.8 million a month asking the mechanic why a mud stain lingered on the left tyre. That is in spite of earning about N10 million a month to buy a car. Remember the House buys vehicles for them from a different budget. They can visit dealerships every month, and change cars every month. Well maybe, N10 million cannot buy their choice cars, so they wait for three months to buy the great SUV. In four years, if they want to buy the great SUV, they will buy 16 SUVs per term.

    If Fela were alive, he would chant, “you be robber! You be thief!”

  • Murder of Rev. Fr. Onunkwo

    It was another sad Sunday for the Catholic community when news filtered that a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Cyriacus Onunkwo was kidnapped and killed by his abductors. The first inkling of the chilling and despicable development came to this writer as he was going through the major news of the day after returning from mass service penultimate Sunday.

    It is usual for me to start the day browsing through the major national dailies online. But on Sundays, this habit is delayed until after early morning church service. As I went through, I stumbled on a story in one of the national dailies’ platform ‘Catholic priest killed by kidnappers in Imo”

    For reasons that will soon become obvious, I was immediately attracted to the story. As I read through, I became more agitated when the name was given as Fr. Cyriacus Onunkwo from the Orlu Diocese of the Catholic Church. Immediately, my mind went to one of our brothers; a Reverend Father from the Onunkwo family. Could it be him or a mere coincidence in name since his missionary work is not anywhere around Imo state?

    Moreover, I was with his elder brother – Lagos based medical practitioner, Dr. Onunkwo in the village a few days back to bury one of our illustrious sons and first professor from the community, Prof Theo. Azuka Ume. As I ruminated over this dilemma, the thought came to me to place a call to him to confirm. But on second thought, I felt it was not in consonance with our culture to do so especially should the outcome turn the opposite.

    As I was still in this confusion, a call immediately came from one of my cousins: “Have you heard what happened to Fr. Onunkwo? I immediately screamed as I did not need any further proof that our brother was actually the one murdered by some demented and callous men. Tears rolled out of my eyes that such a terrible thing could happen to a man of God in a clime that highly reveres priests. How come? He has not been in the country! He has neither a parish in Imo nor is he posted around Orlu. So how come such innocent soul and promising young priest was cruelly wasted in the most dastardly manner?  It was difficult to come to terms with that foreboding reality.

    After a little while, I placed a call to Dr. Onunkwo: “what am I hearing, I enquired? Whatever you have heard is true, he said, apparently referring to the deaths of the priest and his father. Then, I had not even heard of his father’s death a few days after we left the burial of Prof. Ume. He then began to tell me how Fr. Onunkwo returned home from Lagos where he was posted after completing his course in Rome. He came home to see his sick father who was admitted at St Charles Boromeo Specialist Hospital, Onitsha and to pray for him. But his father unfortunately passed on the following day making it difficult for him to return to his station.

    He had to wait for his bothers to return for them to see the Catholic Bishop of Orlu for funeral arrangements and also to inform his colleagues and other family members. It was in the course of this that he ran into the criminals who abducted him at gun-point in Orlu. That was the much he could recall.  As he narrated these to me, I could feel how devastated he was. I took some time to console him at the double tragedy of losing his dear father and having his younger brother murdered in such a callous and inhuman manner.

    It was a very sad and emotion-laden moment for both of us and I had to end the discussions at that point. Thereafter, I began to imagine what could have come over his abductors to the extent of murdering an innocent priest in such a dastardly and cruel manner. Curiously, no contact was made by the kidnappers to demand for money as they are wont to. They killed him the same day they abducted him and there was neither gunshot wound nor any serious injury on his body recovered by the police. These fuelled further suspicion they might have suffocated him in the process of extracting information.

    As should be expected, the killing attracted wide condemnation from cross the divide. Imo State government described the murder as “senseless and wickedness”. The state police commissioner, Chris Ezike said it is “inhuman and aberration to human existence” and reassured that they will apprehend the murderers.

    And in keeping with this promise, the police promptly arrested six people in connection with the cruel murder of the priest. The leader of the gang, a dismissed police corporal, Jude Madu was apprehended with the telephone handset of their victim and wrist watch somewhere in Owerri. He was said to have confessed to the crime.

    Apparently elated by the prompt arrest of the hoodlums, Ezike said the feat was made possible due to their deployment of forensic technology, commitment, and passion for success. The police in Imo stand commended for living up to their words in the quick arrest of the bestial criminals. The feat will go a long way to reassure citizens of the capacity of security agencies to combat the rising crime wave in the state. But information on the suspects, except their names and places of origin was largely sketchy. There was no clue as to their modus operandi, what they intended to do with their victim and why they killed him except the tentative disclosure by one of them that the priest died because they covered his nose.

    We are also anxious to hear where they usually kept their victims and their escapades in this devious enterprise. This is more so given the claim by one of the suspects that they did not intend to kill him and they did not know that he was a priest. Another version from the criminals had it that they covered his mouth with tape and hauled him into the booth of their car when he was shouting that he was a priest. There is the need for them to be more seriously interrogated.

    This is more so as none of the suspects is from any of the 12 local government areas that make up the Orlu zone where the kidnapping and killing took place. So at what point did they cover his nose – inside the car or at someone’s residence? When and at what point did they discover that the priest had died and had to dump him on a bushy roadside? All these posers tend to indicate that the suspected criminals must have an operational base around the area they kidnapped and brutally killed the Reverend Father.

    The police still have to get at the criminals’ cells and detention camps. Ezike must beam his searchlight along the Orlu axis. There is much kidnapping and sundry criminality along the axis where the priest was kidnapped and killed. Many of these are not reported. But those who killed Fr. Cyriacus must be diligently prosecuted and made to pay for their crime.

    Ordained in 2003, Fr. Cyriacus who hails from Osina in the Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State is a Fidei Donum priest from the Catholic Diocese of Orlu. He served variously as associate parish priest, St Joseph’s Parish, Mgbidi and St John’s Parish Umualoma all in Imo State.  While at Umualoma, he proceeded for his Masters degree at Imo State University and thereafter returned to the same parish at the end of the programme.

    Fr. Cyriacus also served at St Patrick’s Parish Amagu and St Mary’s Parish Awomama before he was sent to Rome for further studies. On return to Nigeria, he was posted as associate parish priest at St Charles Parish Olodi Apapa in the Lagos Arch Diocese. It was from Lagos that he travelled to see his sick father before the worst happened.

    His colleagues described him as a very hardworking, principled and intelligent priest who in the course of his work impacted positively on the lives of many especially the poor. As an ardent lover of knowledge and education, he paid school fees for many indigent students that came across him. It is sad his life has been brought to an abrupt end in the most chilling and unfortunate circumstance by evil men.

    It is particularly a very trying moment for the people of Osina community. This is the third time the community is losing its young and promising sons to heartless and demented kidnappers. May the almighty God he served grant his soul and those of the two other Osina sons who died in similar circumstances eternal rest in his bosom! Amen.

  • Malami’s twisted logic

    Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami must have shocked many last week when he rationalized the inability of the government to arrest and prosecute northern youth leaders who issued quit order to the Igbo. Apparently responding to mounting criticisms over his request for the re-arrest of leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu for allegedly flouting bail conditions while turning a blind eye to the arrest of leaders of the northern youth group, Malami said the inability to arrest the latter was because of its “security implications”

    Hear him “the way the government works is that a lot of consideration naturally comes into play. One is investigation which is not time-bound; two, security considerations; three, consideration of public interest. But one thing that is certain is that the government is ever alive to its responsibilities and whoever is found wanting, regardless of the length of time, will definitely be brought to book”

    On face value, it would appear all is well with Malami’s reasoning. It is hard to fault his conclusions that investigations are not time bound. Also, the place of security consideration and public interest in determining the direction of government action and policy cannot be ignored. Yet this rationalization is patently defective in addressing the issues of bias and double standards thrown up by government’s selective handling of the two groups.

    Worse still, a strict interpretation of the purport of his arguments would not only expose their inherent duplicity but equally portray the attorney-general as a man who spoke from both sides of his mouth. All the issues canvassed as the basis for government’s refusal to arrest the northern youths for their incendiary and inciting statements also apply in the case of the IPOB.

    In effect, security considerations and issues of public interest are also prime factors that should have instructed him against approaching the court to quash the bail granted Kanu sometime ago. Or is he making us to believe that these considerations are only relevant when it comes to dealing with northern youths? If that is the issue being canvassed, he is alone in it as it makes no sense.

    Before now, the view has been copiously canvassed that it was a grave mistake on the part of the government to have arrested Kanu in the first instance for non-violent agitations for self-determination. Much of the interest and followership his campaign generated of late was a consequence of that arrest and incarceration in spite of the bail granted him by the courts. That detention made a hero of a man little or nothing was known about except perhaps, those who were privy to his pirate radio broadcast.

    Thus, canvassing for his re-arrest as Malami has done would not only amount to insensitivity to the mood of the nation but also a caricature of the very reasons he adduced for government’s indifference to the devious antics of the northern youth groups including the hate song that bears their imprimatur. And if one may ask, what further investigations is Malami talking about when the very youths behind the threat have since addressed several press conferences including the most recent in which they purportedly suspended their order? Or is it surprising that a serving governor was handy during that occasion?

    The issue of investigations being open ended as a potent reason for not apprehending those behind that threat and the hate song that corroborates their spurious claims, strikes as a subterfuge for evading the reality. It is unconvincing and cannot survive the rigours of serious scrutiny. It is inherently deficient in explaining the contradictions brought to the fore by the double measures.

    No doubt, there is ample reason for utmost caution in handling the current agitations and restiveness in parts of the country including the ones under focus. But the way to them is not to shut our eyes to the dangerous pronouncements from some sections while others are hounded in very discriminatory manner. That is the issue that has been brought to the public domain by the current posturing of the minister. He will have to contend with subsisting allegations of bias in the manner he handles issues relating to Kanu and the northern youths.

    Incidentally, many do not share the view that the northern youth group should be allowed to walk away with their quit order and threat to confiscate the properties of the Igbo in the north. Not with the domino effect of that order as we have seen in some other parts of the country.

    Perhaps, the gravity of the quit notice and duplicity in government’s inaction was succinctly captured in a recent report by a United Nations human rights group when it called for the prosecution of those behind the ultimatum. The UN body which described the ultimatum as an issue of “grave concern” deplored the hate song and audio message being circulated on the internet and social media targeting the Igbo.

    The human rights crusaders said though some national and local figures have denounced the hate speeches and incitement, they “are deeply concerned that some prominent local leaders and elders have not condemned the ultimatum, hate speech and the perpetrators”.  While calling on the government and well-meaning people to condemn hate speeches and incitement to violence in the strongest possible terms, they also asked it to take urgent steps to address the root of the constant friction between the various ethnic groups that are at the centre of the current pass.

    The position of the UN human rights crusaders underscore the issues that have been raised about the tepid manner the authorities handled the characters behind the quit order and the hate song that have put the lives of a key segment of this country in great jeopardy. They also highlighted the contradictions and limits of the arguments canvassed by Malami for treating the northern youths with kid gloves even when their offence is loaded with the frightening prospects of activating an orgy of genocide in this country.

    Those who have found courage to condemn the hate song were quick to draw a parallel between events that led to the genocidal war in Rwanda and current hate song trending in the internet and social media against the Igbo. Why the government thinks the agitations of Kanu or his alleged flouting of bail conditions are of more grave concern to national survival than the quit notice and the hate song, remains largely illusory.

    In all, if Malami cannot find the courage to bring the northern youths to book; if he is not acting out a script for the powers-that-be, he should tread softly in pressing for the revocation of the bail conditions granted to Kanu. He should listen to the voices of those well-meaning Nigerians who have cautioned against escalating the overheated political tempers in the country.

    The solution to the current agitations and restiveness from across the country does not substantially lie on such arrests and prosecution but in proactive measures to fundamentally address the objective factors that propel and sustain them. That is the issue Buhari has to contend with. It is not enough to rehash such constructs as the unity, indivisibility and non-negotiability of Nigeria. It also makes no sense to give the impression that discussions on how the constituents can live harmoniously have been foreclosed.

    Nigeria was a product of negotiations through the various constitutional conferences that presaged independence. Much of the problems that have continued to stultify nation building and meaningful development were wrought on this country through the arbitrariness of the military sojourn in politics. A government that is genuinely committed to national progress and stability cannot afford to toy with issues of fairness, equity and common sense of belonging as the minimum conditions for peace and co-habitation.

  • Malami’s twisted logic

    Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami must have shocked many last week when he rationalized the inability of the government to arrest and prosecute northern youth leaders who issued quit order to the Igbo. Apparently responding to mounting criticisms over his request for the re-arrest of leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu for allegedly flouting bail conditions while turning a blind eye to the arrest of leaders of the northern youth group, Malami said the inability to arrest the latter was because of its “security implications”

    Hear him “the way the government works is that a lot of consideration naturally comes into play. One is investigation which is not time-bound; two, security considerations; three, consideration of public interest. But one thing that is certain is that the government is ever alive to its responsibilities and whoever is found wanting, regardless of the length of time, will definitely be brought to book”

    On face value, it would appear all is well with Malami’s reasoning. It is hard to fault his conclusions that investigations are not time bound. Also, the place of security consideration and public interest in determining the direction of government action and policy cannot be ignored. Yet this rationalization is patently defective in addressing the issues of bias and double standards thrown up by government’s selective handling of the two groups.

    Worse still, a strict interpretation of the purport of his arguments would not only expose their inherent duplicity but equally portray the attorney-general as a man who spoke from both sides of his mouth. All the issues canvassed as the basis for government’s refusal to arrest the northern youths for their incendiary and inciting statements also apply in the case of the IPOB.

    In effect, security considerations and issues of public interest are also prime factors that should have instructed him against approaching the court to quash the bail granted Kanu sometime ago. Or is he making us to believe that these considerations are only relevant when it comes to dealing with northern youths? If that is the issue being canvassed, he is alone in it as it makes no sense.

    Before now, the view has been copiously canvassed that it was a grave mistake on the part of the government to have arrested Kanu in the first instance for non-violent agitations for self-determination. Much of the interest and followership his campaign generated of late was a consequence of that arrest and incarceration in spite of the bail granted him by the courts. That detention made a hero of a man little or nothing was known about except perhaps, those who were privy to his pirate radio broadcast.

    Thus, canvassing for his re-arrest as Malami has done would not only amount to insensitivity to the mood of the nation but also a caricature of the very reasons he adduced for government’s indifference to the devious antics of the northern youth groups including the hate song that bears their imprimatur. And if one may ask, what further investigations is Malami talking about when the very youths behind the threat have since addressed several press conferences including the most recent in which they purportedly suspended their order? Or is it surprising that a serving governor was handy during that occasion?

    The issue of investigations being open ended as a potent reason for not apprehending those behind that threat and the hate song that corroborates their spurious claims, strikes as a subterfuge for evading the reality. It is unconvincing and cannot survive the rigours of serious scrutiny. It is inherently deficient in explaining the contradictions brought to the fore by the double measures.

    No doubt, there is ample reason for utmost caution in handling the current agitations and restiveness in parts of the country including the ones under focus. But the way to them is not to shut our eyes to the dangerous pronouncements from some sections while others are hounded in very discriminatory manner. That is the issue that has been brought to the public domain by the current posturing of the minister. He will have to contend with subsisting allegations of bias in the manner he handles issues relating to Kanu and the northern youths.

    Incidentally, many do not share the view that the northern youth group should be allowed to walk away with their quit order and threat to confiscate the properties of the Igbo in the north. Not with the domino effect of that order as we have seen in some other parts of the country.

    Perhaps, the gravity of the quit notice and duplicity in government’s inaction was succinctly captured in a recent report by a United Nations human rights group when it called for the prosecution of those behind the ultimatum. The UN body which described the ultimatum as an issue of “grave concern” deplored the hate song and audio message being circulated on the internet and social media targeting the Igbo.

    The human rights crusaders said though some national and local figures have denounced the hate speeches and incitement, they “are deeply concerned that some prominent local leaders and elders have not condemned the ultimatum, hate speech and the perpetrators”.  While calling on the government and well-meaning people to condemn hate speeches and incitement to violence in the strongest possible terms, they also asked it to take urgent steps to address the root of the constant friction between the various ethnic groups that are at the centre of the current pass.

    The position of the UN human rights crusaders underscore the issues that have been raised about the tepid manner the authorities handled the characters behind the quit order and the hate song that have put the lives of a key segment of this country in great jeopardy. They also highlighted the contradictions and limits of the arguments canvassed by Malami for treating the northern youths with kid gloves even when their offence is loaded with the frightening prospects of activating an orgy of genocide in this country.

    Those who have found courage to condemn the hate song were quick to draw a parallel between events that led to the genocidal war in Rwanda and current hate song trending in the internet and social media against the Igbo. Why the government thinks the agitations of Kanu or his alleged flouting of bail conditions are of more grave concern to national survival than the quit notice and the hate song, remains largely illusory.

    In all, if Malami cannot find the courage to bring the northern youths to book; if he is not acting out a script for the powers-that-be, he should tread softly in pressing for the revocation of the bail conditions granted to Kanu. He should listen to the voices of those well-meaning Nigerians who have cautioned against escalating the overheated political tempers in the country.

    The solution to the current agitations and restiveness from across the country does not substantially lie on such arrests and prosecution but in proactive measures to fundamentally address the objective factors that propel and sustain them. That is the issue Buhari has to contend with. It is not enough to rehash such constructs as the unity, indivisibility and non-negotiability of Nigeria. It also makes no sense to give the impression that discussions on how the constituents can live harmoniously have been foreclosed.

    Nigeria was a product of negotiations through the various constitutional conferences that presaged independence. Much of the problems that have continued to stultify nation building and meaningful development were wrought on this country through the arbitrariness of the military sojourn in politics. A government that is genuinely committed to national progress and stability cannot afford to toy with issues of fairness, equity and common sense of belonging as the minimum conditions for peace and co-habitation.

  • The word, not the swords

    n the beginning was the word. It came by agency of a threat. Young men, bigotry in their eyes, swords in the shadows. They said the Igbos should leave. Tension rose. The date was afar off, but that meant enough time for the goons of blood and death to prepare their weaponry of finality. Swords, guns, machetes, daggers. A war loomed. The rabble said nothing. No one knows who the rabble is until the streets cram with the human instruments of terror, charging, raking up dust, dangling weapons, tongues alive with primal screams, faces tattooed with hate.

    •Shettima

    For all that menace, impotence crimped the corridor of power. The presidency fumed. The police chief roared. But the threat remained, boiling in patience to the crescendo of October 1.

    Few understand what we might have escaped when the Shettima Yerima-led Arewa youths withdrew their quit notice. So, not a few may underestimate Governor Kashim Shettima’s stroke for peace.

    Peace making is no birthday party. Behind closed doors, face to face. Smile to scowl. Prodding against stonewall. Persuasions against intransigence. A little browbeating here, a little coaxing here. Good cop. Bad cop. Eventually, it was the triumph of the human spirit, togetherness over the lone wolf, interethnic harmony over hegemony, the sheep outran the cheetah. Words won over the sword.

    We can now heave a sigh. But those who know history can recall that most of the times the peace brokered that prevented a conflict is more enduring than when we shoot our way to quiet. In the 1960’s, the pogrom did not enjoy the privilege of a threat.

    In the aftermath of the coup and the decree 34 promulgated by Ironsi, the north erupted in hate. If you saw the pictures, or read the narratives, we shall understand what Governor Shettima achieved.  We must commend the Northern Governors Forum for not associating with the irate youths.

    We have witnessed how peace moves failed, and led the world to flames. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went several times to Hitler and secured a worthless paper of commitment from the brute. Gleeful and naïve, he landed Heathrow Airport proclaiming peace “in our lifetime,” when Hitler’s army rolled into Poland that it called the Sudetenland, and Austria.

    Tragically, more times peace tends to answer to force. Harry Truman decided to use the atomic bomb of Hiroshima after the suicide bombers, otherwise known as Kamikaze, destroyed American ships after ships. Even though Einstein noted that “peace cannot be kept by force,” Japan’s case has proven relative. MacArthur, the great general, who loved war more than peace, presided over the restoration of the warrior nation to silence. The man who was fired because he almost led the world to a Third World War in the Korean Peninsula, said in his sober moments, “The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” He was a contrast to another general, George Marshall, in whose name the biggest war recovery plan was couched. He was a man of war often respected as a lover of peace. Winston Churchill described him as “the noblest Roman.”

    In the 1960’s, the northern establishment looked the other way while fellow humans, not only Igbos, but also many from the Niger Delta, fell. Heads lopped off, expectant wombs cut open, fear and trembling turned the streets of the north to a slaughter slab.

    It was obvious that the threat was growing like a mass of worms beneath the surface. A song with lyrics of malice was circulated, making the Igbos into sub humans, demonising them with stereotypes, distorting our history as a nation, levitating the north as a hegemon. It also drew condemnation all around, including in the north.

    No one knows the author of that subversion. Neither has our secret service announced it was after the author or authors. Mere condemnation will not do. A song is no small way to mobilise. It catches the soul of a people, flatters their secret hopes, warms their blood, promises a nirvana. All the great hate groups have songs.

    As Borno State Governor, Shettima knows a thing or two about war and peace. He is the noblest Borno man at the moment. In the heat of Boko Haram, he raised the alarm over the army’s ineptitude and the shameless corruption stopping the Jonathan era from a sincere fight against the ethnic militants. Boko Haram was only a few miles away from the state house in Maiduguri. He did not faze or whimper.

    With Boko Haram less potent now – although it seems to have had some new and intermittent life – Shettima is presiding over a time of relative peace. With its own mini Marshall plan, he is rebuilding the lives of his people, schools, roads, healthcare programmes, etc. The CAN leader once eulogised him, a Muslim, as a great balancer of the faiths, giving the Christian greater leverage than any past governor in the state.

    His profile makes him ideal to broker peace with the incendiary young men. The man met the moment. He was like the metaphor of the Bohemian-Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke: “Like a fluttering candle into a stormlamp, I place myself there inside him. A glow becomes peaceful.”

    No one wants to see a rabble. We have been rattled by quite a few. It is unthinking, savage, murderous. Nobel laureate Thomas Mann shows, in his great novel Buddenbrooks, an upper-class man suffers his first intimations of death just by the sound of them outside the council building. He kept muttering the word ‘rabble’ until his death when he was disembarking from his vehicle.  Shettima has fulfilled Churchill’s famous line that “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

    Ajimobi: A royal economy

    The country has watched with fascination the row and celebration over the inauguration of new Obas in Ibadan. Former Governor Rashidi Ladoja and Olubadan have regretted the boost while a string of Obas are awash with glee. GovernorAbiola  Ajimobi knows he has pulled off a masterstroke, both politically and economically.

    While the Olubadan thinks his position has shrunken, others are thrilling to their new status as kings. Those formerly known as chiefs can now be addressed as kabiyesi. What elation. But that is not all. With the now about two dozen Obas, we will expect a new royal economy. We shall see contracts out for the building of new palaces. Those who want to become chiefs or heavyweights in their new kingdoms can now start unleashing cash for projects.

    We might even have competition. Some Obas may start saying, my palace is bigger than yours. Labourers will get jobs, architects will design, tailors will loom, painters will boom, interior decorators will invent, Dangote or his competitors can start loading cements around Ibadan. Even “mama put” will entrench herself around the construction sites. We need the Federal Office of Statistics to crunch the numbers, so Oyo State can also eye some IGR boost.

    •Ajimobi

    Those hankering for chieftaincy titles can easily get it. It is a boom for egos. Every palace will also have its own chiefs. I anticipate palace intrigues. Who will be senior chiefs or subordinate ones?

    Ibadan began as a republican enclave, a fierce tribe of warriors. The town of Balogun Latosisa was broken into war divisions or garrisons around town as it duelled its foes to the death. Like the Roman General Cincinnatus, who turned from soldier to statesman, the warriors changed to kings. Washington followed his role model Cincinnatus’ path.

    The Obas will now become instruments of political mobilisation. The chiefs, palace, their followers will, from now on, become part of the party machine. It does not have to be APC or PDP. While Ladoja may have been naïve here, Ajimobi may have rebuilt not only a feudal fortress, he just rejigged a modern political machine.

  • Aregbesola’s free train ride

    As expected, a few days to Eid-el-Kabir, the Osun State Government announced the schedule for its free train ride from Lagos to Osogbo, the state capital.  A statement by the Commissioner for Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Ismail Jayeoba-Alagbada, on August 27 explained that the arrangement was in “furtherance of Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration’s commitment to the welfare of the ordinary people who deserve this form of support from the government.”

    The statement gave details: “The first train moves from Lagos on Wednesday August 30th, 2017 at exactly 10am from the Iddo Terminus, Lagos enroute our usual Ikeja, through Ogun and Oyo State to end the journey in Osogbo. Another one leaves at the same time on Thursday August 31st, 2017 through the same route down to Osogbo. After the eid-el-kabir celebration, the train leaves Osogbo on Sunday September 3rd, 2017 for Lagos. This we have concluded as the plan for this year’s eid-el-kabir festival.”

    The commissioner added: “This is one of the social protection projects of the Aregbesola administration and since we commenced this more than six years ago, we have not looked back. Even in the face of very harsh financial constraints, we have strived to keep this offer going convinced that it has offered great opportunities for our people and helped their finances as well.”

    This free train ride, which happens during major Islamic and Christian festivals, has been a striking feature of the Aregbesola administration, and many people look forward to the ride because it enables them to connect with their roots during the significant festive periods.

    It takes a governor with an unusual sense of people-oriented governance to come up with this kind of people-oriented service. For instance, what kind of governor would choose to spend the night telling the people about his administration’s performance?  There is only one such governor in the country. It is usual to have governors talk to the people at town hall meetings at daytime; but the unusual calls to the unusual. Governor Rauf Aregbesola has been unusual in his governance style, but he has achieved results that deserve public attention.   Talking of an unusual approach to governance, an account of his latest talk-to-the-people programme in May speaks volumes for his methods. A report captured the event known as ‘Aregbe Till Day Break’: “For more than six hours, from midnight, the governor tendered his score card before the people. He was on the popularity weighing scale at the WOCDIF Event Centre, the venue of the event. He responded to probing questions with vigour and aggression. In a sense, the governor was combative. Reeling out facts and figures, he convinced the audience that governance was not a tea party in a period of national distress. Accompanied by Deputy Governor Grace Laoye Tomori and other aides, Aregbesola, after explaining some of his projects, would ask his permanent secretaries and other state officials to shed light on the people-oriented programmes, government’s constraints and prospects of early completion.”

    What happened to some of the enthusiastic people who wanted to take advantage of the Eid-el-Kabir free train ride showed how good ideas, good intentions and good planning could be messed up by circumstances beyond the control of those who meant well.

    A report presented a picture of the August 31 movement: “Hundreds of Osun-bound passengers, who had massed at the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, Iddo Terminal in Lagos for the free train ride provided by Osun Government for Eid-el-Kabir, were on Thursday stranded. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the huge number of passengers who turned out for the ride outstripped the available coaches…Some of the stranded passengers, who spoke to NAN correspondent, were pained for not making the trip, but they commended the governor’s gesture. They pleaded with the government to provide more coaches or extend the days allotted for the exercise to enable intending travellers to enjoy the free ride.”

    The report continued: “Saliu Ademola, an artisan, told NAN: “I was shocked when I got to the terminal to see the crowd. The NRC should increase the number of coaches to enable the passengers to enjoy the train services.” A disappointed Taibat Lawal said in spite of her early arrival at the terminal in the morning, she was not lucky to be on board… NAN also reports that the normal fare per passenger for Lagos-Osogbo trip by train is N1, 500.”

    The situation that arose simply showed how popular the free train ride had become among the people. There is no question that the free train ride is based on the age-old political philosophy that government should exist to serve the people. In A Fragment on Government, Jeremy Bentham observes: “It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”

    Interestingly, Aregbesola’s free train ride draws attention to the country’s rail transport system, which needs to be reimagined.  It is good news that the proposed concession of the railway to General Electric (GE) is on course, according to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Managing Director, Mr. Fidet Okhiria. An August 29 report said: “Okhiria, who chaired a meeting with members of the transaction advisers in his office, said there was no doubt that the concessionaire would move in before year end. The NRC helmsman was represented at the meeting by the Director of Operations, Mr. Niyi Alli, who said the meeting was to fine-tune the gray areas of the entire transaction in order to ensure that it ends up being beneficial to both parties.”

    Further information: “The Nation’s checks revealed that three components are contained in the GE concession terms. “The GE contract terms have three components – with a separate firm –Transnet- handling the track maintenance, APTML, a terminal operator, handling the cargo element and GE itself,” a top official, who would not want his name mentioned, said. According to him, the GE will supervise the three components, and pay royalties to the Corporation, which retains the entire workforce. “The terms of the agreement is to have the GE work on the railway at least for the first 12 months, after which the agreement may be renewed,” the source added.”

    Hopefully, the country’s rail transport system will improve and attain modern standards in the not too distant future.