The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Apc: Buhari or Kwankwaso?

    Apc: Buhari or Kwankwaso?

    Last week, I examined the aspirations of General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Kano State Governor, Dr RabiuKwankwaso, for the presidential candidature of the opposition of All Progressives Congress (APC). Does the title of today’s column suggest that Atiku is no more in reckoning for the coveted ticket? No one can credibly make any such claim. Atikuhas formidable political presence. He has an expansive political network mostly inherited from the late General Musa Yar’Adua’s Progressive Democratic Movement (PDM) political machinery. And he has an intimidating war chest that will always make him a strong contender in any race.

    However, in the course of his eventful political career, Atiku has in my view made key strategic errors that have stacked the odds heavily against him in his thirst for the country’s presidency, a position which should ordinarily have been his for the asking. On his emergence as PDP presidential candidate in 1999, General OlusegunObasanjo had opted for Atiku as his running mate in honour of the memory of his late loyal subordinate in the military and political ally, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Atiku was a powerful and influential vice president. Trusted by his boss, who once described their relationship as akin to that between husband and wife, he was practically given a free hand to oversee the running of the economy.

    For some inexplicable reason, Atiku did not have the patience to wait for the expiration of Obasanjo’s two terms in office before seeking the number one position. It apparently got to Obasanjo that Atiku’s aides and associates were behind a subtle campaign for him to adopt the ‘Mandela option’ and quit office after one term. This appeared to have been confirmed when in 2003 Atiku openly sought to challenge OBJ for the PDP’s presidential ticket.

    Having thrown his hat into the ring and enjoying the support of most PDP governors, Atiku should have pursued his ambition to its logical conclusion. Rather, he was persuaded by a reportedly pleading and tearful Obasanjo to back down and support the latter’s second term ambition. That was a key tactical error. Of course, a characteristically vindictive Obasanjo spent the better part of his second term hounding and persecuting his deputy who was rendered completely redundant in office.

    In 2007, Atiku sought to fulfil his presidential ambition on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Of course, he could have won only over Obasanjo’s dead body. Claiming that he could only function within a national party, Atiku was later to abandon the ACN and return to the PDP. That was another major blunder. If he had exhibited political consistency and remained in the ACN, he would probably have no rival for the APC ticket today. Now, on what moral grounds does he seek the ticket of a party that has been nurtured into a viable national platform by the patience, sweat and hard work of others? If he had been offered the presidential ticket of the PDP that he sought in 2011, would Atiku be vying for the APC ticket today?

    Beyond this, one of Atiku’s greatest assets, his financial power, is also a major liability for him. Perhaps because of his career at the much derided Nigeria Customs, persistent unsavoury insinuations continue to be made about the source and magnitude of his wealth that could overshadow his positive attributes as a candidate. Furthermore, despite his affluence and his having served as vice president for eight years, there is little indication that an Atiku candidacy can generate the kind of popular grassroots support in the North that a Kwakwanso or Buhari can. That is why he is a more risky candidate for the APC to take a chance on than the other two.

    Even though he has expressed support for the emergence of a consensus presidential candidate for the APC as the party’s constitution provides for, there is yet no indication that Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso will not pursue his ambition to its logical conclusion at the presidential primaries. There is no doubt that he is eminently qualified to be president of Nigeria. His supporters have pointed to his youthfulness relative to Buhari suggesting that the latter step down in his favour for this reason. But then, age is not a determinant of competence or integrity even though Kwankwaso has shown that he has both qualities in abundance.

    Kwankwaso has rich political and managerial experience. He has served creditably at various times as Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, a two term governor of Kano state, Minister of Defence, a board member of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) and Presidential Special Envoy to Somalia and Darfur. Even more remarkably, his integrity has never been questioned in all the public offices he has held. Not even when he left the PDP and has since become one of the most vocal and incisive critics of President Goodluck Jonathan has the ruling party been able to threaten Kwankwanso with the EFCC as it is normally wont to do.

    As I said last week, however, the key to victory in next year’s election will be for both parties to record maximum turn out of voters in their respective strongholds while registering a respectable electoral presence outside their strongholds. Thus, the APC should seek to maximise its electoral advantage  in the North-East, North-West, parts of the North-Central and the South-West and try to make as much impact as it can in the South-South, South-East and those areas of the North-Central where the PDP has a strong electoral base.

    In that case, Buhari has a decisive edge over Kwankwaso in terms broad, grassroots voter appeal across the North. This was demonstrated in 2011, where his CPC garnered close to 12 million votes in the North despite its relative structural and financial weakness. The spontaneous enthusiasm of the massive crowd at his presidential declaration in Abuja this week shows that the ascetic General retains his charismatic magnetic pull, which is second to none in the north. That certainly was not a rented crowd.

    Again, it will be much easier for the PDP to campaign against Kwankwaso than a Buhari. Faced with a Kwankwaso as opponent, the PDP will contend that he was part and parcel of them until very recently. They will argue that he shares in the credit for their successes during the several years he was in the party and must also share in bearing the blame for the failures of the party during the period. The already fragile distinction between both parties will be further blurred by a Kwankwaso or Atiku candidacy. This is not so with Buhari who has steadfastly distanced himself from the PDP since 1999 even though it is unfashionable for Nigerian politicians to remain in opposition since identification with the centre is the easiest route to personal material accumulation.

    In terms of integrity and incorruptibility, Buhari stands second to none. He was at various times General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Division of the Nigerian Army, Militay Governor of the states that today comprise the North-East zone, Minister of Petroleum, Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and Head of State. Yet, Buhari does not own any oil bloc. He does not own any property in Abuja, Lagos or outside the country. His only houses are in his native Daura and Kaduna. This is truly remarkable and underscores why he is best placed to tackle the scourge of corruption in the country, which is at the root of most of our other national ills including insecurity. Of course, Buhari is not infallible. He has his own weak points including arbitrariness and disrespect for the rule of law when he was military Head of State. But then, he is from all indications wiser and mellower now and will, in any case, be operating in a democratic milieu.

    If the criterion of vote maximisation is also to be applied to the APC vice presidential slot, then the South-South and South-East should not be in contention for the position. The average South-South voter will prefer the region having the presidency to vice president while the South-East is unlikely to go with the APC even if the party fields an Igbo presidential candidate! I have argued in the past that competence rather than religious sentiment should determine the APC’s presidential ticket. However, given the Jonathan presidency’s divisive manipulation of religious sentiments, the safest bet for the APC will be a Christian vice presidential candidate from the South-West who enjoys the support of key leaders of the party in the region. This is particularly so because a section of the Yoruba political elite has aligned with Jonathan and must not be given a propaganda ammunition against the party in the region.

  • Amaju, watch your back (3)

    Amaju, watch your back (3)

    So, Super Eagles can win a match? One pundit asked this writer on Wednesday night. He said the heaven should always open up to help the Nigerian side win all its matches. He reckoned that the rain helped to energise our players because he noticed that they didn’t finish previous games the way they started. What won’t we say when Super Eagles win matches? Thankfully, there are no complaints about the pitch, referee or the weather from the players or coaches. Hmmm. Up Nigeria!

    The aficionado went on to tell me that the fans were not fooled by the 3-1 victory over Sudan as alert security operatives inside the stadium stopped them from venting their anger on the coaches. At the stands, the cynic, who was at the stadium, spoke of various types of placards with one message – Keshi must go!

    This aficionado couldn’t understand how the fans smuggled bottles and cudgels into the stadium. He was happy that Nigeria didn’t lose the game to Sudan; otherwise, there would have been carnage at the Abuja Stadium. Indeed, he told me that it would have been the worst mayhem in football history.

    For the record, my pundit is a medical doctor and a card-carrying supporter of Arsenal FC of London. He puts his money where his mouth is and he asked me: “Did you see how the players hugged the chief coach with every goal that the team scored?”

    “Ade, are you still there?” he blurted. “Yes, doctor, but can you say that Emmanuel Emenike hugging the coach means that they have settled?” “You’ve started again, Ade; don’t go there. The common enemy now is Nigeria’s qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco next year. The coach dares not assert his authority like he has been doing. He has come down from his high horse. He can see clearly,” the doctor said.

    “Ade, you have only asked one question, but I know that you are saving your comments for Saturday.” I retorted: “Doctor, I no know book o!” “There you go again. Before you drop Ade, do you think the coaches should be sacked based on what we have seen?” “Doctor, I don’t work at NFF,” I replied. Poh, poh, poh, poh… the network stopped the conversation and I was relieved.

    I’m not a seer. I warned about the grave danger this technical crew was putting the Eagles into with the senseless change of winning squads. I couldn’t understand why coaches who played the game at the highest levels wouldn’t appreciate the fact that good players are brats and need to be managed. I was worried about the poor scouting system at the NFF which the coaches exploited to pick unqualified players to prosecute our matches. Why it took us so long to see these problems until it affected our chances of qualifying for the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is puzzling. The scrappy win over Sudan is the result of our concerted effort to force the coaches to do the right things. The way the players were treated after the 1-0 loss to Sudan in Khartoum at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja may have informed the approach to Wednesday evening’s game.

    I have seen from my visits to several sporting events around the globe that every sport is big business everywhere but in Nigeria, where emotions rule our judgment in picking those to direct the affairs of this lucrative industry. We delay decisions even when the roof has fallen on our heads. We believe in miracles as if others don’t worship God. We are scared of telling people the truth, until things have fallen apart as we have seen with our quest to participate at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated for Morocco. It serves us right.

    Super Eagles’ likely unceremonious exit from the Africa Cup of Nations was a disaster waiting to happen. Did I hear you say what does this writer mean by likely exit? We can still qualify arithmetically but not with these coaches who loathe our big players. Congo has one away game against Sudan. Nigeria has one home game against South Africa. Nigeria needs to beat Congo in Point Noire for us to have seven points, the same as the Congolese, except that we would have a superior goals advantage, depending on how many we score.

    Congo would need to do the impossible – beat Sudan at home in the last game. Nigeria would be playing a South Africa, who would have qualified already. Bafana Bafana won’t come to Uyo to fight, knowing that they have secured one of the qualification tickets. Can we achieve this feat? Yes, but these coaches must go.

    We embraced coaches who wanted to relate with the president on football matters even when they were not politicians. Of course, this caveat (because it was granted) made the sports minister redundant. We tolerated coaches who ridiculed the country by resigning their appointment on a foreign radio, even when the minister (Bolaji Abdullahi) was with them in South Africa.

    Rather than accept their resignation letters, we begged them. We received them with pomp and ceremony and swept under the carpet the heinous crime of humiliating us when we ought to be celebrating a feat last recorded 19 years ago. The world watched in awe as our players and coaches were decorated with honours, given cash and houses while the federation chiefs and, indeed, the sports minister were made bystanders at a ceremony where they ought to have been co-actors. Behold, the coaches were told that they had direct access to Mr. President.

    With tails tucked in-between their legs, NFF men left the seat of government dejected, unable to believe what hit them. Of course, like the proverbial turkey, the coaches derided the federation chiefs. They told the world that they were being owed several months’ salaries and allowances. They colluded with the players to embarrass us by refusing to travel to Brazil for the 2013 Confederations Cup. The former minister’s attempts to plead with them on the matter while they were in Namibia were forestalled by those who beat their chests that they are disciplinarians. Instead, we sent the money to them through the embassy, sweeping under the carpet the ignominious act of allowing the aircraft chartered by FIFA to take them to Brazil empty.

    Things got so bad that the coaches kept telling us of being wooed by as many as seven countries, yet they kept our job. Emboldened, the coaches and the players disgraced us further during the World Cup by refusing to train for the game against France until they received their appearance fees, which many countries at the Mundial had not received.

    Rather than call their bluff, we panicked and sent $3.85 million cash to them before the game in Brazil. Instead of keeping the sharing of the cash till after the France tie, the players and coaches disbursed it until the wee hours of the game, which Nigeria lost 2-0.

    Ordinarily, we ought to have sacked the coaches, given the glut of Nigerians who ply their trade in Europe and the Diaspora. We didn’t. We celebrated the fact that we qualified for the second round by winning one game, drawing one and losing one in 2014. We compared this feat to the one we achieved in 1994, when we won two matches and lost one.

    With this scenario, it was easy for the coaches to insult our sensibilities with their mindless invitation of unqualified players for our matches, with the NFF and even the minister unable to make any inputs. They hid under the unholy pact which gives them freehand to ruin the Eagles, as it has turned out now. The big questions now are: who will pick the next set of players to prosecute our last two matches against Congo and South Africa? Will the coaches not ask for new contracts before the two matches? Will we wait until we are arithmetically out of the qualifiers before asking the coaches to go? Who would replace the sacked coaches? Will it be another set of Nigerians or the usual journeymen European coaches who have paraded Africa for years?

    We want a manager with an orientation for encouraging football academies to groom our youths at the grassroots. Such a manager must have a template to train our domestic league coaches. He also should have the clout to expose our budding stars to big clubs in Europe the way Clemens Westerhof discovered, nurtured and exposed players, such as Uche Okechukwu, Friday Elaho, Benedict Iroha, George Finidi, Daniel Amokachi et al. Westerhof’s initiative made these raw talents achieve the feats they recorded both for Nigeria and their foreign clubs. Their exploits compelled foreign scouts to invade Nigeria in search of other players. Little wonder, our players excelled in Europe during Westerhof’s time.

    We are tired of Nigerian coaches. Their eras have been dogged with prayers for miracles and mathematical permutations for qualification tickets to major competitions. The Eagles must fly again. Certainly not under Nigerian coaches – until they change their orientation. May we never go through this tortuous path again, Amen.

  • Global health (Ebola) insurgency and politics

    AFTER an African Football Confederation match against Cameroon this week, a Sierra Leonean footballer was shown on global media carrying a placard saying that he is a Sierra Leonian and not a virus. This was his way of protesting against the way the Sierra Leonian team was discriminated against by the host team they played against in that qualifying encounter this week because Sierra Leone is one of the four W African nations reeling from the unfortunate and lethal grip of the fearful ebola virus. Given the reaction from some quarters to protect their kith and keen from the ebola contagion one can say to the Sierra Leonean star that he has not seen anything yet, definitely not even the tip of the iceberg, in terms of ebola virus hostility and resentment.

    This is because this same week Jamaica and Guyana , black Caribbean nations, have banned travels from W African nations having ebola namely Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Worse still but for US President Barak Obama putting his feet down in that nation, US opposition Republicans were this week asking the US to close shop on travels from West Africa and are using this to play politics by accusing Obama that he is not doing enough to protect American lives at home and abroad by insisting that it is not yet time to impose travel bans on W Africa. Since midterm elections are due in the US in some key states the Republicans want to make ebola management and public safety an issue to make them win the six states they need to win the majority in the US senate back again. Obama has kowtowed in a way by promising to appoint an Ebola czar just like the US did after 9/11 in 2001 by appointing an Home land Security czar. Which means that politics has raised the ebola issue to the same priority and high alert level as terrorism insurgency and Islamic State in America even though most US citizens and even health suppliers and managers are not sure yet what ebola symptoms really are in order to identify and quarantine real and potential victims in the US

    Homeland not to talk of America’s vast porous borders. With this Obama anti – ebola and anti- travel ban policy in mind we shall proceed to look at issues in other lands where real politics is taking place like in Brazil. In the UN where new five members of the UN Security Council were elected this week and Nigeria where the normally austere former Head of State picked a presidential nomination form for a whopping 27.5m naira and complained loudly at the cost . We round up in a mixture of ebola and Nigerian politics involving former INEC boss Professor Maurice Iwu and his present write ups on the efficacy of bitter kola or garcinia kola in treating the ebola virus and the hangover of credibility hovering over that marketing effort, from the rigged elections in Nigeria between 2005 and 2010 when Iwu was Nigeria’s all powerful INEC czar and boss.

    We start again with Brazil where incumbent President Dilmar Rousseff is involved in a run off election with business magnate Aecio Neves in a ding dong battle for power in the run off elections fixed for October 26 after Neves beat popular candidate Marina Silva to take the second place in the October 5 presidential elections in Brazil. The issues in the elections are very political in Brazil with no name callings or abuses. The problems are corruption, nepotism , and provision of infrastructure and the maintenance of the poverty alleviation programme of the Workers Party which is the party of the incumbent President Dilmar as she is popularly called in Brazil. Neves had accused Dilmar of corruption and channelling funds to her party illegally. In return Dilmar accused her opponent of nepotism in picking his relatives for various positions when he was a governor before. With regard to poverty alleviation Neves accused Dilmar of backsliding on the gains of lifting millions of Brazillians out of poverty during the tenure of her charismatic predecessor as president – Lula da Silva. It is pertinent to note that Neves had not made an issue out of the embarrassing riots that dogged Brazil as it prepared for the last World Cup in that nation. This is because Dilmar handled this admirably including the painful crushing defeat that disgraced a mighty soccer giant like Brazil out of the World Cup on their own soil. This is respect for performance and capability even in the heat of campaign for power by an opponent who knows the sensitivities of the Brazilian electorate to look for facts and their love for the game of soccer and its managememt in Brazil which has brought soccer stars like Romario to the Brazilian senate for criticising corrupt sports officials during and before the last World Cup.

    Compare this professional approach to issues to that in Nigeria where even before the president has declared he is contesting his spokesmen are already after those who have declared intention to contest the presidential elections. APC presidential aspirant former General Muhammed Buhari has been branded a serial loser just for saying that the Nigeria has never had it so bad in terms of corruption under the Jonathan administration and its inability to contain the insurgency of Boko Haram which he said boldly is ‘godless‘. The Presidency reacted to the Buhari criticism by saying that the common man values the efforts of the administration better. Which again is ridiculous as the Chibok girls issues and the conduct of elections in Ekiti and Osun have shown that the Centre or fulcrum of power in Nigeria is totally out of touch with the expectations, sufferings and aspirations of Nigerians as it is using Hobbes law of might is right to grab power in elections, which should be conducted in an atmosphere of peace and concord instead of the recent creation of a garrison mentality of intimidation and the muzzling of the judiciary and the trampling on the rule of law with impunity and violence. As we approach the 2015 elections the signs are ominous for a free and fear elections given the no holds barred attitude of federal incumbency to an election which is a very important milestone to a true democracy in this nation. Political responsibility and accountability are therefore urgently required of presidential aspirants as we approach the 2015 elections even though we are at war. Certainly it is the army fighting the insurgency war and not the politicians and there is need for caution and restraint even as we tell each other our faults and shortcomings. It is in that light that one can appreciate the concern of Buhari over the huge cost of nomination papers to contest. He said he had to borrow money from a bank to get the money and I am sure most people believed him. I read somewhere that some people his home state, Katsina, were trying to raise money for him but may be those will use such funds now to help him pay back the bank. What this means painfully is that political participation in our electoral process has become oligarchic and if you are not rich or really very opulent, you cannot compete for power in Nigeria. Which again says clearly that the playing ground is not level for political participation and that makes a mockery of universal adult suffrage and throws us back into the past in the history of nations like the US and Britain where you can not vote or be voted for unless you have property. Which in our context means if you are not a millionaire you just cannot sniff the presidency at your level. That really is quite bothersome for the quality of politics in Nigeria.

    A similar concern on inequity permeated the elections of five nations into the UN Security Council this week. The nations were Venezuela, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain. These nations are happy to be elected but they know that they have no powers in the Security Council where five nations namely US, Russia, UK, France and China have the veto power to crush any decision of the UN General Assembly which was what China and Russia used to veto the US, France and the UK’s effort to place a no fly zone over Syria which escalated the Syrian crisis and led to the emergence of Islamic State and the present flurry of unilateral air strikes to stop the nefarious beheading activities of Islamic State as they head towards Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. However it is the failure of Turkey to get elected and that of Venezuela that interests us in this UN Security Council election. I am sure that Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s late president will be laughing in his grave at his beloved nation’s election into the UN security Council. This is because this provides another opportunity for that nation to show gratitude to Cuba for supporting it always and treating Hugo so dearly with his cancer before he gave up the ghost. Also Hugo’s successors have a great opportunity to lambast the US at the highest UN organ and that really was the main thing that gave Hugo Chavez great joy in his lifetime. Also Turkey which lost to New Zealand and Spain in claiming the two European spots now knows that the hood does not make the monk. 50 years of application for EU membership does not add up to European approbation especially at a time that Turkey was expected to move against Islamic state and it just could not find way to help the Kurds in its region. Surely one good turn deserves another.

    That really is what the brilliant marketing effort on bitter kola for ebola, of the former INEC boss, Maurice Iwu, a distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy is all about. Until recently not many people knew that Professor Iwu was such a genius in his field of study. The rigged 2007 elections masked all that brilliance on the efficacy of garcinia kola – bitter kola – in treating many ailments like throat infections, bronchitis, head and chest colds, liver and lung ailments. I have read articles by Iwu on these issues but I always end up remembering the rigged elections between 2005 and 2010 when he was sacked . But now I think for our sake we should listen to his call that ebola can be vanquished by bitter kola from a phamacognostic perspective. I read somewhere that in the nineties ebola fever was reduced by bitter kola. If that is true we should listen to Iwu as he has said it, because he knows his onions in his field. The rigged elections should not make us short sighted in heeding good medical advice on ebola. No matter where it comes from or the bitter memories they invoke.

  • Nigerian Senate, Turkey – the war On Boko Haram and Islamic State

    I listened to a TV debate on the Boko Haram insurgency this week and I was impressed by the quality of the debate as well as the sincerity of the contributors on the floor of our senate. Indeed I was very pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard. It reminded me of history and the famed debates of the Senators of Ancient Rome when Rome was a Republic under the Caesars who later subverted the senate and turned it into a Republican Monarchy with the help of the Praetorian Guards, the elite military corps then responsible for the personal security of the Emperor of the Roman Empire, which was the official title of the Ancient Caesars.

    The Nigerian Senate later adopted a resolution that announced and accepted that Nigeria is at war with Boko Haram because it has seized swathes of Nigerian territory and all hands must be on deck to prosecute that war. The motion debated and adopted at the Senate was – Threat to National Sovereignty and Territorial integrity of Nigeria by insurgents. The Senate leadership is to meet the President urgently with the resolution adopted from the motion. At a stage during the debate the Senate President David Mark even said the issue of elections was not on the table as what was important was for Nigeria to prosecute the war successfully with all hands on deck. Which on the surface could mean that the

    Senate was resolute and willing on prosecuting the war, a situation which the debate and events outside it would seem to contradict in a rather surprising way. This is because a war needs to be prosecuted by the army under the command of its Commander in Chief and the war performance of the Nigerian Army took such a battering from the comments of Senators at the debate such that it is apparent that there is no love lost between the two institutions to the chagrin of the Senate President who tried to paper the wall of senatorial disenchantment, with a dexterous use of his high office of coordinator and moderator of debate. I will shed more light on this later.

    Let me bring in another global personality facing the dilemma of our Senate President in the prosecution of a war similar to that of Nigeria and Boko Haram. That leader is Turkey’s strongman Reccep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s new executive president and leader of the Islamist AK Party which has been the most successful Islamist party of modern times to have won elections back to back three times in Turkey since 2002. Indeed when the party he founded in 2001 won its first elections in secular and army protected Turkey in 2002, he could not become PM immediately because he was found guilty of having publicly recited an Islamist poetry and that was against Turkey’s law at that time. It was because AK had a majority in Parliament that the law was changed and he became PM while Abdullah Gul who was PM then became president, albeit ceremonial.

    Now Erdogan’s party has silenced the army over its traditional secular watch on Turkey’s politics and jailed some former military presidents for staging military coups. Yet his AK Party kept winning elections such that he was able to get a referendum to change the constitution to a presidential one and now he is the executive president of Turkey. He has however never hidden his love of Islam and the fact that Turkey can be Islamist, European and modern. He condemned the regime of President Assad of Syria when it started killing its people and has passed resolution through Turkey’s Parliament declaring war on Islamic State. When asked to lead the way as a regional leader however, the bold and resolute Erdogan suddenly developed feet of clay this week. Instead he is finding excuses. He has asked the US to declare a no fly zone over Turkey to protect it from the Syrian Airforce. This was a Turkey ready before to take on Syria, solo, at the beginning of the Syrian crisis. He is reluctant to arm Turkish Kurds to fight Islamic State because he feared they may use the weapons against Turkey later. Which could be a legitimate fear but an expedient risk that he must take now given the location and theatre of war in the region. The truth is that Erdogan is yet to reach that breaking point that the Saudis, the Egyptians and the UAE have reached in not only drawing line in the sand for Islamic State but deciding it has breached it and fighting it to save the corporate and global image of Islam as a peaceful religion. Which really is a real pity for a man who has done so much to give Islam such a successful democratic image and competitive spirit in a region which is very replete with authoritarianism and violence.

    This brings us back to the drift of the debate on the motion on war in the senate this week. There were three strands of contributions. One was from senators whose territories were under the siege and capture of Boko Haram. They begged the rest of Nigeria, the federal might to come to their aid and they said this with dignity and pride. They did not cry. They could have. But as a fellow Nigerian I wept for them. A Senator said Maiduguri is now the biggest refugee centre in the world from people fleeing into it from the Boko Haram ceaseless onslaught with all public buildings occupied. The second type of speech warned that it was the turn of the North East now but it could spread to the rest of the nation especially Benue the state of the Senate President. The third strand of contribution berated the army for not adding value in protecting the nation and prosecuting the war while it called on retired army generals to rally round to save the nation in prosecuting a successful war against Boko Haram. I am sure that you will agree with me that the quality of the debate was high and could rival that of ancient Rome. But then let us look backwards a bit in our history to see the way forward in fighting this Boko Haram war.

    Ever since the civil war ended we have had coups led by army generals and the story is that the army has always been in control with the Airforce and Navy as supporting casts largely. There is no need to mention any particular junta by name. It is however sufficient to mention that the air force budget was generally muzzled to prevent the rise of air power for domestic coups. Now that airsrikes are the modern currency of air power as ably demonstrated by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE not to mention the Almighty US which calls the shots from the air while dodging land battles, the Boko Haram operates with the knowledge that we have no air power to destroy it and operates on our territory with impunity. A Senator at the debate said he can not say out what Nigerian soldiers guarding his area said of his area command. That really sums up our impotence in terms of air power and morale of our troops. How to resolve that should be a national political and military emergency.

    There was no doubt that references to the military did not go down well with the Senate President at that debate. But I was impressed with his comment that election was not on the table which meant that this war took priority over the 2015 elections. I was therefore surprised no end to read that the Senate President, former Governor Gbenga Daniel and another person visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo a Board of Trustees Member of the ruling PDP who had developed cold feet over that role to ask him to forgive the party and resume that role. Of course in resuming the BOT role he will be expected to support the re election of the president which caused his hostility before. Or to tell the president to forget that and prosecute the war first? Now again General Obasanjo was a former head of state who although he never planned a coup but was a major beneficiary at the assassination of the late General Murtala Muhammed whom he succeeded as Head of State.

    Undoubtedly between the Senate president and the reluctant BOT member of PDP there is enough military, business, political and strategic acumen to make Boko Haram a thing of the past sooner than later. Why the Commander in Chief who listens to both and is beholden to them and their experience for being in power in the first instance, still has to be consulted that we are at war, is still one of the wonders of the modern world to me . Some day I pray fervently that we solve urgently the Boko Haram riddle out of the enigma it has so much become before our very eyes, before it consumes all our thinking faculties. Amen.

  • Amaju, watch your back (2)

    Amaju, watch your back (2)

    Today will be a watershed in the annals of our football, if Sudan beats Nigeria in one of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Khartoum. Ordinarily, a game between Nigeria and Sudan should be a stroll in the park, given our players’ pedigree in international football. But it is not. Reason: the coaches’ seeming penchant for changing the squad for inexplicable reasons.

    As African champions, the Super Eagles have been tipped by most pundits to top the group without qualms. The story is different now with the Eagles. They are a divided house with plenty of misgivings between the coaches and players, even though the coaches don’t want to accept this fact. Some of the Europe-based stars are grumbling about the quality of players in the squad. They are scared to confront the coaches, having seen what befell Ikechukwu Uche for daring to criticise the coaches’ tactics during the turbulent stages of the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won.

    Yet, it is instructive to note that the two countries (Congo and South Africa) have each won an away game. This away win marker is what the Eagles and coaches must aim at, not the repulsive statement by one of the coaches that he met the Eagles tottering at inception and groomed the players to stardom. What this corky coach failed to say was that most of the players he took to South Africa were players who plied their trade in Europe. The coach must be told that it takes more than luck for any black man to keep a playing shirt in any European club. Besides, this writer would also want to ask the coach whose fault it would be if Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2015 edition in Morocco?

    Suddenly, it has dawned on the coaches that there will be climatic conditions in Sudan. There are also pockets of complaints over the reason why the game should be played on artificial turf. Those who picked the lopsided set of players are ruing the late injuries to some of the invited players. Sadly, one of them, Michael Babatunde, was injured one week before the team list was released.  Yet he was selected. Akpan sustained an injury while playing for Reading FC in England about the same time Babatunde limped out of a club match, yet he too was selected. That Babatunde and Akpan are injured would not shock their European club managers. Rather they would be wondering the kind of scouting system we have here and the calibre of coaches in the team. Indeed, what do the coaches expect the players to say if they are asked about the state of their injuries? Will a player tell his coach that he is unfit, if picked for a game against Sudan, where a victory fetches each player $10,000? The talk of the Eagles flying in chartered aircraft is cheap publicity. The Eagles have been travelling by such means. It is interesting that coaches who once complained about using such means of transportation into high altitude areas are demanding for it now. This is not the first time we are travelling by chartered aircraft and getting the desired results.

    We are in this situation because we have coaches who don’t listen. Since we won the Africa Cup of Nations, they have handled matters concerning the team like their personal estates. They have brazenly invited recuperating players and those who ply their trade in novelty leagues such as China, to the Eagles. The immediate backlash of such unscrupulous invitation of players will be Nigeria’s exit (God forbid), if Sudan beats The Eagles tonight in Khartoum. Not even a draw is good for Nigeria.

    But can the Eagles win tonight? Yes, given the Nigerian can-do spirit. Will this spartan spirit be all that we require to beat Sudan? Yes; not the coaches’ outdated style of play, poor match reading abilities and appalling changes. The players should resolve to win this game for Nigerians by playing to the best of their abilities. Many a Nigerian fan has died watching the Eagles since they returned to the “wobbling and fumbling” era.

    The Eagles must know that the Sudanese are wounded lions, having lost their first two matches. A second home loss will be unacceptable to their nationals; hence they would adopt any method to secure a draw, if they cannot beat the Eagles. Eagles must play like Trojans. They must forget about the disadvantages of playing on artificial turfs. Many of them earned their European club contracts playing for our national teams. This is one game they must ‘win’ for the fans, who want a reassuring victory in our quest to clinch one of the group’s two qualification tickets. It is an achievable feat.

    However, my joy looking at the future of the Eagles is that the new NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick, has stated that the coaches won’t be allowed to pick players at their whims and caprices. Well said, Amaju. I just hope you don’t recant on this. Amaju told media men in one of his interviews that: “We are going to create a technical study group that would build data bank of Nigerian players playing abroad and how they play regularly.

    “We would have A-league players, B-league players and C-league players, as the case may be. If, for example you have someone playing in the A-league and scoring goals, you cannot bring someone from China to come and bench that person. We cannot allow that. We will give him a pool, where he picks players from. That is the way it is done all over the world.”

    We are at the crossroad. We are on a familiar terrain where pundits leaving that task of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco to permutations, where we pray and fast that the teams ahead of us lose their remaining matches. We always leave such critical aspects of our preparations till the last minute. One cynic told me that such crazy periods give some people the opportunity to make money.

    I dismissed him, insisting that we must never give Nigerian coaches the freehand to run the Super Eagles. He agreed but insisted that the NFF wouldn’t have the courage to make the Eagles coaches subservient to the federation. I laughed heartily, knowing who Pinnick is, when it comes to taking decisions. I told the cynic that Amaju can sack the coaches, no matter whose ox is gored, if it would ensure that sanity reigns in the team. The fellow took a bet, promising me an all- expenses paid trip to Dubai. I turned down the offer because it was too cheap. I didn’t want to waste his money.

    So when I entered my office on Monday to discuss the stories for the next day, I was told that Amaju was on Supersports television, where he informed Nigerians that the chief coach, Stephen Keshi need technical help. Was I shocked? Never. Readers of this column know my views on the coaches’ tactics – playing two holding midfielders and asking the wing players to fall back into the midfield to help, was obsolete and would  crumble, if we play against teams with more men in that department. Their tactical changes during matches are puzzling. They create more problems for the team. The coaches have refused to subject their lists for scrutiny.

    Amaju struck the nail on its head when he stated categorically that Eagles’ problems rest not with the players but the head coach. The coach doesn’t like to be told his team’s faults. His man-management is poor. Keshi’s bloated ego has affected his relationship with the players. This idea of the coach saying that he is the god on the training grounds is wrong. Keshi, Madabuchi, like the easterners will say. He needs to be told that he won’t remain there if the players want to sabotage his efforts. He must learn to accept mistakes made by the team when it loses. This idea of always taking the credit when the team wins must stop. I know that Keshi is an avowed Catholic. Why he refuses to forgive his transgressors baffles me. He ought to have known the Christian doctrine of penitence.

    Last word on Ike Uche

     

    Thursday newspapers screamed with the story of Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi urging Nigerians not to divide the team with suggestions that he needs Ikechukwu Uche. He went on to say that Uche will never play for the Eagles under his watch. He has a right to say what pleases him. But this country is bigger than Keshi. If Uche is our best in Europe, NFF men must insist on his invitation, especially now that the team is fumbling.

    One insider in the Eagles told me that it was after the team’s Secretary, Dayo Enebi, pleaded with Keshi that he included him in the last squad. The secretary’s interaction with NFF chief compelled Enebi to call Uche. Of course, Uche expressed surprise at his sudden consideration for the Eagles after the 2014 World Cup. He told Enebi that the coach ought to have called him to discuss his plans for the two games as it is done in other climes, instead of him reading of his invitation in newspaper.

    Enebi took Uche’s message to Keshi. He directed that the Villarreal FC of Spain’s striker should be dropped. Was it wrong for Uche to have asked the coach to talk with him? Is it not from such discussions that coaches know the physical conditions of their players? Does it not show that Keshi didn’t talk with Uche? After all, Uche told the media in Spain that he didn’t talk with Keshi. Amaju, please get Uche to sit face-to-face with Keshi to iron out their differences. Nigeria needs her best players.

    Amaju must get the coaches to work with the body’s technical committee. We have the players to make the Africa Cup of Nations our birthright. We would have beaten Congo and South Africa groggy with goals if the coaches had put aside their pettiness to pick our best.

    This is the truth.

  • Awaiting apc’s presidential ticket

    Awaiting apc’s presidential ticket

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was only being strategic and rational when it decided on Dr Goodluck Jonathan as its consensus candidate for the 2015 presidential election. For one, in our perverse political environment, an incumbent spurned by his own party could work for the opposition’s victory. Again, Jonathan has been tagged as clueless and underperforming by the opposition. If he is denied the PDP’s ticket through competitive primaries, that would only be a vindication of the critics’ low estimation of Jonathan’s performance. What moral justification will the PDP then have to seek support for another candidate on its platform?

    Furthermore, Jonathan may well be the best candidate that the PDP can offer. His administration has some achievements to its credit. There has in recent times been some improvement in electricity supply at least here in Lagos. The hitherto moribund Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has been resuscitated to some degree. Despite the exaggerations of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr AkinwumiAdesina, there are important strides in the sector. But then, this exactly is the problem. If President Jonathan’s record in office is the best the PDP can offer Nigeria, the party deserves to be massively voted out of power at the centre next year.

    The country was generating approximately 4000 MW of electricity in 1999. Today, the power being generated is only slightly over 4000 MW. Yet, over $20 billion has been expended on the sector in the last 15 years. The rail system that the Jonathan administration crows so loudly of is still essentially primitive, archaic and a disgrace to a country of Nigeria’s stature and resources. Unemployment has attained stratospheric heights. Most strategic federal highways across the country are in catastrophic condition. The vast majority of Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 1999.

    That is why next year’s general elections will be the most critical electoral contest yet in the country’s political history. Despite the persistence of a large degree of political decay and rot in the country, there are impressive signs of democratic progress and consolidation. The party system has become more stable and balanced even if political actors continue to engage in acts of irresponsible vagrancy and ideological promiscuity. There has been a phenomenal growth in the political consciousness and sophistication of the people. The electoral system is systematically gaining greater autonomy from executive control and partisan influences. Recent decisive and landmark judicial decisions in Adamawa and Nassarawa states, for example, show that the judiciary as an arm of government is in reality steadily growing in stature and authority in spite of the passing, transient and ultimately futile aberration in Ekiti state.

    Against this background, everything is set for an epic battle next year for the country’s presidency with the real possibility of change being effected through the ballot box. All eyes are thus on the APC and the configuration of the presidential ticket it will present to confront President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls. One of the party’s leading aspirants, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has an expansive political network and a stupendously deep pocket. Yet, the goodwill he enjoys in certain influential elite circles does not translate into massive grassroots support in any part of the country. Furthermore, despite his formidable media machinery, Atiku has not been able to dispel negative perceptions of the source of his wealth.

    Another notable aspirant is the Kano state governor, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso. By several credible accounts, he has performed well and raised Kano to a higher pedestal of excellence. He is articulate and I am impressed by the fact that he has consistently published the minutes of the weekly executive council meetings including all contracts awarded since his inception in office. But then, a key determinant of the 2015 presidential election will be the ability of the parties to maximally mobilise the electorate to turn out to vote in their respective strongholds. In that case, Dr Kwankwaso may not be the greatest electoral asset that the APC has to mobilise the highest number of votes from the north.

    In the same vein, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, another presidential aspirant, has made his mark as a dogged trade unionist, a brilliant labour economist, an articulate debater and a transformational governor of Edo state. But what would be the incentive for the average South-South voter to prefer him to Dr Jonathan who is from the zone and is already in power? In my view, Comrade Oshiomhole and the Rivers state governor, RotimiAmaechi, can at best help the APC to make a significant impact in a South-South zone that is undeniably Jonathan’s electoral stronghold.

    If capacity to galvanise massive voter turnout in his political base is a major consideration, then General MuhammaduBuhari is clearly the aspirant that can lead APC to victory. Even though he is no money bag, Buhari enjoys cult-like support among the masses of the north as demonstrated in the 2011 presidential election. What he lacked in 2011 was substantial support outside the north. The APC as a national platform helps to remedy that deficiency and makes him a formidable presidential contender.

    But more important than where Buhari comes from is who he is. His anti-corruption credentials are impeccable and incomparable. He is disciplined and ascetic and stands in sharp contrast to the monumental corruption and impunity that defines the Jonathan administration. A distinguished and tested general, he has the experience and will power to tackle the insecurity that currently paralyses the country. Another advantage of a Buhari presidency is that since he is now 74, he can be persuaded to be a one -term president like Mandela. Indeed, that should be a pre-condition for key stakeholders of the party to give him their support. Once Buhari has given his word, he can be trusted to keep it.

    If Buhari emerges as APC presidential candidate, who will be his best choice as running mate? Here the party has a rich pool of competent and electable persons to choose from. They include well known political figures like former governor of Lagos state and a key architect of the formation of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, incumbent governors whose tenures would have ended by next year such as Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Dr Kayode Fayemi, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, or even competent technocrats like former Lagos State Attorney General, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Ben Akabueze, current commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos state or Mr Dele Alake, former Lagos state commissioner for Information and Strategy. All the divisive religious and ethno-regional schemes of the Jonathan presidency will be of microscopic electoral consequence if APC offers Nigerians a ticket that stands for incorruptibility, competence and discipline. Given his appalling performance in office, Dr Jonathan is an eminently beatable incumbent but the ball is in APC’s court.

     

    ……Fayose and the Ekiti conundrum

    It is remarkable that while the Dr KayodeFayemi administration in Ekiti is winding down with grace and dignity showcasing an assortment of completed projects, Mr Ayo Fayose, the governor-elect, is preparing to assume office in the wake of a vicious, barbaric and unprecedented assault on the judiciary by his supporters. But what is playing out in Ekiti is in my view a conflict between elite and mass political cultures. The Ekiti elite, represented by the E-11 are clearly ill at ease with the earthy populism and unorthodox antics of Fayose. But these are what seem to have endeared him to the grassroots – okada riders, road transport union workers, market men and women and surprisingly even traditional rulers! This is exactly what happens when the elite abandon the duty of voting to the impressionable mob. For now, Fayose is the custodian of a popular mandate until the courts rule otherwise. Fayose is obviously set in his ways and does not seem to have learnt any lessons from the past. If so, the people of Ekiti should be left to face the consequences of their choice and make up their mind on what to do in four year’s time.

     

  • Unholy matrimony

    Unholy matrimony

    It is a torrid, impassioned and absolutely astounding love affair being played out between the church and the State in contemporary Nigeria. Millions of Christians watch in utter consternation and amazement as their leaders’ romance and legitimate corrupt power without embarrassment. Of course, a not insubstantial number of Christians have become victims of religion as numbing opium. Nothing will hinder the latter from continuing to revere their ‘daddies in the Lord’ even when the latter are implicated in the most brazen acts of criminality.

    The responsibility of the church is to offer spiritual leadership to its adherents as well as serve as conscience of the nation. This is a moral vocation. The state on its part exists to enforce the law, maintain order and stability as well as create the necessary environment for citizens to engage safely and securely in the ordinary business of life. This is a legal imperative. The monumental scandal involving the illegal smuggling of $9.3 million into South Africa on the private jet of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), offers a classical example of how the church has compromised its moral vocation while the state has abandoned its legal imperative to enforce the laws of the land justly and impartially.

    In normal and healthy societies, where the rule of law prevails, the state would have moved swiftly to investigate this scandal, which would necessarily involve interrogating Oritsejafor on his role in the sordid affair. The flamboyant pastor admits that the private jet involved belongs to him but had been leased to another agency in which he has a ‘residual interest’because of high maintenance costs. The initial company that leased the jet then leased the jet to another company, which, by implication should be held responsible for the criminal cash haul. This way, Pastor Oritsejafor thinks he has successfully distanced himself from the scandal. He emphatically claims that he knows nothing about the criminal cash transfer.

    However, he has had no answer so far to the devastating legal question posed by Mr Femi Falana (SAN). Falana contends that Oritsejafor has only further implicated himself by claiming that the jet was leased to another company because such an act is in itself a violation of the law. According to the SAN, “A jet registered for the facilitation of evangelism cannot be leased to another company for commercial purposes as churches are registered under part C of the Company and Allied (CAMA) as non-profit making organisations”. Oritsejafor claims that he obtained a permit to enable the jet fly in and out of the country. The question is: which agency issued such a permit and was it in consonance with the law?

    Rather than move decisively to investigate, identify and prosecute those responsible for violating the country’s laws, making nonsense of its own cashless policy and embarrassing the country by breaching South Africa’s financial transactions laws, President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency has jumped to the pastor’s defence. The presidency claims that the money involved belongs to Nigeria and it was meant to procure arms in South Africa to strengthen the counter-insurgency offensive in the North-East. It cannot get more interesting than that. The money involved is the property of Nigeria and Dr Goodluck Jonathan is the President of Nigeria. The jet involved belongs to Pastor Oritsejafor and our beloved pastor is a close friend of the President. This is a curious vicious cycle indeed.

    This is a clear case of unholy matrimony between church and state in Nigeria. A pastor’s jet is allegedly used to perpetrate obvious criminality. A thorough investigation would probably tar the man of God leaving no option than his prosecution if indicted. To preclude such a possibility, the presidency wades in assuming ownership of the smuggled funds. Surely, no greater love than this can one entity have for another. It is a case of you rub my back I rub yours. The state turns a blind eye to brazen infringement of the country’s laws utilizing the private jet of a Christian leader in whom it is well pleased. In turn, the church turns a blind eye to the impunity, corruption and sheer irresponsibility of occupants of public office at all levels. It is a thrillingly romantic scenario.

    But then, it would be unfair to single out Pastor Oritsejafor for condemnation. He only symbolises a wider phenomenon of church-state romance that can only be ultimately destructive both for the church and the state. It is not surprising, for instance, that with the exception of Anthony Cardinal Okogie, no prominent Christian leader has come out to denounce Oritsejafor’s behaviour. Since silence means consent, I can only assume that all members of CAN agree with the body’sdiversionary and partisan statement issued in defence of Oritsejafor. That would be most unfortunate.

    The colourful pastor himself contends that the harsh criticism directed at him in the wake of the scandal is an attack on the body of Christ. I do not think so. Many of those who have heavily censured him are disappointed because of the high esteem in which he is held as a renowned pastor and his current symbolic office as CAN President. Matters are not helped by the unnecessarily combative stance he has adopted on the issue and the attempt by CAN to blame the opposition APC for the fiery darts of criticism hurled at the pastor on this matter. The truth is that millions of Nigerians who are not members of any political party are morally outraged by the scandal.

    It is understandable that many Christian leaders who are members of CAN will want to deal with this issue ‘in-house’ rather than in the media. They will be anxious to avoid further damage to the image of the organisation, the church and even the reputation of Christ. But it is, in my view, their silence and seeming condoning of wrongdoing that can bring the church to irredeemable disrepute. Even if they are not inclined to ask pastor Oritsejafor to step aside because he has not being proven guilty of any crime, they can prevail on him to publicly apologise for what is clearly a serious indiscretion on his part. That would be more in line with the humble spirit of Christ.

    …State of example

    I contended two weeks ago in this space that Nigeria owes Lagos State a debt of gratitude for the critical role it has played in containing the Ebola virus in the country. Since the index case, Thomas Sawyer, came in through Lagos, the entire country would have been endangered with a lethargic government in the state. Once the heroic Dr Stella Adadevou triggered the system, the Fashola administration responded admirably. But what was responsible for Lagos state’s success in this respect? I think the answer lies in proactive thinking and methodical, professional action as can be seen from the following points: (1) Lagos already had in place a public health law that empowered the state to compulsorily apprehend and place under isolation anyone considered to be a health risk to society. (2) The state already had in place a cremation law that allowed for the cremation of bodies. This is very vital since dead bodies are even more serious agents for the spread of Ebola Virus disease. (3) The well-publicised Ebola sensitisation visit of Lagos State officials to the Synagogue Church of All Nations helped to sensitise the entire nation and even religious leaders to the danger of the virus spreading through their large congregations. (4) Governor Fashola very thoughtfully publicly received and interacted with those who had been treated, certified free of the disease and discharged. This was a strategic move to deal with the stigmatisation problem. (5) Again, Fashola made the wise move of visiting the First Consultants Medical Centre at Obalende where the index case was prevented from escaping. This visit will help restore confidence in the health facility. (6) The Lagos State government last week disbursed N171 million as research grants to 31 beneficiaries from seven institutions and the governor promised to provide funding support for scientists involved in basic research to contain Ebola and other viral diseases. This is surely the way for Nigeria to go.

  • Amaju, watch your back (1)

    Amaju, watch your back (1)

    Pinnick Amaju must be celebrating his Tuesday feat in Warri. He richly deserves to be the new NFF President, given his achievements in Delta State. A self-made man, Amaju knows what he wants. He gets things done. He doesn’t know how to explain failure. He is hot tempered, but he flips over for the right reasons. For instance, when the centre referee from Bayelsa State who handled the Delta State FA Cup final last year nearly bungled the best final held in the country, he showed his foul mood.

    An avid supporter of Arsenal, Amaju knows that football is big business. He has a working template already in Delta, but that shouldn’t translate to the norm. He needs to widen the horizon. But in doing that, he should ask what the template on ground is and find a way to improve on it; not destroy or stop it.

    In developing marketing plans, Amaju needs to get the National Assembly to fast-track the process of abrogating Decree 101. Otherwise, he would face the frustration of getting the government or the minister to overturn juicy deals on spurious grounds, such as making Nigerian firms handle the projects.

    There are several unexploited marketing windows in the NFF. Amaju must sit with the firm in charge and the marketing department to draw up a new roadmap for our football that would respect existing structures, even with the new deals to be struck.

    The plank on which government apostles insist on its interference is that the NFF comes to it cup in hand for funds to run its activities. Sponsorship comes with good packages; Amaju should get people to repackage structures in our football that can attract more cash. He should, in the next six months tell Nigerians how much the NFF got from inter and intra club transfers in the last two years, perhaps in his first 100 days in office. He needs to establish what the revenue generating platforms at the Glasshouse are and ask how funds from such avenues were spent.

    He should institute instruments that would make the Glasshouse chiefs more prudent. And this should start by ensuring that Nigerians are told yearly what the body received and what is left in the tilt. He should also publish the body’s audited accounts yearly to help improve its profile among corporate firms. It must be said that no firm would fund a corrupt organisation or one not open to laying its books for scrutiny.

    Amaju, NFF presidency position isn’t a job. You have no business being at the Glasshouse every day. Learn to delegate functions. Some board meetings can be done online, now that majority of your members are literate. Get everyone at the NFF to work with timelines. Evaluate workers quarterly. Desist from making controversial statements in the media. Think through what you want to say. Always communicate through the NFF media department. On no account should board members arbitrarily talk to the media on NFF matters. These are some of the pitfalls in the NFF that make the president a laughing stock. Such utterances pitch the NFF against its critics, waiting to pull the body down.

    NFF’s biggest brand is the Super Eagles. Prior to the Aminu Maigari-led board, the Eagles were derided as “Super Chicken,” a toga which made the brand worthless in the eye of potential investors. Indeed, with Eagles’ poor rating, it was difficult to get quality friendly games to help increase the NFF’s earnings to prosecute its activities independent of government cash.

    Need I tell Amaju the benefits of a high rating for the Eagles and our chances of getting bigger countries to come to Nigeria for friendly games? We must stop the practice of the Eagles playing international friendlies  outside Nigeria. It’s about time the Eagles played in Nigeria, to reawaken Nigerians’ interest in watching matches.

     The Abuja National Stadium will be too small to for the crowd if we have the Eagles pitched against Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing. The same scenario would be the lot of the fans if the Eagles’ next game is against Argentina, with Lionel Messi and Di Maria featuring. These two matches are box offices.

    Revenue from such matches will increase cash flow. Again, the new NFF board must stop this idea of paying players and coaches match bonuses for qualifiers – they ask and even hold us to ransome for appearance fees. We must emulate the Germans, who pay at the end of the exercise. For winning the World Cup, each German player got $370,000. This isn’t appearance fee. What it means is that the over $25 million that Germany will get from FIFA will serve as a form of revenue for the German FA. But, in Nigeria’s case, the players have already taken $3.8 million out whatever would be Nigeria’s earnings for participating at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. This rubbish must stop, if the NFF must remain solvent and self financing. Aside, Amaju must insist on the implementation of the Code of Conduct for the players and coaches. Our players have such rule books in their European clubs. No player dares to lead any revolt against his club management. I’m confident that Amaju will deliver on his promises to them.

    After all, the Greeks donated their appearance fees to the government for building a hostel for national teams to prepare for international competitions. Most of the Germans donated their World Cup bounty to charity homes. Our players’ and coaches’ argument that NFF men will siphon the money is warp. This is one of the reasons why the NFF is always cash-strapped.

    But what we see here is the penchant for playing games in London or in countries, whose entry visas are difficult to get. Put simply, NFF men have used their international matches to enrich their Nigerian passports with visas to prominent European countries and America.

    Sadly, Amaju is coming to the Glasshouse to manage an Eagles side that is torn through its ranks by all-knowing coaches, who thrive in belittling our best players in the media, forgetting that such derisive comments put these boys in disadvantageous positions with their foreign clubs. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to Amaju that most of our big boys in the Eagles are taking their turns to lampoon their coaches in the media. This needless trend has further destroyed the Eagles, culminating in vindictive removal of star players who have an axe to grind with their coaches.

    The Eagles are sixth in Africa. This is incredible at a time when we are the African champions. It is not enough to give the coaches the two games against Sudan to determine if their contracts will be renewed. Amaju must sit down with the coaches and insist on having our best players in Omdurman, whatever it will cost us to do so. Such pragmatic decisions are what we need to rescue the sinking Eagles.

    The 24-man squad named for the two matches is laughable. It includes at least four new players, who may not have played in Africa before. One is not sure if the coaches considered the bad pitch and the prevailing humid weather in Sudan before picking some of those players. The battle of Omdurman is not an assignment for weaklings. It is a Trojan’s war and only our best players can secure a victory for us.

    Amaju needs to contact our players to establish a relationship with them. Get them to trust you and key into your blueprints for the game. If Eagles fail to grab the qualification ticket to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, you have failed. Nigerians will count it against you, even if your tenure inherited a house in commotion.

    If the Eagles don’t beat Sudan at home, the return leg game won’t attract the fans to the stadium and no firm will buy any marketing activity, knowing that such an exercise would amount to winking in the dark. I also don’t think that the few big boys in the team will be interested in the return fixture, if we lose – God forbid – in Omdurman.

    In renewing the coaches’ contracts, Amaju must insert extant clauses to curb some of their excesses. The coaches must see the NFF as their employers and not dictate to it. NFF must negotiate salary packages that it can pay. In the new contracts, the coaches must be told explicitly that all national invitations must be discussed with the technical committee before the list of players is released. We are in this mess today because Eagles’ coaches act as tin gods hiding under the cloak of being given a freehand to pick their players. They have failed us. They have used such lists to punish those who offend them to the detriment of the team. The shame is on Nigerians, if we don’t qualify for the next Africa Cup of Nations. Sadly, the coaches will dump us and still take one of the qualifiers to the tournament. It has happened before.

    Enter the dragon

    The headline of this sub column is the title of the late Bruce Lee’s popular film. And it aptly fits what we may experience when the Eagles reconvene for the “Battle of Sudan” next week, when Stephen Keshi meets with Emmanuel Emenike.

    The media were awash with a report where the Eagles chief coach explained why he dropped Emmanuel Emenike from Nigeria’s starting line-up against Congo DR. In the report, the coach said that some members of the team were angry with Emenike’s conduct since his feat at the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won in Johannesburg on February 10.

    Expectedly, Emenike has replied the coach and made several insinuations that could lead to his being dropped against Sudan. If this happens, we are doomed. Mark my word. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!

  • Justice, communications and security

    I found the screaming headlines in some newspapers this week quite disturbing even though they provided ready ammunition for me to write this piece. One was about a letter from the National Judicial Commission [NJC] asking the Inspector General of Police to prosecute those who assaulted judges in Ekiti State recently. Two of them concerned the dead and living Boko Haram leader and the military trial of mutinous Nigerian soldiers. The fourth was the announcement in India mid week that the nation’s PM Narendra Modi would address the nation through radio so as to be able to reach millions of Indians who have no access to television. The fifth was the offer from Egypt to Libya to help it fight Islamic militancy as it has intelligence on them from Egypt’s experience in subduing for ages the Islamic Brotherhood whose member, the deposed former President Mohammed Morsi is awaiting trial in Egypt for treason. For various reasons I will narrate here, I found these pieces of news quite fascinating in drawing lessons to move our great nation forward especially as we have just celebrated our 54th Independence birthday in a mood that even the President of the Republic described as’ sombre’. I agree totally with the sober analysis of our No 1 Citizen and really wonder how, as deeply enmeshed in the eye of the Nigerian political and Sahel storm as he is, he can still sound so distant and aloof from it all and still carry on his onerous responsibility in an amazing ‘business as usual‘ manner. Grudgingly, I concede this to be a rare leadership trait but before you hastily proceed to give him another Independence Day Award in addition to the many he just conferred this week on distinguished Nigerians in Abuja, I ask you to tarry awhile and be patient, till I have finished my self – given assignment of today, on the news items I listed before.

    Let me first of all state my initial reaction either of amazement, joy or revulsion on each of these news items before I proceed to draw my conclusions or moral there from. In the attacks on judges in Ekiti, one is left wondering why the good people of Ekiti State, renowned for their great learning and endless Ph ds, who recently had a peaceful election, suddenly took it into their heads to take umbrage at judges and beat them up in their courts. Certainly that is definitely un Ekiti – like. On the death defying Boko Haram leader, whether he is alive or dead is immaterial as long as his followers still continue to kill innocent people and are trying to maintain their declared caliphate in Nigeria. It is therefore sheer horror for any right thinking or decent person to see his tape and watch it as that is just like giving the devil a platform it does not deserve for its murderous activities. On the mutiny trial of Nigerian soldiers, including four lieutenant – colonels, I feel sad that the Nigerian army is washing its dirty linen in public at a time when it should not allow itself to be distracted from the present task of crushing Boko Haram by all means at its disposal and as speedily as possible. The fourth news that technology giant India has millions of people that have no access to TV is quite baffling and it shows how caring their new PM is in getting civilisation and governance to the farthest reaches of India. That in itself provides a show case for Nigeria where every state capital has at least two TV stations, one from the state and the other from the Federal government. The last is the timing and relevance of the Egyptian offer to Libya after it was reported that together with Saudi Arabia and UAE air forces it has conducted airstrikes against Libyan Islamic terrorists just last month. This then marks a watershed in the politics and diplomacy of the Middle East as Arabs turn on themselves in a crucial bid to create much needed security and peace in a region rent apart by religious militancy and sectarian strife.

    We can now proceed to do some sober reflection on these incidents serially starting with the letter from the NJC to the Police IG to prosecute those involved in the attack on judges in Ekiti state. To me it seems the NJC is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as it finds itself precariously on the horn of a dilemma. The judges affected were said by their assailants to be corrupt or to have been giving dubious judgements. Is the NJC aware of this and has it got some information on this in its record? This is because those who live in glass houses should not throw stones .Secondly the attackers were said to be supporters of a governor elect who was initially reported to have slapped a judge but who denied this, saying his overzealous supporters did.

    Obviously, this governor elect has the mandate of governorship in his pocket from the last election that he won. Will the IG initiate his prosecution for not controlling his supporters or is he expected to fold his arms while his supporters are being prosecuted? It is a well known fact that the governor elect belongs to the ruling party and from all indications he will be protected by federal might till he is sworn in after which he has immunity from prosecution. Of what use then is the NJC ‘s letter to the IG except for record purposes?. Nobody is deceived that the governor elect has taken the law into his hand and should not be allowed to get away with it. But in this Nigeria of today he will get away with murder right before our eyes. That is most unfortunate and disgraceful but that is the stuff of our democracy as we proceed towards the inevitable 2013 presidential elections which has claimed the honor and dignity of judges in Ekiti state for now and is a warped and corrupt democracy which the NJC, the sancto sanctorium of our temple of justice, can not beat its chest and claim total ignorance about. For now I see the NJC letter to the IG on the Ekiti judge beating debacle as a futile, judicial barking at the moon given our present socio- political environment and the weight of corruption on the neck of the judiciary dangling dangerously like the famous sword of Damocles.

    The next two issues namely Boko Haram and the army mutiny trial are really two sides of the same coin and border on security and justice in our nation. First the army must maintain discipline within its ranks by all means. That is its prerogative and nobody or institution can take that away from it. Not even its Commander in Chief as it is apparent that the President is not interfering in this matter. But then the army should not cut its nose to spite its face as it is doing now. I say categorically that this mutiny trial should be an internal affair of the army and should not be for public consumption as it is at present just because of the war against Boko Haram which is our priority consideration. Justice should be done army style and not in full public glare and ridicule of the image of the army, its officers and ranks. Obviously espirit de corps of the army is being wounded by this public trial of a mutiny which in itself is a disgrace to any army and its leadership and which should be contained firmly and fairly. Again, army style. That is all that is required for the army to again raise the slogan –‘ To keep Nigeria one is task that must be done ‘ Which was our slogan during the civil war against secession and which should be adopted now by the army to stop the rampant Boko Haram drive towards phantom caliphates that are really ‘killerphates‘ in the North East of Nigeria.

    Next is the import of India’s PM Narenda Mordi’s radio address to Indians which is expected to reach 99% of Indians which was far higher than expected through TV audience size in India. What interests me here is not the gist of the PM’s address but the medium, radio, which also has a formidable audience here for different reasons some of which have serious security concerns especially now that we are at war with Boko Haram. This is because the radio has always been a potent means of communications amongst Northerners both in the North and in any part of Nigeria especially Lagos where most security workers in the posh Ikoyi, Lekki and Ajah Estates are Northerners permanently glued to the Hausa Service of BBC and Radio Kaduna. Even though illiterate, most of these security people are abreast of world news even more than their employers ‘. It was to such people that the Indian PM sought to speak to because they do not have access to TV which in some ways is the same in Nigeria . Except again that our President and his ministers are on twitter which the average Nigerian does not know or care about because he does not have the electricity to plug his phone whereas the ordinary security man in Ikoyi is permanently tuned to global news because of his ‘ever ready’ or Chinese batteries. In terms of security and communications you can just say its win some lose some. For now in India radio is winning and that is good for its teeming masses of almost a billion people.

    The fifth issue concerns Egypt’s offer to Libya to help it fight Islamic Militancy because it has useful information on them. This again is a welcome development because religious extremists generally rely on blind faith to get support and millions into their ranks especially in a mono religious environment like the Middle East in which Egypt has always been a key player. Again this is the second time that it would seem Egypt is breaking ranks with the other Arab States especially the powerful Arab League which must be in a real quandary now as key Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have turned against Islamic State which is Arab grown and based . Egypt ha s always borne the war of the Arabs against Israel which is the Arabs common foe against which they were united before the advent of beheading IS against which they have again broken ranks . Egypt first broke ranks with Arabs when former President Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem to meet late Israeli PM Menachem Begin. That exposed Egypt to other Arab nations hatred and led to the assassination of Sadat by the Muslim Brotherhood on which the new Egyptian President al Sisi said that Egypt has information on, to help Libya track their terrorist supporters fighting against the government in Libya which is fast collapsing.

    Again the Egyptian experience on surviving the Tahrir Square mass street demonstrations that led to the collapse of the Housni Mubarak regime in 2011 should be useful to Chinese authorities in Hong Kong which faced a government shut down by thousands of students this week as seen on global TV. One thing is certain about the Egyptian army in or out of government. It knows how to manage power, politics and politicians. It recently lost and gained power through its deft and Machiavellian manipulation of democracy and political institutions in Egypt. Now, its former Commander is Egypt’s president while the man Egyptians elected is facing treason trial. Indeed Egypt under its present government has sterling credentials to market its brand of political stability and politics anywhere in the world especially in the Middle East which is its turf and N Africa which is its backyard. Anyway I advise the demonstrators in Hong Kong to recall the Tahrir Square Street demonstrations in Cairo and how it ended for those demonstrators in Egypt. A word certainly, is enough for the wise.

  • Illegal NSC

    Illegal NSC

    Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo has gone inside his cocoon. He no longer leads the onslaught for change in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He has embraced the fact that the beautiful game belongs to FIFA, whose rules must be respected if we hope to belong to the comity of 209 countries under the control of the world soccer ruling body.

    Even with Danagogo taking the back seat, there are still pockets of grumblers, who have not realised they have been left in the lurch in the quest to eject the Aminu Maigari-led NFF board. These few must be shocked by the minister’s new position, but that is the hallmark of politics – there are no permanent friends but permanent interests. I hope those expecting the kangaroo setting to continue must be told that they shot themselves in the foot when they sought the intervention of the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on the NFF election impasse.

    With the judgment from CAS, what this protest group doesn’t understand is that the matter is closed for life. It must be emphasised that FIFA frowns at its matters being taken to law courts. I also don’t think that Nigerians are in the mood to watch the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations as spectators. They want the Super Eagles to defend the trophy they won in South Africa last year.

    But for Danagogo, these are troubled times. Some of his foot soldiers in the botched attempts to unseat the Maigari-led NFF have turned the axe at him. It would be interesting to watch how this new scenario plays out. But what is clear is that Nigeria football will attain its desired fillip when the new board is inaugurated after the September 30 elections in Warri.

    The minister must, however, be commended for getting security operatives to man the entrance to the Glasshouse on Monday, when those who got the court injunction vowed to storm the place to resume work. That singular act has convinced FIFA that we are prepared to do the right things in Warri on September 30 when the NFF elections hold. I want to appeal to the minister to stop the incessant arrest of NFF men, with days to the elections in Warri. Danagogo must note the FIFA men read our newspapers. They won’t hesitate to ban Nigeria, if the election doesn’t hold on September. It won’t be good for Danagogo’s tenure if we become a football pariah nation under his tutelage as sports minister. God forbid.

    However, the biggest news on Monday was the proclamation by the erstwhile Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Patrick Ekeji, that the commission was an illegal entity. I wasn’t surprised by Ekeji’s damning verdict, even though it has taken his exit from the commission to realise that the body is illegal. It is the Nigerian way of life – medicine after death.

    Since Ekeji has thrown down the gauntlet, the minister should call for the file and hasten the process of getting the NSC to be recognised by Nigerian law. As a lawyer and politician from the ruling party, Danagogo should know those to meet at the governmental and legislative levels to get the document that would make him superintend over a legal body and not an illegal one as it is.

    Danagogo cannot be struggling to legalise the NFF, yet his office is illegal. Nigerians will remember him if he can get the NSC and NFF acts into law before he quits next year. He could contact Ekeji to find out where the bill is and what needs to be done.

    Interestingly, Ekeji argued that NFF men don’t like to account for subventions. What Ekeji didn’t tell us was how well NSC has also accounted for what it spent. In one of NSC’s statement of accounts, it was stated that one director spent over N1 million to open a facebook account. It caused a furore but the House of Representatives’ Sports Committee looked the other way after raising the alarm. Nigeria we hail thee.

    The NSC and NFF bills will introduce professionalism into the two bodies. We will have men who will run the place professionally and not see the bodies as platforms for visa racketeering, shopping, enriching themselves through fat estacodes and updating the visa records in their international passports.

    In other climes, the activities of each body are a continuum, largely because of the structures instutionalised by the initiators of such bodies. The templates are such that new entrants into the NSC and the NFF know the dos and don’ts of the organisations. The transition from one board to the other is seamless, with each new board striving to improve on what it met on ground instead of haunting its predecessors with allegations of corruption or colluding with the supervisory body to oust a leadership it doesn’t like.

    We hope also that the NSC bill will remove the NFF from under the stranglehold of government officials who head the commission. The only way that our football can attain the financial independence that we crave for is to run the NFF as a business concern where its members don’t need any approval from a government official in running its initiatives meant to generate funds for its activities.

    The government should restrict its sponsorship to Nigeria’s participation in big competitions, such as the World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Africa Cup of Nations etc.

    With the NFF running as a business, many Nigerians will seek to buy shares, if it is listed on the stock exchange. Such robust financial approach will guarantee good leadership that will be accountable to its investors, who will demand explicit explanations of what transpired with each financial year.

    The biggest problem with sports administration in Nigeria rests with policy sommersaults in both organisations. It explains the reason why there are several sports policies in the dusty drawers of civil servants in the sports ministry that never get to be implemented. Every new minister comes up with his own vision, even if the previous ones have produced the desired results.

    For instance, during the 8th All Africa Games held in Abuja, Ekeji came up with the laudable Team Nigeria project that settled the problem of athletes’ welfare. Nigeria won the tournament. Rather than allow Ekeji to improve on the template, he was taken out of the Sports Ministry to an obscure Ministry of Statistics. He was replaced by a technocrat who supervised the death of Team Nigeria. The relics of Ekeji’s Team Nigeria project are some of the buses that some sports federations have today, which sadly are being used to transport federations’ members and their families to weddings, funerals and, in some cases, they are used by the drivers for illegal taxi business (kabukabu).

    I was surprised that Ekeji didn’t comment of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC). In the past, the NOC was solvent to do its business without government interference. Under Raheem Adejumo, NOC ran their shows effortlessly so much so that one-time Sports Minister Jim Nwobodo described the body as a cult. Nwobodo  ensured that the elderly man was eased out of the place in a commando fashion. Nwobodo did that because he couldn’t dictate to Adejumo want he wanted. Adejumo stood by the tenets of the Interantional Olympic Committee (IOC). He refused to be Nwobodo’s errand boy.

    Since the forceful removal of Adejumo, the NOC has been led by the nose by the incumbent sports minister. NOC lost its independence, more so with the insistence of the NSC men to pick the body’s leader. When would the NOC be run like the Adejumo era? Rock in your casket, Adejumo.

    Clap for Keshi

    It is good to read that Stephen Keshi is discussing with the NFF chiefs his team list for the games against Sudan on October 10 and Sudan again in Abuja on October 15. It shows that the Big Boss is willing to change.

    How exciting to read also that he is willing to trim his 27-man squad to 24. A cynic however warned me while writing this column that Keshi’s change of attitude could be because he doesn’t have a contract. I dismissed that; the Big Boss always wants to win. He may not admit it openly, but I know that he won’t want to join the league of coaches who failed to make Nigeria qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.

    A vote for Musa Amadu

    The hero in the NFF/NSC squabble to get the government to conduct the September 30 elections in Warri using the FIFA Statutes is the body’s General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu. Had Musa been like previous NFF secretaries, he would have done Minister Tammy Danagogo’s bidding to keep his job.

    Whatever happens in Warri election, it must be reiterated here that Amadu should retain his seat. His handling of the federation in the last four years has been devoid of the pitfalls that landed Nigeria in trouble in the past.

    Besides, Amadu has undergone several courses to update himself for the changing times in sports administration. I hope that Amadu keeps his job even if a northerner replaces Aminu Maigari as the next NFF President.

    Sport is the only endeavour in Nigeria that doesn’t recognise ethnic divides, religion and creed. It is the only part of Nigerian life that forbids national character. Amadu has excelled. We shouldn’t remove him for anyone who would be asking questions. Rather, Amadu should be encouraged to grow on the job because Nigeria doesn’t deserve less. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!