The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Safety first, reason why Kogi Chief Judge made U-turn on new Deputy Governor

    By Sentry

    Tongues have been wagging since Kogi State Chief Judge, Justice Nadir Ajana, swore in the state’s new deputy governor, Edward David Onoja, on October 21, following the controversial impeachment of the former deputy governor, Elder Simon Achuba.

    The Kogi State House of Assembly had impeached Achuba in spite of the report of the judicial panel constituted by Ajana to probe the allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Achuba declaring him as clean as a hound’s tooth. The Chief Judge was also said to have sworn not to swear in Achuba’s replacement and had rendered himself incommunicado just to avoid the unenviable task.

    It therefore came as a surprise to many that barely 24 hours after the Chief Judge swore not swear in Onoja, he performed the task against all expectations.

    It has come to light, however, that Justice Ajana made the turnaround after intense pressure from within and outside the state, including subtle threats to his life by the powers that be.

    So intense was the pressure that a very senior legal mind outside the state was said to have advised Ajana to “consider your safety first and make yourself available to swear in the new deputy governor.”

    The senior legal mind reportedly told him that in the prevailing circumstances, swearing in Onoja was the wise thing to do, saying he was sure that the matter would eventually go to court and the judiciary would do its job.

  • Rebuilding Imo: Methods, processes and structures

    Mission to rebuild Imo. That was the rather ambitious and expansive catchphrase that paved the path of Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, to the governorship of Imo State as the current elected occupant of Douglas House in Owerri. But then, to rebuild Imo? Was this not just a partisan play on semantics by a power thirsty aspirant seeking to succeed an incumbent, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, who prided himself as the master of construction and dotted the landscape of the state with all manner of projects? From my base in Lagos during Okorocha’s tenure, I was amazed each time I watched on television the various projects of that administration being advertised in impressive technicolor.

    But alas, the litany of laments from the state after Okorocha’s exit and the victory of Ihedioha on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); the perceived wide gulf between the scores of grandiose, prestige projects and the quality of life of the vast majority of Imo indigenes; the ongoing running battle between Okorocha and some members of his family and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the ownership of and alleged fraudulent practices that characterized many of the projects  and the fact that the Ihedioha administration is being actually forced to rebuild from scratch in critical sectors of Imo State indicate that the election slogan was no deceptive sales pitch after all.

    It is instructive, for instance, that governor Ihedioha has had to direct the Imo State Ministry of Works to close down the flyover at Orji in Owerri, one of Okorocha’s flagship projects, because it is perceived as life threatening due to poor construction standards and structural defects. Several other road projects by the immediate past administration are reported to have either deteriorated badly or collapsed outright. The Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) and other professional bodies are currently assisting the Ihedioha administration in assessing the structural quality of projects inherited from the immediate past administration and laying the framework for more enduring construction standards for the future.

    In his address to one of the stakeholders’ fora he has addressed in a bid to run a consultative and all-inclusive administration, Ihedioha pointed out that, under Okorocha, “Contracts were most times awarded orally and without documentation, no paper trail and without the input of relevant government Ministries, Departments and Agencies”. This is not just an Okorocha phenomenon or peculiarity. It is characteristic of most state governors who can be described in an adaptation of the evocative title of  T.M. Aluko’s novel as ‘their worshipful majesties’. State governors are the most powerful political office holders in Nigeria. They are not incommoded by an intrusive legislative arm and sometimes assertive judiciary as the supposedly all powerful President of Nigeria is. Most governors simply have their entire states – legislature, judiciary, local government, civil society groups, civil service – firmly in the secure confines of their dollar laden pockets.

    Of course, Ihedioha has set out with gusto and energy to deliver on his rebuilding Imo credo. His administration has mobilized reputable construction companies to site and rehabilitation and reconstruction work have commenced on 14 critical roads both within the state capital, Owerri, and across the state. The Otamiri Water supply facility, reportedly nonfunctional for over seven years, has been restored and has been meeting the water needs of Owerri and its environs as from 24th July, this year. In Urualla, the administration has flagged off the 9.8 billion Naira Erosion Control Project, handled by Arab Contractors and supervised by the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP). To get the project going, the administration paid up its counterpart funding share of N500 million. Right now, work is ongoing on the reconstruction and modernization of the Government Technical College, Owerri. There can certainly be no space in a column like this to list all the ongoing developmental projects and initiatives of the Ihedioha administration in power supply, agriculture, education and much more. That is not the aim of this piece and the governor’s information management team is already doing a great job in that regard.

    Our concern here is with with the far less tangible but infinitely more important and potentially more enduring aspects of Ihedioha’s rebuild Imo agenda. This has to do not just with brick and mortar projects, embarked upon with demonic gusto by the Okorocha administration, but with values of good governance as reflected in respect for methods, processes and structures of responsible and productive governance. It is important to note, for instance, that even before his state executive council had been constituted, Ihedioha hardly took decisions alone. He always acted in consultation with the body of Permanent Secretaries. This attitude and disposition is rare in a political culture in which the governor is a veritable ‘Kabiyesi’ whose word is law. Indeed, some governors unjustifiably delay the constitution of their cabinets in a purported bid to cut costs when the real motive is to serve as sole administrators for as long as legally and politically permissible.

    Again, the quality of his Cabinet testifies to governor Ihedioha’s determination to rebuild Imo beyond superficialities and rhetorical nothingness. In terms of academic acumen and professional suitability for the portfolios they have been assigned, Ihedioha’s Cabinet members rank among the best in the land along with Lagos and Osun in my view. My pet theory, which I hope to validate through rigorous research in the near future, is that no government hardly ever rises in performance above the quality of its executive council, which is the engine room of governance in a liberal democratic polity. Even the most brilliant and mentally endowed of leaders descends to a significantly lower level of mental performance when his associates in the Cabinet are merely yes men and women who accept his every word as the pronouncement of deity and do not constantly challenge him to interrogate his assumptions and adjust his views to superior arguments.

    Ihedioha has assembled a ministerial team of competent professionals and astute political actors who will most likely be able to offer him sound advice without fear. This in itself is a mark of Ihedioha’s own self confidence and inner security. Too many superficially brilliant state governors without intellectual depth surround themselves with mental Lilliputians among whom they can strut with a counterfeit sense of superiority.

    Beyond this, the inaugural retreat of the Imo State Executive Council, which I closely monitored in the media, was as serious minded, focused, purposeful and qualitative as those organized for commissioners and special advisers in the Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Gboyega Oyetola administrations in Lagos and Osun states. Some of the themes covered during the Imo Exco retreat include regulatory reforms, identifying the most pressing needs of the people, public procurement policies, code of conduct for public officers, roles and responsibilities of government appointees, essentials of compliance with due process, development and provision of standard bidding documents for contracting and procurements, protecting the poor, the weak and the vulnerable and attaining best practices in regulatory governance.

    Read Also: Gov. Ihedioha charges workers on improved service delivery

    There is no doubt that an administration whose frontline appointees are actuated by these good governance-enhanced values, will deliver not just on brick and mortar projects but also with strict adherence to the highest ethncal values. Corruption, even if impossible to eliminate, will be reduced to the barest minimum. Moreover, by setting up a Governance Delivery Unit that will set key performance indicators to measure the productivity of cabinet members, Ihedioha has sent a signal that there will be no room for complacency. Government, for him, is serious minded business. His appointees will be under pressure to give their best.

    Again, Ihedioha is proving to be a governor of methods and not just a one man James Bond solo hero, which most Nigerian state governors appear to be, governing by whim and caprice. He recognizes the civil service as a repository of the highest expertise in every sphere of governance as well as being the institutional memory of the state. Thus, he submits that in his administration, “The Civil Service has taken its pride of place as the engine room for the delivery of government services. Reforms are ongoing to improve service delivery across board, motivate the workforce and right the wrongs inflicted on the psyche of the people by eight years of mismanagement”. Apart from payment of backlog of salaries owed local government workers by the preceding administration, the Ihedioha administration now pays 100 percent salaries to all public sector workers in the state.

    Ihedioha runs a government of methods. At inception, he set up the Transitional Technical Committee (TTC), made up of the brightest, best and most successful of Imo citizens, to advise on harnessing the state’s human and economic resources towards achieving the rebuilding agenda. The committee, which functioned without any financial demands, laid the groundwork for the Imo Growth and Strategic Development Plan (G-SDP), which is a five year economic blueprint bifurcated into two stages. To enhance transparency in the financial management of the state,  the Ihedioha administration has adopted the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system to stem revenue leakage. Again, by mandating the use of the PayDirect platform with a single source of sweeping revenue into the state’s coffers, multiple accounts have been eliminated including all cash tax payments. The result has been a phenomenal rise in the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) of the state.

    Perhaps the most impressive of the Ihedioha administration’s reform initiatives is in the area of pensions administration, which remains a sore point in governance in Nigeria. Nothing can be more cruel and callous than depriving those who have given their best to their country in their prime of the rights and comfort they deserve in retirement. Ihedioha made this a priority. He set in motion a machinery to establish a reliable electronic data base of pensioners. Over a period of 12 weeks, about 800 specially trained youths working with relevant state agencies verified 25,646 pensioners. The affected pensioners have since been paid their pension arrears with the state making savings of about N280 billion from the elimination of ghost workers and fraudulent practices. The governor has set up a unit in the Pensions Board to handle pending issues of Imo state pensioners who are in diaspora or residing elsewhere in the country.

    As someone with considerable legislative experience, it is not surprising that Ihedioha has consistently sought to ground his far reaching governance reforms in the law and the constitution. This implies a respect for the legislative arm of government; an attribute which has been absent in most states in this dispensation since 1999. Thus, since assumption of office, he has proposed to the State House of Assembly and signed into law the Imo State Universal Basic Education (Ammendment) Law No. 30 of 2019; Imo State Public Procurement (Amendment) Law No. 27 of 2019; Imo State Local Administration (Amendment) Law No. 28 of 2019 and the Imo State Electoral (Amendment) Law No. 8 of 2018 (Repeal) Law No. 29 of 2019. The implication is that the far reaching reforms in these critical sectors are predicated on laws by which even the governor is bound .

    In dissolving the Local Governmnent Councils, which he inherited from the past government and constituting  interim management committees for that level of government in the state, governor Ihedioha emphasized that the newly appointed council officials would be in office for only a few months before elections would hold. Even then, he has subordinated the local councils not to his personal autocratic suzerainty as happens in most states, but to the supervising authority of the Sate House of Assembly. In his words to the Council officials, “The House of Assembly as enshrined in our constitution would perform oversight functions over the administration of the Local Governments, I would therefore advise you to cooperate fully with the House of Assembly to ensure that our goal of a democratic governance is attained”.

    Given the dominant practice of our political culture, can governor Ihedioha afford to have a totally autonomous local government system in Imo State open to control even by opposition parties competing in free and fair elections?I doubt it. Were he so minded, his party would oppose it and not unjustifiably too. But he has set an exemplary model by guaranteeing the local governments fiscal autonomy by law and thus empowering them to serve as effective tools of productive grassroots governance. At the end of the day, the positive fall outs in terms of developmental impact will be to the benefit of the governor and his party. It is still morning yet on creation day in Ihedioha’s Imo but the signs of things to come appear quite bright and promising.

  • Politics, road violence and security 

     

    It is no exaggeration to say that many Nigerians cannot boast of being sure of getting to their destinations any time they go out, either to earn their living or even for any  outing. They  will add that they are  not even sure of getting back home in one piece  each  time they  venture out. This  is not only because of the conditions of the roads,  which the Minister in charge has defended  as not being as bad  as being portrayed  by the media.

    The  fear of a journey of no return on a daily basis for Nigerians  stem from the atmosphere on our  roads    as well   as their    dismal  conditions  and again this is not about climate change or the smoke smog that has darkened the skies in far away India. This  is about the violence, the road  rage as well as the pervading anger  and  the vicious   mutual  hostility of Nigerian  road users,  and  the dangerous conditions of the vehicles they  travel in to survive and eke  a living. That  is shown  vividly  in the ways  the tri cyclists  and okada riders turn round in front of  speeding vehicles  as if  challenging the vehicle drivers   to ‘get me if you  can ‘ or ‘  knock  me down  at your peril‘. It  explains why danfo   conductors wave off with dreadful   abuses and  oaths, vehicles  moving  in legitimate   traffic  direction which   the danfos   violate daily with impunity,  often  using uniformed soldiers  and other military  personnel  as fronts for  illegal   passage security.

    Overall,  it is as if there is a perennial  daily   class   war  going on,  on  a daily basis   on  Nigerian  roads. The  combatants  are okada  vs car  users,  danfo  versus tricyclists,  car  owners  versus okada  riders  and small vehicle owners  vs jeep  and big saloon  cars owners.  The  okada riders now dominate our main cities and they drive against the traffic,   block  road  junctions and descend in a  pack  to assault any motorist  that is involved  in any accident with them . It is not as if I  am  singling out the okada riders but  I want to show that both they and their customers view other three –  wheel or four   wheel  vehicles and their owners,   as enemies out to run both the okada rider and his customer out of the road and   they  are  ready to abuse and be violent  in protecting what they  perceive as their right of  way,  if not  existence. To  me this is a dangerous  development that  has created a vicious  daily  class  war on our roads   and   that needs to  be nipped in the bud quite urgently.

    Let  me state clearly  that the okada rider and tricyclist  have every  right to  earn their living on our roads  and highways but they  do not have to endanger the safety and rights of other road  users and it costs them  nothing to be polite and ask  politely for passage from other vehicles,  instead of taking the law into their hands by violating traffic rules at break neck speed .  What  I am  after today  is that while the politicians and party leaders are  putting heads together to tackle the prevailing and sickening kidnap  of judges in the  nation there is  a daily  danger  that Nigerians  are facing  in terms of the violence and rampant abuse and misuse  of our traffic  rules, by  those in the lower  ranks of society who  probably  are doing this to register their anger with the social inequalities and the huge  economic gap  between the rich and the poor in our  nation.

    In  the TV Documentary National Geographic,  wild  dogs  hunt  in packs and can  bring down large animals in a game  of  numbers.

    That  however is in the jungle. Today  however I am  talking  about the fear of  Nigerians  that  our roads  are  looking more  like  the jungle  because those earning their living on them  and through  them,  are not obeying the rules of engagement and passage and they  are  endangering the security of  life  property and safe passage of  Nigerians  travelling to work  to earn  a   living. If  innocent  Nigerians are afraid to go out to  earn a living on our roads  they may  decide to form militia or  cartels to protect  themselves and have right of passage to their destinations.  But   such  formations  on protection  is the legitimate  work of the police and army . It  is my advice that it is  urgent  for politicians especially at the local government  level  to come together  to put sanity on our roads and enable people  to  have confidence that  they will go out to work and return  alive.

    On  the condition of our roads it  is not surprising that  the Minister of Works  and  former Lagos  State  Governor  Raji  Fashola,  has  said  the situation  is  not as bad as people feel. He  should   however  not be  taken out of context or  vilified  for  saying that. All  he is saying is that    a lot  has been  done under his watch  and one cannot  blame him  for  that. The fact however is that armed  robberies   take place mostly at areas  where the traffic  is slow because  of bad roads  and construction work. Even  in Lagos  this week  those going home were  attacked by thieves and hoodlums on their way  home at night  because  of such developments.  Government  should provide  armed  security  at road  works and road maintenance posts at  night so  that  people can feel  confident  going home from  work.

    This  issue  is one that I think  the two  major political parties should  bury  their  hatchets    on  and join forces to attack  and defeat. This is because if  the people who are the electorate cannot travel  on the roads to earn their  living   then  their  confidence  in the political system  will  be sorely   tried  if  not  eroded altogether. That  can lead to voter apathy  or  mistrust   and that  is not good for  democracy.  Good  politicians should  not ignore their environment of which  the roads are  an integral  part for economic and personal survival of those who  put them  in power. Even  in the very rich US  and Britain politicians  join forces to pass   bills on infrastructure   that will  alleviate the sufferings of their electorate  and improve their quality  of   life . In  the US  the Democrats buried  the hatchet  and forgot their  hatred of  Donald  Trump  to pass  his huge infrastructure  bill   on  safe American roads  bridges and highways. In  Britain and with the hullaballoo of Brexit, the Conservatives have promised to   ignore their notorious austerity of the past,  to spend immensely  more on the  roads  and highways  in Britain and the NHS, to  woo  the electorate, post  Brexit  and   surely  the December 12 election will show if the British  electorate  has  forgiven or  is   believing them. Here  in Nigeria it  is not   too  late  to make our roads  safe for all  Nigerians to earn  a living without  the fear that their  lives can  be snuffed out on our roads  through  no fault  of theirs  on a daily  basis.  A stitch in time   surely saves nine. Once  again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Job slots brouhaha: Senate leaders move to appease aggrieved members

    By Sentry

    The dust recently raised by the sharing formula of the job slots allegedly allocated to the Senate by the board of Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) appears to have settled temporarily with a promise that aggrieved senators will be compensated with impending slots from other federal government agencies.

    A dependable source at the upper chamber of the National Assembly informed SENTRY that new job slots meant for the Senate would soon arrive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with assurance by the Senate leadership that aggrieved members will be “settled”.

    Read Also: What Buhari told Melaye after budget presentation in Abuja

    The source, who described the sharing of job slots among senators as a tradition, however, said the aggrieved senators have insisted the sharing formula for the job slots must be made clear unlike what happened in the lopsided sharing of those of the FIRS.

    The source added that only 40 job slots were given to the Senate by FIRS, contrary to the 100 that was earlier reported. The Senate President Alhaji Ahmad Lawan, it was learnt, got 23 of the slots contrary to the 26 reported; the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, got three, while the remaining slots were shared among the principal officers. With more slots to follow, those who were unhappy that they were sidelined during the last job bonanza are patiently waiting.

  • Operation Positive Identification, a window into military (Army) rule

    By UnderTow

    It is a sign of the indifference of the executive branch to democracy and weakness of the legislative arm that the Nigerian Army has proposed a scheme to disrupt life and living in the country, and continue to insist they would go ahead with their plans regardless of the misgivings and criticisms of the civil populace. Not a word has come from the presidency, and little has come from the civil society to justify or deprecate the scheme, not to say reassure Nigerians that the country is not indirectly being subjected to the most virulent and unprecedented form of military rule, the kind never even experienced under the most draconian military regime. The scheme, which would start on November 1, 2019 and tentatively end on December 23, 2019, is, according to the Nigerian Army, designed to fish out fleeing Boko Haram members, bandits and other terrorists who are extending their operations all over the country.

    Operation Positive Identification, the operational name given the scheme by the army, will involve soldiers carrying out raids, searches, and arrests with a view to ascertaining the identities of suspects. For soldiers against whom there are tonnes of complaints and petitions for violation of the rights of individuals, the army insists they would respect their rules of engagement and cooperate with sister agencies to carry out the tasks they have set themselves. But the army has been careful so far not to give the impression that it is a service-wide operation, or that it is a military operation requiring the engagement of the service chiefs, or needing the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff to sell the scheme to the civil populace.

    The army has ignored the general dismay and has gone ahead to conceive and execute their disruptive plan. Until proven otherwise, there is, so far, nothing to indicate that such a sweeping operation was ever brought before the federal executive council. At least, there was no specific briefing to that effect by any minister — Internal Affairs or Information ministries — nominated to explain the operation’s rationale. There was also no indication that it is a general military operation to which the Chief of Defence Staff or the Minister of Defence would speak. Indeed, even the army itself did not attempt to have consultations with the civil populace both to explain the scheme and elicit their cooperation. Indeed, they could not, for there is no mechanism to enable them interact with governors to elicit their approval.

    Undoubtedly, therefore, Operation Positive Identification is a needless, provocative and disruptive scheme solely conceived and executed by an arm of the military, not the presidency, not the police, not the military as a whole, not the legislature, or any other group constitutionally relevant to the conception, execution and success of such a scheme. Femi Falana, the activist lawyer, and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) have railed against the scheme and minced no words, describing it as an apartheid scheme that reintroduces the infamous and highly deprecated Pass Laws of White rule in South Africa. Mr Falana goes on to describe the scheme as dictatorial and reprehensible. The presidency has looked the other way, partly because they are also fundamentally military in mind and outlook.

    Read Also: Why operation show your ID must go on, by military

    Shockingly, only the House of Representatives has made a feeble attempt to question the army’s opprobrious plan. They invited the army to explain why the scheme should not be halted, even as they also asked an indifferent Muhammadu Buhari to halt the army’s violation and disruption of civil life. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, sent a representative who explained the scheme by adopting scaremongering tactics, arguing that fleeing insurgents from the Northeast and other itinerant terrorists were beginning to spread their tentacles to the rest of the country. The House of Representatives was not fully persuaded; instead they whined. The parliament is the most powerful symbol of democracy, but in this and other matters, it has been pusillanimous. But it is clear that the defence of democracy will henceforth rest with the civil populace, not weak-kneed lawmakers, not a diffident judiciary, and certainly not a conniving and authoritarian executive arm.

    Consider the arguments of the army. According to the representative the Chief of Army Staff deigned to send to the parliament to answer their questions, Maj.-Gen. U.S Mohammed, the scheme is inevitable. Hear him: “What is happening is that the military has been involved in Operation Lafiya Dole in the Northeast. Within the major operation, we have subsidiary operations and one of them is this Operation Positive Identification. It came about as a result of positive information about the activities of Boko Haram in the Northeast the fact that they are making inroads to other parts of the country. From our intelligence, they are spreading from their traditional stronghold. Based on that, this idea came up to embark on our cordon and search operations. We will make some arrest and do some identification. The operation started on the 22nd of September, 2019…We felt that as these exercises are going on, we should carry out the Operation Positive Identification to areas where we are going to carry out these exercises. It is nothing new.”

    The army general said the operation was not new. It is actually new except in the Northeast. He argued that because the insurgents were spreading out from their traditional stronghold, the idea came up to embark on operation cordon and search. With whom did the army meet minds over the idea? Did they discuss it at the defence chiefs level? Did the Defence ministry lead the discussions, let alone find the resolve to sell it to the cabinet and the rest of the country? The general also spoke of the army ‘feeling’ like spreading the exercise to other parts of the country, perhaps because they achieved some unstated successes from executing it in the Northeast. Has the country become so dysfunctional that ideas and schemes that would have national impact would not first be subjected to intensive public, cabinet and legislative debates before they were implemented? Just what kind of democracy is Nigeria running; if indeed it is a democracy?

    But that is not all. Said Gen Mohammed: “Operation Positive Identification is intelligence-led activity. Based on credible information, we go to certain areas, make an arrest and profile those arrested by identifying them and through that, we may be able to identify some Boko Haram members and other criminals. There will be no additional checkpoints because it is all intelligence-led. The fact that we are extending it to other parts of the country does not mean there are changes. It is strictly based on credible information and intelligence. We are going to observe our usual rules of engagement and code of conduct for troops during internal security arrangements. Some of these things are being done in conjunction with other sister security agencies which is assisting us in the operation…”

    Not only is it damnably wrong for them to carry out such operations on their own; if indeed it is an intelligence-led operation they would not need to go public until suspects are intercepted. Democracy is now considerably undermined in the name of internal security. The army obviously independently organises internal security operations at will, bypasses the national legislature, including the Intelligence Committee, and whimsically determines their scope and magnitude. Nigeria is surely not the first country to run a presidential system. Can it not take a cue from other countries whose internal security has also been threatened at one time or the other? Operation Positive Identification is a retrogression that did not begin today. In one small form or the other, engaging soldiers in purely civilian and police affairs began with the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency, and was taken a notch higher by the Goodluck Jonathan government when soldiers erected checkpoints and seized newspapers they deemed hostile. Now the abuse is escalating to the point of actually threatening democracy full-scale.

    As if to sell the unsellable scheme, Gen Mohammed even attempted to patronise the public. Said he: “As I said, we are undertaking three major exercises beginning from 1st of November to 23rd of December. We’re going to conduct raids within those areas. It is essentially aimed at ensuring that some of those security challenges are curtailed to the barest minimum as we approach the yuletide. I want to assure the House and law-abiding Nigerians to go about their lawful duties. It is not going to involve additional troops on the road. Anywhere we get credible information about the gathering of these bad guys, we conduct raids or cordon and search and if in the process, we make an arrest, you will be asked to identify yourself. The major focus is because of the Boko haram and terrorist groups and criminals from the Northeast and Northwest. We have information that they are trickling down to other parts of the country. During the operations, if individuals are arrested, they will be asked to identify themselves and to know who they are. But we are not going to base it on any particular means of identification. We are just trying to ensure that we apprehend some of these criminals who may have escaped from the Northeast.”

    There is nothing the army can say to attenuate the obnoxious impact of a scheme that has neither been reasoned out by its officers — not even the military high command — nor put through the legislative and bureaucratic mills. The scheme is militaristic, wrong, unacceptable, disruptive and it endangers democracy. The army in particular has formed the habit of independently conceiving ideas and schemes for the civil populace and the nation at large, rushing them half-baked into execution, while troops, as international and local rights groups have attested, inflict extrajudicial punishments on civilians. It is up to the civil populace to defend their hard-earned democracy and ensure that the army and the military in general are confined to their constitutional duties. If troops would carry out any operations, it must be sold to the public by the relevant civil authorities. Operation Positive Identification disgraces the country and is an indication that democracy in Nigeria is tottering on the brink of disaster.

  • Traffic policemen reap from bad roads in Lagos

    By Sentry

    Between road users in Lagos and the policemen deployed to manage the traffic situation in the city, it is different strokes for different folks. While commuters are lamenting the bad conditions of the roads, the policemen are laughing all the way to the bank as they reap heavily from the situation.

    Read Also: N140m official car lands federal agency’s MD in trouble

    Determined to make the most of the chaotic traffic situation, the errant policemen have hit on the idea of hiding in a corner to watch out for drivers that would veer into the lane of oncoming vehicles in a non-demarcated access road in Ilupeju area of the city.

    They demand sums ranging between N20,000 and N40,000 after threatening to drag their victim to the mobile court where they will be made to cough out N70,000 as fine.

  • Nurseries for Nigeria soccer

    SOCCER crazy countries in Brazil for the FIFA U-17 World Cup are not there essentially to lift the trophy. They are there with the products from a structured plan to spot talents early. No kamikaze approach. Players being paraded by these countries are from renowned academies whose duty is to discover, nurture and expose kids from around them to play in such big stages. These nations’ nationals don’t have to ask their neighbours who the players are during games.

    Academies which are nurseries for warehousing the game have been standardised to protect the sector and backed by law for effectiveness. It is at this level that countries’ playing patterns evolve depending on what the coaches feel could bring the best from their nationals.  Standards are set for owning such academies including their curriculum to shut out quackery. These academies are registered by the country’s FA with the right synergy struck where players’ movement in and out of the country are documented.

    The serious-minded soccer nations expose players from academies who also have the template to monitor those who did well and have juicy packages in big clubs in Europe, Americas and the Diaspora. These academies ensure that the players’ career path are cut to fit their ambitions. Those of them eager to combine playing soccer with going to school are enrolled to be educated. They also have drawn up training schedules to suit their schools’ curriculum, knowing the importance of education when their career as soccer players is over. Nothing happens in such countries like an accident.

    Viewers of the game on television shouldn’t be surprised if commentators say some of the boys in Brazil are products  of big European clubs. In such climes, it is like second nature for big teams to have youth teams from ages six to 20, who are grilled throughout the season like their senior sides. Aside, grooming them, these clubs register them for the age-grade competitions in their countries. It isn’t a case of using them as training materials.

    The beauty about this system is that it also provides the platform for coaches to be trained and retrained on how to handle kids until adulthood. In fact, many of these coaches end up specialising in training young ones. They won’t be persuaded to handle clubs since they enjoy doing the job. it is, therefore, easy for these countries to name age-grade teams’ coaches, not  guess work or sentiments but by their achievements in the local competitions in such countries. This academy system ensures that players’ data are accurate. They are stored and used in subsequent editions as the players grow.

    Not so for Nigeria. We have kids selected from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. It is laughable that kids were drawn from an open camp, hastily done for this competition. The coaches who taught them the game in the hinterlands have been left in the lurch. If we had competitions and clinics for the youth, we won’t embark on the archaic system of going to the grassroots to bounce the ball on playgrounds and get kids to scramble to spaces in the national team. No prize for guessing that many of those discovered have been dropped for those who didn’t go through the tedious process.

    This flaw predates this current federation which has tried to change the narrative with several youth football programmes anchored on support from the corporate world, especially the banks. We are being told that close to five players of one of NFF’s youth programmes are in the current Golden Eaglets in Brazil. This isn’t the point. the difference is that most of the serious countries have theirs from different academies or programmes, yet they play the same system. Hence the cohesion when they play.

    The first thing one noticed from the Nigerian side is the deliberate attempt to field truly young boys. A few of them are Grade 5 class in terms of the MRI records, but good enough to play the competition since they will be under 17 years during the competition. Nigeria has five of such cases, including the hat-trick scorer Ibrahim Said, who also scored a goal in Nigeria’s 4-2 come back victory over Hungary in the opening game.

    This set of Eaglets have not been fantastic. We have not seen any outstanding player in the class of Victor Igbinoba, Phillip Osondu, Nwankwo Kanu, Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho et al in the Eaglets days. What this squad has shown is resilience and power to overcome the two countries so far, with many purists saying that the Hungarians and Ecuadorians tired out hence the comeback wins. Who cares? Is football no longer a 90 minutes  game? Matches end only after the referee’s final whistle?

    Pundits cannot understand why Coach Garba Manu instructed the boys to play high balls instead of playing a closely knitted passing game. Manu’s boys resort to keeping possession of the ball and make clever penetrating runs when they trailed in the two matches. this system won’t take them to the Promised Land, especially as other countries are watching their matches and taking down notes which they will use against the Eaglets at the appropriate time.

    Pundits are aghast that Manu could adopt a three-man defensive model when the boys have shown tremendous speed on-and-off the ball.  A three-man defensive structure is alien to the kids culminating in the cheeky goals we have conceded. Manu should play a flat back four which encourages man-marking when we lose the ball. The left-back loses concentration while he drifts too far up front making it almost impossible for him to track back when we lose possession of  the ball.

    Playing the high balls into the opposition’s defence renders the midfielders otiose which isn’t the right approach.

    Happily, Manu told FIFA.com on Wednesday that: “I am not happy with the errors in the (team’s) defence. And I hope to make the defence more formidable in the next game against Australia.” Good talk, dear Manu. Marking in a game starts as soon as you lose the ball. High balls alienates the midfielders and reduces their job to chasing the ball instead of running into space to collect the passes and continue the attacking onslaught

    So far, at the ongoing U-17 World Cup, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria have a perfect record. But how impressive is the Manu Garba side? They are full of energy and aggressive in their approach. They have the stamina to last 90 minutes with high intensity play. The Coach even deployed a 3-4-3 formation against Ecuador and they won 4-2 to qualify for the second round of the competition.

    The above shows efforts made by the Coaches to develop a new football philosophy but the truth must be told. This Golden Eaglets side are not showing finesse in their play. The boys depend too much on their physicality to overpower opponents and rush their play too often which is largely responsible for so many loose passes. Technically, they are lacking in many areas but it is understandable because they are U-17’s.

    Despite beating Honduras and Ecuador, the Golden Eaglets’ approach play was disjointed as they depend on individual brilliance. Watching the teams we defeated, you will know that they have a system of play which flows across every level of their football. The U-17’s and U-20’s can’t adopt a different pattern of play to the senior team. The system is created to suit all levels. So, when a player graduates into the senior national team from the age grade teams it won’t be a strange environment for hm.

    The beauty about the new NFF leadership is the insistence that only eligible players will participate in age grade soccer for the country. So, when the controversy arose over Said, NFF’s First Vice chairman Barrister Seyi took to FUBS’ Whatsapp platform to shed light on what transpired.

    According to Akinwunmi: ”Ibrahim Said took the first MRI test and was on Grade 5 (the highest acceptable grade) so was dropped by the coaches because they were careful not to pick too many players on  Grade 5. They already had 4 players on Grade 5,Tijani, Shedrack, David and Abayomi. Ibrahim Said never repeated the MRI as a result of the allegations as was insinuated.

    He was dropped from the team to Tanzania but returned when the squad resumed for the World Cup preparation, worked very hard and was deemed good enough. At the MRI test before the World Cup he maintained the Grade 5 and was therefore taken to the tournament.

    ”On giving and taking credit, it is strange that it is coming only after the young man scored a hat-trick last night. I wonder though what happens if you break into someone’s house with a view to retrieving an art work on the basis of you accusing him of being a copyright in finger, but upon enquiry you are proved to have wrongly accused him.

    Furthermore if in the course of that entire incident a thorough review is done and it is discovered that other works found in his house which were presumed pirated were indeed not pirated works and one of those works becomes a best seller, do you take credit after the break in and wrong accusation? I think not.

    ”I do not know what credit falls but what i do know is that no fraud was established and it is unfair for anyone to come to this forum to call out people as fraudulent and then say he will bring evidence later. I head the NFF youth development committee and can categorically say that i have never been involved in covertly aiding the exclusion or inclusion of any child into the U17 National team nor am i aware of such act by any of my colleagues on the board or by any of the Technical staff in the office. If anyone has any evidence he should feel free to bring them forth, but loose and potentially libellous accusations and name calling should not be for a forum such as this, ”Akinwunmi wrote.

    Good talk Akinwunmi. Up Nigeria! Up Golden Eaglets!

     

  • Priests and politics

    By Segun Ayobolu

    To the vast majority of members of his Latter Rain Assembly and a number of members of his captive audience outside his church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, is perhaps the John the Baptist of our time. Like the ascetic frontrunner who through his powerful, fiery and uncompromising messages calling the people to repentance from sin in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, Pastor Bakare does not flinch from boldly speaking what he believes as truth to power. This has won him considerable admiration both within his church and beyond. However, in recent times the pastor comes across more like a modern day John the Baptist whose sermons, rather than tailored to the salvation of souls and preparing adherents of his church for the second coming of the Messiah, is to prepare the route for the emergence of Pastor Bakare as President Tunde Bakare, the envisaged elected political Messiah of Nigeria.

    Preaching the word of God from the pulpit as an oracle of God is one of the greatest responsibilities that any cleric can be called upon to shoulder. It is a privilege and an opportunity that calls for considerable restraint and a great sense of responsibility by anybody that has been given the divine mandate to speak for God among men. It is so easy to embarrass God when the focus of the priest is more on partisan politics than on preaching the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. Shortly after he emerged as President-elect in 1999, for instance, Pastor Bakare prophesied with pastoral authority and finality that General Obasanjo would not be sworn in as President. There was panic in the land. Would there be a coup? Would the president elect die before the swearing in date?

    That would have been a tragedy of gargantuan proportions for a country just coming out of the throes of the June 12 struggles. But nothing of the sort happened. Not only was Obasanjo sworn in as President, he spent eight years in office. This must have been thoroughly embarrassing not only to the God in whose name Pastor Bakare prophesies but to the eloquent man of God himself. During the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence from the country due to illness, Pastor Bakare was at the forefront of the Save Nigeria Group, which ran aggressive campaigns, including public demonstrations to ensure that the needful was done and then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan declared Acting President. Not a few people commended the role of Pastor Bakare in that struggle.

    After severally excoriating President Muhammadu Buhari even once describing him derisively as ‘the long one’ obviously referring to Buhari’s slim and tall frame, Bakare agreed to be Buhari’s running mate on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) for the 2011 presidential election. Of course, the catastrophic outcome of that adventure is too well known to detain us here. Once more, Pastor Bakare has declared with magisterial finality, again from the pulpit, that he has been ordained to be the country’s president after Buhari. Is this again a revelation from God after the Obasanjo prophesy debacle saga? Is it not possible that an undue familiarity with God, consciously or unconsciously, can cause a man of God to cavalierly make proclamations in the name of God that has no bearing with the mind of the Lord?

    Shortly after making public God’s revelation to him that he is destined to be President after Buhari, Bakare decided to unleash a vitriolic attack on a National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, again from the assumed moral high ground of his pulpit. Although he did not mention Tinubu by name, his innuendo was clear. Let me quote an excerpt from Bakare’s ‘sermon’ in question: “The foolish person would no longer be called generous. You can say ‘so so and so’ has stolen all the money in the state, but he is a very generous man, you are foolish. That’s why potholes are killing you…you can’t drive now anymore because what is meant for road use has been stolen since democracy began, they are living larger than life having jets here, having jets there, having house in Bourdillon, having house in this place, having house in that place, having house in every place at the expense of the public. And you will not go without vomiting what you have stolen. Wait and see. Because a king will rein in righteousness and princes will rule in justice. Unfortunately, Nigerian people, you celebrate your villains and crucify your heroes”.

    What can one make of this litany of mischievous innuendoes, manipulative suggestions and baseless insinuations? Must the pulpit of God, presumably sacred and holy, become the spiritual equivalent of social media gossip and bold faced mudslinging? Does this not diminish God and his church? Pastor Bakare is a lawyer and a brilliant man. Can he not carry out his investigations and forward a petition to the anti-corruption agencies if anyone had amassed wealth and he has credible evidence? Is it a crime to be wealthy or to own houses and jets if one can afford it? If assets have been amassed in a criminal manner, this must be investigated and whoever is found guilty made to face the sanctions of the law. Pastor Bakare’s pulpit cannot be an alternative to the courts of law. He cannot utilize his pulpit as a platform that grants him immunity to impugn the characters of others with impunity and without proof. He is a lawyer. He knows this better than this columnist. To paraphrase one of the memorable phrases of the great Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, one of Nigeria’s finest journalists, a pastoral toga should be no magna carta for mandibular wakaabout.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose administration did everything to frustrate the progress of Lagos under Tinubu as governor between 1999 and 2007, had vowed that Tinubu was going to jail immediately after he left office and thus lost his immunity. Chieftains of the PDP in Lagos echoed the same vengeful view. I can recall that, shortly after he left office, Tinubu was invited to interact with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on issues arising during his eight years in office. If my memory serves me right, he was grilled by officers of the EFCC in Abuja from morning till night for not less than four days. The PDP was still in power at the centre. They would have been all too glad to skewer Tinubu if they had found anything incriminating against him.

    Oh yes, by all means let Pastor Bakare continue his crusades for a better, more just and equitable Nigeria from his pulpit. It is a commendable, patriotic and courageous enterprise. But this cannot be a substitute for his infinitely far more critical assignment of preaching Christ’s message of salvation to a spiritually starving and dying world. Even more importantly, since Bakare has announced that he has been ordained by God to be Buhari’s successor, he should honorably quit the pulpit and plunge fully into politics so that his pronouncements from the pulpit will not be perceived as being motivated by his political ambition rather than the spirit of God. Surely, it cannot be that God wants to unilaterally pronounce him as President in 2023 without campaigns, without political parties, without sweat. But then, let us wait and see.

    Only recently someone sent me a clip of a sermon by Reverend Father George Ehusani of the Catholic Church on WhatsApp. It is, for me, a masterly example of a blend of the spiritual with sound and detached social and political analysis. In his words, “One of the things we really lack in this society is what I call critical social analysis. We don’t do good social analysis. And we really need training in social analysis exactly what those guys did in South Africa because they don’t do critical social analysis. But what they lack, we also lack because when we are suffering the cumulative effects of a small class of people that have destroyed this country, what do we do, we look at the other tribe as responsible. We look at people of the other religion as responsible, true or false? No social analysis. And all leaders of thought should constantly call their people together and let them know, teach them those who have put us in this mess. Those who have put us in this mess, they come from north and south and East and West and Igbo and Hausa and Yoruba and Tiv and Jukun all over”.

    Reverend Ehusani continued: “Recently a list was released of those who owe the government over 5 trillion Naira, AMCON. Right, some of you saw it. Where do they come from? From north and south and east and west. N5.3 trillion, that is the equivalent to one year’s budget of Nigeria and how many of them? About 20 Nigerians. Tomorrow, you will come and tell me that it is one part of the country that has put us here. We really need serious social analysis. Why are we where we are? We are all oppressed in this country”.

    I feel like quoting this most illuminating sermon by Reverend Ehusani in full but for lack of space. That is a very responsible way of utilizing the pulpit to educate the people politically and enable them to know the underlying character of society beyond superficialities. No name-calling. No self-righteous posturing. A sermon elevated above political partisanship even though profoundly political. That is the way priests should go when pontificating on politics from their exalted pulpits.

     

  • How Tinubu stole show at ABUA convocation

    THE seventh convocation ceremony of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUA) on October 21 has come and gone. The high point of the occasion, no doubt, was the conferment of honorary doctoral degrees on All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and Professor Anthony Olusegun Adegbulugbe.

    However, the untold story of the event was the home truth Asiwaju Tinubu told his host, Chief Afe Babalola, Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and other dignitaries in respect of the plan to build an airport in Ado-Ekiti; a plan that the state has been working on for years leading to the inauguration of an eight-man committee to oversee its construction.

    With the project failing to materialise under the administration of former Governor Ayodele Fayose, Governor Fayemi has sought to continue the push, allegedly on the promptings of Chief Afe Babalola, who feels a need for the airport because of his university, while successive governors have not been able to say no to it because of the enormous respect they have for the influential lawyer.

    But speaking at the convocation ceremony on Monday, Tinubu told the audience that there is clearly no need for an airport in Ado-Ekiti, and building one in the city would amount to a waste of the state’s scarce resources. A functional airport in Akure, the capital of neighbouring Ondo State, he said, will fulfill the transportation needs of  residents of Ekiti state  as well as visitors to the state

    Tinubu added that what Fayemi and well-meaning Ekiti indigenes should do is to push for the fixing of the Akure-Ado-Ekiti Road because an airport in Akure will effectively serve both states.

    Not a few people were dumbfounded by the APC chieftain’s forthrightness in the presence of Chief Babalola, Governor Fayemi and even Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, whose predecessor, Rauf Aregbeshola, mooted the idea of the state building an airport, not minding its parlous financial situation.

  • Sanwo-Olu pointing to fix Lagos

    THE social media may be the bastion of fake news and all manner of materials that purists and well-meaning citizens would consider unhealthy for societal growth and development, but as a potpourri of the good, the bad and the ugly, it can also be a veritable source of entertainment, an oasis of smile in the desert of sadness that grips the modern world on a daily basis.

    From time to time, the social media take on public figures and celebrities, rechristening them on the basis of their manners and mannerisms, comportment and deportment. That was the case with the Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, shortly after he assumed the leadership of the state about three years ago. On the basis of his promise to ensure that residents of the state wake up to see new projects every day, the social media labeled him “the Wake and See Governor.”

    Only recently, the social media entertained the world with news of President Muhammadu Buhari’s imaginary wedding with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadia Umar Farouq.

    The latest butt of the bug is the Lagos State Governor, Babjide Sanwo-Olu, who on the basis of his penchant for gesticulating while speaking was labeled “the Pointing Governor.” And for effect, several pictures of Sanwo-Olu pointing in different directions surfaced on the social media.

    But rather than take offence, the Governor has taken the label in his stride. And his smart media minders have turned the act of pointing into a symbol of his administrative competence, saying that the governor does not point for the sake of it but does so only when he sees a problem that needs to be fixed. Many, indeed, are the problems calling for the attention of “the point and fix” Governor.