The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Desperate resolution

    Desperate resolution

    Emeka Omeihe

     

    Senate resolution last week asking heads of the country’s armed forces to step down following heightened insecurity strikes as a desperate response to a desperate situation.

    It also signals a loss of faith in the capacity of the leadership of the military to rise to their statutory duties of protecting lives and property of citizens against all forms of aggression.

    The senate is not oblivious of the reality that the appointment and removal of the leadership of the military is the responsibility of the president and commander-in chief of the armed forces.

    That is certain. But the fact that it still went ahead to make such a resolution shows that insecurity which has been ravaging the country for some years now, has gotten that bad. It is not just a resolution.

    It is a very bold statement on the proficiency of those entrusted with the protection of the territorial integrity of the nation.

    The upper chamber does not want to be seen to be silent in the face of the resurging violence and killings in the country especially with recent reports on the relapse of the hold the military claim to have on the Boko Haram insurgents in the Northeast.

    In moving the motion, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume asked the service chiefs to leave for “new ideas” to handle the country’s security challenges.

    The import of “new ideas” is very significant here as it conveys the unmistakable message that extant ideas are no longer achieving the desired results. So, they must give way to new ones in the spirit of a paradigm shift.

    Ndume predicted his argument on the rising number of casualties among the Nigerian armed forces and other security agencies.

    Of recent, was the report of the ambushing and subsequent killing of 20 soldiers on the Maduguri-Damboa road as they were returning from an operation by the Boko Haram insurgents.

    Killing of our soldiers by the insurgents is nothing new. What appeared to have changed over time is dearth of information on the casualty level suffered by our soldiers except the much the military wishes to make public.

    But perhaps, the more compelling reason cited for the resolution was the report of the resignation from the Nigerian Army of about 200 soldiers in the Northeast and other theatres of operation on grounds of “loss of interest”.

    It is therefore only reasonable to view the senate resolution as just not any other resolution that should be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

    Thus, the explanation by the presidency while noting the resolution; that it is the prerogative of President Buhari to appoint or change the service chiefs, is nothing novel.

    Neither is it helpful in addressing the urgent national challenge thrown up by that resolution. Those who affirmed the resolution know the limits of their powers.

    Even if they voted in favour of the sacking of the service chiefs, the outcome cannot be considered final because all would still depend on the disposition of the president as empowered by the constitution.

    Nobody is contesting that reality. Being asked to exercise that power, suggests that he is failing in his duties.

    This is especially so, in such a critical area as the maintenance of law and order that is an irreducible minimum for societal survival.

    The overall essence of this singular resolution is to draw serious attention to the fact that the security of the country is degenerating to a level that we must evolve new strategies for doing old things or prepare for the worst eventuality.

    Its corollary is that those entrusted with that crucial duty are not showing sufficient capacity to contend with the situation.

    But more importantly, it is also to draw the message closer home that the president is not rising to the challenges of his office in this critical area.

    They want him to feel the pulse of the nation through their elected representatives. Before now, such a resolution would have been perfectly blamed on the opposition.

    But such excuses will not sell now. Both the leadership of the senate and the senator who moved the motion are of the same political party.

    So, it is time to face the realities of the time. Everything must not be reduced to partisan politics even the lives of the ordinary man are in serious jeopardy.

    If the president continues to revel in the comfort of the powers conferred on him by our laws while insecurity gets out of hands, it is left for him.

    Curiously, the war against insecurity was one of the key points for which Buhari campaigned and won the election in 2015.

    It was in an apparent urge to satisfy that electoral promise that the president declared in December of that year the war against the Boko Haram insurgents had been technically won and that the insurgents had been so diminished and degraded.

    He also claimed that insurgents can no longer muster sufficient capacity to mount armed onslaughts against the military and military formations.

    The story was also told that the insurgents were no longer occupying an inch of Nigeria’s territory and similar tales.

    Those who doubted those claims were called all manner of names. But it did not take long before all those claims began to collapse like a pack of cards as facts on the ground began to put a lie to them all.

    Not only were the insurgents strong on the ground, they in many occasions demonstrated amazing capacity to take on the military even in their own strongholds.

    Not only have the insurgents been mounting serious attack and inflicting serious casualties on the military, the military has on its part been updating the public with the successes they have been recording in the fight including neutralizing the insurgents, capturing large cache’ of their arms and ammunitions signifying that the war is still much in progress.

    Not long after, the narrative began to change again. The minister of information, Lai Mohammed in reaffirming the claim that Boko Haram had been technically defeated said what the country was now fighting was global terrorism with ISIS, ISWAP and Al Queda working together.

    There was also the claim by the army that Boko Haram and ISIS were now smuggling fish into the country to sustain their criminal activities.

    All this was meant to sustain the claim of the technical defeat of Boko Haram even as facts on the ground point to the contrary.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai brought another dimension to the matter when he identified spiritual warfare as the most potent strategy for ending the war against insurgency.

    He saw a link between insurgency and thriving weird religious ideology, with a conclusion that once you kill ideology, insurgency will naturally wither and die.

    But despite all these, we are home not only to Boko Haram insurgency but all forms of criminality, some of which are entirely new to the list of criminal activities that are known to this country.

    The essence of cataloguing the various explanations that have been offered by those in authority to rationalize the festering insurgency is to find support for the resolution of the senate on the need for new ideas to mount the horse of military leadership.

    This is not the first time the president is being asked to change his service chiefs as their performances have not been good enough to justify their continued retention.

    But each time the issue comes up, the president gives the impression that he cannot dispense with them just as was the case with the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu before the bubble burst.

    The nation is embroiled in crisis of confidence and integrity in the war against corruption. It is again assailed seriously in containing mounting spate of insecurity as affirmed by the senate resolution.

    When you add this to the damage wrought by the omnibus corona virus disease on the economy, Buhari will be hard put to justify those promises for which he was voted into power.

  • Naira in an age of pestilence

    Naira in an age of pestilence

     

    By Sam Omatseye

    I remember when the Naira was born. It hatched out of the British Pound, and we celebrated it as though the birth of a new era. Baba Sala, the great minstrel, welcomed it with comedy. He wafted the air waves with a soulful serenade. The authorities told us it meant happy selling and happy buying. It coincided with the joy clap of oil and what many saw as the oil boom.

    Don’t feel sorry for the Naira. It is also sorry for us. Since it was born in the early 1970’s, it has not known peace. It is one constant in the Nigerian story. It does not die, but it has caused many a death. It has been celebrated and damned. It has seen presidents come and go.

    In its name, hefty men have fallen, coups staged, prosperities sizzled, scandals festered, holy men disfrocked, prizes won, contracts signed and death warrants executed. It is at once the standard of value and the standard of values, the latter defacing the former. It is the root of all evil and evil of all roots. By it, classes are made in society, Lazaruses become rich men and rich men become patrons.

    Few then expected that the Naira would see what we are witnessing in the country today. A body called the EFCC was born as the mai guard. Laws signed as the gate. The estate was the presidency. The National Assembly pitched in as the security firm. Yet, somehow, men after men appointed as the top dogs at the gate failed.

    They barked and growled to bite quite a few men. Eventually dog after dog faltered and whined out of its portal. It did not matter whether the dog was a roaring male, or a yelping female. Their tails could not hold the wind, so they hid between their legs. Magu is the latest Alsatian in a low moan out of the sentry door. The canary, the media, croons from a nearby tree.

    Now Magu has sent many behind bars over the same currency. For the same reason, he is said to be in trouble. Preserving the Naira’s innocence was his job. Now they are telling us, he is not innocent. The washer man has stained the wedding gown. But when we distinguish the Magu boys and the other power bloc of the DSS and the minister of justice’s circle, it is a fight between loyalties.

    It is not about the public trust, but the private trusts. Each cabal is a private trust. The Naira is the public trust. But the two private trusts masquerade as the public trust, all in the name of the Naira. One private trust has won and kicked the other out of office in the name of public trust. They have cast out the devil in Naira’s name. It is the superman who wins over the sentry.

    What has happened in the past few weeks are nothing new to the currency. It is the currency of current affairs. See what is going on at The Niger Delta Development Commission. A former managing director and a minister are wrestling in the public square over Naira. The woman came, saw but could not conquer the place, because of Naira. She believes the Minister of Niger Delta Godswill Akpabio is conquering, and he has come to saw the naira in pieces. In the story is not only the sleaze of a slap, but also of blood oath.

    We have seen billions mentioned like the name of a familiar harlot. It is like tortoise in every tale. It is the narrative of palliative that amounts to fairy tale millions a month for members of the management. It is in the billions of contract spent without allocation. It is in the warning of a pen. A pen that signs in a job will be the pen that will end the job, according to the allegation. But it is all about the Naira. The agency blooms while the fisherman, the hunter, farmer, school boy in the region still cannot breathe or eat in a polluted environ of air and water.

    It is the Naira that is at play at the House of Representatives when the acting MD says he would not sit to hear allegations about his stewardship. The former MD Joi Nunieh weaves a tale of two rescues. First, she plays the role of an action heroine, taking on the kingpin of a minister. She would not swear a blood oath, would not go to bed, would not sign a contract, would not fire a northerner, would not spend money without allocation. She is the “thou shall Not” in the Old Testament. Philosophers like Nietzsche, John Stuart Mill and Auguste Comte would not like Nunieh’s allegations.

    These thinkers believed that Judeo-Christian injunctions tell us what we should not do instead of what we should do. So, they think Christianity is servile and based on fear. Hence Nietzsche, in   his books Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil, proclaimed the death of God and supremacy of the superman, who has freed himself from the paralysis of faith.

    But Nunieh, if we believe her, is actually an action woman because she has done nothing, the insolence of impotence. She is probably following Prophet Isaiah who says, touch not the unclean thing. Or Paul who says, come out from among them and be ye separate. This is negative praxis, but not doing something is actually doing the right thing, according to her. Maybe that is why she thinks those who do things are not holy.

    The other rescue tale came from Governor Nyesom Wike, who turned the drama of a police siege into a heroic opportunity. He arrived there in the genre of a western movie, where the hero on horseback arrives with hooves raking up a dust cloud to save the weak. This time he came with a caravan, he in a BMW. He is not just a hero of a citizen, but a man of chivalry, saving a wench from the trench of men.

    Akpabio says all that is a lie. Nunieh is in her world of fantasy, weaving a randy minister for a handy slap, a hectoring bully where he was lawful. But in all these Minister Akpabio would be at home and Nunieh an unknown Port Harcourt girl if the Naira was not in the story. It is because of crude oil. It has made the agency awash with Naira. Crude oil has made crude drama for the Naira.

    Can the Naira also not weep over its abuse by other currencies just as when a certain gentleman was such a jolly good fellow that Nigerians, friends and associates, have converted into good Samaritans. Then they converted the Naira into dollars and gave $9.8 million to the former managing director, Andrew Yakubu, of the NNPC.

    They did not want him to go through the hassle of keeping huge sums at home in a depreciated local currency. Stashing that sum in naira would require him to tell his friends to build a mansion just to store the Naira equivalent that would run in the billions. Why not just make them handy in dollars so he can slap them into a pocket and walk around light.

    It did not begin today. At the end of the Jonathan era, many fellows according to legends built houses like private banks just to store their dollar loots. So, even now, the game continues. The Naira must be unhappy with itself. In those early days, the Naira was strong, and if you had such a large sum of money, you had to turn the pounds or dollars into our local currency. Just as the Bible says, money has failed in Nigeria.

    Against the backdrop of Magu, Nunieh, Akpabio and Yakubu theatres is a pestilence called Covid-19. While we moan the disease for lapping up lives, a bigger one is eating up our Naira, and it is not going away soon. It is called corruption, and it is a virus of power and influence. Against it, we have not even begun to develop a vaccine.

  • Interpreting Magu’s probe

    Interpreting Magu’s probe

    Emeka OMEIHE

     

    CAN it be reasonably argued that the suspension and interrogation on corruption charges of former acting chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Ibrahim Magu is a credit to president Buhari’s anti-corruption war? Or, could the president afford to ignore the scandalously weighty allegations of graft the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami raised against the anti-corruption warlord?

    These are the posers arising from attempts by officials of the government to take political advantage of the current trial of Magu. The inquisition followed a letter by Malami to the president asking him to sack Magu citing grave allegations ranging from diversion of looted funds to insubordination and misconduct.

    Apparently worried by rising public concerns on the embarrassing arrest, detention and trial of the former EFCC boss, some aides and officials of the regime had mounted the podium to pontificate on how the development denoted a reinforcement of the commitment of the current administration to the war against corruption. And in this argument, they had insinuated that only a government intolerant of corruption could take such a bold step to interrogate the man at the head of the anti-corruption agency.

    For them, the current travails of Magu should serve as a lesson to all that there are no sacred cows rather than an indication of failure of the campaign to rid the country of corruption. They are entitled to their views on this. After all, another regime may have opted to handle the issue differently to stave off criticisms. So those who view the treatment meted to Magu as a further boost to the war especially given the disgraceful manner he was accosted and brought to the probe panel may have a point. After all, there are always two sides to a coin.

    But could the president afford to react differently given the weight of the allegations and the fact that they had been in public domain for some time?  What of the primacy of the war against corruption as one of the three pillars the president wants his regime to be judged? Could he have shut his eyes to the inherent contradiction that with the burden of corruption allegations hanging on the neck of the man leading the corruption battle, the overall credibility of that campaign had become seriously impaired?

    One raises these posers to underscore the point that the president did not seem to have much choice than to respond to the huge embarrassment and contradiction created by the Magu debacle. The allegations are very fundamental to the credibility of the war against corruption.

    The president could only ignore them at the risk of compromising public confidence in that crucial campaign. Before now, the agency had been serially accused of selectivity and political witch-hunt. So, the president had to weigh in to retrieve whatever is left of the credibility of the war since corruption appeared to have commenced fighting back from official quarters. That is how bad the situation had become.

    But that is not the first time such weighty allegations are being raised against Magu. In the early days of his appointment, the Directorate of State Security Services DSS had in a memo to the senate leadership detailed a number of allegations they considered damaging enough to deny Magu that sensitive office. In that letter, the DSS accused him of flamboyant lifestyle as portrayed by the cost of his living apartment rented at N40 million-N20 million annually. The apartment was not rented by the EFCC but by one Commodore (rtd.) Umar Mohammed who the DSS described as a questionable businessman it once arrested. Mohammed was said to have lavishly furnished the apartment at a cost of N43 million.

    Other allegations were that he travels in private jets and on first class when on international trips. In one of the journeys, he was said to have travelled with Mohammed and the managing director of a bank being investigated by the DSS over complicity with funds lodged in the bank by a former minister of petroleum.

    Magu was also profiled as wearing a double personality of no-nonsense anti-corruption czar who harbours no friends but secretly hobnobs with corrupt people. The DSS summed up its report thus: “In the light of the foregoing, Magu failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption drive of the present administration”.

    Based on this damning report, the immediate past senate declined confirmation of his appointment even when the president presented his name for a second time. Despite the senate refusal to confirm him, Magu had continued to act in that capacity buoyed by regime apologists’ argument that he does not require senate approval to continue with his job. So, he had trudged on before the recent turn of events which the DSS foretold years back.

    I have reproduced all the DSS reported on the suitability of Magu for the EFC C job for two key reasons. The first is that doubts on the integrity and suitability of Magu for the EFCC job is nothing new. The other which is a logical corollary of the above is to diminish the potency of the theory that the arrest and trial of Magu is a plus for the anti-corruption war.  It is not. It rather confirms failure to work with credible intelligence in making sensitive appointments. Sadly, that judgmental error is what has thrown the corruption war into serious credibility crisis. Who takes the blame?

    It is too bad that those entrusted with the daunting duty of prosecuting the war against corruption are now being accused of re-looting recovered loots. The emerging scenario is akin to a situation where dogs are given meat to watch over. You can guess what to expect. All this sophistry in finding defense for a very bad situation will not go far. The fact is that the credibility of the war against corruption has been greatly assailed by the current pass.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo seemed to have captured this contradiction very succinctly in a webinar by the ICPC when he said “the fight against corruption is not going to be easier by the day, as a matter of fact it will get more difficult and many will become discouraged in standing up against corruption”. That is the foreboding reality.

    But the current situation could have been perfectly avoided had the president heeded the advice of the DSS and found replacement for Magu when the senate rejected his confirmation. Unfortunately, he did not. Rather, his insistence on Magu created the impression that only he could do that job to the satisfaction of all. The president may have had his reasons for that decision. But the turn of events has shown that that decision has become the greatest undoing of the war against graft. That insistence may have emboldened Magu to become larger than life. It is little surprising he saw himself above his supervisors.

    Magu may have his strengths. He may also have put in his best in the prosecution of the war given its sensitivity. He may also have stepped on very sensitive toes. These are beside the issue now. He had the confidence of his boss which is a crucial element for him to excel. But he has failed his boss with the current scandal irrespective of its final outcome.

    Whatever successes he may have recorded, collapsed like a pack of cards the moment he is linked with corruption in the task of fighting corruption. That is the burden of his elevated office which his current fate has put in serious jeopardy. This is a typical case of corruption fighting corruption in-house. No house can stand under such situation. That is how bad the situation is. And even if today he is cleared of the corruption allegations, the damage has already been done. For, to whom much is given, much is expected.

    It is difficult to fathom how the president can be absolved of the current mess given that he failed to act on credible intelligence when it mattered most. Magu is the president’s creation. The blame for his acts of omission or commission stops at his table. It is no mere happenstance or witch-hunt that the same credibility issues the DSS raised four years ago have now resonated in the memo by Malami for which Magu is facing trial. Can we say the DSS saw the future?

  • Rot at Federal Civil Service Club, Abuja

    Rot at Federal Civil Service Club, Abuja

    Femi Macaulay

     

    IN a recent column on a prominent champion of the public-private partnership approach to development, I highlighted his list of hindrances, describing them as “enemies of public-private partnership in Nigeria.”

    Based on his personal experience, Resort Group Chairman Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN)  had named these enemies of public-private partnership (PPP) at the 2016 Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, including the attitude of the government, lack of respect for sanctity of contracts and the rule of law, lack of investor security, corruption and malice.

    ”Babalakin’s involvement in PPP encouraged some of us to get involved in PPP Project, now with regrets,” a reader lamented in a text to me after the column was published.  According to him, “These evils led to the current degradation of infrastructure, and are solely responsible for the state of total abandonment of the Federal Civil Service Club, along Mabushi-Kado Expressway, Abuja.”

    It is a story of rot; not only the physical deterioration of the club, but also the corruption of the PPP model.

    ”Briefly, the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) offered the renovation and infrastructural development of the club to a private company on  29th December, 2015, and acceptance was conveyed, next day to the offeror,” my  source said.

    A letter to the company, dated 29th December, 2015,  said: “I am directed to convey the approval of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, in respect of your proposal of 6th November, 2015, and to inform you that your company, M/S Wajul Catering Services Ltd., has been awarded the lease for the running and infrastructural development of the Federal Civil Service Club, Mabushi, Abuja, on PPP lease arrangement subject to renewal at a lease amount of seventy five million naira (N75m) for the first five years and subsequent increase of 10% on the lease amount at each five years renewal totalling 20 years. You are to pay 50% of the lease amount to the Government Treasury and 50% to Club account.” It was signed by H.O.Alayaki, Director (Employee Relations and Welfare), for Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

    A letter from the company’s lawyer,  dated 30th December, 2015, addressed to Head of Civil Service of the Federation, and received by  Mr Anuwe Charles, the Secretary of the PPP committee,  on the same day, said: “We have the instruction of our client to hereby accept the lease for the running and infrastructural development of the FCSC, Abuja, on PPP arrangement upon the terms as clearly stated in her proposal dated 6th November, 2015, and as approved by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.”

    According to my source, “Part payment was made by the Investor in the form of request by the OHCSF to the Investor to settle/refund the extant tenants of their unutilised rent totalling N9m after OHCSF negotiated and agreed to refund the rent…The Secretary (PPP) collected and acknowledged the receipt of part payment.”

    Furthermore, a notice of temporary closure of all activities at the club until further notice was issued to take effect from 21st March, 2016. “The Secretary (PPP) handed over the Club to Messrs Wajul Catering Services Ltd. on 23rd March, 2016. Messrs Codeline Limited (Engineering Consultant to the Lessee) was mobilised to site on 19th April, 2016, and 30% mobilisation fee of N30, 794,557 was paid to the company,” my source said.

    The PPP agreement turned into a disagreement in June 2016 when the lessee indicated that it was “ready to pay the balance of the lease as follows: N37.5m via the E-payment to the Treasury and N28.5m into the Club’s account after the deduction of the N9m part-payment.”  The company was “advised by the D(ER&W) to hold on the payment.”

    Strangely, in October 2016, “the Head of Service (HoS)… stated that the lessee did not accept the offer,” whereas the acceptance letter was “received and acknowledged by the Secretary, PPP Committee.”  To clarify the situation, “Proof of acceptance letter was delivered to the lessor. This was received at the HoS Registry.”

    This question is: If there wasn’t acceptance and part payment, on what basis was the property handed over to the lessee in March 2016? “The lessee was in occupation till December 2016. It is on record,” my source stressed.

    By December 2016, the PPP agreement had failed, “principally due to disrespect for contract and rule of law, corruption and malice by the erstwhile Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita,” my source claimed.  As a result, ”Further to the HoS assurances to refund the lessee’s expenses, a formal handing and take-over of the club was carried out by both parties.”

    The company considered commencing legal action against the lessor “in the absence of further communication and the refund promised,” and petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General concerning the club issue.

    In February 2017, the OHCSF/Lessor replied to an inquiry from the Attorney-General, stating that “the HoS put the PPP on hold pending the involvement and direction of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to ensure compliance with standards and procedure.”

    In other words, the OHCSF/Lessor admitted “non-compliance and infraction,” which clearly had nothing to do with the lessee as the OHCSF Legal Unit was involved in the process that led to the PPP agreement.  It is curious that the OHCSF did not try to ensure compliance with standards and procedure before the arrangement was concluded.

    Frustrated, the investor took the lessor to court “to exercise its right.” It is noteworthy that a letter, dated 13th March 2017, and signed by Taiwo Abidogun, Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, advised the OHCSF:  ”You may wish to take necessary steps to promptly resolve all legal and administrative irregularities preventing the full execution of the Agreement or in the alternative, aim at reverting the petitioner to its position before the engagement. This is to forestall any embarrassment or legal action against the Federal Government.”

    According to my source, ”The OHCSF opted for regularisation rather than to refund the cost incurred by investor/offeree.” However, three years after the advice from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the OHCSF and ICRC have not been able to resolve “the so-called irregularities,” and “complete the regularisation.” Why?

    The club remains closed, and is ”an eyesore and physical infrastructure is in a sorry state now,” as a result of the Federal High Court’s ruling directing both parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the suit before the court. It is not clear if the case can be settled out of court.

    This case discourages public-private partnership and impedes development. Without an enabling environment, PPP cannot work. The current Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, should tackle the rot without further delay.

  • City of cities

    City of cities

    Sam Omatseye

     

     

    LAGOS may be the vertebral bone of the Nigerian economy. But, like a bone gone awry during a meal, it can get stuck in the throat. The question of how to make Lagos right for everyone was the subject of a webinar recently organised by the United States embassy.

    The topic of discussion was transportation. Lagos is nothing if not its mobility. For all its residents, the story every morning is not whether to move, but how to move, who to move, who should move, who to move to, where to move, what to move, when to move. Sometimes the Lagosian would have to understand each of these options as an epicenter of all the other options.

    It is weird jigsaw puzzle where if and how and when and who are equally and simultaneously important. So the resident would have little time thinking or else, the only thing that would move is a mind that is tossing around possibilities. The result is a whirligig of inaction. Much thinking, like studying, is the weariness of the flesh, apologies to Solomon. So, the Lagosian has to wake up and go.

    The question is, when he goes, he stays. Sometimes in a rut. That is what we all call go-slow, a snail in perennial motion. The US picked an expert, Robin Hutcheson, to give the main talk, and Nigerians also were selected to talk, and they included a representative of the Lagos State Commissioner for transportation, Engineer Toriola, a traffic  specialist Tola Odeyemi and Prof Innocent Ogwude, a former vice chancellor and also an expert.

    What struck me was that the issue of transportation in Lagos was mostly addressed as transportation. But I could not but be impressed by the way each discussant displayed understanding of the technicalities of transportation. The number of cars, the inadequacy of roads, space management, budgetary bugbears, easing nodal knots, pot holes, et al. Hutcheson showed great knowledge of what we need for every city and they also apply to Lagos. Her focus on space management was on the money, except that all who move around for money think little about some of the fine points, like focusing on the bus as the target of mass transit. Other issues include sidewalks, bike lanes, trains, metro, bus, light rail, train and additional creative points to foster connectivity between buildings and facilities.

    She made the great point that to move is to seek freedom for happiness, not just freedom to get around, but freedom from disruptions, from harm, freedom to connect and from exclusion. Odeyemi noted that Lagos is not like anywhere in the country as regards cars per kilometer, a point that Toriola specifies as 284 vehicles as against the national average of 11 per kilometer. She hinted that in 2017 alone, gridlocks cost the city N42 billion in productivity.  She called for improved regulation in water transportation and staff should share transportation. Covid has taught us all that more people can work at and from home. She made a salient point about budgeting, that the impression is that Lagos has all the money in billions in revenue, but she insisted that even healthcare alone will gulp all its money and not even satisfy all we need in that sector. She also hinted at a behavioral factor, the major reference to culture when she adverted to the rage over right of way, the heavy duty trucks and challenges of roundabouts.

    Professor Ogwude said the reason Lagos lost its reign as capital was partly because of the need to ease commuting. He called for smart traffic lights, road pricing to discourage car usage, taxing car parking, introduction of car-pooling, accelerating light rail system and more focus on water transportation, which is only one percent as yet. He added that long travel corridors like Orile to Apapa, and Apapa to Mainland can be circumvented with alternatives in ferry travels. He also observed that the work on Ibom Deep Sea port being pursued by Governor Udom Emmanuel in Akwa Ibom State and the Lekki Deep Sea Ports hold prospects for easing matters. He also called for subsidy.

    Speaking for the Lagos State government, Toriola reminded all of the work in progress in major corridors in the state, including Ikorodu to CMS, which has advanced. Work is also on in Oshodi to Abule Egba as well as CMS to Okokomaiko. Referring to calls for water transportation, he documented the work by the BOS of Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on jetties around the state. In fact, 14 boats are bobbing on water. The governor is pivoting to collaborate with the private sector. On mass transit, he spoke about procuring quality buses not only for first mile but also for last mile purposes. He spoke of shift from car to bus or mass transport as an urgent matter of policy of the government. The roundabouts are yielding to four-way stops like the case in Ikeja.

    Toriola reminded all that Lagos was about the smallest state but with great population density. In spite of this, the state has been broken into zones to allow for ease of movement and control. He noted that the state was introducing technology to enforce traffic control and regulation.

    The publisher of Business Day, Frank Aigbogun, set the stage for discussion because, as the organisers noted, his paper has been very fervent about transportation in the city. He told a story of a tragic incident that resulted from transportation snafu.

    Clearly, Hutcheson may not have understood the geopolitics of Lagos or Nigeria. The other speakers were also speaking on the interstices of roads and the headwinds of traffic. But Lagos as a city of cities. The point could have been made that Lagos is a rescue centre, a city of refuge not only for the runaways from inefficiencies in other parts of the country but also a last mile for internal migrants. Thousands come to Lagos daily never to return. They multiply the number of those who move and the vehicles to move them. This problematizes road maintenance and space. Ultimately, it challenges budgeting. Odeyemi’s reference to inadequate money to do what is necessary hints at the development issue of the city.  It is pressure on housing, on jobs, on crime control, on medical care. So the problem of transportation is a problem of development. While it is technical, it cannot be handled alone.

    I would have wanted more dissection of budget and its niceties, and all the other issues gaping for funds like education and health care.

    Toriola referred to the issue of attitude, and that is the cultural aspect that was not really explored. Why uproar will dog some of the suggestions, like taxation, road pricing. A cultural point is drainage tight-ends from dirty habits of the city dwellers who discard waste at will and cause floods.

    And that calls for the political, and the need to reignite the call for special funding and status for Lagos. It is where the federal government ought to be grateful that Lagos has helped to keep the country from the turbulence of outrage over state failure. Just as in traffic, everyone’s car should be the other’s keeper, so it should be for a federal state. The burden should not suffocate one. To kill the one, may kill the rest. Jeremy Bentham, who led the utilitarian movement, had the right words: “Everyone counts for one; nobody for more than one.” As it is for the commuter, so it is for the federating units.

    It is not an issue that should be taken slightly. The population grows daily, the pressure too. This may create a discontent that may not be Lagos’ alone to bear but the centre. If the centre cracks, the whole nation tumbles. This is hoping that the centre does not wait until it can no longer hold.

     

    PEACE AS WAR

     

    IN his novel, War in a Time of Cholera, Garcia Marquez understood that without human love, all other things collapse. No matter how light-hearted the Nobel Prize-winning author wanted his novel to read, it ended sadly because the couple in the story had romance without peace.

    So peace is so important that it vanquishes even the challenge of a disease. That is perhaps the birthday gift Akwa Ibom State Governor gave at the weekend. He is harvesting peace but also mobilising it to the battlefield: against a pandemic. After inheriting a state that reeled in blood and fights, the state is at one against a common enemy.

    He has been able to do that by being the front-liner in his state in fighting Covid-19. He holds nightly meetings to cap his work having constructed a 300-bed isolation centre with a three-tier PCR laboratory, staked as the only one of its type and standard fully owned by any state government. This has earned him applause from the DG of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Witnesses say the isolation centre at the Ibom Specialist Hospital has a five-star ambience and facilities.

    On birthdays, we celebrate life. What a better way to do it than by working to keep death at bay in his state in a time of pandemic.

     

     

  • Imo pensions: Facts or fiction?

    Imo pensions: Facts or fiction?

    Emeka OMEIHE

     

    Perhaps the aphorism, facts are sacred but comments free, instructs that emerging claims on pension scam in Imo State should not escape the rigours of thorough inquiry.

    Though the state government has had a running battle with pensioners over the nonpayment of pensions culminating in public demonstrations by the senior citizens, the matter appeared to have taken a new dimension last week.

    This was sequel to the unveiling of eight names of pensioners Governor Hope Uzodinma alleged to be responsible for pension fraud receipts of N330 million annually.

    Before now, the governor had rationalized extant challenges with the payment of pensions on ongoing verification to exorcise fictitious names from the list. But this excuse did not go down well with pensioners.

    They argue that immediate past administration of Emeka Ihedioha completed a similar exercise a few months back and commenced regular payment before Uzodinma assumed the mantle of leadership.

    They would rather have the new administration work with the verification documents generated during the last exercise to save them the hardship associated with delayed payments.

    A new verification was seen as avoidable duplication; a subterfuge to deny pensioners their entitlements. But the government claimed it could not work with that verification exercise because it did not receive any handover document from the last regime.

    Apparently to justify this, the governor had claimed in his 100 days broadcast that his regime recovered N2 billion from ghost names padded in the civil service system and pensions bill.

    At a different occasion, he had claimed that eight people were defrauding the state government N330 million in pension fraud annually with a threat to publish their names.

    He made good the threat in a meeting with labour leaders ostensibly to underscore the point that his administration was not merely shouting hoarse on the matter.

    The governor further told his audience that findings showed that over 1,000 pensioners who retired in 1976 are still receiving pensions.

    Additionally, a retired judge was said to be earning N300, 000 pension above what is due to him while a late SSG to the government was still being paid years after his death.

    If it is true that eight people have been pocketing N330 million annually in fraudulent pension receipts and over 1000 others who retired in 1976 are still receiving pensions, then the rot in the state’s pension system is quite monumental.

    Then also, we would be drawn to the temptation to commend the state government for seemingly getting at the root of the bloated pensions bill. The question would also arise as to why the last verification exercise did not stumble at such a huge fraud?

    But signals emerging since the list was domiciled in public domain do not give cause for comfort. Some of those listed, have come public to dissociate themselves from the figures credited to them.

    One of them, Ajokubi Herbert Ahanotu who was credited with N65, 685,497 as his annual fraudulent pension receipts, took to Facebook with details of his home town, local government and Grade level 15 step 9 in which he retired in the states’ school system.

    He also published his current pension verification slip dated Tuesday, September 10, 2019 and bank statements of account linked to his BVN to drive home the fact that he did not receive any payment beyond that officially due to him.

    Yet, another disclaimer trending in the social media came from Canice Obsisi who was credited with alleged receipt of N41, 524, 399.60 as annul pension.

    He said he retired from the Secondary Education Management Board in 2013 at grade level 16, step 9 and the annual pension communicated to him by the Head of Service was N1, 524,399, 64 which translates to a monthly pension of N127, 033.3.

    His gratuity as contained in the same letter was N5, 685, 596.67. He also averred that since he started receiving pension, he had never got any amount beyond his entitlement even as his due gratuity has yet to be paid since 2013 he retired.

    These are startling disclaimers that cast credibility slur on the figures bandied by the government. Since the government took the bold step of going public with the allegations, the onus is on them to respond to the issues raised by the two pensioners.

    They should demonstrate with facts and figures how these monies were paid to the two senior citizens and over what time frame. All these detail are required to clear the thick cloud of doubt surrounding their claims.

    But, that is not all. Former executive chairman, Imo State Pension Commission, Chime Aliliele has also provided insights that further contradict the claims by the state government.

    Ironically also, these seem to corroborate claims by the two retirees. The main thrust of Aliliele’s submission was that no pensioner earned up to N1 million a month under the Ihedioha administration.

    According to him, four out of the eight names published by the government are not verified pensioners. The total entitlements of the remaining four verified pensioners “including three names that were not ascertained amounts to a mere N5, 086,219.20 as against the N330 million claimed by the state government”.

    He also said the claim that 1000 pensioners who retired in 1976 were still receiving pensions is false. Rather, what they have in their list are 14 pensioners who retired in 1977 with verified BVN, bank accounts and phone numbers which can be crosschecked unless any one of them died in the last six months.

    But more seriously, he touched on the crux of the dispute when he disclosed that the verified pension payroll is domiciled in the server in the pension office at the accountant-general’s office and also hosted on Cloud accessible from any corner of the globe.

    Details of other officers he personally handed over computer servers and laptops with similar information including the state chairman, Imo State wing of Nigerian Union of Pensioners were also furnished.

    The fate of the verified pension payroll is very fundamental to this discussion. It comes handy not only in untying the puzzle arising from claims by the government on the N330 million alleged pension fraud, but also in determining the propriety of another verification exercise.

    The Uzodinma regime had severally trumpeted claims that it did not receive handover note from the Ihedioha administration.

    That claim has been the justification for the current verification exercise. It had also served as alibi for some failings on the part of the government including the inability to pay regular pensions and salaries.

    But we have been availed unassailable evidence that authentic data on the verified payroll is at the disposal of the state government and can be accessed from any corner of the globe.

    There is every reason to believe this. Those who did the verification are still much around and have told us where it is domiciled.

    Why the government continues to live in self denial on this matter, is at the root of the controversy thrown up by alleged pension fraud discovery.

    What seemed to have emerged is that the government failed to avail itself of that vital document for inexplicable reasons.

    Because they failed to heed the dictates of what Charles Lindblom called ‘incremental change’ in public policy, they may have stumbled on rusty records that were expunged during the last verification exercise.

    That much is evident from the cases of the two retirees, one of who published his current verification slip which bore no semblance with the details published by the government.

    Is it possible that Ajokubi would have continued to be paid more than the amount reflected in his last October verification slip? It is doubtful.

    The issue is not whether there was fraud in the pension system. That is not in dispute. Even the Ihedioha regime admitted saving N200 million monthly after the verification exercise.

    The current diatribe would have been averted had the Uzodinma regime availed itself of the findings of the last verification exercise.

    Having failed to do that, it is not surprising that some of the issues being thrown up are out of sync with the findings of the last verification exercise.

    They must now go the entire hog to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are neither on a voyage to deceive nor invent puerile excuses to cover their track.

  • Consumers have rights

    Consumers have rights

    Femi Macaulay

     

    As the drama develops, it promises to further clarify the responsibilities of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

    According to FCCPC, on April 11, 2020, it “became aware of complaints and dissatisfaction with respect to certain elective/cosmetic surgical procedures carried out by Med Contour Services.

    Essentially, the allegations are that Med Contour engages in conduct that is considered otherwise unprofessional, misleading and potentially injurious, including resulting in possible fatalities.”

    In the agency’s view, there was “sufficient probable cause to inquire into the consumer protection aspects of the representations and services of Med Contour, and its operatives.”

    Based on this initial assessment, the commission “opened an active investigation into the practices and processes of Med Contour, its promoter, associates and employees.”

    The investigators explained that the probe was “not a professional/licensing or disciplinary inquiry.”

    In line with its responsibilities under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), the commission was interested in “the issues of authorisation of the business and or its promoters, associates or employees to conduct the subject surgical procedures; representations made to customers about their skills, generally expected outcomes for similar procedures, and assurances of specific outcomes in relevant cases; responsiveness during follow-up or post procedure complaints;  and transparency to consumers and applicable regulatory authorities.”

    Illuminating its mandate, the commission highlighted the laws that backed its operations:  ”Sections 17(s),(t),(x),(y) and 130 prohibit obnoxious practices, require services to be safe and for the commission to act to reduce risk of injury to consumers, as well as ensure services comply with applicable standards of care.

    “Sections 123, 124 and 125 prohibit making misleading statements, issuing guaranties or statements about the efficacy skills or probable outcomes with respect to services that are untested or scientifically unproven, and Sections 127, 128 and 129 prohibit unfair or unreasonable contract terms, exclusion, or waiver of legitimate liability for prevailing standards of care.”

    The investigators called for “additional information from consumers with previous experiences with Med Contour or its operatives, whether the experiences were satisfactory or otherwise, and from persons who have any such relevant information, including about the experiences of others.”

    “Immediately we called for additional information, there was a barrage. So, it was clear to us that these operations had to stop until we could clarify, and we needed to know from other regulatory authorities that the business was safe to continue to operate,” said FCCPC Chief Executive Babatunde Irukera.

    “We did what we call an interim seal… After we opened the investigation, more complaints came in, a lot more information — some of it alarming, some of it damaging.”

    The commission said it had received complaints against a Lagos-based medical doctor and owner of Med Contour Services Limited, Dr Anuoluwapo Adepoju, from one Marlene Oluwakemi, Taiwo Temilade and Vivian Onwuzuligbo, who alleged that Adepoju’s services “are unsafe for consumers,” and that she made “false, misleading and deceptive representation in relation to the marketing of their services.”

    Adepoju’s services allegedly led to the death of one Mrs Nneka Onwuzuligbo, said to have died as a result of a failed cosmetic surgery the doctor performed on her, “and she is privy to the events that led to the demise of the deceased.” The incidents happened between April 15 and May 4, 2020.

    However, Adepoju, who was arraigned on July 3 at the Federal High Court in Lagos, is not facing a murder charge. It is noteworthy that the commission, which is prosecuting the case, is focused on its role as a “competition and consumer protection authority.”

    Established by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, its responsibilities are defined, and include developing and promoting fair, efficient and competitive markets in the Nigerian economy, facilitating access by all citizens to safe products, and securing the protection of rights for all consumers in Nigeria.

    Given this context, FCCPC accused Adepoju of disregarding its summons dated April 15, 2020; alleged that she refused and failed to produce documents which she was required to produce in compliance with the commission’s notice of investigation dated April 14, 2020; and further alleged that the defendant prevented and obstructed the commission from carrying out its investigation into the said issue.

    The offences were said to have contravened the provisions of sections 11(1) (a), 33(1) (a), 110, 113(1) (a) and 159(4) of the FCCPC Act, 2018.

    It is significant that the commission’s chief executive officer, Irukera, a lawyer, is directly involved in the prosecution of the case.

    This reflects his hands-on approach, which he demonstrated in other cases. His style shows that he takes his job seriously, particularly as he has the legal training required for prosecution.

    For instance, he led the agency’s legal team in the prosecution of four supermarkets/pharmacies at FHC, Abuja, over alleged price gouging; and led the Federal Government’s legal team in the prosecution of five defendants arraigned at the Federal High Court, Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, for alleged sale of unsafe, re-bagged rice, unfit for human consumption.

    Also, Irukera was in court to obtain an ex-parte order restraining DSTV from continuing their new price regime; and personally argued the case that got the court to restrain MultiChoice from further implementation of hike in DSTV subscription rates.

    It is unsurprising that Adepoju is fighting back, after failing to cooperate with the commission authorised to investigate the complaints against her and her clinic.

    To counter the complaints against her, she should have honoured the agency’s lawful summons and produced the required documents in the first place. Her uncooperative stance was tantamount to evasion and obstruction of the pursuit of clarity.

    Adepoju’s situation has been compounded by a petition from the management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, to the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Investigation Panel, dated June 11, 2020, accusing her of professional misconduct during a surgery she performed on Onwuzuligbo at her facility.

    Calling for an investigation, LUTH said: “Dr Adepoju has in a series of misleading and incorrect public statements in the social media absolved herself from liability in the management of this patient and put the blame on LUTH and its personnel, who availed the patient of their facilities and expertise.

    She directly impugned the competence of the hospital and her senior professional colleagues and teachers.”

    This helps to differentiate between FCCPC’s investigation and the requested Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Investigation Panel investigation. The former is about consumer rights; the latter is about professionalism.

    Consumers have rights, including right to safety, right to be informed, right to choose and right to be heard.

    That is the point of FCCPC’s lawsuit against Adepoju.

  • Hushpuppi’s death

    Hushpuppi’s death

    By Sam Omatseye

    It is Ramon Abbas he bears. Even that name puzzles. Some reports anglicise his first name as Raymond. But it is Hushpuppi we know, poetic, lyrical and even symbolic. Hush implies silent, furtive, conspiratorial, shadowy. Puppy, in this regard, means playful like a week-old dog. That makes him a sly dog.

    But then it has other origin stories. Some others date it back to the founding of New Orleans that gives the world Mahdi Gras, an unhinged carnival for pilgrims of pleasure. An immigrant woman invented a snack of a ball out of cornmeal and the city called it hushpuppy. Their own incarnation of akara. Even then, Abbas’ nickname is spelt ending with an i instead of a y.

    The one picture that has trended of late features him in a shirt sporting a familiar brand Fendi. But another brand had been stalking him like a forest cat, slinking, longsuffering and calculating. It was a brand as counterforce: FBI. Nabbed in Dubai but caught in the United States, the sojourn of a colorful conman comes to an end. Behind bars, he will wear neither Gucci nor LV, but an orange top that will, at best, say INMATE.

    Now he is no more Hushpuppi. He is now Abbas. He buried his real name in a casket of lies and deceit. He was reborn a glamour icon, one-named, abandoned home, and became a global Smart Alec. He was a man of means with no means of livelihood. He conquered cyberspace, dispossessed the gullible, stashed his global bank account, strutted the world, amassed dream cars, snored in palaces, dressed like a fop, preened like a peacock, seduced the young and befuddled the old.

    He became a role model to a lazy generation that lapped luxury without labour. When he was caught, the FBI buried Hushpuppi and rebirthed Abbas. But where is the real Abbas though? Can he recognise Ramon again? He cannot. Like Sophocles’ Antigone, he “neither dwells among men nor ghosts.” He is in a dazed world, a wraith. He died twice; he is born again a jailbird, his third life. He was reckless. Now he is a wreck.

    But Abbas is a tale for the moment, if in reverse. He was caught trying to denude a group of people in millions of dollars in palliatives in a time of pandemic. Abbas is a picture of avarice at a time of sacrifice. He was flaunting his shoes, cars, mansion, parties at a time when many hid behind homes, suffered in hospitals, coughed in misery, mourned or were mourned. He represented a heartless species when we were supposed to be our neighbours’ keepers, when many were suddenly whisked out of work.

    Read Also: How we nailed Hushpuppi, accomplices, by FBI agent

    When his fellow country folks lost their jobs, and men of means contributed their millions and billions to the poor, Abbas was a show-off. The thing with Abbas was no lockdown could stop his party. His extravagance was online. The world was his audience. He flourished and frolicked in real time and space, but his fans joined him virtually. His was a voyeur’s paradise. The young gawped and gawked, followed him, and commented. When they cursed, they did it out of smouldering admiration. He had come to represent a generation of Nigerians who did not trust their parents or their bosses or their leaders. They followed their greed. They followed Hushpuppi. He was a priest of a new goddess: money.

    Abbas for them was a sort of escape. He had become the man who gamed the system and scored. All the stadia in the world applauded. They are like the character of the English novel Billy  Liar, a young man who lived in his imagination where he had attained power, wealth and glory, although he had nothing other than living from paycheck to paycheck. Abbas embodied that escape for them. They lived in Hushpuppi. They wore his Fendi, lived in his palace, flew in his jet, caroused his women, or were his women, they sat in the driver’s seat of his Ferrari and Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce.

    Here fellow Nigerians had no chance to host Owambes. Weddings and birthdays and funerals have been pruned to parlors and backyards. It is a time for humility, and it was only proper that the man who countered it be caught and put away.

    These days no one has anywhere to go with Gucci shoes. No first class tickets to buy to London and take pictures for online vanity. No one has a chance to pile pockets with dollars and pounds to spray a celebrant. Those with big cars cannot drive them to anywhere for displays. No extravagances for the Mephistophelean or the harmless show man. The worst we can do is dress up at home, and flaunt it to our child or wife or husband, like Miss Havisham in Dickens’ Great Expectation who dressed every day for years in her wedding clothes and died in it without leaving her home.

    Those with special cars only warm their engines and drive around the neighbourhood. These times are revealing our material constipation. Abbas, the man of constipation, has now left the building, his bowels rumbling with faecal waste.

    Things are upside down. Those who see churches and mosques as avenues for amassing wealth are crowing that they want people together but they are tempting the Lord. It is possible that Abbas had some of these men of God praying for him, and he may be taking from this stolen money to feather the house of God. It is an irony we have people like this thriving when we hear men of God preaching. The point though is that this is an age where the Word of the Lord is trading places with the wealth of the Word. Quite a few churches give precedence to material splendor. It is a different kind of hypocrisy from a war-time play Mother Courage where Brecht says, “Whenever there’s a load of special virtues around, it means something stinks.”

    Abbas epitomises the Yahoo Boys, and his fall is their fall. It is a comeuppance for a tribe of desperadoes who have demonised technological genius. The new frontier of progress is also their front for fraud.

    It is not for nothing that he has been associated with some of our big-name politicians, even if they had nothing in common. He has had photo-ops with a few of them. If he were not Hushpuppi but merely Ramon Abbas, we might not have seen such pictures.

    But our politicians have one quality in common with him: impunity. Where leaders promise and turn back on their word, it is as bad a lie as a Hushpuppi popping up on a person’s email and asking for one piece of information and turning the email into an opportunity to stalk and destroy. They are the monitoring spirits of the internet. They get the person’s account and they empty it.

    We also see our politicians take away our money when others have nothing. Fraud is now familiar terrain of politicians. To be a politician is to seek avenue for self-service, not service to all. But the arrest of Abbas is hope, but not enough. It shows even the new frontier can be stalked and the crime encircled and ended. Our people are not doing well enough to catch those who are well-off by wrong means. A few have been caught. We want more.

    Abbas is caught today, and no one is hailing him. His audience is now jeering. He is like Jay Gatsby in Scot Fitzgerald’s novel. He acquires his fable of wealth to get back a woman, and buys a big mansion just like Hushpuppi. Every neighbour comes to his frequent parties but not the woman he craves. He eventually dies alone and poor. Everybody comes to his parties but no one goes to his funeral.  Abbas is alone now. So is Hushpuppi. Abbas looks on as no one comes to Hushpuppi’s funeral. Hushpuppi’s frozen eyes look without seeing as Abbas goes behind bars.

  • Bello’s COVID-19 claims

    Bello’s COVID-19 claims

    By Emeka Omeihe

    Is there some information available to Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello on the corona virus COVID-19 pandemic that is not readily available to the larger public? Or is there anything he knows about the ravaging viral disease that is being hidden from the public by the authorities?

    These are some of the posers brought to the fore by the intransigence of the Kogi State helmsman on the potent danger to human existence wrought by the pandemic. If previous events from that state did not give sufficient cause for worry, the statement credited to Bello last week on the authenticity of the viral disease can only be ignored at a huge cost to efforts to contain the killer disease.

    The governor while reacting to the death of the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajana, was reported to have said that COVID-19 is an artificial creation aimed at causing fear and panic among the people.

    Hear him: “ It is a disease that has been imported, propagated and forced on us the people for no just cause”, urging people not to accept “ cut and paste, as COVID-19 is out to create fear, panic; orchestrated to reduce and shorten the life of the people. Whether medical experts and scientists believe it or not, COVID-19 is out to shorten the lifespan of the people, it is a disease propagated by force for Nigerians to accept”.

    These views are as weighty and sensitive as they are controversial. When a state governor speaks, we are wont to take him very seriously. As the chief executive of a state, whatever view he espouses has wider consequences not only for the people of his state but the entire country.

    When Bello spoke the way he did on the propriety of the raging pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people across the globe and reduced life to a miserable lot, we run a grave risk allowing him get away with such sweeping assertions. It is therefore only proper that such claims are subjected to serious interrogation to determine the veracity or otherwise of the issues bandied. This position is further dictated by the sensitivity of the subject matter and the dangerous repercussions to the war against the pandemic of allowing unfiltered views remain within the public realm without being contradicted.

    The summation of his case is that COVID-19 is an artificial creation imported and forced on us to create panic and therefore does not exist. If the dimension of importation of COVID-19 refers to the fact that the disease emanated from outside of our shores, he may have some point. The disease originated from Wuhan City in China before spreading to other parts of the world through human transmission. It is neither original to this country nor other parts of the world that have suffered hugely from it.

    That point can be admitted. But does that make the disease an artificial creation? To what extent can we stretch the contention that COVID-19 is artificial in the face of the realities of the times? How do we now explain the several thousands of people that have succumbed to the viral disease the world over, including the most advanced nations with capacities to disprove any fake scientific claims? At any rate, on what scientific pedestal is Bello resting his claims that COVID-19 is the figment of the imagination of some powers desirous to create panic amongst us and shorten our lives?

    These are the nagging questions Bello ought to have addressed for his claims to attract any modicum of credibility. And in the absence of any verifiable evidence to disprove the reality of the viral disease, one is led to the inevitable conclusion that Bello’s claims are mere figments of educated guess. But we all know that educated guess is of questionable empirical value. Being an outcome of guess work, nobody should take the Kogi State governor seriously on this singular issue. It would have made better sense if he had contended that the disease is a biological creation to depopulate the world, as some have argued.

    But to claim that the disease does not exist in the face of all the realities is a dangerous distraction that should be rebuffed. The reason for his intransigence remains curious. But he was in essence telling the people not observe all the protocols put in place to contain the pandemic. By further extrapolation, there was no basis for the lockdown of the country that has sent millions out of job and about to throw the country into another round of recession. We had no basis to shut our shores and put every life activity to a halt. There was absolutely no reason for shutting down our schools and all the hard measures taken by the government since the pandemic hit our shores. To admit all this, would amount to a vote of no confidence on the federal government.

    Curiously, there seems a conspiracy of silence on the part of the federal government to the deliberate efforts by the Kogi State governor to run down the crucial war against the killer virus. Why this has remained so in spite of the potent danger such views portend, is baffling. Sadly, the inability of the federal government to square up to the disruptive effusions from that state government is in part, at the centre of the raging cynicism on the corona virus pandemic.

    But, the same government through its relevant agencies has been waging relentless campaigns to redirect the psyche of our people to the reality of the pandemic. That many of our people have continued to breach the protocols to stem the pandemic, is the logical outcome of warped views of the tribe of leaders like the Kogi State governor. That is quite unfortunate.

    If the attempt by Bello to discredit the war against the pandemic does not constitute a sufficient cause for worry, last week’s attack on the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Lokoja, Kogi State which is linked to the raging COVID-19 controversy, left a sour taste in the mouth. The invaders struck as workers and doctors of the centre were preparing to address a press conference on COVID-19. Numbering about 50, they were said to have carted away computers and files relating to COVID-19 while injuring some of the staff and patients.

    The state government was swift to attribute the attack to alleged altercation by relations of a patient whom the authorities of the centre refused to treat. But some of the placards displayed by the hoodlums, made copious references to the management of COVID-19 pandemic in the medical centre as part of the grouse of those protesting. This fact; the large number of attackers and the sensitive equipment and files carted away do not lend credence to the claim that it was a scuffle between relations of a patient and the centre.

    Rather, the attack bears the imprimatur of the controversy between the centre and the state government on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the attackers were reportedly heard yelling that the centre was giving the state government a bad name by alleging that there is COVID-19 in the state contrary to the position of the state government. That is the crux of the matter.

    Before now, the FMC had been at daggers drawn with the state government over the management of the pandemic. The medical facility had said it treated COVID-19 patients in the centre before transferring them to the NCDC facility in Abuja. But the state government would not have any of that as it insists there is no COVID-19 case in the state despite the NCDC announcing an index case last month. There is therefore everything pointing to a link between the controversy and the attack.

    The law enforcement agents should not have any problem in unveiling the source of the attack. The hoodlums spent reasonable time in the hospital. Their placards were captured by the press. So there will be no difficulty in identifying the culprits. The federal government must get at the root of that dangerous attack. If a medical facility can be so brazenly attacked in broad daylight, then that centre has become a great danger to workers and patients.

    But more than anything else, the federal government must come public on the embarrassing altercations between Bello and its agencies fighting COVID-19. It is high time the governor is put to serious test on some of the views credited to him. If the federal government fails to put a lie to the claims attributed to the Kogi State governor on the COVID-19 reality, then it stands accused of complicity on the cynicism surrounding the pandemic. Then also, it would have lost the moral right to continue the fight. Bello is giving the pandemic a bad name. The country’s leadership must come clear on the matter if it has nothing to hide.

  • Viral videos and bitter truth

    Viral videos and bitter truth

    By Femi Macaulay

    Truth hurts, but that is not an excuse for victimising those who dare to speak truth to power. Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini of the 8 Division, Sokoto, of the Nigerian Army, seemed prepared for the worst when he made a June 22 video that went viral. But that does not mean he should suffer for speaking truth to power.

    His lawyer, Mr. Tope Akinyode, who is the National President, Revolutionary Lawyers’ Forum, said in a statement:  ”We have just filed an action at the Federal High Court against the Nigerian Army, Chief of Army Staff and the Attorney General of the Federation of Nigeria over the unlawful arrest and detention of Lance Corporal Martins and his wife, Mrs. Victoria Idakpini.

    “On June 23, 2020, the Nigerian Army arrested Lance Corporal Martins for being critical of the army chief of staff over the handling of security crises and lack of adequate amenities to battle terrorism.

    “We are of the considered view that the continued detention of Lance Corporal Martins violates his fundamental human rights much as it violates the extant provisions of the Armed Forces Act.

    “Unfortunately, the Nigerian Army displayed a higher degree of despotism on June 25 when it illegally arrested and has continued to detain the wife of Lance Corporal Martins, Mrs. Victoria Idakpini, leaving her three children – twins of two-years-old and another who just clocked three – to the care of no one.”

    Idakpini’s wife, Victoria, was freed after spending nine days in detention, but the lawyer said the lawsuit against the army would continue despite her release.

    What did Idakpini say in the 12-minute viral video that got him into trouble? “I’m highly disappointed in your command,” he said, addressing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.  He called the army boss “a coward, a traitor and a betrayer,” adding that the loyalty of the rank and file to the army leadership must be earned.

    ”You have failed,” he said, addressing Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin.”You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he said, addressing the National Security Adviser, Mohammed Babagana Monguno, and the Minister of Defence, Bashir Salihi Magashi, both retired army generals.

    ”I’m a concerned Nigerian,” Idakpini explained. “We cannot continue to keep quiet when people are dying… many of our colleagues are dying.” He added that “innocent soldiers” were locked up in the guardroom indefinitely for complaining about inadequate weapons to fight insecurity.

    ”We need to restructure this army in order to achieve peace in the country,” he declared. He also criticised the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “I’m ready to face court martial,” he said fearlessly.

    The development attracted the attention of the House of Representatives where the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, moved a motion on July 2 titled, ‘A Call on the Nigerian Army to Release Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini from Arrest on the Basis of His Expressed Opinion.’

    Elumelu observed that “Section 122 of the Armed Forces Act forbids the military from perpetually detaining any officer.”  The House directed the Committees on Defence and Army to investigate the matter, and asked that “ldakpini should be brought before the relevant House committees and the leadership, to brief them on the happening in the northern part of the country.”

    It is noteworthy that about a month before Idakpini’s jolting video, another video had jolted the military leadership.

    Demoralised soldiers who expressed their feelings in a viral video showed that there is something wrong with the Nigerian Army’s counter-insurgency strategy.  The soldiers had been ambushed by Boko Haram terrorists.

    According to the military headquarters, two soldiers were killed and three others were injured in the surprise attack that happened “eight kilometres ahead of Buni-Gari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State on May 18, 2020.” A recovery truck and a water tanker that ran into Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were destroyed.

    The viral video showed the reaction of the ambushed soldiers.  A report said: “In disjointed Pidgin English that has been correctly translated… for the benefit of readers not conversant with such language, the angry soldiers said, ‘It shall not be well with the army (authorities), the army has sold all of us. Look at the way the army (authorities) are suffering us, it shall not be well with them.

    ‘Boko Haram ambushed us, what type of nonsense is this? The army (authorities) has suffered us. They sent jets to us after Boko Haram had finished us.

    ‘Buratai, it shall not be well with you for life. Buratai, you shall not know peace anymore.”

    The reference to Lt Gen Buratai reflected the degree of their demoralisation.  But the army authorities glossed over the development, tweeting that “due to mental snap/distress occasioned by fog of war, two of the soldiers who escaped the IED and terrorists’ ambush recorded the incident with uncomplimentary remarks about the Nigerian Army and her leadership, which was released on the social media.”

    “Although this kind of outburst is expected in war, the soldiers involved have been identified and would undergo observation and counseling,” the tweets said, adding that the military “will remain unwavering in its quest to end the terrorism and will do everything possible to ensure there is no repeat of this kind of traumatic incident/outburst.”

    When Lt Gen Buratai publicised his relocation to the Northeast theatre of war in April, he gave the impression that his move to physically and actively lead the war against Boko Haram would make a big difference.  But his presence in the theatre of operations has not given the Nigerian troops an advantage over Boko Haram. The counter-insurgency effort remains an effort, after more than a decade.

    Not only the soldiers whose outbursts attracted public attention need to be examined; the military authorities also need to be examined.

    These two viral videos involving soldiers speaking truth to power further show why President Buhari, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, should change the service chiefs so as to reinvigorate the fight against insecurity.  This is the bitter truth.