The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • But why Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila?

    On what basis did President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) arrive at the decision to adopt Senator Ahmed Lawan and Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila for the positions of Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives, respectively, in the 9th National Assembly? Is this not a necessarily arbitrary decision since any number of reasons can be given to justify whatever zoning formula opted for by the party? Would it indeed not have been preferable for the party simply to have zoned the offices and allowed intra-party dynamics on the floor of the respective chambers to determine which legislators for these and other offices emerge?

    Of course, the danger here would be that if a party cannot summon the will and discipline to enforce its right to determine which of its legislators occupy what offices in the National Assembly, what is the guarantee that things would not get out of hand on the floor during the legislative election especially when you have a minority opposition party ever so eager to turn the tables on the majority party and grab key legislative offices in collusion with unprincipled members of the dominant party?

    There is a school of thought, which contends that the business of electing the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly is entirely that of the legislators voting on the floor with no extraneous interference.  Section 50(1) of the 1999 constitution is cited to support this position. It states that “There shall be (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves”. From this perspective, there is absolutely no place for political parties in the election of the legislative leadership.

    But then, did the legislators emerge from outer space to contest for the positions they occupy in the National Assembly? Would that not be tantamount to something standing on nothing? Let us consider Section 65 of the 1999 constitution, which states the qualifications for membership of the National Assembly and right of attendance. Subsection 2(b) of this section states that “A person shall be qualified for election under subsection (1) of this section if (b) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party”.

    This is reinforced by Section 68(1) subsection b of the constitution, which states that “A member of the Senate or House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which he was elected: Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not a result as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored”.

    There is thus an inextricable link between the legislator and his political party. If so, it is impossible for a serious political party with a majority of members in the legislature to be indifferent as regards those who emerge as the leaders in the law making chambers. Political parties sponsor candidates for elective office both in the executive and legislative arms of government to implement specific party programmes and manifestoes that constitute its social contract with the electorate.

    The principle of separation of powers among the three arms of government is designed to ensure that they check and balance each other in order to enhance accountable, transparent and responsible government. However, this is not expected to be to the detriment of cooperative and harmonious relationship between the executive and legislature in order to ensure the achievement as much as possible of the policies and programmes of the party in power at any level of government.

    It is obviously due to the experience of the APC in the last four years, during which smooth implementation of the party’s programme was partly impeded by an adversarial legislative leadership, that the party is determined this time around to ensure that the opposition does not determine those who occupy key legislative offices as happened in 2015. Thus, right from President Muhammadu Buhari through the various leadership structures and organs of the party, all hands appear to be on deck towards the emergence of legislative leaders of the party’s choice particularly the offices of Senate President and Speaker.

    Let us then go back to our initial question: Was the adoption of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila for these prime legislative positions not essentially arbitrary and thus falling short of expected democratic standards? If the principle of zoning had been the criterion for settling for the two, I would have answered this question in the affirmative. And I think it is unfortunate that the misleading impression has been widely created that Lawan and Gbajabiamila’s choices for these positions is because the offices have been zoned to the North-East and South-West respectively.

    This is why the APC Vice Chairman for the North Central zone, Ahmed Suleiman Wambi, sounded a refreshingly different note in explaining the rationale for his zone’s support for the party leadership’s choice of Lawan and Gbajabiamila. In his words: “We have not given Ahmad Lawan the position of Senate President because he is from North East or Gbajabiamila Speaker because he is from the South West but based on their contribution and loyalty to the party…We are not saying that there is nobody in the North Central that is qualified. No. But there are certain considerations. We fought for the zone to get Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives and also Majority Leader in the Senate”.

    In principle, all legislators are equal and none is more equal than others. All legislators are thus entitled to contest for legislative leadership positions. To simplify matters, it has become the tradition in legislative assemblies across diverse polities to grant ranking legislators priority in contesting key positions based on wealth of experience and proven quality of representation. This ensures that these positions can be filled without other qualified legislators feeling a sense of injustice or alienation. In this regard as Majority Leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively Lawan and Gbajabiamila are the two most senior and highest ranking APC legislators in both chambers.

    Of course, it is not for nothing that Lawan and Gbajabiamila occupy these prestigious offices. A doctorate degree holder in remote sensing and distinguished educationist, Lawan has rich legislative experience having been elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and serving at various times as Chairman of the House Committees on education and culture. Elected to the Senate in 2007 still on the platform of the ANPP, Lawan was a member of the Senate Committee on constitution review in 2008 and became Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee in 2009. He was re-elected to the Senate again on the platform of the ANPP in 2011 and emerged as majority leader in 2017 after being re-elected on the platform of the APC in 2015. It says something of his character that contrary to the fair-weather nature of Nigeria’s political elite, Lawan has been consistently in opposition till he won re-election on the platform of the new ruling party in 2015.

    On his part, Gbajabiamila’s brilliance is widely acknowledged. With an exemplary legal education, he was in private practice both abroad and in Nigeria before opting for politics. Like Lawan, Gbajabiamila has been consistently in opposition since being elected to the House of Representatives on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 2003. By the end of his second tenure in 2007, Gbajabiamila had sponsored the highest number of bills in the House. In 2011, Gbajabiamila was nominated for the award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR). Surprisingly, he turned down the offer on the ground that he did not deserve it at the time. Rather, he sponsored an amendment to the requisite law to give stringent guidelines for selection of National Award nominees. Here surely is a man of character and principle.

    True, those ranking APC legislators who also legitimately aspire to these offices have rich resumes in terms of education as well as political and legislative experience. But Lawan and Gbajabiamiula have an edge as the highest ranking APC legislators in both Houses. But for the fact that he was removed from office as Majority Leader of the Senate by his colleagues in 2017, for instance, and replaced with Lawan, I don’t how anyone could have rationally and justifiably faulted Senator Ali Ndume’s aspiration for the Senate Presidency.

    Next week: PDP AND LEADERSHIP OF THE 9TH ASSEMBLY.

  • Klopp’s lessons for Nigerian coaches

    Nigerian coaches would tell you that the players followed their instructions when the teams win matches. They would blame everyone but themselves if the result is unfavourable. When they are not blaming the boys for failing to carry out their instructions, they are lampooning the match officials or telling us how poorly the team prepared for the competition. Of course, they won’t remember promising us the trophy at the departure lounge. They won’t recall the prayer sessions they begged us to conduct as if our opponents don’t know how to pray.

    No prize for guessing that Nigerian coaches may not be following the trends of the European matches. They would be engrossed in watching other things not related to their training. If you bother to call any of them, you would be told that there isn’t anything different the foreign coaches are doing. The coaches would tell you they don’t have job satisfaction here unlike with their European counterparts. What they fail to realise is that European coaches develop themselves on the job. They are willing to undergo refresher courses and remedial training to update their knowledge without necessarily relying on the clubs.

    Nigerian coaches would submit that the reason we prefer the European game is that it is better organised, the players and the coaches are not owed wages and that there is  motivation for anyone to excel. I won’t blame Nigerian coaches much because the NFF and indeed the League Management Company (LMC) have refused to grade them such that they would aspire to acquire knowledge, knowing that they would be demoted to the lower leagues, if they don’t upgrade.

    Perhaps Nigerian coaches need tutorials from their better exposed counterparts to improve. So this writer decided to highlight what Liverpool FC of England’s manager told the media in a post-match analysis on Sunday. Indeed, Liverpool struggled to beat Cardiff 2-0, scoring a perfect set-piece from a corner-kick situation. Klopp was stunned, knowing it never came from his book of coaching tricks.

    Klopp – whose side has scored more goals from set-pieces than any other in the Premier League – ended that debate after the final whistle, explaining how his players had planned it during the interval.

    “We put a lot of emphasis on set-pieces,” explained the boss in his post-match press conference.

    “We knew that Cardiff is outstandingly strong from offensive set pieces but we knew that from time to time they have some problems with defensive set pieces. The boys obviously found out, if you make all these runs on the pitch, no camera angle is as good as your own view.

    “They decided to play that flat ball and Gini could make that run with all the blocks. Still, you have to hit the ball like this – a brilliant goal, I loved it!”

    Speaking to Sky Sports, Klopp said: “The boys decided this at half time in the dressing room, they saw the space on set pieces.”

    It is testament to the focus and intelligence that exists in this current Reds squad, picking holes in the opposition to devastating effect. Such coaches’ comments enliven the boys to give their best. No wonder Liverpool are fighting till the death to wrestle the EPL title from Manchester City.

    Klopp’s theatrics at the sidelines help propel the players when things aren’t working as planned. Klopp joins in the celebrations. He hugs or pats on the back everyone including those who didn’t live up to expectation. Liverpool look towards Klopp during matches for instructions. Little wonder the boys fight till the death to grab late goals and points to make the difference on the chart.

    Nigerian coaches should copy all of Klopp’s theatrics and comments before, during and after matches. Klopp isn’t alone in his attitude towards his players. He’s phenomenal because even the fans are inspired with the way he communicates with his boys. Liverpool has lost only one game in the EPL to Manchester City. It says a lot about the team bonding within the Reds group.

    Even when Klopp had issues with Liverpool’s captain Henderson over a poor outing, he went to the player in the dressing room to resolve the crisis and never made any news of it despite prodding from the media. Klopp had his way in the next game by benching Henderson which could be explained by the age-long theorem that nobody changes a winning squad. Henderson is back in the team.

    Henderson knows he isn’t indispensable. He has accepted that being substituted in matches doesn’t mean you are a bad player. Such changes come with different formations, which Klopp has the sole authority over.

    Back to the Barclays English Premier league and its changing faces at the top and at the bottom of the rung. Fulham beat Bournemouth at home despite being relegated to become the banana peel for teams dreaming of whipping them silly. At the bottom, Cardiff defended stoutly against Liverpool but conceded two goals to worsen their position.

    But this weekend, Fulham hosts Cardiff in a relegation dog-fight which could confirm the third side to be relegated, if Fulham continues its winning run under Coach Parker. Fulham have 23 points from 35 points but with a colossal goals difference of 43. Sitting close to them are Cardiff with 31 points. Both teams meet today, a game Cardiff must win if they hope to upstage Brighton which lost the chance to increase its points’ haul by losing to Tottenham on Tuesday night. Tottenham won the game 1-0 through Ericsen’s 89th minute strike. The goal lifted Tottenham to third, have seen others (Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea) struggling for the position lose ground through drawn and lost matches.

    Tottenham will finish in the third position if they beat West Ham today in a London derby. Manchester United and Chelsea meet on Sunday with the odds in favour of the visitors who must win tomorrow to grab the fourth place on the rung. Manchester United’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City has put them on a tightrope for a continental ticket to the Europa Cup.

    Not a few people have ruled out any upsets for the top two clubs (Manchester City and Liverpool). They argue that both teams will win their next three matches, leaving Manchester City as the eventual winners by one point.  Interesting permutations but the human elements make their submissions laughable. Many watched in awe as Crystal Palace ran rings round Arsenal players culminating  in 3-2 away win for The Eagles. Not many could stomach the 4-0 drubbing which Everton inflicted on Manchester United last weekend at the Goodison Park.

    Players’ agents, scouts and Eagles

    Chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have struck the right chord by working out a strategy which would stop the diabolical influence foreign scouts and agents have in the selection of Super Eagles players for international competitions. This writer isn’t raising a false alarm. We get to hear about the illicit deals surrounding the choice of players after the country’s exit.

    It appears NFF’s resolve to change the situation isn’t lost of the team’s manager Gernot Rohr as he has ruled out new players from the selection process. Part of the allegation against previous coaches is that they invite new players after the qualification series. these players eventually make the team since the emphasis isn’t on who is picked by how well the team plays.

    If we took a young squad to the 2018 World Cup, it is only logical that 60 per cent of the players make the AFCON team. New players have emerged since the Mundial. Some of those dropped from the Mundial have matured and are doing well in their European clubs. Other may have lost form, retired or are ageing and need to be eased out.

    Rohr can’t continue to rebuild the Eagles without trophies. Qualifiers are meant to blend the boys. They have played quite a number of matches, so Rohr should know his team. We need to lift the trophy in Egypt with the quality of players in the team. Rohr should free his mind of fixations and pick the best. Rohr’s insistence of having Francis Uzoho is good, but he needs a goalkeeping expert to make this decision, like Clemens Westerhof did when he was undecided with goalkeeper Peter Rufai.

    Anything short of winning the trophy will be unacceptable. Eagles on paper have the most talented squad based on their performances in Europe. The team also has enough boys on the bench who can swing games in our favour like they do with their clubs.

  • Shi’ite nightmare won’t go away easily

    TWICE this week, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), aka Shiites, has protested the continued detention of their leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and his wife Zeenah. The two have been in detention since December 2015 when members of the sect clashed with troops in Zaria, Kaduna State. During the clash, one soldier was killed, allegedly by Shiite members, for which Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife are facing trial in a Kaduna High Court, while about 347 Shiite members were killed by troops, according to a Kaduna State government inquiry. IMN leaders insist the death toll is much higher than state officials acknowledge.

    Since 2015, Shiites have been organising countless public protests, including marches, to demand justice for their detained leaders and members. Only last year, in October, the IMN alleged that some 48 of their members were killed by troops in one of such protests in Abuja to demand the release of their leaders. The Nigerian Army confirmed some deaths during that protest, but insisted the IMN figures were exaggerated. No soldier was, however, killed. In this week’s protest, IMN members took their long march and protests to both the United Nations office in Abuja and the National Assembly. They were undeterred by the Zaria killings and all other killings of their members since 2015. It is now very unlikely that they will ever be deterred.

    By now, too, the Federal Government must be slowly becoming aware that applying lethal and often disproportionate force against the Shiites will amount to nothing in the face of glaring injustice and cruel and degrading treatment meted out to the sect. So far, no one has been held accountable for the 2015 Zaria massacre. The federal and state governments gloss over it. But until justice is done, neither the Shiites nor the Kaduna State government, nor even the federal government, will rest. There will have to be a closure. The federal government has attempted to deploy additional force to pacify the Shiites. But, as the crisis spirals, possibly out of control, all subsequent killings of Shiite members will have to be accounted for, and some state officials held accountable. If these remedies are not applied, there will be no closure. More wrong can never cure a previous wrong.

    A section of the public may be undecided over the Shiite matter, as they ruminate over whether in the face of sporadic religious restiveness all over the country, the government is not after all right to apply maximum force to quell every disturbance that gives a semblance of breakdown of public order. But with each deadly crackdown and consequent loss of scores of lives, it is a matter of time, as many Latin American and African countries have shown, before the undecided section of the public begins to distance themselves from government-inspired atrocities and deliberate flouting of the law.

    Both the killing of some 48 Shiite protesters in Abuja last year — if the figure is verified — and the killing of 347 Shiite members in Zaria in 2015, will very likely continue to provoke more protests in the near future until a closure is found. Many federal officials, military and security agents, and Kaduna State government officials themselves, will in due course no doubt be held accountable for the killings. Their handling of the Shiite crisis will be investigated and tried in open courts. And in a digital world of widespread availability of technological devices for chronicling  events, it is unlikely that anything can be kept hidden for too long.

    One year or so after the Zaria killings, an Abuja High Court ordered the release of the Shiite leader and his wife, and, among other reliefs, the payment of N50m compensation to each of them. The government has controversially and unwisely spurned that order and instead kept the Shiite leader incarcerated without recourse to the law. More than two and half years later, almost as an afterthought, the Kaduna State government has charged Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife in court for the murder of a soldier and for disturbing public peace during the 2015 Zaria massacre. The sect’s leaders have subsequently been detained while trial is ongoing. No evidence has been presented against the Shiite leader’s wife, and even the Department of State Service (DSS) once suggested that the only reason she was still detained was because she insisted she would not leave jail without her husband.

    Nigerians must brace up for additional Shiite protests in the months ahead. Until the Shiite leader is released and justice is done regarding the killings of hundreds of the sect’s members, the matter will not die. Each protest may in fact become more severe than the previous one, and each has the potential of becoming unmanageably deadly, with untold consequences for the governments of the day. Even though the Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai feels increasingly messianic, there is little chance that he will not sometime in the future be held accountable for his mishandling of the Zaria massacre. He and President Muhammadu Buhari, who has sadly not handled the Shiite crisis with statesmanlike  aplomb, must proactively find a way of defusing what is certain to be a future time bomb.

    Both the president and the Kaduna governor know that no law, and not even the constitution, no matter how it is liberally read or interpreted, supports the manner they have handled the Shiite crisis. They have unlawfully detained El-Zakzaky and his wife, indefensibly colluded with or connived at the strong-arm measures against Shiite protesters, and have simply ignored with disdain lawful court orders. To redress these indefensible actions, they must find ways of reaching out to the Shiites. They may love the Sunnis more than the Shiites, though historically in Nigeria the Shiites have been less violent; but as a government, they must find ways to accommodate everyone and every religious group, including those diametrically opposed to their own worldview. They cannot kill all the Shiites without profound consequences, and they cannot use state violence to smother them. That leaves them only one option: peacemaking based on justice.

    The case against the Shiites in a Kaduna High Court is tenuous. Indeed, it can still be resolved if both President Buhari and Governor el-Rufai find the humility and wisdom to dismount their high horses and speak the language of peace and justice. There is no question, however, that troops and their commanders who used unlawful and lethal force to pacify the Shiites in both Zaria and Abuja, must be held accountable. The president and the governor should be reassured that the country might, under certain considerations, be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, implying that while they may have given the orders to cage the Shiites, they perhaps did not order a massacre. But both leaders must realise that their loyalty is first and primarily to the constitution, not to those who committed crimes against humanity in trying to solve the Shiite conundrum.

    The Shiite crisis came about because of a fundamental defect in the government’s ruling philosophy. The government is elected, operates in a democracy, and must be subject to the rule of law. They, therefore, have no reason to operate outside the framework of the law, or act without restraint in dealing with what they fear could potentially become another Boko Haram. Their fears, they must be reminded, are absolutely unfounded. Had they subscribed to a governing philosophy that constrains them to act as servants of the people and in full deference to the rule of law, and had their security forces been well trained and not lacking in doctrine, the Zaria massacres would never have happened, and the atrocious and condemnable detention of the Shiite leaders would never have been necessary.

    Both President Buhari and Mallam el-Rufai must find ways, as elected leaders and presumed democrats, of managing this burgeoning crisis. Respect for the laws of the land does not invariably mean less firmness in tackling crisis of whatever persuasion or colour. They were elected into office because they are thought to have talents above the ordinary. Now, let them put those supposed extraordinary skills into practice and find a fitting closure to the Shiite crisis. If they do not find mitigating measures to resolve the problem, they will discover too late that the world will find them culpable through and through for the bloodletting the crisis has become.

  • Lai Mohammed, Modibbo Kawu, Dele Alake and the Pinnacle Conundrum

    Even though the progress of its anticorruption war has been slow and tortuous sometimes because of the cumbersome legal process and partly because of the alleged collusion of a number of powerful administration insiders with corrupt elements, the battle is still alive and well. Surely, the fear of Buhari’s war against graft is the beginning of wisdom for public office holders in the country today. And sometimes the long hands of the law reach up to officials in high places thus strengthening the anti-graft war and enhancing its credibility. Nowhere is the administration’s stance against corruption as visible and relevant as the ongoing investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) of certain humongous payments by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) of the sum of N2.5 billion to Pinnacle Communication Limited, a payment that spurred a petition to the ICPC moving the anti-graft body into action.

    The N2.5 billion was part of the N10 billion seized from the NBC by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2016 for being banked in contravention of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy. On assumption of office as Director General of NBC, Mr Moddibo Kawu had reviewed the relationship between the NBC and Pinnacle Communication Limited getting the latter to withdraw a suit against the former in court as regards the appointment of a Signal Distributor for the Abuja Switch over. Kawu appointed the communication outfit as the Signal Distributor for the Abuja Switch over partly on the ground that “The Pinnacle Communications Limited Chairman, Lucky Omoluwa had supported the Buhari campaign and had thought the change of administration would offer an opportunity to rectify the injustice they faced under the former NBC DG, Emeka Mba”.

    Kawu claims that Pinnacle Communications Limited delivered on its mandate as Signal Distributor thus necessitating the payment of the said N2.5 billion to the company five months after its appointment. Some of the items delivered by Pinnacle Communications within 90 days were the airfreighting of nine tons of weapons to Abuja, provision of facilities commissioned by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on 22nd of December, 2017 and commissioning of their Kaduna Centre a year later by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

    In an article in defence of Kawu published by Abubakar Maahmood Ahmed in an online medium, Daily Nigerian on April 19, and titled “Facts behind Modibbo Kawu’s ICPC travails” the writer delved into a number of issues which he believes are the real reasons why the ICPC is uncompromising and adamant in the prosecution of Kawu for the Pinnacle transaction, which the ICPC considers unethical and contravening due process. Most of the reasons adduced for Kawu’s travails smack of spurious conspiracy theories and unverified or even unverifiable rumours and hear say.

    For instance, in taking on Alhaji Lai Mohammed in the piece, the writer avers that “When President Buhari announced the DGs to head media parastatals and the NBC, he caused the first level of shock. The announcement of Modibbo Kawu as the DG of NBC shocked the political team from the Southwest that had primed the position for Dele Alake, the former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State. Lai Mohammed as Minister of Information was said to have shouted in his office, that “This is unacceptable. Modibbo Kawu is not one of us”. This kind of outrageous nonsense, which has no basis in facts, was dished out by the writer as gospel truth.

    Those who know Alhaji Lai Mohammed very well can readily testify that he is not one to indulge in the kind of intemperate outburst portrayed in the piece. And the assertion that Mr. Alake was ever primed to be DG of NBC is unadulterated falsehood. Yes, Mr. Alake is more than qualified to hold any office. But there is simply no truth in the allegation that Lai Mohammed ever proposed him to be DG of NBC or even made any attempt to do so. I make bold to say that Alake has not been to any minister’s office in the Buhari administration for any purpose at all not talk about going to hustle for positions or contracts. He has been too busy with his consultancy work both within and outside the country to engage in any such unproductive ventures.

    In any case, if it is true that Lai Mohamed had opposed Kawu’s appointment and preferred Alake as DG Of NBC, why did he then as Minister of Information approve the Pinnacle Communication contract and even authorized the release of the N2.5 billion as requested by Kawu? It was only after the ICPC presented the facts in its possession to the minister that Lai Mohammed claimed that he was misled into giving approval for the release of the fund by the DG. A source with the ICPC familiar with the case, told the respected Online medium, Premium Times, that “Lai Mohamed has admitted that he did not do due diligence before signing off on a controversial N2.5 billion payment to a private digital distributor. Mohammed told the ICPC that he only approved the payment based on the recommendation of the DG of the NBC in May, 2017”.

    Continuing the story reads: “Rasheedat Okodua, the ICPC spokesperson told Premium Times on Monday that Lai Mohammed was not charged because he said he was deceived into signing the document. Documents seen by Premium Times showed that Mr. Mohammed played more role than just signing documents. He signed several documents and also took part in discussions with Pinnacle Communications and embarked on foreign trips to inspect equipment for Nigeria’s digital switch over. Mr Kawu told Premium Times that he did no wrong in recommending the payment to Mr. Mohammed but did not assume responsibility for the minister’s approval”.

    It is thus misleading for the impression to be created that Lai Mohammed had always opposed Kawu’s appointment and was thus determined from the onset to ‘make life difficult for him as DG of NBC’. If so, how did Kawu obtain the necessary ministerial approvals that gave him and Pinnacle Communication access to the funds requested? Surely, Mr Mohammed must have later on seen something wrong in the process for releasing the funds that made him distance himself from the NBC DG in his interactions with the ICPC.

    In his writing in defence of Kawu, Abubakar Ahmed, does not spare his readers the most scurrilous attempts at stirring up ethnic and religious sentiments. For instance, he writes that “To make things even better, the new ICPC Board is headed by another VP sidekick, Bolaji Owasanoye who also belongs to the Redeemed Church. The plan is to bring into the NBC, after they might have removed Moddibo Kawu, their original candidate, Dele Alake, who also belongs to the Redeemed Church”. Surely, this is journalism at its very worst, which seeks to excite the base instincts of decent people on utterly unfounded assumptions and presuppositions.

    Rallying his supposed ‘northern constituency’ to rise to Modibbo’s support, the writer makes statements that are really very damaging for Kawu, who first made his name as a progressive, radical and patriotic intellectual rather than ethno-regional jingoist. According to Abubakar Ahmed, “In the last elections, most NBC staff were reported to have voted for PDP because they wanted President Buhari to lose since that would mean that Modibbo Kawu would be removed as DG. One of the most entrenched cabals inside the NBC is the licensing cabal. It was the ruling mantra that Southerners that can, and must always be given licenses in the North, but Northerners are ALWAYS denied licenses in the South, especially the lucrative Lagos market. Well, Modibbo Kawu ensured that for the first time in the 25-year history of the NBC, Northerners got several licenses in Lagos”. So is this an acceptable defence for the infractions of collusion and fraud for which Kawu is facing serious court charges? What determines the issuance of license by the NBC? Are this based on states or region of origin or are there specific technical and specialist or capital base requirements for licensees to qualify?

    Kawu was billed to appear in an Abuja High Court last Wednesday along with the GM of Pinnacle Communication, Mr Lucky Omoluwa. The case was, however, forced to adjourn till May 4th for hearing since Omoluwa was not in court. His counsel claimed that Omoluwa was still on his way to Abuja from Kaduna that morning. It will surely be a most interesting case when the hearing gets underway. It is unlikely that instigating ethnic, religious and partisan sentiments will avail much for Kawu in the final analysis. He is a brilliant man. Kawu should just prove to the court that he did not mislead the minister to approve fraudulent payments to Pinnacle Communication Limited. That is the crux of the matter.

  • Anger, protests and power

    Imagine Baba  Sala the famous Nigerian comedian defeating MKO, the winner of the famous   June 12  election,  in a presidential election and you will get an idea of what happened in the real presidential election in Ukraine recently.  Similarly imagine our security chiefs resigning because of street protests in Abuja and Lagos and you see the gravity of the situation in  Sudan where protesters in  Khartoum, the capital have not only forced their president out of office, but have also forced his replacement and some generals to resign in the same  Sudan. Now   cap   these  imaginations  with   the    real    and   working    visit   this  week   of  the  Nigerian  president   to  Maiduguri  and  Lagos    the  capitals  of two  states,  and  Borno  and  Lagos,  both  of  which  suffer  respectively    from  the  notorious  terrorism  of  Boko  Haram,  and the    provocative    nuisance  of  trailers making life and traffic a  real  drudgery   for  citizens  and  workers  in  Lagos,  and  you  have a feeling of my mood as I write  today  on this  vibrant  topic.

    By   now  you  would  have sensed   that   I   am  trying   to  make sense   and   reason  out  of  a form  of  anger politics  in democracies  around the world  that has  thrown  up  unexpected leaders  and strange    winners  of  elections  in  many   political systems.  It  is my contention   today   that  a new Arab  Spring    of   2011  is back  in modern  global   democratic  politics . It  may  not exactly   be  bloody, violent  and   dismissive  like the French  Revolution    of   1789   but  it  is  angry and vitriolic  enough against  established  and well  known sources and origins of power  in  contemporary   modern  society.  Even  in  France  the nation of    Revolutions   it  has taken  its fresh  toll in planting a   political  nonentity in power  in France’s  last  presidential  election. Even  then, the revolution  is not finished  with him  and France  yet, as the  angry   and  violent  Yellow vests  have shown  that unlike the French  revolution of  1789,   the  new  French did not elect a Napoleon  Bonaparte into  power  to build  climatic   empires  abroad at the expense  of the hard working suffering  masses of  France, when  they  elected Emman Macron  as president in France’s   last  presidential election.

    It  is my contention again  that the global anger against  the established  political order in any political system is so intense   that it does not  care who  takes  over or who wins elections as long as the   existing, known  and    repugnant political   order and failed system  is swept  away  and replaced.  That  is what happened this week  in Ukraine where a clown, Volodymyr Zelensky  who  played  the role of president in   fictional  films in reality  became  an elected president by  defeating the incumbent  president, Petro  Poroshenko who  campaigned woefully  on the clown’s  incapability  to  understand  the rudiments of  governance.  But  the clown   Zelensky is now  president and  has defeated the incumbent billionaire president, Poroshenko in claiming  electoral  victory in a nation’s  rare  and new    fit  of anger against  a non  performing political order. That    in a   way   seems  to  be the order of the day in many  political  systems  nowadays   and  it is in   such tautological terms that one should  see  the emergence of a Donald  Trump in the 2016 US  presidential  elections and the many problems of the American political system thereafter.

    Let  me postulate  again,  that  in reality, political  anger in terms of protests  and sit ins and even violent  protests,   do not always achieve their  objectives  successfully  as in Algeria and Sudan  recently. Egypt  is a  good  example  of  a revolution   that  misfired. The Arab Spring   of 2011   started   in Tunisia    and  toppled the Mubarak regime in  Egypt   and the Egyptian  army played  along  initially   as a friend of the revolution.  An  elected government, the first democratic government in Egypt was put in place, headed  by millionaire Morsi. That  democratic  government  was later toppled  by the Egyptian  army as  the leader of that   army  General  Fattah Al  Sisi  played  ball  in toppling  his   former  boss Mubarak   and  came to power.  Protesters  were then sentenced to death or jailed and tramautised in all aspects of Egyptian life. This  week,   the  army  Commander and  now President Sisi  has amended  the Egyptian   constitution  in a  referendum to make him remain in power till  2030.  That  is a good  example  of  a counter productive revolution or a protest  that  went haywire, a major potential  risk  of any  anti – .government protests nowadays.

    Let  us now  let the chicken come home to roost here in Nigeria with the visits  of our president to Lagos  and Maiduguri  to commission infrastructure projects before  jetting out to London reportedly from Maiduguri.  The  two cities visited  by the president  to launch  infrastructural  projects  are  significant  for  the  purposes of this  topic  for two  reasons. One  has to do with traffic congestion and deterioration of the quality of  life both private  and public for  the citizens of  Lagos. The  other  has to do with security  as well as the safety of life and property in  Maiduguri  where Boko  Haram has made life a horror  for the citizens with suicide bombers,  such  that  the Shehu  of Borno  once complained to  the president on a similar visit,  that nobody  is safe from the bombings and suicide attacks within the confines of  Maiduguri. This was an ancient  city protected by the Emperors  of the ancient Karnem Bornu Empire against  the Jihad of the Sokoto  caliphate  such  that  the Sokoto  Caliphate  Jihad  never  conquered the Karnem Bornu Empire. Nowadays  however  that ancient city trembles  under the terrorism of  Boko Haram  and Maiduguri  citizens and their rulers feel unsafe and unprotected. They  have   nevertheless  shown their  doggedness and resolve in supporting democracy and supporting  the president in the last elections when  they trooped out en mass to  reelect  the president with   more  votes   than the safer parts   of  the nation.  The  projects  commissioned by  the president   this week  should  in my view   be such  that will  guarantee the safety of life and property  of the citizens of  Maiduguri  from the bloody  terrorist  fangs and suicide  bombs of Boko Haram.  Otherwise   the projects will  become sitting ducks for  Boko  Haram  terrorism because  development  and human  progress  can only stagnate in an environment  where  government  cannot    guarantee  the safety of life  and property of its citizens at any time –  and that  is overdue in Maiduguri  and its environs in the face  of unrelenting and furious Boko Haram  insurgency.

    However  the city of  Lagos  faces  a different challenge both  to its rulers and citizens. The  challenge is not terrorism  as in Maiduguri   with the menace of Boko  Haram.  But  it is equally  debilitating  and  energy  sapping enough to make  Lagosians  feel  like  the living dead in their environment. It is traffic  congestion of the worst  order especially  on the main three bridges  that  workers,  traders, school  children, students take to work, schools, markets   and their places of  abode.  At  key  points and parts of the city and  at  the bridges ends, and on  them, lines of trailers clog  the flow of traffic in  and out of Lagos Island,  the key  commercial  heart throb  of commercial  Nigeria. The trailers look   menacing and hostile and have  caused numerous  accidents  both when they  are  mobile or packed at  night without any light or hazard  caution. The  names on them  are notably  those  of Dangote and some leading Nigerian companies, which  appear unfazed by the poor  or hostile  corporate image their long lines of packed trailers on Lagos bridges  convey in the public mind in Lagos.  Even   on Ikorodu Road the main traffic  artery out of Lagos  into Nigeria, the trailers  have taken  over along the vast  express  way. What  is insulting to the intelligence of Nigerians is the fact  that trailers are cleared  for  visits like that of the president last week and resume their nuisance, cruel   and  disturbing presence even  before the president has boarded his plane  in Ikeja  back to  Abuja.  Again  it is my view that whatever the president came to commission in Lagos  should solve  the menace of trailers clogging the traffic in Lagos state  and making  every  day  living and commuting, an  unhealthy  experience  for those living in Lagos, the real  commercial capital  of Nigeria. Once again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Never walk alone

    The drama in the ongoing Barclays English Premier League is captivating. Every game tells a unique story either at the top of the points’ table or at the bottom. So competitive is this season that within the top four, there is another competition that will see one of Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham or Arsenal missing out of the European inter-club competition next season. No wonder most big players want to play in England, irrespective of the poking eyes of the British media, which can be very nauseating, especially with exposes on players’ out of the pitch activities.

    At the bottom of the rung, there are two clubs which won’t be in the elite class next year, having been relegated – Fulham and Huddersfield FCs. They will play in the English Championship, yet Fulham beat an improving Everton FC, which won four games on the trot, at the Cottage Stadium on Saturday 2-0. What Fulham’s victory signifies is that the club’s management has accepted its fate, having sacked two managers recently. The club is using the remaining Barclays English Premier League matches to prepare for the tortuous campaign in the Championship next year. Fulham lost 4-0 to Tottenham last week but it was very competitive in the early stages of the game.

    Three teams will go down. Fulham and Huddersfield are gone. Cardiff may be the third candidate for relegation, only if Liverpool whip them this week with as many as four goals. Brighton played against Cardiff on Tuesday night with the latter winning 2-0, not enough to push Brighton down the ladder. Interestingly, Cardiff with 31 points have Liverpool as their opponents this weekend. This is a mountain to climb, going by the Reds’ quest for its first EPL title in 29 years. Brighton cannot afford to celebrate any advantage over Cardiff because their outstanding game is against Tottenham at away. This is a must-win fixture for Tottenham if they hope to finish third on the log and earn a ticket to the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League.

    What the Cardiff and Brighton scenario portends is that the two teams will play till the last day to decide which of them is relegated. Brighton and Cardiff have difficult fixtures in the last two weeks against teams seeking a berth in the top four. Cardiff confronts Manchester City in an away game on the last day while Brighton visits Manchester United at Old Trafford. It is easy to say that the Manchester sides will win both games. But football is like biscuit, you never know where it will crack.

    For Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, this season’s league is one to forget in a hurry. The four teams have played in the Champions League; they know what it entails. To imagine that two of them won’t be at the next edition explains why their last matches will be ones to follow. Arithmetically, anything is possible in search for the last two teams to make up the Top Four.

    But looking at the permutations in the EPL dispassionately, it appears Manchester United and Chelsea won’t make the top four, if we consider their fixtures. On April 24, Manchester United must beat their noisy neighbours Manchester City to stand a chance for top-four finish in a rescheduled tie. Indeed, Chelsea would have expectedly beaten Burnley at Stamford Bridge, putting pressure on Manchester United to win the City clash. Should both teams win their outstanding games, their clash at Old Trafford on April 28 will be the clincher for the winner. Should Manchester United beat Chelsea, then the Blues are out of the UEFA Champions League for next year. If they draw, both teams will be out or they will pray that Arsenal falters in the away fixture against Leicester on April 29.

    Today at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City’s quest for a back-to-back EPL title feat will be on their players’ minds, knowing that a slip could hand the title over to Liverpool who will wait until Sunday to rip Cardiff apart in an away fixture. Liverpool has enjoyed a fixture where they either wait to see Manchester City’s result or play ahead of City in the title chase.

    Tottenham and Manchester City have met twice in seven days, with today’s game their third encounter in 11 days. The first two games have defined their season with contrasting fortunes, although Tottenham have every reason to thank the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) machine for returning verdicts in their favour, even though they were the right decisions. Manchester City lost the first game 1-0 to Tottenham in London, but were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League’s away goal rule, even with the 4-3 victory over Spurs at the Etihad Stadium.

    Again at the Etihad this evening, Manchester City players and coaching crew must forget about the team’s elimination from the Champions League by today’s opponents and beat Spurs. If they draw or lose (God forbid),  they would have given Liverpool the chance to dethrone them on May 12, if the Reds win their remaining four matches. On Sunday, Liverpool will strive to beat Cardiff at home. Liverpool will be further boosted to whip Cardiff, if Manchester City doesn’t beat Tottenham today.

    “It is cruel but it is what it is and we have to accept it.)  After 20 minutes we were 3-2 up. In the second half we created a lot of chances and we scored the goals we needed. Unfortunately, it was a bad end for us. So, congratulations to Tottenham and good luck for the semi-finals,” said Guardiola, who has asked his players to put behind them the Champions League ouster.

    “We’ve to stand up and react. It is a close (short amount of) time and the same team. We can’t think too much now.)  We have to try to sleep as much as possible and the day before the game we are going to prepare for the game. We have fought for nine or 10 months in the Premier League and still we are there. It is in our hands. Today is tough and tomorrow will be tough too but the day after we will be ready,” he said.

    Asked whether reaching the Champions League semi-finals for the first time had sunk in, Tottenham’s manager Mauricio Pochettino said: “I think it means a lot. We still haven’t realised because we are still in a dream. We are still in a bubble. We felt the happiness of the fans and the messages of our family and friends. But because we are so focused and busy preparing for Saturday, you do not allow yourself to live your reality. But in some ways that’s good, because our job is to be focused and try to be ready for Saturday. Of course, we are so happy and it means a lot for everyone. We feel so proud but there is a lot of work to do until the end of the season.”

    The Argentine said: ‘’You know I didn’t want to watch again because in the moment they scored, I took off my jacket, threw my jumper, I started to think very bad things. Then I hear my assistant Jesus (Perez)’s voice say ‘Oh, maybe offside and VAR is checking.’ Then I was alive again. I understand the situation in bench of City. City were on top of the world and then to the disappointment. It’s unbelievable. The emotion was amazing. You feel sorry for them when that situation happened. Maybe another night… but what can you do? Enjoy, be respectful,’’ Pochettino said.

    Liverpool can start dreaming about their first EPL title in the new era of the competition in the last 29 years, if Tottenham leaves the Etihad Stadium unscathed. If it doesn’t happen and Manchester City wins today, then Liverpool and their teeming fans will be looking towards Manchester United for favour on April 24.

    The Manchester derby has some very exciting templates. For Manchester United, they are torn between two rivals- Liverpool are their fiercest foes in terms of records in the English game. Manchester united has won the title, including in the new era, 20 times. Liverpool has 18 titles to its name, excluding winning it in the new era. Will Manchester United beat Manchester City to spark celebrations at Anfield, home of Liverpool? Or will they rather allow their neighbours win to spite Liverpool and cause their fans pain?

    It will be difficult for Manchester United’s fans to watch City beat them at home, especially as the team needs to win all its games to stand a chance of qualifying for one of the UEFA inter-club competitions next year – Champions League or Europa Cup. Of the four teams, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, the Red Devils have the toughest fixtures. I hope they don’t walk alone out of European football next season.

     

    Let Mikel go to Egypt

     

    John Mikel Obi is playing again. He was picked by foreigner Coach Tony  Pulis who saw him excel at Chelsea in the EPL when the Nigerian became a free agent in January. Pulis wasn’t interested in Mikel’s fitness, having known his potential.

    At Middlesbrough, many doubted Pulis’ choice of Mikel based on his form where he was coming from – China. Pulis stuck to Mikel and it didn’t take long for doubters to see what informed the Nigerian’s choice.

    Things went on smoothly for Boro until they ran into a string of consecutive losses. Not one to ponder on issues such as this, Pulis pulled Mikel aside and got his consent to captain the side in subsequent matches. It has turned out well for Pulis and Boro as the team hasn’t lost a game since Mikel wore the captain’s arm band.

    The lessons from this Boro experience is that Mikel isn’t just a good player, he is a lucky leader, a role which comes with his experience in the game.

    I have chosen to liken Mikel’s performance at Boro to the debate over his inclusion in the Super Eagles’ squad to Egypt for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. If Mikel says he wants to play for Nigeria, he should be registered. The argument that Mikel waited for Nigeria to qualify before signifying his interest to play is bunkum.

    Mikel opted out of our games to gain fitness playing for Boro. Now that he is ready, he should go with the Eagles. Happily, Ahmed Musa, who has been acting as the team’s captain, says he is doing so on Mikel’s behalf.

  • Kogi governorship election and Bello’s disastrous rule

    ON Wednesday, Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello announced his intention to seek a second term. He predicates his ambition on the “people’s call to run for a second term in office as the governor” and the “tremendous achievements (his government) has made in the past three years”. He made his intention known, according to some newspaper reports, during the inauguration of the Kogi State House of Assembly Commission in Lokoja. Here is how he put it clumsily: “I would like to inform the good people of the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) family and supporters from the state, the local government areas down to the wards and polling units as well as various stakeholders, opinion moulders, families and friends, of my interest to answer the people’s call to run for a second term in office as governor of Kogi State.” He then adds rather boastfully and chimerically: “We have made tremendous progress in the last three years and based on our achievements, the people of the state have been calling on me to run again to consolidate on our first term achievements.”

    Mr Bello is locked in battle for the position of the most ineffective governor in Nigeria with Zamfara State governor Abdulaziz Yari. Mr Yari is detested in Zamfara despite being at least empathetic towards his people and their sufferings. His chief problem is his vacuousness, his grinding incompetence, his peripatetic lack of focus, his many silly distractions. Mercifully, the constitution bars him from a third term, thus sparing his state additional misery. Mr Bello, on the other hand, can contest for a second term, as indicated by the constitution. But, on top of his gross incompetence, a vice for which he is no pushover when compared with Mr Yari, the Kogi governor is embarrassingly ignorant, brutal, servile and, for a man of so few accomplishments and gifts, paradoxically arrogant. He puts his decision to contest for a second term down to the call of his people. Not only does he not have a people he can call his own, no call of any kind has gone to him from anywhere. Kogi people are neither self-haters nor cannibals, nor yet so short-sighted that they cannot see the disaster Mr Bello’s second term would spell for Kogites and their children.

    It is hard to explain why Mr Bello announced a second plank upon which to anchor his second term ambition. He talks of himself and his cabinet having made tremendous progress. The phrase tremendous progress is bastardised in Nigeria, and insanely dragged to death by petty and arrogant tyrants passing for state governors. But for Mr Bello to seize upon that phrase to announce his ambition is to cruelly mock the people of Kogi and damn their horrifying sufferings under his cruel rule. No progress of any kind is or can be attributed to the person or government of Mr Bello, let alone progress that can be qualified as tremendous. Other than his insufferable manners and his starched agbada, both of which are contrived to mask his inferiority complex and incompetence, there is absolutely nothing noticeable or eye-catching about him. He does not pay workers their salaries. But when he deigns to do that, he pays them in fractions and trickles. Consequently, he is owing some of his workers more than 20 months salaries, and others some seven or so months. Every Kogi civil servant, some of whom have endured cruel and degrading torture of every kind, is stuck between poor or little pay, or late and badly fractionalised pay.

    There is in short nothing for Mr Bello to anchor his second term quest. He has done or said nothing to earn his party’s offer of right of first refusal. It remains to be seen what his party, particularly under its sprightly and pragmatic chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, would do with Mr Bello’s misbegotten ambition. Not only can the governor not win the poll if he is fielded, even if he could, he still should not. There was nothing gained in his first term, other than his preparedness to outdo the sycophants who gallivant around Aso Villa, and nothing can be gained in his second term, should the gods cruelly gift him a second term. He is said to be prepared to use strong-arm tactics to win, such as he unconscionably deployed in the last state legislative poll, and is said to possess the evil genius to cash in on the rumoured ambivalence of Kogites towards the APC. Not being a man of conscience, not to talk of a man with any morality at all, he may in fact be prepared to damn the world in order to win the poll, should he receive his party’s ticket. But Mr Oshiomhole will have to determine in the weeks ahead whether so unpopular and so incompetent a governor would not abysmally corrupt and belittle the flag of the party by becoming its standard-bearer.

    Mr Bello, should he contest, cannot get the votes of Kogi West and Kogi East senatorial districts. It is doubtful whether he can get even half of the votes of his Kogi Central senatorial district, having disgraced them with his incompetence and fought against them physically and verbally. He will rely on his readiness to project violence and seduce the hungry electorate with money. He tried both tactics in the last legislative polls and seemed to have succeeded beyond his imagination. But Kogites know the futility of putting good men and women in the state’s titular legislature, a lawmaking body that has been wholly disembowelled or even entirely castrated by the governor. They will bide their time and show their resoluteness in the November governorship poll. They recognise that the past three years and more have been an unqualified disaster for the state, but that it was a disaster authored by a conniving APC at the federal level and a few governors and politicians from outside the state. To allow another four years of Mr Bello, they surmise, will pose an existential threat to them and their children. They may have concluded already that it is expedient for one man’s ambition to perish than for the whole state to be lost. They may not be as aggressive as would suffice to discourage their governor’s truancy and disrespect for Kogites, but they are smart enough to know that continuing to yield ground to a ruthless tyrant would doom them irretrievably in the near future.

    Kogi State has been one of the unluckiest states in Nigeria. Their first governor in the Fourth Republic, Abubakar Audu, was competent and even surprisingly visionary. But he was supremely arrogant and misanthropic. Their second and third governor, Ibrahim Idris and Idris Wada, were unmitigated failures, though not on the scale of Mr Bello. Had Prince Audu taken office in 2015, though vestiges of his arrogance would have remained, for old habits die hard, he would have given the state some succour on account of his competitive spirit  and intuitive feel for excellence. But instead of Prince Audu, APC conspirators imposed the vacuous Mr Bello on a state that sadly and unwisely put emphasis on their ethnic and religious affiliations. Still in that primitive mould, and after sensing the people’s despair, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have zoned the governorship slot to the most populous senatorial district in the state, Kogi East. Should APC fail to embrace the same zoning formula, not to talk of presenting the hated Mr Bello, they will probably lose the governorship poll. If the APC want to survive in the state, they have little choice but to repudiate Mr Bello and determine whether heading to Kogi East for a candidate would not present a sensible counter-force to the PDP.

    In the next few weeks, Mr Oshiomhole will face the dismal choice of either bowing to pressure and yielding to the power mongers in Abuja who have seemed to sustain the sycophantic Mr Bello, or remaining true to his convictions and unionist pragmatism by unseating the hated Kogi governor and handing over the ticket to a more sensible and competent candidate. The APC chairman’s antecedents indicate that he will opt for the latter, believing that therein lie the party’s best chances. He knows better than anyone else how Aso Villa — a place Mr Bello has dedicated the little dignity left in him to worship — will look at the dynamics of the coming Kogi governorship election before taking a decision. The often inscrutable President Muhammadu Buhari has not quite indicated what he thinks of Mr Bello, especially of his ineptitude and the sufferings of Kogi civil servants. But perhaps Mr Oshiomhole knows how the president’s mind works.

    Whatever the case, the APC chairman is left with little choice than to actively seek a new candidate for his party if they are to stand any chance in November. As it stands now, even if the APC ticket is given to someone else, their chance is already severely constrained because of Mr Bello’s boundless failings  and hostile statements and actions in office. The ruling party would be sailing near the wind to ignore the objective reality in the state and pretend that the governor has not done enough damage to cost them the election.

  • Re: APC’s growing ideological clarity

    “It is truly very difficult to differentiate between the APC and PDP due basically because of the same set of people constituting the members and political leaders of both parties- at one time or the other. There is indeed still not much difference between the two parties in the true sense of it except for some important infrastructural constructions and a few investments on poverty alleviation by APC this time, which were made possible because of Buhari’s sincere desires to make a difference. And of course the people expect a lot more from him. In one of the presidential elections he lost before his 2015 victory, Nigerians could see Buhari openly weeping for the country, which was an indication of how much he loved the nation and could have made the needed difference was he allowed the opportunity. Of course, it is quite unfortunate that the opportunity he sought came when he was no longer young and at a time when the 16 years of PDP predatory rule had left the nation’s economy severely in ruins, making his genuine efforts at moving the country forward look like nothing is happening.

    “Yet concerned Nigerians and those interested in the advancement of the country are all too happy that he was after all voted in for the second tenure in the hope that with him on the saddle there is still left so much to hope for with good administration, caution and self censorship. Now there is this much talked about invisible government of the nation that must always influence the direction any government of the day must follow. Buhari should know that if anything goes wrong in the country under his watch, it is his name that will be entered on the wrong side of the nation’s history not the names of those who would counsel him to go against the will of the people and the nation. With the not too young to rule law now in place, Buhari may turn to be the last old face to mount the saddle. Mere making a difference between his APC and PDP may not just be enough this time. It is what he actually does or fails to do on the whole that will really determine his place in history.

    “While Nigerians are certainly not interested in restructuring the country in a way that the separatist agitators will cash in to split the nation, there are some essential tinkering that just need be done to devolve some powers to the federating units – the states of the country – for the better. With the elections now over and his second tenure deservedly secured, Buhari as part of the measures to take the nation to the next level, can now call for the recommendations of the 2014 confab and constitute a committee to study its content towards urgent implementation of what should be generally acceptable. If no other thing, he should be able to reconstruct the nation in such a way that it will be practically impossible for one man or a few of them to be the ones determining the leadership and political direction of the country against what should be the collective will of the people. And having promised going tougher in his war against corruption this second tenure, he should launch out fully to drive home the assertion that if Nigeria doesn’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. During his just concluded 67th birthday colloquium, the national leader of APC, Asiwaju Tinubu outlined what he believes should be the ideological framework of the party. I think Buhari can simply kick start from here, at least to lay a progressive foundation those coming after him could build on should there be no time enough for him to take us to the promised land”, Emmanuel Egwu, Unwana, Afikpo North LGA, Ebonyi State.

     

    “Great analysis as usual, sir. My fear, however, is that the much touted APC ideological evolvement must first and foremost reflect solid institutional features before it could be celebrated. Sir, from your analysis, it seems as what’s being seen as ideology is more a reflection of the ideological leanings of top current power actors in the party than what the party actually stands for. By the time President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Oshiomhole and the likes cease to be part of the party’s top power players, then the true ideological leaning of the party could thoroughly be assessed”, Tayo Ogunbiyi, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy.

     

    ILLUMINATIONS: “Very pertinent point Mr. Ogunbiyi. I think the seeds of progressive politics in Nigeria were sown through the efforts of the progressive tendencies that led the nationalist struggle for independence particularly the Zikists and the radical trade union movement led by the likes of Michael Imoudu. The seeds of progressivism were further nurtured in diverse spheres by Obafemi Awolowo and Aminu Kano’s AG/UPN, NEPU/PRP in the first and second republic respectively. The glowing but brief flowering of the Murtala/Obasanjo military regime’s radical and patriotic African –centred foreign policy can also not be discounted in the evolution of progressive ideology in Nigeria. In this dispensation, the flame of progressive ideology has been kept aglow no matter how tremulous by the succession of the defunct AD/AC/ACD/ ACN and now being consolidated by the APC. A recognizable, distinct and increasingly coherent body of ideas, value dispositions, philosophical orientations and policy prescriptions that constitute Nigeria’s variant of progressive ideology is slowly crystallizing and this, in my view, transcends the arbitrary whims or fleeting fancies of current APC leaders. If APC does not summon the discipline and vision to give this emerging systematically related body of ideas enduring institutional expression, other more purposeful and focused parties will emerge to do so. Nature abhors a vacuum. Thanks for your always thoughtful interventions.

     

    Re: Ideology and pdp’s electoral resurgence

    “Much as the nation needs a viable opposition party to keep the ruling party on its feet and make it always accountable to the people, there is nothing in practical terms in what you christened the ideology of Atiku to merit the eulogies you seem to be heaping on him and the PDP in this piece, objective though the write up is. Those we even know how much they had looted our economy, and who in developed climes should have been languishing in prison shouldn’t be given such image laundering as you would Atiku as projected in that article. Whatever is said to be Atiku’s ideological clarity or invented PDP value orientation was never responsible for the impressive PDP performance in the last general election. The vast majority of Nigerian electorate hasn’t developed to the level of making their electoral choice based on aspirants’ or party ideological rhetoric such as free-market policy prescriptions at least for now.

    “By the impressive outing of the PDP during the last election, the party was merely trying to reap bountifully from where it had actually sowed ruins and emptiness. The disaster PDP foisted on our economy and inherited by Buhari was such that things needed to get worse first before getting better with PMB’s adopted method of turning things around for the better. It was that getting ‘worse’ situation process which was actually very hard on Nigerians, that people had really reacted to in that election by voting for Atiku to the extent they did, unaware that things would be worse were the same PDP still in p0wer to date. That’s the reason for the impressive performance of the PDP in the election and not the clarity of any kind of paper ideological pontification, that many Nigerian voters may neither read nor understand the content”, Emmanuel Egwu, Ebonyi State.

     

    ILLUMINATIONS: “Thanks Mr. Egwu. Did I even remotely insinuate that the emerging ideological coloration of the APC and PDP was responsible for voter behavior in the last election? Not even a neophyte in political analysis would resort to such crude mono-causal determinism in discourse. Ideology cannot be a key factor in electoral outcomes when the dominant parties are only just gradually crystallizing around distinct ideological positions and widespread poverty and poor political consciousness reinforce primordial proclivities. My point is that there is a gradual ideological awakening and this is a good thing. If I found things to commend in Atiku’s politics or policy package, I am absolutely unapologetic apout it. Those who believe that PDP is populated wholly of devils and APC of saints are free to continue to luxuriate in their illusory world. Anybody who is blind to the dizzying cross migration of an assortment of morally tainted characters across the two dominant parties can remain blissfully impervious to reality. If the APC does not feel the need to critically interrogate the reasons for the electoral resurgence of a badly morally damaged PDP in the 2019 polls, particularly the unforced errors of the Buhari administration, there is pretty little this column can do about that”.

  • Zamfara tells Nigeria something far deeper

    ON Wednesday, during a town hall meeting in Zamfara State attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, Governor Abdulaziz Yari wailed that his state had been overtaken by criminality, with bandits operating from eight different camps. He estimated that some 3,526 people had been killed in the last five years, more than 500 villages despoiled, over 8, 200 people injured, and economic activities virtually paralysed. There was no local government in the state unaffected by the crisis, he added gravely.

    Early in January, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, told the state’s security meeting that his state was besieged by armed robbers, kidnappers, bandits and cattle rustlers. Not even he was safe, he groaned. Worse, according to him, no part of the state’s 34 local governments was spared. His cry of anguish followed hard on the heels of the alarm raised by the Borno State governor Kashim Shettima who also decried the distressingly high rate of insecurity in the north-eastern part of Nigeria. With 16 people killed in February alone due to bandit attacks in Dalijan, Rakkoni and Kalhu communities in the Rabah Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Governor Aminu Tambuwal also lamented that insecurity had become a nightmare. He confirmed that since July last year, some 81 people had been killed by bandits. In short, the Northwest is in turmoil.

    Governors of some northern states and researchers and experts suggest that bandits had made a huge expanse of the region completely unsafe, with thousands killed and roads rendered unsafe for commuting and economic activities. Widespread attacks said to be emanating from the Kuyanbana forest linking Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara States are reported daily, leading to loss of lives, abandonment of land, and cessation or disruption of economic activities. Repeated interventions by security forces, sometimes in unison, and at other times, singly, have proved ineffective. The insecurity cancer had been long in developing as a result of elite irresponsibility and incompetence over the decades, and is now obviously metastasizing. But rather than propose a radical and targeted surgery, together with wide-ranging socio-economic mediation, the government at the state and federal levels have stuck to a futile and reactionary application of overwhelming force.

    However, the problem is growing in size and engulfing nearly all the states in the North. The South is, of course, not insulated. Cult wars, armed robbery, herdsmen attacks, banditry and kidnappings have combined to make the region unsafe for living and business, and have become unpredictable. Meanwhile, the blame game has continued unabated. The political elite blames the business elite, and the military elite blames the judicial elite. No one is accepting responsibility for anything. In fact, with the recent killings in Kaduna and Zamfara, and the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness the tragedies have triggered, Nigerians are becoming totally despondent. In panic, the presidency has ordered a ruthless law enforcement approach to the crisis, but has failed so far to ponder why that approach had proved desultory and ineffective in past years.

    The National Assembly is not inured to the customary knee-jerk approach often embraced by the country when gory events occur in rapid succession. For example, sufficiently provoked to do some public good early in the week, the Senate made fine parliamentary speeches and ended up setting aside some N10bn in the 2019 budget as security intervention in Zamfara State — that is if the allocation is cash-backed. But what of the other states afflicted by the same disease? Both the legislature and the executive showed by their responses that all they think about is the quick-fix option. The legislature thinks in terms of throwing money at problems, and the presidency, which is in control of the security services, thinks of applying more force, more ruthlessness, to stanch the flow of blood and the relentless drift towards anomie.

    But because these measures have been applied in past years with immeasurable severity, but have failed woefully to have any major or lasting impact on the situation in those beleaguered states, there is nothing to suggest that they will work, having worked in fits and starts every time security forces were mobilised or deployed. With a little exaggeration, it is safe to say that the country is sitting on a powder keg. In fact, a little more indolence on the part of the governing elite will see the country careen into the ravine. The widespread attacks in nearly all parts of the country and the superficial impact the deployment of the security services have had on the problem suggest that the political elite have missed all the signals indicating the kind of trouble the country is contending with. But their misdiagnosis is unfortunately accompanied by the failure of rationality and character. The government has stuck to the use of overwhelming counter-force; and the rest of the country seems willing to sermonise over the problem, believing it is an attitudinal problem. Neither will work.

    It is understood that there are tons of position papers on the crisis, with Zamfara State alone acknowledging it had inspired more than 7,000 pages of reports on the problem, including how to resolve it. The academic community have also provided deep insight into the crisis, and have made far-reaching suggestions on how to restore the region to the path of peace and development. So far, however, the federal government has not appeared to embrace anything more than the panacea of strong-arm, military approach. Some analysts have suggested that if the government’s approach is to work, it must be accompanied by wide-ranging measures to eradicate the camps of the bandits, while a whole panoply of socio-economic mediation must be instituted. But given the depth of the crisis and its longevity, it is doubtful whether these measures can have more than a short-term or placebo effect.

    The crisis of banditry, especially as exemplified by Zamfara State will, however, not be assuaged by ad hoc measures. Because the whole country is contending with one security crisis or the other, and the military and police are spread thin in nearly all parts of the country, it is time the government showed gumption in examining other issues directly related or tangential to the crisis. The existing diagnosis is faulty, and the prognosis is lacking in surefootedness. Financial intervention is undoubtedly welcome, but what has happened to the trillions of naira allocated by the federation and budgeted in the affected states by their state governments? Can they account for and justify their spending? Would fresh financial intervention not amount to throwing money at a problem that requires fresh thinking and new directions?

    If military and police interventions have proved only partially effective so far, and are in the long run ineffective; and money does not answer to a cancer that is fast metastasizing, then it may be time for the government to examine other ways of running the country, no matter how badly the new ways war against their ethnic sensibilities and stale orthodoxies. The National Assembly early this week angrily suggested state policing as a way out because, as they put it, all crime is local. But deployed in isolation, even this measure will fail to have the desired impact. What the political elite do not want to hear is that the existing structure of the country is fraying at the edges, and rupturing very badly in the middle. It is time, more than ever before, to reconsider the foundations of the country and initiate a total reworking of its structure under a new and more effective arrangement. Tinkering will not mitigate a crisis that is fast building up into a critical and explosive mass.

    Between the past six governments, some of them military, the country has toyed with about three national conferences. Other than tomes of reports, nothing has come out of the fruitless exercises. However, the agitations have not gone away. What is even worse is that much more than agitations, the country is itself fracturing before the very eyes of the country’s leaders who see restructuring as an evil ploy to balkanise Nigeria. They are wrong, naive and impressionistic. If they do not seize the initiative now to conceptualise and manage the needed restructuring to restore the country to the path of peace and development, but prefer to blame political and traditional elites whom they say are complicit in the crisis, the time will come when the tidal wave of events will sweep them away and replace them with something not very pleasant.

    The population of young, angry and alienated Nigerians is growing at an alarming rate, resources are shrinking, economic growth is unable to match the rise in population, attitudes and values are shifting or even morphing dangerously, ethnic and religious relations are fraying, and the political elite insensibly and obstinately operates a costly, contradictory, ponderous and ineffective political system. There can be no worse recipe for disaster than what Nigeria is contending with today. Either the government does not know this, or it is too proud to acknowledge or care about it.

  • Politics, tenacity of office and performance

    As state governments transit to change hands after the last presidential elections in Nigeria it is now clear how many governors  are migrating from the seat of power in our state capitals to the Nigerian  senate   in  Abuja. To  such  former governors it is  a  positive development for it keeps them in power  and perhaps  at a more  prestigious level   at  the federal  level  than  their  posts  in the state  capitals.  For  them  the saying on  Julius   Caesar, Emperor   of  the   Ancient Roman  Empire   that –  for  Caesar it  is better  to be first  in a village  than  second  in Rome –  is  not  applicable.  This is   because   in Abuja,  in our very  Imperial red  seat senate  they  are still  very  much in  power in the legislature  as part of the checks  and balances of our  presidential  system  of  government. That  is what  I want  to label  as tenacity of office  today.   I  will  then go   on to  show  that  it is not that condemnable as long as the new  senators bring impeccable credentials to the senate as former  governors who  performed in  their  previous  assignments  to have earned such  power  promotion  to their new political  assignments.

    Interestingly  the desperation of governors to get  to the senate in Nigeria is best illustrated by the plight of the Imo  State  governor   Okorocha  who  allegedly  put a gun to the head  of the INEC conductor of his election to announce  him winner. A misdeed    for which INEC refused to give him a winner’s  certificate and   for   which  a court in which he filed  a protest  has refused  to consider his case, such  that  he is in a quandary  on how  he  can fulfill  the power  fashion of  governors  becoming senators after their tenures  as governors in Nigeria.

    As  I said  before  performance  matters in the way and manner governors resurrect in our  senate  after their  tenure. This is just plain common sense in that even a primary school student knows that to be  promoted he  must  earn  that  promotion by passing his exams which  indicate good performance.  That  was the humorous way  that  Chief Igbinedion  campaigned for the reelection of his son Lucky  as governor of  Edo  state by  saying  rhetorically  that  if he had  performed in office he  should  be given  another term of office as a reward. So  on the face of it  I  do  not quarrel  with tenacity of office  provided it is anchored on  good  performance which  can  be echoed in the saying  that you  do  not change  a winning team  in  football.  It  is   definitely the same  in politics according to the rules  of tenure  and succession.

    Given  that  the presidential  elections  have come and gone  and the incumbent  president  has  been  reelected one can  safely assume that  the reelection is a reward  for performance in the last  four years of  his first  term  of  office. That  would be a fair and realistic  assessment. But  it is not all  that glitters that is gold and the ruling and victorious party  the  APC  knows that. One  could point out constraints, unexpected,  that made optimum performance impossible like the president’s  sickness;  or  the hijacking of the senate by the senate president and the defections  that  made  the resurrection of  PDP possible  as the war against corruption floundered in the absence of the president and anti  corruption forces rallied and fought back  so  massively  that  the PDP, infamous  for  corruption  got  more states than it deserved in the 2019  elections.  But  every  cloud   has its silver lining.  That  of the APC is the fact  that it  has not allowed itself  to slip into  complacency   in  retaining power  now and in the future. That  is how  I see the   call  by  the National  Leader of the APC  Senator Bola Ahmed  Tinubu   for  the government  to review its policy  on power such  that  Nigerians  can  be able to  thank it as an  agent  of  change  and  economic   empowerment  of Nigerians.  It  is in the light of meaningful  performance in office that one should  view  the call  by the Jagaban  on his government  not to increase  VAT because  of  its dire  economic  consequences  on our productive resources  and the sectors that   are the goose that lays Nigeria’s  golden  eggs in all ramifications for  the Nigerian  economy. In  a way  the Jagaban has played his  part like  the  American  general who  rallied his troops  after a failed assault  by  telling them home  truths  on  their deficiencies  and  prodding them  to victory  with  the admonition   –‘ we  have seen  the enemy  and the enemy  is US.‘

    Let  us  leave Nigeria  for a while  and look  globally  on the way  today’s  topic is playing out in some capitals  of  the world  and  with  their leaders.  In  terms of leaders  who  have not performed  but are  clinging   to power   tenaciously  there is insurrection against  their  tenure in Algeria  and  Sudan.  In Israel  where an  election just  took place the  incumbent PM   Benjamin  Netanyahu  won  a  famous but  close victory by  making  security  and nationalism  his last  ditch  political  assault. In  the  US embattled President  Donald  Trump  who  just  survived the Mueller Investigations on his election in 2016  took  the fight to his enemies  by  prompting his Attorney  General to probe   those  who initiated the Mueller Probe  of his election on the ground of plotting a coup against  his election   thereby   committing treason.  I will   examine  these global events serially.

    In  Algeria 82  years  old   President  Abdelaziz   Bouteflika   after   20  years   in office  finally  gave in and agreed to quit office after weeks of protests  by Algerian  youths  who  said he was too old  to govern  and has ruined their  present and future by  his  poor  leadership that  has made their  economy  moribund  and the youths  massively  jobless. Bouteflika  had stroke and had not  been seen  in public till  the protests  started. Instead  of reading  the handwriting on the wall for him to go,  he came out to sack  his cabinet and clung to power. But the protests continued and he had  to  give  in this week.  A good example on how tenacity of office  cannot  survive  poor leadership  performance.

    That  was  the  situation in Sudan  too where the army propped up the Omar  Al  Bashir ‘s dictatorship  for over three decades and   finally  toppled  it this week. Protests against bread and fuel  prices started in Khartoum, Sudan’s old capital weeks  ago. They  were led by professionals in Sudan especially  doctors who were severely   beaten and manhandled by Bashir’s  henchmen  and security  forces. This week  they used real arms to disperse the protesters and the army finally  asked Bashir  to quit  after 30  years  of ruling without economic progress.

    I  skip  Netanyahu’s victory  for now  and end up with a good example of  leadership performance  in terms of  economic progress   and  good   tenacity  of office,  albeit in controversial  circumstances. That  example is  US President  Donald  Trump who  I initially  labeled  before his election, which I predicted, as the Nemesis of American  politics . Before you  call  me names let  me  give you  a quote from him on his inability to disclose his tax returns  because he is under  audit,  which he claims the US laws  allow. According  to Trump  – I built  a great  company, one of the best companies. I  have some of the  greatest  assets in the world. I did  a good job  and now frankly I don’t care about them. I only  care  about the United States.’ How  many world leaders can  boast  so  credibly    and boldly  on top of a performing economy  in the two  years he had  been in office  against  all  the odds?.  Certainly,  not  many.  But  that is the way  that tenacity of office  can  be beneficial  without protests in any democracy. Once  again, long live the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.