The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Step out Dr Datti Ahmed…

    Step out Dr Datti Ahmed…

    Like most Nigerians, I did not give Coach Stephen Keshi led Super Eagles any chance at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2013) in South Africa for obvious reasons.

    For close to two decades our senior male national football team have not inspired confidence and pride in us no thanks to their fitful style of play that we are always forced us to go on our knees praying fervently and furiously for victory each time they entered the field to play even against some supposedly minnows.

    The winning mentality and the can do Nigerian spirit that was always there in the Super Eagles have been missing for so long since Keshi captained the team to AFCON victory in 1994 in Tunisia, that we don”t even know how victory tastes again.

    The Olympic Team at Atlanta in 1996 reminded us of our prowess in football by winning the gold medal in football, but that was under-23 stuff. We came close to reclaiming our greatness in football when we co-hosted AFCON with Ghana in 2000 but fell at the last hurdle. From then on the Super Eagles went into a free fall and we could not even command a place among the elite of African football not to talk of rubbing shoulders with the best in the world. This was disaster for a team that was once ranked fifth in the world after our superlative performance at the 1994 FIFA world cup in the United States of America.

    The pains and disappointments of the past would now seem to have been erased by that lone goal victory by the Super Eagles over the Stallions of Burkina Fasso at the National Stadium in Johannesburg last Sunday. But as we celebrate that victory, it will be wrong to assume that the worst is over for our football and begin to see ourselves in the same league as Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina or even England. We still have a long way to go even though the Federal Government’s spin doctors will seek to portray the situation differently as they will certainly proclaim this as one of the good lucks that President Goodluck Jonathan has in stock for us. Well, they are entitled to say that if that will make them happy but Nigerians know the true state of their nation and no amount of sweet talk of Jonathan’s good luck would change that. But all the same let us all enjoy this rare moment of joy that the Super Eagles have brought to us and congratulate ourselves including our president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his dearest wife, Nigeria”s alternate President and Commander-In-Chief, Dame Patience Jonathan. I know what I am talking about.

    Unfortunately some Nigerians will not be joining us in this joyful and victorious celebration following the cutting short of the lives of their loved ones in Kano last week by some demented gunmen. I am talking about the families of those health workers gunned down in Kano state by some religious terrorists as they were administering Polio vaccines on children. The victims of this dastardly act were on a mission to sustain and protect our future by ensuring that our next generation do not suffer from such childhood diseases as Polio, but these agents of the devil who do not want a healthy future for our children and do not mean well for us chose to kill them for trying to help us.

    The perpetrators of this act would want us to believe they were fighting to protect the children from what they and their sponsors believe is a conspiracy by the western world to use the vaccine to either kill our children or make the females amongst them infertile in future so as to stem the increase in the population of black Africans. And they even have a religious angle to this madness by tracing their action to Islam. In fact some Islamic leaders in the North even support them on this. This is madness, there is nothing Islamic here. Islam is definitely not against medicine or science. In fact many of those scientific/medical feats being celebrated today are well documented in Islam even before the advent of modern medicine.

    What is greatly troubling here is that some supposedly learned people who knew or should know the truth as regards this vaccination thing and Islam are the ones behind or giving support to those madmen crusading against Polio vaccination for our children in the North.

    Remember one Dr Datti Ahmed, a medical doctor, who I learnt trained in Medicine in supposedly progressive Russia in the 60s and perhaps the first Kano indigene to qualify as a medical practitioner. His wife or one of his wives, (as the case may be) a Yoruba woman, was already a matron when he married her. The man in question has a daughter who is also a medical practitioner. So, medicine runs in his family. They are supposedly enlightened people. This Dr Ahmed heads one Islamic group in the North, as chairman of the Sharia Council and acts in that capacity purportedly in defence of and interest of Islam. Some years back he, for no scientific reason began his campaign against Polio vaccination in the North, especially in his native Kano and persuaded parents not to allow their children to be immunized. With the kind of religious society we have in the North and his position in the Sharia Council, his campaign gained ground and created tons of problem for the various state governments in the region, particularly Kano, which he practically held to ransom for years over the issue of immunization. Unable to convince the people otherwise, the state government had to sponsor overseas tests of the vaccines to convince the people that Dr Ahmed was wrong and that there is nothing harmful about immunization.

    Although the issue later cooled off and appeared to be over, but the latest attack and killing of health workers carrying out immunization exercise on the children in Kano appears to indicate that Dr Ahmed was able to plant his doctrine of falsehood against immunization firmly in the minds of some people and the seed is beginning to germinate and in its most dangerous form. If he was able to stop the immunization then by his verbal campaign against it, his supporters or those that believe in his campaign are now prepared to go a step further. If the people refuse to heed the call not to submit their children for immunization, why not kill those administering the vaccine, they seem to have concluded, and they were probably taking their inspiration from Dr Datti Ahmed.

    The question here is why would a man with all his training and knowledge chose to ignore scientific evidence, already proven, and mislead his people to accept and follow a path which his head tells him is wrong.

    How I wish Dr Datti and his supporters could find out from those adults suffering the effect of Polio affliction in their childhood whether given a choice of a vaccine to cure them of their deformity now they would take it or remain the way they are. I am sure the answer will most certainly be yes, bring the medicine.

    Dr Datti may not have intended his campaign against Polio vaccination to get this far but we are now suffering the consequence of his action and he must accept responsibility for this, apologise to his people and begin a fresh campaign in support of immunization against all forms of killer diseases for our children. In the true spirit of Islam, he should beg for forgiveness and atone for his sins against the people in this regard.

    Islam places a huge responsibility on the shoulders of religious leaders, who because of their exalted position as servants of Almighty ALLAH (SWT) are supposed to be obeyed by their followers, so, they have been enjoined not to misrepresent Islam and mislead their people. The consequences of misleading their people is grave for them in the hereafter. Dr Datti Ahmed, I am sure knows this.

    And for those who killed those health workers, they have questions to answer from Almighty ALLAH (SWT) on the day of judgment, but before then the earthly powers in Nigeria must fish them out and punish them for that crime. They have sinned against the rest of us.

    While praying God to grant the families of the victims of that Kano killing the fortitude to bear their loss, the Kano State government must assist them to cushion the effect of that loss, especially their children. Adequate security should also be given to health workers on similar missions in future.

    Having said that, let’s come together and celebrate our Super Eagles, THE CHAMPIONS OF AFRICA.

     

  • A god and our folly

    A god and our folly

    They crouched down to their bended knees and treated the subject with papal awe. It was not a place for pious worship, and neither was any god involved. But it was a case of white worshipping black, an irony for history.

    It was at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. It is good once in a while when one is on vacation to leaven the languor with some intellectual spice. So that was how I got invited to the place in the world’s most powerful capital, more especially when the issue at stake epitomised the Nigerian story: oil and the Niger Delta.

    The person at the centre of the gathering was the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the audience, which filled the venue to overflowing, spanned the wide gamut of academics, diplomats, representatives of the United States State Department, students interested in Nigeria, human rights votaries and a sprinkling of potential investors.

    But what struck me was their subject of worship: Oil. You did not sense this veneration while the Governor unveiled his doings in Delta State from his security agenda, his Delta Beyond Oil programme, his work on building and rebuilding schools and infrastructure, the revenue allocation controversy, due process, environment and transportation.

    The question-and-answer session provided the excitement, and the audience had more questions than the time allotted. The moderator, Professor Peter Lewis, who heads the African programme, had to consolidate questions for Governor Uduaghan.

    Most of their questions revolved around militancy, revenue allocation, job creation in the Niger Delta, the law suits against oil firms, the issue of oil tax and how to redeem the environment after decades of devastation.

    I was amazed by how much these people knew about my country and the level of curiosity and concern over the fragility of the Nigerian state. For instance, on the issue of militancy, they knew that the programme has a sunset date, and when it expired the evil day may not redound to joy for Nigeria. What will happen when the token trainings stop, when the Federal Government’s funding retreats to other urgencies of development? It went back, as Governor Uduaghan noted, to addressing the fundamental questions of poverty and alienation, which meant that the government had to provide the enabling environment for work and self-fulfillment.

    Will the evil camps revive with the growls of resource control and the hooded goons with ominous guns? Is the region ready for another era of militant yelps, a phase of youth rage? It will precede a crash of our crude oil exports with the consequences for plummeting levels of revenue streams.

    This matter segued into revenue allocation, and that was where Governor Uduaghan, in spite of his tranquil mien, showed anger, however suppressed. Some listeners could not grasp how, in a federal state, justice did not accompany the allocation of resources, especially when oil took from the local communities more than it gave. Professor Lewis injected humour by saying that, “let it be noted that Governor Uduaghan is angry,” and a gale of laughter rippled through the venue.

    He also argued that the Niger Delta states did not get more revenue than some of the states at war over the lopsidedness of revenue. He explained that the local government revenues gave some states, especially in the north, an aggregate edge over the cumulative takings of their Niger Delta states.

    Concerns about the environment peaked when the governor gave an anecdote about his childhood days when the rivers and streams revealed like mirror its habitués: fish, prawns, crayfish, etc. Those were the days of nature’s innocence when oil, tenanted peacefully in the earthly bowels, did not violate territories. The wealth of trees, palm produce, cassava, and sundry cash and other products cohabited with black gold. That predated the coming of the big firms and things fell apart.

    “In those days,” recalled Governor Uduaghan, “you could dip your hands in the water and pick your fish.” Dinner was assured. Not today when marine life chokes under a smothering sea of oil. Oil has disenfranchised the owners and immiserated their generation.

    This led to a question on the recent judgment from a European court against Shell. The irony that concerned the woman was about the absence of local justice. This was not only a sort of vaudevillian lament over the absence of justice on that matter. For me, it was an indictment of our judiciary. Why was it that we had to travel several miles to ask a judge from a foreign land to give the justice we all know should be given to us at home?

    The courts and their judges in Europe understood the importance of sacred environment. Environment is destiny, and beauty is not only the colour of the sky in its orange glory but also the purity of running streams, the chirp of birds, the statuesque pride of the iroko tree unthreatened by oil. It is this truth that reinforces beauty, and that was what the poet John Keats meant.

    It goes deep into the fragile hope of the region, and the lingering sense of inequity. But that was what all the Americans in the audience meant. They came to worship oil, but it was not a god of equality, but a sleek potentate with hints of Armageddon – a god bearing mammon in its wings. So they were critical of the domicile of the god, and whether man had not woken the god from its resting place to torment us for seeking the bounty in its loins.

    The West has harnessed that bounty for their good, with evidence of prosperity in the United States and Europe today. But we have done worse who host the god. Shall we blame the exploiter or us who allowed the god to punish our follies? We could not make the god in our image.

    Governor Uduaghan says the answer begins when we address the issue as to whether those who host the oil should decide who own it. It is where fiscal federalism meets justice – at home.

  • Ihejirika’s burden

    Ihejirika’s burden

    The Nigerian Army was in the news last week for some curious reasons. Unidentified persons circulated documents accusing the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika of favoritism in the recent promotions and recruitment into the army.

    They claimed that recent promotions and recruitment were done in utter disregard of such pristine principles as balance, merit and seniority. Bandying statistics of the population of some states, they argued that the South-east zone where Ihejirika comes from benefited disproportionately from the recruitment exercise.

    According to them, in the recruitment at the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Abia State with a population of 2.8 million had 450 recruits while Ebonyi with a population of 2.2 million had 377 recruits. Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states with populations of 9.3 million, 9 million and 9 million respectively had only 258, 382 and 255 recruits. For them, these represent part of the plan to ‘Igbonise’ the Nigerian Army.

    Perhaps, either because the army would not want to dignify these allegations or due to their sensitivity to the overall unity and cohesion in the army, they did not react to the issues raised. But a group of concerned Nigerians under the banner of Information for Democracy and Development IDD reacted sharply, accusing the petitioners of nursing a hidden agenda of blackmailing and distracting the army from the fight against terrorism.

    Its coordinator, Joshua Yahaya described those behind the attack as “fifth columnists of Boko Haram who are feeling the heat of the war on them by the army and so feel the only way out is to create disaffection within the army”.

    Given the silence of the army, there is the temptation not to attach much value to the allegations. But the issues raised are weighty and have become a matter of public interest especially given the allegations and counter allegations that have been bandied. Having been brought to the court of public opinion in a society still battling destabilizing centrifugal tendencies, it will be a risky endeavor to dismiss the matter with a wave of the hand. This is more so, with the attempt to smuggle ethnic agenda into this singular recruitment and promotion exercise. Since the ethnic dimension has been dangerously canvassed, it is only proper that it either faces the test of empirical examination or be dismissed as an exercise in hasty generalization. On the face value, a comparison of the recruitment figures of Abia, Ebonyi, Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states vis-à-vis their population, would raise the question of criteria for the exercise. That point has to be admitted. If that was the issue the petitioners are raising, one could understand their point. But it is an entirely different ball-game to proceed from there to arrive at the very sweeping conclusion that it is all that is required to enter a case of ‘Igbonisation’ of the army. It is a very ridiculous and uncharitable conclusion that cannot fly without a total picture of the entire staff disposition of the army.

    If the petitioners were motivated by altruistic or nationalistic goals, they should have provided the entire standing of the Igbo or the South-east in the Nigerian Army. Even then, that would not suffice for the real picture until the total staff disposition of all the zones in the Nigerian Armed Forces has been analyzed.

    This point is unassailable given events of our recent past. It is trite that the South-east has been very vocal on their disadvantaged position within the federation. Such words as alienation and marginalization have come to symbolize the perception of their lot since after the civil war and these issues are not strange to any well-meaning Nigerian. Just last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had while reacting to accusations of marginalization by Chinua Achebe in his recent book, told the New African magazine that when he was president, “an Igbo lady was Minister of Finance; an Igbo man was the Governor of the Central Bank, an Igbo man was one of the Service Chiefs”. We may add that Jonathan has improved on that by appointing an Igbo man the Chief of Army staff. These are no doubt very positive developments. But one salient point they have exposed is that they are only very recent steps to correct deliberate scheming out of the South-east from the commanding heights of key national offices and security institutions.

    To have transformed overnight from alienation and marginalization to dominating the rest in the army, is the most uncharitable and wicked accusation anybody can levy against the South-east at this point in time. It will only take a miracle for that to happen even as Ihejirika is not known to be a miracle worker. It is true he is the first south-easterner to become the Chief of Army Staff since the end of the civil war. It is therefore to be expected that some vested interests may not be favorably disposed to his appointment.

    Even without hindsight of the entire staff disposition of the army and the armed forces, one can say without fear of contradiction that the South-east is still the most disadvantaged. The very fact that they were not part of the armed forces the three years the civil war lasted says it all.

    What has played out in the recent recruitment and promotions might be an attempt to redress perceived imbalances in the organization. After all, the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration ought to permeate such critical sectors so that we can build national institutions rather than ones that serve sectional, ethnic or religious tendencies.

    There are also problems in using population to the exclusion of quota, equality of states and merit to assess the promotions and recruitment. If it is discovered that the South-east has been largely disadvantaged by previous recruitment exercises, Ihejirika has a moral burden to redress that. It will amount to inverted tribalism or reversed discrimination if he allows the injustice to persist because he is an Igbo man and for fear of what those who profit from it may say.

    Events during Lt. Gen. Abdulraman Bello Dambazzau’s tenure as the Chief of Army Staff come in handy at this point. Insider Weekly magazine had in its June, 2009 edition reported that soldiers were grumbling over “parochial unbalanced deployment” in the army wondering whether “he is building a Nigerian Army, a Kano army or a northern army”. The magazine alleged that out of the 32 key appointments, Dambazzau gave the north 27, the South-east three, two to the South-west and none to the South-south. It is not unlikely that what is playing out is an attempt to redress years of imbalance as reflected by the skewed leadership of the army since after the civil war.

    The use of population is also not fool-proof given that populations of states do not give the entire picture of the various groups that make it up. We have not been told the ratio of the Igbo or other ethnic groups that were counted as indigenes of states with high population even when they are discriminated against because of the unresolved issue of residency. It does seem therefore that there is more to these accusations than ordinarily meets the eyes. It is hard to ignore the point by the IDD that it is likely the handiwork of sympathizers of Boko Haram intent at creating disaffection and anarchy within the army that is at play. With the current security challenges, it is only proper that the commanding heights of the military and key security organizations are diluted so that no section of the country will have absolute control over them. It is in our national interest to do that now.

  • All Progressives Congress and the battles to come

    All Progressives Congress and the battles to come

    I do not envy the All Progressives Congress (APC) at all. Founded, as it were, a few days ago, and full of secret hopes for a future it is certain to approach with utmost trepidation, it is likely to need the daring, speed and subtlety of a David to confront the electoral rapacity, executive brutism and general apathy of the ageing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Goliath. All patriots, irrespective of political leanings, will yearn for the new party to acquit itself well, make a huge mark politically, and possibly win the mandate to remake and redirect the country. The ultimate indicator of these possibilities will be when the four political parties, which have merged to form the APC, bury their individual structures and differences under the ultimate goal of a party determined to win the presidency and offer the Black man the leadership he has craved for since W.E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey inspired Pan-Africanism.

    The APC is a four-in-one political party, at least for now. Among that desperate quartet – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – there will be some elements who cherish isolation, even if it means risking being destroyed separately. So the new party must not have any illusion it is a tightknit party with a single-mindedness that generally conduces to instant electoral victory. Nor should the party ever assume that by merely announcing a merger there would be no teething problems, no ego posturing, no ideological conflicts, and no struggle for general relevance and dominance within the party. The party will be tested to its very core with such severity that it will be forced to decide what things motivate it: the mere acquisition of power, such as is propelling the PDP into increasing mediocrity and ruin, or the beneficial uses of power, such as often inspire leading political parties in developed democracies to boundless patriotism, excellence and innovations.

    A merger of political parties was always required to take on the monolithic PDP. But for about 14 years, the opposition simply could not find the good sense and courage to unite against a common and implacable foe. In retrospect, if a makeshift unity had been procured for the 2011 poll, the opportunity to resolve the contradictions that naturally restrict or even stymie the progress of a new party would have been glossed over or lost irretrievably. The APC must therefore anticipate and welcome the initial struggles and confusions that are certain to dot its difficult beginnings, and not trifle with the indispensability of building consensus and compromises. These processes are required to stabilise the party, give it a hard inner core, and make it a force to be reckoned with.

    It will not be enough that the party has seemed to inspire the public with its quaint and philosophical rationalisation for merger. Chief Tom Ikimi, chairman of the merger committee of the ACN, puts it succinctly: “At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent. And to meet the challenge, we the following political parties namely ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC have resolved to merge forthwith and become All Progressives Congress and offer to our beleaguered people a recipe for peace and prosperity. We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to our people, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth etc., and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people. The resolution of these issues, the restoration of hope, and the enthronement of true democratic values for peace, democracy and justice are those concerns which propel us. We believe that by these measures only shall we restore our dignity and position of pre-eminence in the comity of nations. This is our pledge.” Inspiring a people, a party, and an electorate, however, goes beyond fair words. Many other elements are involved.

    Much more than the big and financially well-endowed PDP, the APC can be trusted to draw on a huge reserve of intellectuals, for the new party seems to set great store by intellectualism, and real intellectuals, by training and experience, can instinctively tell where their expertise is needed. Nigerian political parties often draw a line between their parties’ guiding documents and party activities and policies. So it is one thing for the new party to write a beautiful manifesto and constitution, which I think they will manage to concoct even admirably; and it is another thing to anchor its programmes and party administration on those documents. For a party anxious to minimise differences and disagreements, would it not be tempted to indulge in the idiosyncratic pragmatism that has made Nigerian political parties both weak and colourless? If the new party is to resonate with the electorate, and is to stand a chance of doing spectacularly well in the next set of elections, it must be different in more ways than one. Indeed it must be truly remarkable. But does it have the stamina to be different? Would its leaders not feel the urgency and desperation of embracing expediency over principles, especially because in the crassly monetised politics of Nigeria, principles may sometimes appear like an abstraction and an expensive and annoying excursion into rarified environments?

    I do not know whether the main reason for the merger of the four parties is to snatch power from the hands of the PDP. If it is, the agglomeration will adopt fierce short-term tactics designed to deliver the most impact in the shortest possible time. The risk, however, is that if they fail, the disemboweling logic of short-termism and the contradictions of merchandising politics will undermine future prospects of growth and success, and possibly even fragment the party. A better approach will be to structure, run and inspire the new party for the long term. That approach, as cautious and exploratory as it may seem, is not antagonistic to short term electoral gains, and it even predisposes the APC to greater stability, purposefulness and enduring exceptionalism. The PDP is united not by ideas or vision but by a sickening affection for power acquisition. The APC must strive to be different. It must make it clear that the country would profit from the noble principles that should drive a serious political party, and that nothing is too small or too big to be sacrificed for those principles. Here, alas, is a difficult dilemma. The PDP’s lengthy stay in office has brought nothing but unremitting poverty and social dislocations; and to allow the party another four years in office after 2015 would be suicidal for the country. Yet the APC would appear indistinguishable from the PDP if it should appear to be desperate and in indecent haste to acquire power.

    It is too early in the day for any analyst to accurately weigh the new party’s chances. We must, therefore, concentrate on those factors the party must pay attention to in order to be a credible opposition to the ruling behemoth. The first task is for the APC to cobble together a common ideological platform from the suspect ideologies of its four constituent parts. The CPC, as everyone knows, is more pragmatic than ideological. It depends for its lifeblood on the honesty and enigmatic disposition of its main inspirer, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, who is not any more ideological now than he was in 1984 when he was military head of state. The ANPP on its own is even openly less ideological. If it has any progressive hue at all, it is to the extent that the PDP has seemed to crowd out any other serious party from Nigeria’s conservative habitat. To avoid a fate worse than ostracism, the ANPP needed to exude anything else other than conservatism; hence the merger. By embracing a very mild form of progressivism, no matter how insignificant, the party is merely being practical and adaptable.

    If APGA holds any progressive credential worth considering, it is the word ‘progressives’ in its original name. There is entirely nothing else binding the party to the ideology. It has in fact neither proclaimed progressivism at any time, even feebly, nor does it care to defend or define it, carefully or casually. The party reminds one of a road interchange: every road leads to it and out of it. Either by design or by accident, the ACN aggressively proclaimed its ideological tigritude to the point that its theoretical inconsistencies and suspect democratic credentials simply faded into thin air. The party is thus rightly or wrongly considered as the only truly ideological party, almost as if progressivism is intrinsically and conceptually more virtuous than conservatism. In fact the disagreement between the party and its Southwest opponents centres on its claim to be the only progressive party in Nigeria. But a disaggregation of ACN’s progressivism will reveal its cultural roots, entitling just about any political journeyman in the zone to claim progressivism, and the signal importance of the actions, words and dispositions of its officials, particularly its governors.

    Since the four constituent parties in the APC are actually clustered not too far apart on the ideological spectrum, they stand a better chance of arriving at workable and harmless compromises. They are likely to agree on external relations, even though Nigeria’s foreign policy is symptomatic of the anti-intellectual, reactive and lazy approach of Nigerian leaders to the external world. They are also likely to fashion an agreeable economic plan that is pragmatic, gently progressive, and far superior to the PDP’s, of course, on account of both the grinding poverty 14 years of the ruling party have sentenced the country and the justifiable impatience of the suffering majority praying for the application of radical anodynes. No other issue, not even religion, nor Boko Haram, will be capable of threatening the anticipated consensus. If the PDP is united by greed and intolerance, and is paranoid about holding on to power, the APC should be unified by its common detestation of the PDP, and be fanatically committed to unhorsing the clumsy giant.

    Though it is at the moment preoccupied with putting down the rebellion in its fold, the PDP is not unaware of the dangers constituted by what some writers have exaggeratedly described as the APC mega party. The ruling party will very likely respond with disgruntled alliances of its own to further bloat its bigness. It will lure grumpy fence sitters in the ACN, make offers to the Labour Party which the small and ideologically unresponsive party can’t resist, and adopt measures hostile to the opposition, including abuse of judicial and legislative processes. It will also attempt to promote discord among the leading lights of the APC in order to prevent peaceful selection of candidates. The ruling party’s success in these unwholesome enterprises will depend on the unpreparedness of the APC leaders to bury their differences and recognise that the spoils of war are almost limitless beyond the plum jobs and positions of the presidency and other top posts.

    The PDP is inured to the danger of fragmentation facing the country. But if the APC recognises that 2015 is probably the last chance for this generation to save the union, and to comprehensively restructure the polity and free the energies of industrious Nigerians bottled up for decades by incompetent leadership, it will sacrifice anything to win power at the centre. As this newspaper’s Hardball column said on Friday, “The country is ready for APC; what no one is sure of, but which only the party can answer, is whether the party is ready for the country.” For without doubt, except the earth shifts from its orbit, it is inconceivable that the unprecedentedly marginalised Southwest would vote for the PDP; nor would most parts of the North vote for the ruling party at the presidential level at least. And in a few parts of the Southeast and South-South, it’s a toss-up; for the voters in those eroded lands and mangrove swamps are not anybody’s fools. Indeed, given the heavy feeling of change in the air, the APC will have to be extraordinarily imprudent and pigheaded to lose the 2015 battle.

  • As we celebrate our country’s colonisation

    As we celebrate our country’s colonisation

    It is now common knowledge that the presidency is ready to celebrate the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 by Frederick Lugard. Such celebration is not just an attempt to recognise the amalgamation as a positive milestone in the history of Nigeria. It is, simply put, a bold attempt by the federal government to commemorate the country’s colonization. The question of the minute is whether observing the amalgamation can enhance the country’s unity or whether it is likely to incense citizens struggling for restoration of federalism as another attempt to justify the current unitary governance of the country.

    Given the history of several resistances against Britain’s colonisation of Nigeria in general and against Lugard in particular, as well as the huge sacrifices made by nationalist leaders that fought against colonialism and struggled for self-government in the regions and for independence for the entire country, many patriots are likely to be saddened by any effort by a civilian president that is craving, over fifty years after independence, to celebrate the raw act of colonisation of the country. It is not out of place for such patriots to ask why the federal government is not ready to leave the celebration of the country’s most challenged and challenging colonial decision to the United Kingdom’s government.

    Certainly, the British should have more reasons than Nigeria to commemorate the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914. It enabled Britain to have the most populous country in Africa today. Lugard’s courage and insensitivity to join the two protectorates made (and still does) today’s Nigeria one country that has more people than all the colonies of France, Britain’s competitor in the Scramble for and Partition of Africa. It must be a thing of joy to the British that the huge country it created out of many in 1914 is still almost as dependent on it as it was in the days of Lugard. For example, instead of generating electricity like other former British colonies, Lugard’s Nigeria relies on generators manufactured in England and clones from such places as China and India. The United Kingdom has reasons to beat its chest for the continuation of the tradition of organising census and elections it bequeathed to Nigeria. Britain should also feel good that its compromise on moving from Lugard’s amalgamation (unitary governance) to federalism in the 50s and at independence has subtly been annulled by Nigerian military dictators and surrogate civilian rulers that came in the post-colonial era.

    But if the current federal government believes that it is better positioned to lead the celebration of the amalgamation of Nigeria, it should not fail to do it in style, in consonance with the country’s flair for conducting outlandish festivals or carnivals. It should invite any of Lugard’s living relatives to give a keynote speech or serve as father or mother of the day. It should open a special register in Worcester, England, where Lugard was raised, with the aim of thanking the town for producing the father of Nigeria. There should be space in the ceremony for a London celebration, to which Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Cameron are invited to represent, respectively, King George V and Herbert Asquith, the prime minister in charge of the colonial government in 1914. If possible, these two should be invited to Abuja to serve as grandmother and grandfather of the day. If not, we should organize a London version of the commemoration to make it easy for the two to serve as co-celebrators. President Museveni of Uganda should be invited to assist its sister-country to celebrate the accomplishments of a man that served both countries as the icon of British colonialism in Africa. The Archbishop of Canterbury should be asked to celebrate a high mass here in Abuja or in London.

    One thing that must not be missed in the celebration—whether representatives of the family of Lugard or the British royalty and government agree to participate in the ceremony—is making copies of Lugard’s books available as items to be included in the gift bags to be distributed at the ceremony. If this is going to be too expensive, Lugard’s favourite description of the typical African should be printed on the Programme of Events. It should not be too expensive for petroleum-rich Nigeria to include the following lines of Lugard’s favourite quote: “The typical African…is happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline and foresight, naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity… in brief, the virtues and defects of this race-type are those of attractive children.”

    Furthermore, any Nigerian that is opposed to the celebration of Nigeria’s glorious beginning with amalgamation should be declared personal non-grata and a mortal enemy of Nigerian unity. Any Nigerian that chooses to demonstrate or protest against the grand celebration of Nigeria’s Lugardian origin should be charged with treason or treasonable felony. The federal government should leave no stone unturned in its effort to convince critics of the proposed mother of celebrations that its decision is infallible. It should encourage critics to read Michael S. Roth’s The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty, especially on the thesis about how our brains convince us that our lies are true. Those charged to mould the consciousness of citizens should not fail to say that there is nothing too absurd to do on account of the unity of Nigeria, manufactured by Lugard in 1914.

  • A resurgent southwest

    A resurgent southwest

    Microsoft Encarta defines the word resurgent as: ‘rising or becoming stronger again’. One reason the Yoruba will never forget Chief Obafemi Awolowo, apart from his trail-blazing policies which were far ahead of his time was that people were the focal point, the very epicentre, of all his government’s policies. Rich or poor, but especially those at the lower rungs of the social ladder, were the primary focus of all the programmes and policies of the Action Group. For that reason, and never for propaganda purposes, literally every household in Yoruba land had the redifusion box through which the entire citizenry was kept abreast of every government action.

    While it is understandable why the military had no use for such people friendly policies, the absence of such policies in the sterile four years of PDP ascendancy in the region must reckon as the primary reason the party was never loved by the Yoruba people as evidenced by the fact that their leading lights were routinely losing elections right within their homestead.

    Commenting recently on ekitipanupo, Wale Adeoye, a brilliant journalist, activist and Senior Special Assistant to governor Fayemi of Ekiti wrote as follows: ‘The new bridge commissioned recently in Ogun state, the about-to be-ready Mokola bridge, the Ikogosi warm water project, the Ire Burnt Brick industry, the new Ijebu-Igbo-Lagos highway being dualised by the Osun state government, the Lagos tram project (first of its kind in Nigeria), the complete rebuilding of Benin city …’ are all targeted at making the various communities more conducive to the peoples’ various occupations as a way of enhancing their well-being. Factor in then the great strides being made by the First Ladies as in Erelu Bisi Fayemi’s multi-sectoral programmes geared towards youth and women empowerment, the Ogun State First Lady’s highly imaginative ‘UPLIFTing the aged’ project by which thousands of very old people are being provided succor and Mrs Ajumobi’s ‘Ajumose Food Bank’ initiative targeted at drastically reducing hunger amongst widows and the elderly. Add to these programmes, Fayemi’s first in Nigeria social security monthly payments to the elderly as well as Aregbesola’s equally heart-warming monthly payment to the same category of people and what you see are leaders who are determined, as Mrs Ajumobi succinctly put it, ‘to ensure the complete restoration of pristine Yoruba values long bastardised by the activities of some unfeeling, past governments. For the current governors the agenda is one of compassion, probity and accountability. If in doubt, then mentally go back some light years and recall, not just the killer gangs habitually over running the entire region; an octogenarian putting the entire Ibadan to the sword with the city emerging the dirtiest and most dangerous city in the country as rival motor park gangs, allegedly under some police protection, spilled blood at will. Interestingly today, the same Ibadan, which Sam Omatseye once dubbed ‘the city of grime and crime’, that city of Baba Adedibu, Tokyo, Auxiliary etc, is being tastefully restored and renewed by the Ajumobi government thereby enhancing the city’s environmental health status.

    All over the South-West, the people had to rise to put their traducers to shame, and flight, but nowhere in the geo-political zone would this people power equal what happened in Ekiti, an odyssey which has been brilliantly captured in THE LONG WALK – a book authored by some Aides of the Chief Protagonist, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

    All these put together, in the words of Wale Adeoye, is the testimony of our history and as if it required legitimisation, the clear electoral supremacy of the progressives reaffirmed that during the 2011 general elections when the people doused the vapours of hate and the afflictions induced by our yesterday men . That soul-renching defeat of the oppressor party has given the entire Southwest a new lease of life made distinct throughout the country by an unprecedented, pan-regional peace except, occasionally, when the rump of their hatchet men attempt to re-enact a recrudescence of their old mayhem.

    Most reviews of development in the geo-political zone have concentrated on infrastructural development: roads built to last decades and giant strides in healthcare delivery as exemplified by Lagos, Ekiti , Osun and Ogun States, complete overhaul and revival of dead industries as in Ekiti, giant strides in agriculture as in Osun State; the urban renewal projects that are unerringly transforming Ibadan, Osogbo and Ado-Ekiti, and the single-minded determination of each of these state governments to revive the decrepit educational infrastructure left behind by the departing PDP governments among others. Important as all these are, with Lagos state emerging as the incomparable lodestar even in the entire country, our governors are acutely aware that development is not all about brick and mortar. They know that peace, is a sine qua non for development and the overall well-being of the citizenry which should be the raison d’être of any good government.

    Although the federal government has failed dismally in the task of ensuring the safety of lives and properties in the country, governments in the Southwest do put considerable premium on securing the lives and properties of the citizenry.

    For the respective governors, therefore, kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminalities like those being daily spewed by the Boko Haram can certainly not be an option though, it must be acknowledged that armed robbery, mostly transborder, is still around and about albeit, on a diminishing scale since the states give maximum support to their police commands which remain curiously underfunded by the federal government as Nigerians saw recently in our decrepit Police Training Colleges.

    But it must be said that peace has not come cheap as it has been the result of deep thinking and appropriate, proactive actions on the part of these state governments as a means of driving their commitment to securing the citizenry. This is in the knowledge that only a peaceful atmosphere can guarantee their developmental efforts, even governance itself. A clear example is what we currently see in some states up North where it has been alleged that some governors now run the affairs of government from outside the state capitals though the suggestion has been strenuously denied..

    The overwhelming peace in the Southwest owed its genesis to Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who, in 2007 established a Lagos State Security Trust Fund which was passed into Law by the state House of Assembly. This was the outcome of a high- powered committee he set up under the chairmanship of Alhaji Musiliu Smith, about the only Inspector-General of Police to have come out of service with his integrity intact, in recent times. The committee identified logistics, mobility, communications, kitting, and appropriate hardware, in sufficient quantities, as the major challenges inhibiting the police in its determined effort to checkmate violent crimes. To successfully navigate these challenges, it was discovered that huge sums of money would be needed on a recurring basis. The state government therefore rightly decided on a Public/Private partnership which has since generated billions of naira to the great fortune of the Lagos state police command and the state’s overall security. The Lagos example has since gone viral in the entire Southwest and each of the states has poured huge sums of money, in materiel and logistics, into their respective police commands with Osun state actually launching its own security trust fund.

    The result is that even transborder gangs, whether from neighbouring countries or from other geo-political zones for which the Southwest was at a time a regular hunting ground have learnt the hard way and had since migrated back to where they came from.

    The resultant peace has gelled rather flawlessly with the traditional peaceful nature of the people which has in turn been helped significantly by the fact that no matter in which state you are in the region, you have a government that is earnestly putting its all into the service of the people. The synergy between the state governors in their determined effort to ensure peace and security in the region is a clear evidence of regional integration whose fundamental objective, in the words of the Ogbeni is ‘to harness, effectively and efficiently, the abundant resources of the region and to unleash its collective enterprise towards promoting the well being and quality of lives of the people living in the region’. .

  • And Okon puts his boot in

    As soon as the eagles romped over Mali and the whole street exploded like a dormant volcano, Okon barged in with insane excitement written all over his face. Snooper thought the crazy one wanted to cotton in on the celebratory atmosphere, but it turned out that he had more sinister motives for his unwarranted disruption.

    “Oga, kai, kai abi you no see say dem Nigeria dey play better football now after dem come chase dem yeye Yoruba boys from dem team? Na Yoruba people dey spoil football as dem dey spoil everything for obodo,” the crazy boy sneered.

    “Shut up, you fool. And who are these Yoruba boys?” snooper screamed at him.

    “Ah dem Taiye, Kehinde, dem Obafemi Awolowo, dem Yakubu Aiyefele, dem Oyobo and dem Oyinbo Bini brother with all dem babalawo and agadagodo football”

    “Get lost:” snooper shouted at the mad boy.

  • If love is a many-splendoured thing, just how many splendours can it have?

    There is something definitely in the air; all you need do is to take a sniff. Well, first you’ll breathe in a mouthful of dust, but that’s just the leftover of the harmattan season. To get rid of that, simply imagine yourself all kitted out – suit, shoes, jeep and all – drawing up in front of the seat of government in the capital territory. A very foul odour might rudely accost the very delicate hairs in your nostrils but don’t panic, its only the government doing its talk, talk, talk as usual. It is shouting to Nigerians that it wants to celebrate the centenary of Nigeria’s amalgamation. Ha! As if there’s anything to celebrate there, but that’s a topic for another day. Anyway, because the government is shouting so much, the air is a little frothy. Again, don’t panic and keep sniffing. Behind all the dusts, odours and noxious gasses of political ill-talk, you can sniff the February perfumed gas of love. It is Valentine time again.

    I was privileged to read Elizabeth Browning’s poem in which she tried to count the many ways she could love her husband. I don’t quite think she succeeded, but the fact that she tried is a surprise to me. But then, I am no poet, just a simple country lass who marvels at the way the grasses gently bow their lovely heads to the softly passing breeze. Ah! Poetry is hard.

    Anyway, as I was saying, I had no idea one could count love or the ways of loving. I know I can count the gifts I get from people who hopefully have given out of the love of their hearts. I can also count the different motives for the gifts. For instance, when someone suddenly ups and gives you a car for no reason, then you better become suspicious. You might think he wants your love when all the time he is calculating how he can have access to your liver because a babalawo says he must bring one liver still bubbling and jumping with life in order to become rich. Or the motive might simply be that he is tired of the car. Once, one man was so irritated by the antics of his aircraft while in the air that when he landed, the first person he saw was his mechanic. Good, he thought. ‘How much can you give me for this thing?’, he asked, pointing at his innocent-looking aircraft. ‘Twenty dollars’, stammered the surprised mechanic. ‘Fine, it’s yours’, said the owner as he walked away, tossing him the particulars.

    Really, there is no end to the things we can give to others out of love. There is also no end to the things we can receive, out of love. A woman took her child to see his father from whom they both had been separated for a long time. ‘How much do you want for him?’ asked the father. Now, that is love, the kind Jacob would willingly have elected to demonstrate if he had been privileged.

    Where am I going with this? Not very far, just be patient. You see, valentine is here again, and everyone knows it is the period when love is bought and sold. No? Just take a trip to the stores and when you’re done, take a trip into the heart of every woman around you, and when you’re done there too, then we’ll talk. Right now, the shops are calculating how much profit they can accumulate this season from their outlay of investments into people’s desire to impress other people in their lives. For instance, I know many florists have invested heavily in fields of roses – red, yellow, purple and even blue – for those who will give out roses. No, of course, they do not have Nigerians in mind. They’re not stupid. One Nigerian confessed that his hostess in a foreign land welcomed him into their home with a bunch of flowers which he promptly flung on the floor and forgot all about as he made himself comfortable in their sitting-room, waiting for the food to arrive. I do not need to tell you how the hostess felt.

    Meanwhile, every woman’s heart is permanently prepared to receive a gift, in or out of gift-giving season. I know mine is; so God help those around me, including you my reader, if I do not receive a gift on Valentine’s Day. I assure you that you will be joking with next week’s edition of Postscript Unlimited, which you may be dismayed to find, can suddenly become highly limited. So, be sure that the woman in your life is already counting her chickens. ‘He’d better not give me another pair of earrings again this year. Why will men never learn? Why won’t they just ask us for what we want?’

    Meanwhile, the men, clever things that they are, know exactly what they are doing. They know how not to look for trouble. They know that to ask a woman what she wants as a gift is to ask for trouble. There is nothing like getting her something less with an explanation: ‘I know you said you wanted a private jet for a gift but since I cannot afford one, I thought this Honda Big for Nothing will do. I hope you’ll manage it’. Uhn uhn, it cannot work that way because the reply will be prompt: ‘If you knew you would not be able to afford whatever I ask, why then did you ask me?’ That of course is the beginning of a long conversation that starts with ‘But how could I know that you would soar into the sky with your imagination…?’ Reader, you don’t want to know how that would end, neither would St. Valentine.

    Listen here, people, are we not holding this stick of love by the wrong end? When the poor saint conceived of ways of showing love, it was not for the purpose of bringing it to its knees. What is done today in remembrance of St. Valentine is no more than self-gratification and making the word love common. Those of us who only think of the physical end of the valentine celebration obviously do not know what that day stands for.

    Valentine’s day is the day we should all take a pause and ask ourselves this important question: what are the many splendours of love? The answer will surprise you. It will lead you to discover that the splendours you have been dealing with as a Nigerian have shown only the basest and the most wrong kind of love. For, it is the basest love that leads us to cheat other Nigerians: at our jobs, in our trade, on the road, even in our relationships. It leads us to embezzle right on our jobs; it leads us to proclaim to be very religious, not missing any church or mosque activity, yet denying other people their dues; it fills the world with hatred. This base love carries no reward, only punishment.

    Valentine’s day is for giving our hearts, not necessarily for gratification but for its own sake. That is the kind of divine love the poor saint demonstrated. Doing likewise will help us discover, like Francis Thompson, that love’s many splendours are magnificent, beautiful and endless. We will find its splendours when we give items to those who do not have, give helping hands to those in need and sacrifice our own needs for others. In short, love is many-splendoured when we feed others; hatred is equally many-splendoured when we feed only ourselves. From this valentine, therefore, I have resolved to demonstrate the many splendours of love whenever I can. What about you? Remember, what goes around comes around.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Time to be like Awo

    Time to be like Awo

    Those who speak of the good old days in Nigeria, especially the pre-military regime years sure know what they are talking about.

    Former Governor Omololu Olunloyo of Oyo State must have shocked many participants at the just concluded South-West Expo held in Osogbo, Osun State when he disclosed that he got two scholarships from the Western region government headed by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and in his own words, was granted the indulgence of using the two to study Mathematics and Engineering abroad.

    Using his case illustrate the benefits of regional integration which was the theme of the trade exhibition and seminar organised by Vintage Press Limited, Chief Olunloyo noted that the major source of income for the old western region was Cocoa which was not grown in Ibadan, the region’s capital but in Idanre, Akoko and part of the present Osun State.

    Like other speakers including Former Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun and Senator Abiola Ajimobi also acknowledged, that there are abundant resources in various parts of the South-West which has to be harnessed through coordinated efforts by State governments irrespective of political affiliations now or in the future.

    It is unfortunate that the discovery of oil has made successive governments in the country not to give agriculture the deserved priority which would have earned us additional revenue and reduced our present over- dependence on oil proceeds.

    Rather than being an additional blessing, the discovery of oil has become a curse of a sort with not only the constantly fluctuating price in the international market but uncertainty of how long we would continue to earn enough from its sale.

    One of the things the South-West Expo succeeded in doing is that it served as yet another timely reminder for not only the South West but all regions and the federal government to cooperate on how to develop our agriculture sector and fully maximise the benefits of the resources our nation has been blessed with.

    Instead of engaging in duplication of efforts, there is an urgent need backed by necessary government policies and willingness to identify the competitive advantages of each state and focus on them.

    The South-West States already have the benefit of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) which the Director General of the Director General of the Western Nigeria Integration Commission, Mr Dipo Famakinwa spoke on during the programme.

    As he advised, South-West leaders should leverage on shared historical affiliations of states in the zone, to build synergies and economies of scale, whereby the region and its people will experience enhanced human and social development outcomes across all spheres of existence.

    Famakinwa was right as he stated in his presentation. “The world is looking in the direction of Africa for agriculture and nutrition, and for other commercial possibilities that the fast-urbanising Africa presents. There is a compelling necessity to prepare the Region for global competitiveness. It is a crisis situation and Yorubaland ( and indeed other regions in the country) cannot wait,”.

    We have to stop remembering how well the late Chief Awolowo in developing the western region. Our leaders who claim to be his disciples should do better than he did years ago.

     

  • The delusions of today’s men

    The delusions of today’s men

    I read Dr. Reuben Abati’s article titled ‘The Hypocrisy Of Yesterday’s Men’’ (3rd Feb.2013) which was published in virtually every newspaper in the country with amusement. He sought to ridicule and demean those of us that served President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government and that are not very impressed with the performance of his boss. The fact that we asked President Goodluck Jonathan to account for the 67 billion USD that he squandered from our foreign reserves has clearly upset him. We dared to ask about the money and so we were singled out and targetted for a tongue-lashing and a long lecture from the Presidency. Yet we remain undeterred. This is how weak governments that have nothing to offer and something to hide always behave.

    They come after their perceived enemies with full force and they are petty and oversensitive. This is all the more so when they lack experienced hands and when they do not have anyone with deep insight or wisdom about the art of governance or politics within their ranks. In his response instead of answering our questions, addressing the issues or making any pertinent and sensible points about the numerous allegations against his principal, Abati chose to go on a delusional and self-serving joy ride.

    He simply refused to address any of our numerous concerns but instead indulged vainly in what can only be described as an utterly vulgar and distasteful form of intellectual, spiritual and psychological masturbation by telling us that he and his master were ‘’today’s men’’ who needed no lessons from the ‘’men of yesterday’’. The essay was nothing but the usual smear campaign and a crude attempt to intimidate which has been the hallmark of this Government whenever they are faced with even the mildest form of criticism. I will not dignify most of the insulting and childish submissions that Abati indulged in with a response other than to say that he told a shameless and pernicious lie when he wrote that as Minister of Aviation I ’’shut down Port Harcourt Airport for two years’’ and ‘’allowed grass to grow all over it’’. This is false. It is a classic case of disinformation coming from a man that is obviously suffering from a very low self-esteem.  It is clear that Abati, who is a journalist, has forgotten the most important tenet of his profession which is that ‘’facts are sacred and opinion is cheap’’. Ordinarily one would have ignored his bitter rant but it is important that I set the record straight for the sake of posterity. The facts are as follows.

    Port Harcourt International Airport was closed on Dec.10 2005 after the Sossolisso Air crash in which 100 people were killed. The crash affected the runway of the airport very badly and consequently the then Minister of Aviation, Professor Babalola Borishade closed it. I was redeployed from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to the Ministry of Aviation in November 2006.

    This was 11 months after the Sossolisso crash took place and that Port Harcourt Airport had been closed. It is clear from the foregoing that I was not the one that shut down Port Harcourt Airport. When I took over at Aviation my priority was to carry out all the necessary repairs at Port Harcourt Airport and to open it as quickly as possible. I was saddened to discover that in the previous 11 months before I got there nothing had been done and the contract to repair the runway had not even been awarded. Consequently within a month of my being appointed Minister of Aviation we set to work and awarded the contract to Julius Berger at the cost of 3 billion naira. 50 per cent of the money was paid up front and Julius Berger set to work immediately. The runway was fully completed and the airport in pristine condition before I left office on May 29th 2007 just 6 months after I awarded the contract. However despite this the airport could not be opened before we left because the runway lighting system was still in the process of being installed. The Yar’adua government went ahead and opened the airport a few months after we left office even though the runway lights had still not been installed. The record shows that from the day that I was appointed Minister of Aviation and the time that our mandate ran out 7 months later my staff at the Ministry and Julius Berger worked night and day on the runway project at Port Harcourt International Airport in order to ensure that we finished it in record time. And this we managed to do. It was my project. I sourced the money for it, I paid for it, I forced the contractor to move fast on it and I finished it. The fact that the Yar’adua administration did not complete the lighting system and open the airport for another few months after we left office, even though the runway was ready, is for them to explain and not for me. Even though nothing was done at that airport for 11 months before I got to Aviation, once I was appointed we swung into action immediately.

    I repeat that it was under my watch that work commenced, that it was rebuilt, that it was completed and that it was fully restored and after that the airport was ready to be fully utilised. Given these facts how Abati can peddle the lie that I was the one that not only closed the airport but that I also kept it shut for two years, did nothing there, caused it to remain idle and allowed ‘’grass to grow all over it’’ honestly baffles me. I was Minister of Aviation for only 7 months and not 2 years and within those seven months, from scratch, I did all the work that needed to be done in order to make the airport functional again. I am proud of the fact that we succeeded in meeting our target and completing the job.

    Abati also so asserted that I closed down ‘’other major airports’’ whilst I was Minister of Aviation ‘’for the purposes of renovation’’. Again this is not true. Not one of the four major airports in the country were closed down for renovation works or any other reason whilst I was Minister of Aviation. And neither, to the best of my recollection, did I close or suspend the operations of any of the smaller airports except perhaps for safety reasons. As a matter of fact the opposite was the case. I actually installed and completed the sophisticated Safe Tower Project in three of the four major airports in the country, resurrected and funded the Tracon Radar System which is operational in our country today and which gives us full radar coverage in our airspace, upgraded the facilities in many of the old smaller airports and granted permission for the establishment of new airports in places like Gombe. Quite apart from that we not only stopped the terrible cycle of plane crashes that was prevalent at that time but there was not one aircraft that crashed under my watch and no loss of life from the air under my tenure. I am the only Minister of Aviation in the last 10 years of our country that can boast of that and yet Abati seeks to tarnish my name, stain my record and rubbish my efforts with his lies. All this and far more and Abati accuses me of ‘’running the aviation sector down to a state of near collapse’’. For that I commit him to God’s judgment. It is obvious that he is just being malicious and dishonest. I take strong objection to his specious lies, his brazen falsehood and his distortions of fact. The suggestion that I closed Port Harcourt Airport and neglected it for two years, that I closed other airports for renovations and that I ran the aviation sector down to the ground is what I would refer to as a figment of his malicious, overactive and fertile imagination. It is a  glaring mendacity, a brutal assault on truth and an affront to my sensibilities. I find it utterly reprehensible and repugnant that a man that is entrusted to speak for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can indulge in such petty lies.

    Let me end this contribution by pointing out the fact that being ‘’yesterday’s men’’ does not mean that some of us cannot be ‘’tomorrows men’’ as well. Only God knows what lies ahead for each and everyone of us. So when Abati glibly writes people off as if they will never be in power again it is a sad reflection of his lack of experience and naivety. It is God that determines our tomorrow. It is He that lifts men up, that pulls them down and, sometimes if it be His will, lifts them up again. There are countless examples of that in our history. Finally I have a few questions for President Jonathan and his ’’todays men’’.

    When will they take President Obasanjo’s advice and finally do something concrete about Boko Haram and our security situation? Does the fact that at least 4000 Nigerians have been killed by these terrorists in the last two years under their watch not bother them? How can they sleep well at night with all that innocent blood that has flowed and precious lives cut short whilst they were at the helm of affairs of our nation? More innocent souls have been killed in the last 2 years by terrorists than at any time in the history of Nigeria outside the civil war. How does President Jonathan and his ‘’today’s men’’ feel about winning such a dubious and dishonorable title? Does he still regard Boko Haram as ‘’his siblings’’ who he ‘’cannot hurt’’? Why has the President refused to visit the good people of the north east despite the fact that dozens of people are still being slaughtered there by Boko Haram every day? Moving to the issue of corruption and the economy when will our President and ’’today’s men’’ answer the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron’s question and tell him what they did with the 100 billion USD that they made from oil sales in the last two years? When will they answer Obi Ezekwsile’s question about how they squandered 67 billion USD of our foreign reserves? When will they answer the question that Nasir El Rufai asked sometime back about how they spent over 350 billion naira on security vote in one year alone?

    When will they answer the many questions that Dr. Pat Utomi and many other distinguished and courageous leaders and ’’yesterday’s men’’ have raised about the trillions of naira that have been supposedly spent on oil subsidy payments in the last two years? When will they implement the findings and recommendations of the Nuhu Ribadu report on the thivery that has gone on in the oil sector? When will they cultivate the guts and find the courage to respond to a call for a public debate to defend their abysmal record?

    When will these ‘’today’s men’’ stop being so reckless with our money? Why would our ‘’today’s man’’ FCT Minister budget 5 billion for the ‘’rehabilitatioin of prostitues in the Abuja’’? Why would he budget 7.5 billion naira for a new ‘’FCT city gate’’? Why would he budget 4 billion naira for a house for the First Lady? Why would the Federal Government of ‘’todays men’’ budget 1 billion naira for food in the Villa? Are these the priorities of ‘’today’s men and women’’?  And all this when Nigeria is back in foreign debt to the tune of 9 billion USD and is still borrowing, when local debt has hit almost 50 billion USD, when graduate unemployment has hit 80 per cent, when 40 per cent of Nigerians do not have access to good food and ‘’are hungry’’ and when 70 per cent of Nigerians are living below the poverty line? Is this the vision of ‘’today’s men and women’’? If so may God deliver Nigeria.

     

    •Fani-Kayode is a former

    Minister of Aviation