The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Wanted: a neutral arbiter

    This is my most difficult weekly column.  Why? Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo’s media man is a colleague. I have known Patrick Omorodion since our high school days at the Advance College, Igueben in 1979.  My apologises, Omorodion. He may be feeling that I should have discussed these issues with him instead of writing a column on his boss. But this is a national issue and I feel strongly that Danagogo hasn’t been the neutral arbiter as his exalted office demands.

    Sir, the biggest public relations tool that Nigeria has is sports. The sports industry has redefined people’s perception of our country. Soccer crazy Nigerians around the world didn’t sleep on Monday morning to watch our gallant girls fight the Germans to a standstill. Images and complimentary comments from our girls litter the media space at a time the government is pumping billions into fighting the Ebola scourge. Nigerians hug themselves only when they celebrate the nation’s success as they ignore ethnic or religious inclinations.

    Besides, it is sad that those who should work with the kangaroo NFF board are pulling out, knowing the implications with FIFA. May I ask the minister what his duties would be if the domestic game is destroyed by this confusion? What would the players, coaches and those ancillary workers in the clubs be doing now that the league matches have been halted?  How do these board members hope to work with others, most of who are aggrieved with the way the election was conducted to openly favour those on the board? Is it not ridiculous that Segun Odegbami can be denied a right to contest on frivolous grounds of endorsement of his papers? A system that can so brazenly reject Odegbami for all that he represents in our soccer today should never be allowed to organise our game.

    I first met Danagogo at an interactive session in Lagos in May. Some of the questions I asked then are chiefly responsible for the crises in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).  I misread Danagogo’s stoic silence then to mean that he was studying the situation. With what has transpired since that interactive session, I shudder to ask if Danagogo enjoys what is happening. Is he looking at the bigger picture?

    Sitting in my office on Tuesday night, Channels television’s crew caught Danagogo live discussing with an unknown caller on telephone. Danagogo didn’t know that he was being recorded. His utterances told the story of why the crises won’t abate. Channels television showed us clips of the virtually empty conference room, with very few stakeholders. The minister ought to have asked what the problem was. At what time did Danagogo leave Chida Hotel? Was it after the purported Congress?

    Even with the apparent confusion on the ground, which was adequately covered in the international media, Danagogo told his listener in the telephone conversation that all was well and that he had just arrived in Chida Hotel, Abuja to declare the ceremony open.

    I was shocked when I saw him arrive with NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu for the Chida session. I thought that at the truce meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim that the congress would be without an election. I was miffed when it dawned on me that Danagogo had secured Amadu’s release from the DSS custody as part of the ploy to legitimise the Chida charade. Danagogo ought to have known, with the reversal of Aminu Maigari’s impeachment by the NFF board, that only Maigari can convoke a Congress, more so when FIFA’s letter categorically directed that Maigari should take charge of the Congress.

    Since the sham at Chida, I have waited patiently to hear Danagogo’s pronouncement that what was done wasn’t in sync with what was agreed with the Secretary to the Government. If what happened at Chida Hotel was just a Congress, Danagogo’s flaunting of Maigari’s resignation letter would have been justified.

    In defending his decision to leak Maigari’s letter to the public, Danagogo stated that he waited until August 26, when the body’s tenure ended, to release the August 12 resignation letter because he didn’t want to rock the boat.  Why didn’t the minister wait until the next election as decided with Anyim before releasing the letter? It also would not

  • The enemy within and the ‘Salvation’ army

    Last week I wrote that Boko Haram was becoming a state within a state and a few days later it was reported that the blood thirsty militant insurgency had declared the towns and villages surrounding Gwoza, whose Emir it killed sometime ago, part of its caliphate. This week a Catholic spokesman reportedly said that the properties of the Church in Madagali a town close to Gwoza had been vandalized by Boko Haram and it seemed only Christian properties were being targeted by the sect. At about the same time an Australian Security contractor who left Nigeria recently was telling the whole world on the internet that Boko Haram would soon join the caliphate of Islamic State –IS – in Iraq and that of Syria and that Nigerian Opposition leaders were supporting Boko Haram and President Goodluck Jonathan could do nothing about this as he would be accused of tampering with the 2015 elections. Surely these are ominous and woeful news that show clearly that all is not well with the state of Nigeria, if they are all true. Luckily the Nigerian army has dismissed the Boko Haram Caliphate declaration as ‘empty ‘ which I take to be a sham and one should be comforted by that. The Opposition I am sure can fight for itself and debunk the claim of the Australian security contractor who incidentally was contracted to get the 200 Chibok girls out of Boko Haram’s captivity by government, but failed and bolted after collecting his juicy but undisclosed contract sum. All the same there is no doubt that in terms of security in the Nigerian state today there are powerful enemies within and without the government apparatus that need to be contained urgently if our political stability as a nation is to survive the present volatile scenario. News of the Boko Haram caliphate declaration have been compounded by the more disturbing news of Army officers being tried in the Army for mutiny for refusing to be posted to the war front to confront Boko Haram. Surely a house divided against itself cannot stand something urgently needs to be done to instil discipline in the army to defend Nigerians against Boko Haram. Which in effect means that Nigerians should pray for the government to evolve urgently a ‘Salvation Army‘ plan to rescue us from the terror of Boko Haram and put it in the heart of our army to put its house in order to put Boko Haram out of action permanently and as soon as possible. Amen However, it is not only in Nigeria that’ Salvation ‘armies are needed as it were to confront threats to democracy, political stability, terrorism and religious militancy globally. Pakistan for instance is awash with demonstrations asking the elected PM to resign because his election was fraudulent and the army has been accepted as mediator by the politicians to resolve the issue. Egypt has just charged its last elected President to court for giving state secret to Qatar a country that the Egyptian government said is a supporter of the Islamic Brotherhood which is now banned in Egypt but was in power when the so called deal was done. The Russian army is said to be in Ukraine to support the rebels fighting the legitimate government although the Russian authorities have denied this. The UN has also just announced that 3m Syrians have fled that nation since the insurgency there began making that number of refugees’ the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time‘. Of course to all intents and purposes Syria seems particularly headed for perdition as no concept of salvation or army can salvage a nation that has become a broken egg that no force in the universe can put together again. I will expatiate later on these nations and their security conditions and the threat to their political stability from their present plight. Before that however I want to recall a special report in the Economist in July 2005 after the London terror bombings that killed several people. The report titled-Muslim Extremism In Europe; The Enemy Within – noted in part that – ‘In an age of globalised ideologies, globalised communications, and porous borders there is no real distinction between domestic and foreign threats.’ It noted that ‘Islamic Radicalism had been aided by the internet and made it elusive to monitor ‘. Indeed it concluded in part that‘ to a large extent the internet has replaced Afghanistan as a source of training and inspiration for militant Muslims. Such information should be food for thought to our security authorities and even the army to know that the battle line may not be the war front of our North Eastern states, but the sitting rooms or internet cafes spread all over the nation. In any way the North East of Nigeria has one of the most porous borders in the world and is so vast that it is no surprise it has provided easy haven for Boko Haram. I know this because I served as a youth corps member in the former North Eastern State, in Gwoza and Mubi, before six states were carved out of it. Then we used to go to Boukula Market in Cameroun and crossed the border by lifting a pole gate while the Customs officials dozed off as we went to and fro. It is quite easy to see why Boko Haram has chosen the area as its safe haven and now caliphate. What is important now however is to secure the area and monitor the vast and porous borders on the edge of the creeping and hostile Sahel, which itself is hostile to human habitation and vegetation. Let me now comment on the political situation of the places I mentioned before. First is Pakistan, where PM Nawaz Sharif is being asked to resign by Islamic leader Tahir ul Qadri and Cricketer Imran Khan, both popular politicians in their own right, who have led the demonstrations that besieged Islamabad and has made governance virtually impossible. But these politicians are playing into the hands of the army as it happened in Egypt. In Pakistan the army usually intervenes with coups when politicians are at loggerheads as at now . The Pakistani Army led by General Raheel Sharif has its grouse against the present government of PM Sharif because it is trying its former boss , former military President Parvez Musharaf for treason. Which really is a political trial because it was Musharaf who sent Nawaz Sharif packing in a military coup before he got elected again as PM. Nawaz Sharif thought it was pay back time to deal with Musharaf. Now his fellow politicians are pointing a gun at his head for a fraudulent election. Since both sides have agreed for the head of the army to mediate it is not difficult to see who will pull the trigger in this political saga which can only bring reprieve for the army boss targeted by the PM. For the politicians and Pakistan’s turbulent and violent democracy the army is definitely not their salvation army as they are the enemies within themselves. In Egypt the situation is clear in terms of today’s topic. Former President Muhammed Morsi is being tried for a crime that was not one while he was president and he had a mandate to do. But the Egyptian army was and is still an implacable enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and only allowed Morsi’s election to take place because the US and Western Europe were watching and warning the Egyptian army against intervention in the street demonstrations in Cairo and all over Egypt that toppled former President Housni Mubarak. Now the Egyptian army has its Army chief elected as Egypt’s president and I do not see how former President Muhammed Morsi can survive a treason trial carrying a death sentence. To the Egyptian army and present democracy, Morsi and the Islamic Brotherhood are the enemy within and the Egyptian army has become that of salvation against the militancy that the Muslim Brotherhood now and again, represents. Which again shows that in life and in politics especially with regard to security, no condition is permanent. With regard to events in Ukraine and Syria the issues at stake depend on the personality issues between the presidents of the US and Russia and the resolution of such issues. Meanwhile the humanitarian crisis in Syria will escalate with the attendant explosive growth of jihadist radicalism which has sprung into a global and dangerous trend towards pronouncements of borderless caliphates from Iraq to Gwoza, Nigeria. Really, if the US had called the bluff of Russia over chemical weapons in Syria and the invasion of Crimea, Russia would not now be invading the rest of Ukraine while denying, tongue in the cheek, that it is not doing so. To Russia therefore its army is one of salvation for pro Russian rebels in Ukraine and it has no qualms about it since the EU and US have declared economic war on Russia through sanctions which are apparently hurting Russia. On Syria I presume Russia will not lose any sleep over the humanitarian crisis as it knows American values and compunction will not allow the millions of fugitives to perish. Of course it is left to the Americans to learn on Syria and Ukraine that a stitch in time saves nine and that procrastination on military intervention and indeed in diplomacy is the wily thief of time.

  • Ribadu and the spectre of political vagrancy

    Ribadu and the spectre of political vagrancy

    But then, if there is no real difference between the two major parties, should Ribadu not more logically have refused to cast his lot with either? Now that he has cast his lot with the PDP, those he has fought vigorously all his life will do everything to abort his ambition. Are we likely to witness the premature eclipse of an otherwise promising political career? Time will tell 

    In his classic essay titled “Case For Ideological Orientation”, Chief Obafemi Awolowo declared that “In any theatre of life with which he is identified, every one of us has an orientation…If you meet a politician who is unwilling or unable, to declare and, as precisely as possible, describe his position in relation to the cardinal points of political compass, you will feel strongly tempted to denounce him as a fraud, a total misfit or a hopeless drifter”. Affirming his own commitment to the ideology of democratic socialism, the sage contended further that “…the aim of any progressive government must include social justice, equal opportunity for all, respect for human dignity and the welfare and happiness of all, regardless of creed, parentage and station in life”. Thus, in concrete policy terms, the parties led by Awolowo in the first and second republics – the Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), respectively, were committed to the provision of free education, free health care, full employment, rural integration and development as well as massive development of infrastructure. The more conservative inclined parties such as the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of the first and second republics were less inclined to utilise state resources for the provision of social welfare services for the vast majority of the people. They rather preferred policies that would help cultivate a viable business class and thriving private sector capable of spurring economic growth believing that the masses would ultimately benefit from the ‘trickle down’ effects of such policies.

    Despite the existence of a multiplicity of political parties, there has always been the tendency towards a broad-based two-party system in Nigeria. Thus, in the first republic, the party system was systematically coalescing into two broad alliances, the conservative Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) comprising the NPC and its allies and the more progressive United Peoples Grand Alliance (UPGA) made up of the AG, NCNC and smaller parties from the Middle Belt and Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers (COR) provinces. This tendency was replicated in the second republic when two broad party alliances emerged – the NPN and its allies as well as the Progressive Parties Alliance (PPA) comprising the UPN, NPP and the more radical factions of the PRP and the GNPP. It was obviously the manifestation of this two party tendency that informed the formation by the Babangida regime of two state-created parties, the ‘little to the left’ Social Democratic Party  (SDP) and the ‘little to the right’ National Republican Convention (NRC). Of course, IBB’s novel attempt at political engineering crashed as a result of his own vaulting ambition to perpetuate himself in office, which led to his disastrous annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

    True, the phenomenon of political vagrancy – the tendency for political actors to move opportunistically and arbitrarily from one party to another irrespective of their ideological disposition – has been a feature of Nigerian politics right from the first republic. With each successive dispensation, political parties have become less of vehicles for the articulation and implementation of public policies based on distinct ideological platforms and more of veritable vote-harvesting machines through which political actors acquire power largely for the criminal and primitive accumulation of wealth. The more the role of ideology has been de-emphasised in Nigeria’s politics, the more politicians across board have tended to prostitute themselves moving embarrassingly from one party to the other in their quest for power, devoid of principle. This problem has considerably worsened in contemporary Nigeria where we now have two major parties, the entrenched People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the emergent All Progressives Congress (APC) made up of a merger of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The rapid movement of political actors from one of these parties to the other and back to their former abode has been quite dizzying and stupefying. As it were, this seems to mark, finally, the ‘end of ideology’ in Nigerian politics.

    The latest example of political vagrancy on display is that of the movement of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu from the APC to the PDP. This development has left many disappointed and dismayed. As head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) during the Obasanjo presidency, the fear of Ribadu was the beginning of wisdom. He fought corruption with unprecedented passion and ferocity. His detractors have accused Ribadu of having gone only after Obasanjo’s perceived political foes. But no one has been able to prove that even a single one of the corrupt elements whom Ribadu single-mindedly prosecuted and got convicted was innocent of the crime of corrupt enrichment. Ribadu won national and international acclaim for his anti-graft offensive. It was this solid character and anti-corruption record of Ribadu that the defunct ACN sought to profit from when it fielded Ribadu as its presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential election. While most knowledgeable Nigerians readily admit that corruption is the greatest menace threatening Nigeria’s progress and very existence, they were reluctant to give Ribadu their votes at the polls. Most of those who voted for General Muhammadu Buhari, the CPC candidate, who also has an impeccable anti-corruption record, did so more for religious and ethno-regional rather than ethical reasons. There is no reason to believe that even now, corruption is a serious issue with the average Nigerian voter.

    Indeed, the ACN saw that a bloc- vote for Ribadu in the South-West in the 2011 election, could lead to a stalemate with no candidate being able to secure the necessary constitutional requirement to emerge as winner in the first ballot. The result would be a likely run-off between President Jonathan and Buhari. The ACN leadership, given the perceived contempt with which it was treated by the CPC did not feel inclined to give the CPC such a helping hand. This resulted in the voting pattern in the South-West that aided Jonathan’s victory on the first ballot. Against this background, can anyone really blame Ribadu if he sees the PDP as offering him a more viable and feasible platform to emerge as governor of Adamawa State given the current socio-economic and political realities of Nigeria? Can anyone fault Ribadu if he has become tired of battering his head in futility against a rock solid wall of the corrupt Nigerian establishment? If he is able to hold a prominent political office on the platform of any party, will Ribadu not be in a vantage position to demonstrate practically the anti-corruption values he has consistently and vigorously espoused? Of course, the downside is that once he is helped to power by the very forces of corruption he has so fiercely and viciously denounced, he may no longer have the moral authority to lead any battle against corruption. For, those who helped him up the power ladder can also readily engineer his downfall if he attempts to play any game of self-righteousness.

    Justifying his defection to the PDP and obtaining the party’s nomination form for the Adamawa state governorship election, Ribadu reportedly contended that there is little or no difference ideologically and morally between the PDP and APC. This may be true to some extent. However, most APC governors have undoubtedly provided more inspirational, visionary and productive governance in their respective states than the PDP has done at the centre since 1999. Yet, it is difficult to distinguish between the bankrupt neo-liberal economic policies of the PDP at the centre and those of the state governments including those controlled by the APC. This is why reactionary elements of the PDP particularly in the South-West have been able to mischievously position themselves as champions of the common man without articulating any coherent programme for the liberation of the latter from misery and poverty? But then, if there is no real difference between the two major parties, should Ribadu not more logically have refused to cast his lot with either? Now that he has cast his lot with the PDP, those he has fought vigorously all his life will do everything to abort his ambition. Are we likely to witness the premature eclipse of an otherwise promising political career? Time will tell.

  • Calling coaches’ bluff

    What is the trouble with our football? When will those seeking offices in the Glasshouse learn how to obey the FIFA statutes in actualising their ambitions? Who is responsible for the Wednesday morning NFF secretariat carnage that left key offices in ashes? Why do people like to attract attention to themselves for the wrong reasons? Which other body owns the beautiful game aside FIFA? How come nobody has called to order the faction of seven that still meets under a perceived NFF umbrella, after FIFA’s ruling which the sport minister has obeyed? Or is the minister no longer the final authority in sports?

    One had thought that with FIFA’s verdict on August 4 and the minister’s compliance, the last of the crises at the Glasshouse had been heard. But, like a thief in the night, the fire came suddenly, destroying everything in the General Secretary’s office, the accountant’s office and some adjoining offices.

    But the good news is that NFF men are saying no document was destroyed; all plans will go on without any hindrance. So, the theory of the fire being a happenstance raises hope of a new dawn at the place.

    Will this be the end of the wahala in NFF? I don’t think so because the police will begin investigations that will soon unveil a lot. The police must get to the root of the carnage. Those found culpable must face the sanctions.

    What this writer doesn’t understand is the refusal by the body’s first vice chairman to accept that FIFA’s verdict is final. He is still bickering. He has refused to present Aminu Maigari’s resignation letter. One will love to ask the vice chairman how a man that was impeached, dismissed and asked to leave the meeting hall could return with a resignation letter. If the vice-chairman, in his then capacity as president of the body, accepted Maigari’s purported resignation letter, he has no business being the face of our football. We want knowledgeable people in such exalted offices.

    Maigari returned to the NFF presidency because FIFA annulled the process that removed him from office. In the eyes of FIFA, the meeting where Maigari was impeached, dismissed and asked to walk out never held.

    In other climes, the vice chairman won’t be allowed to contest. A man who was impeached and dismissed has no basis to resign from a non-existent office. FIFA’s “Statutes” is the rule book for soccer globally. Our soccer chiefs must sit down and read it properly. We are tired of repeated FIFA interventions. I digress!

    I had my fears about our September 6 and 10 ties because of the stipulated 14 days notice to foreign clubs to release players to their national teams for approved international matches and friendlies. Now that the Glasshouse men have beaten the 14-day clause by naming 23 players for the two matches against Congo in Calabar on September 6 and South Africa in Cape Town on September 10, the question to ask is who picked the players? Is it the NFF or the chief coach? If it is the coach’s list, why all the talk of unresolved contract details? If it was NFF’s list, is it a pointer to the fact that they have given up on the coach’s demands and intend to announce a new helmsman? If yes, they better do it now, if they are sure that the coach’s contract has lapsed.

    But a story in one of the online networks quoted Keshi as saying that Victor Moses, who wasn’t listed in the 23-man squad had lost form. What struck me was that Keshi may not have forgiven Osaze Odemwingie who is also dropped. The noise of Osaze not playing to instruction in Nigeria’s first game in Brazil against Iran may be the reason. One could be wrong. Who knows, Osaze may have quietly resigned from playing for Nigeria. We will surely get Osaze’s response in the coming days.

    Keshi also told a radio station this week that he picked the 23-man squad in consultation with the Eagles secretary Dayo Enebi. What this simply shows is that Keshi picks his players without consulting his assistants. If I were in NFF, I will offer the job to Daniel Amokachi for N3 million and call the Big Boss’ bluff for the two games against Congo and South Africa.

    Reading through all the stories in the media concerning the renewal of the contract, the problem appears to be the coach’s insistence on having more than the N5 million monthly pay. His demands are legitimate, except that the NFF is saying that it went through hell paying the N5 million monthly and wouldn’t want that scenario to repeat itself.

    There were suggestions that the NFF men toyed with N10 million, which one of the negotiators to the coach described in the media as “slavish”. I don’t want to believe that anyone would say so. If indeed he said that, the NFF had better pull out of the discussion and quickly announce a new coach.

    Stephen Keshi has done well for Nigeria. His records with the Eagles are a clear testimony of his hard work. I know that Keshi is a patriot. He also has a right to make such demands. But where there is a stalemate, Keshi should let everyone know what he wants. Keshi doesn’t need to send negotiators for a new deal. After all, when he signed the first one, he came alone. Many have argued that there was no written document between the coach and the NFF in the first deal.

    So, has Keshi learnt lessons from what happened the first time with his bosses? Of course he has. But would the NFF want to do business with a coach who doesn’t think that his employers have a right to supervise his work? Are the NFF chiefs willing to have an employee who has unfettered access to big men in government on their payroll? Shouldn’t the NFF men use this platform of a new deal to include a code of conduct, telling the coach his contracts dos and don’ts?

    One is glad that the minister has stayed out of the discussion. We need to know the true employers of the coaches, if we hope to stop the show-of-shame in foreign land where the players and coaches refuse to honour our international matches until their dues are paid.

    Other countries strike deals with the players and coaches which terminate with the World Cup before the qualifiers begin. This idea of paying players and coaches match bonuses and allowances isn’t in sync with global best practices. The Germans who won the 2014 World Cup diadem were paid $400,000 each. The players and coaches didn’t get a dime for the qualifiers because they knew that their contracts terminated with either winning the World Cup or crashing out of it. They chose the profitable option, with many of them donating their cash to charity homes. Little wonder many of the Germans are being chased by big clubs in Europe.

    Nigeria joins the ignoble league of protesting nations like Ghana and Cameroun who have paid appearance fees to their players and officials, simply because many of them feared that they would not get theirs if they had to leave. What most people don’t understand especially those in government is that FIFA lays bare what players’ and officials’ entitlements are. Any country that breaches laid down rules will be compelled to fulfill its obligations or have such cash deducted from its earnings.

     

    Magicians in Canada

    Anytime our girls excel in international competitions, I describe them as magicians. These girls don’t play the game here, like boys do. Their league matches are played in far flung areas. No television coverage. I’m sure these girls can’t be tagged professional players.

    For the girls in Canada, qualifying for the women U-20 World Cup is a feat worthy of celebration. Assiat Osholala is the highest goal scorer, with seven goals. Courtney Dike scored the fastest goal of the competition. My fervent wish is that Nigeria becomes the first African country to lift the women World Cup at the U-20 level.

    When these girls return, their lives will change for the better. New deals struck with European clubs, increased income and sufficient cash to change the families’ lives for good. One only hopes that President Goodluck Jonathan can give the girls $100,000 each, like he gave the boys, a national honour and perhaps ask the First Lady to donate a trophy that the girls will compete for yearly. The First Lady should use her influence to get Nigerians and companies to bankroll the competition such that the girls can live their lives as true professionals, not the eyesore that we have now in the few places where they play on empty stomachs.

    No matter what anyone says, the Maigari-led board has added another feather to its cap. Why some people want Maigari out of the NFF remains to be seen. Honestly.

  • Global terrorism, religious freedom and democracy

    PRAISE the Lord and pass the ammunition‘ was a favourite quotation of mine in my younger days when I found it heroic and a sign or clarion call of valour and virtue, in the face of troubles and challenges. Nowadays that feeling has taken a good hiding or a back seat in my estimation.

    This was inevitable given the advent of religious violence and militancy prevalent in various parts of the world especially Nigeria nowadays. Frankly, I do not think I will be amused in any way, if anyone shouted that favourite phrase of praise in my vicinity nowadays.

    This is because in the real world of religious intolerance and Islamic militancy threatening world peace today, one should indeed flee, bolt and take cover or vamoose into thin air in a jiffy, if any religious slogan is shouted near you as the speaker could as well be a suicide bomber – or worse still a young lady- as had happened in many bloody Boko Haram bombings that have claimed many innocent lives in Nigeria in recent times.

    In Nigeria, the 200 abducted Chibok girls are still in the violent captivity of Boko Haram whose leader boasted that they would be sold into a marriage market he said existed after their conversion to Islam. For now, nobody, not even our government, can confirm if he had carried out his threat or not as nobody knows their where about, months after they vanished into thin air like the Malaysian plane carrying about the same number of passengers and crew that have equally not been found.

    Yet in Nigeria it has been business as usual. Indeed tomorrow Nigeria’s Under 20 female team, the Falcons, the same age group with the 200 Chibok girls will play in the finals of the Fifa Soccer Competition and will be rewarded amply by the Nigerian government and people win or lose. Yet the Chibok 200 girls are still missing.

    Of course the Chibok girls, missing or even found, are no threat to world or Nigerian peace or security. For now the greatest threat to Nigerian peace is the 2015 elections and the threat by Northern elders that the incumbent President should stop his mobilisation of Nigerians in the 6 geopolitical zones to launch his re election bid. Which showed that the Northern elders really like to back at the moon.

    Or else it should be apparent to them that if a Commander in Chief can successfully mobilise federal might to secure state elections then he should be more than capable to secure his own re – election, the protestations or warnings of the Northern elders not withstanding.

    I say this boldly because I find it insensitive of the Northern elders who have tasted and wielded power – Aso rock power for that matter, and known its potency as an intoxicant, to dare their successor who now wields the same power, if not more, with such impunity.

    They are really marching where angels fear to tread and must be prepared for a bitter surprise available to only those who survive standing in front of a moving train as the late MKO of June 12 would have said. Of course the irrepressible late MKOa great man of many proverbs once told his presidential running mate that a bird does not tell another when a stone is coming.

    That surely would be good advice for Northern elders as they face an incumbent president who like them sees the 2015 elections as infinitely more important than the fate of the 200 abducted and still missing Chibok girls. With regard to the US, Iraq, and Britain, the threats posed by terrorism to religious freedom and democracy, as shown from events in those nations this week, are quite revealing and educative especially with how they are being confronted.

    This is because in Nigeria we treat these issues like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand thinking that nobody is seeing it whereas its problems will not go away and will be there when it un – buries its head. That explains why right before our eyes Boko Haram is becoming a state within a state and has this week seized a training academy for anti riot police near Gwoza in the NE of Borno State where there is state of emergency to contain the same Boko Haram insurgency.

    Serially and with speedy impunity Boko Haram has killed and maimed Nigerians and Nigerian soldiers such that the valor and bravery of our troops had to be defended by the military spokesman, a General who took pains to explain the difficult situation of soldiers wives in barracks protesting that their husbands will not fight unless they are well equipped against Boko Haram.

    In the US the Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel came out this week to identify the terror group IS – Islamic State as the greatest threat to US Security today. Yet the IS is fighting to unseat the government of Iraq in Baghdad, so far away from the US Homeland. But the Americans nowadays under President Barak Obama have no stomach for any war as the situation in Iraq could have been avoided if the US had done what it is doing in Iraq today – with air strikes to save minority Christians and Yazidis from the murderous terror of IS -in Syria when President Bashir Assad used chemical weapons against the Syrian opposition calling for the overthrow of Assad.

    The US dithered then and Jihadists infiltrated the Syrian Opposition crystallising in the emergence of first the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq – ISIS- and now, IS led by Sunni militants heading towards Baghdad before US airstrikes stopped them. Now the US Chief of Defence Staff has said that IS cannot be defeated unless its headquarters in Syria is destroyed.

    Which, added to the warning by the US Defence Secretary simply means that the Americans must return to their vomit in Syria and execute the air strikes or red lines they averted in Syria over chemical weapons, this time to guarantee their own security in their own backyard or homeland in the US.

    What a long and treacherous journey back for US Middle East Foreign Policy! In Britain the issues we are discussing today created a dispute between the Church and the state, a familiar tussle in the evolution of parliamentary democracy in that former colonial empire.

    The Bishop of Leeds the Right Reverend Nicholas Baines recently wrote a letter to the British PM David Cameron accusing him that his government’s policy on religious freedom was not dynamic enough to protect Christians being persecuted in their thousands in Iraq.

    The bishop who said he had the endorsement of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England on the letter, asked how many Iraqi Christians have been offered asylum in Britain based on their plight of utter persecution by the IS in Iraq.

    Which is a pertinent question which unfortunately puts the British PM in a quandary because the British people are in no mood for any war after they crucified Tony Blair his predecessor over the Iraqi Invasion of 2003 with the former US President George Bush, over weapons of mass destruction.

    That the British have a long memory and to show that the anti Iraq war coalition is not dead in Britain, was shown the way Parliament voted across party lines to restrain the PM , David Cameron from going to deal with Assad in Syria when the issue of use of chemical weapons surfaced at the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Now David Cameron is still handcuffed by the fury of the Iraqi anti war coalition and the Church of England seems to be compounding the impotence of a PM caged by a Parliament and a people that have lost the stomach for foreign wars.

    This is made worse by the fact that David Cameron himself has once declared as useless ‘multiculturalism ‘which his predecessor used to fight the dangers of terrorism in post colonial Britain. Sadly the British PM can only wring his hands in embarrassment as the Church of England tries to prod the state to find its balls on religious freedom in good, old Britain over the fate of Iraqis in far away Iraq.

    Really the British are seeing how fast the chicken have come home to roost after colonialism and now globalisation and I am not too sure that they for now really know how to cope. All the same I honestly wish them the best of luck which seems very scarce in old democracies such as theirs in today’s turbulent politics of global Islamic militancy.

  • Power, authority and justice

    WHAT ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely‘ is not on my mind today, on this topic. The loss of power and authority and the attendant, concomitant effect on justice and security drive my mind as I do this global analysis. Four personalities across different continents and their fate this week rivet my attention and at times my sympathy, fear and even admiration, albeit grudgingly.

    They are first, Nouri Maliki who resigned as PM of Iraq this week after showing clearly that he had never come across the expression that an actor withdraws when the ovation is loudest. The second is Egypt’s former strong man Housni Mubarak, still alive and kicking at his trial in Egypt, where he swore this week that he did not order the killing of Egyptian demonstrators during the 2011 Cairo Street demonstrations that toppled his regime. The third is Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, just released from detention by the Chinese authorities but whose lawyer said his state of health is such that he is physically ‘destroyed‘ and ‘unintelligible‘.

    The fourth is the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan who congratulated the winner of last Saturday’s Osun state elections that I labelled ‘Quarantine elections‘ even though he was the one that put an Ebola like security quarantine on the state electorate in an election that his party, the PDP lost so clearly. At the back of my mind today in analysing the actions and fate of these four political figures is William Shakespeare’s timeless observation that –All the world is a stage and men and women are merely players – who have their exits and entrances. In Iraq Nouri Maliki made his exit but in a rather disgraceful manner. He had lost power and authority before resigning.

    Worse still he had lost face because his replacement had been announced by the president who appointed him on his entrance into the stage of power politics in Iraq and he had announced that he would contest his removal in court before dovishly turning in his letter of resignation. So, to Nouri Maliki the Iraqis can say good riddance and good luck to bad rubbish and they will be applauded in saying this to a man who lost power and authority as well as the sovereignty and security of Iraq to the Sunni militant insurgency Islamic state – IS – that has driven over 1.5m Iraqis out of Northern Iraq and was advancing on the capital Baghdad until US Prseident Barak Obama intervened with air raids to save fleeing thousands of Iraqi Christians and Minority Yazids who took refuge in mountains in Northern Iraq. Maliki’s successor a Shia Muslim like him – Engineer Haider al Abadi, Iraq’s Deputy Speaker has made security his priority and has announced hat he welcomes even air strikes from Iran in case the US ones were to end.

    Which was something Maliki could not say because he had lost credibility with friends and foes alike. This is not to say that Sunni Violence since the overthrow of their master Saddam Hussein was anything to write home about. The Sunnis in Iraq have behaved like blood thirsty power losers since the coming of elections and democracy gave power to the majority Shia Moslems in the first set of elections after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Indeed they are like Boko Haram in Nigeria in the way they have been killing or converting by force Christians and Kurds who were an integral and historical part of Iraq as a federation under Saddam Hussein.

    This was when the Sunnni minority held power, propped up by the Americans to create political stability in Iraq and make oil flow through the Straits of Homuz without Iran’s lurking intervention in that area. It was a similar guarantee of political stability that kept our next subject of discussion Housni Mubarak in power for so long after succeeding the late President Anwar Sadat who was assassinated by the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt for signing the peace treaty with Israel.

    Housni Mubarak was the head of the Egyptian Air force in the October 1973 War with Israel when the Egyptians had the upper hand in attacking first and almost defeating Israel before the Israelis rallied round and encircled Egypt’s Third Army in the Sinai leading to humiliating negotiations for the survival of that army. Mubarak was thus a war hero in Egypt before he succeeded Sadat and was in power for decades organising fake elections giving him 90 % of votes cast before the Cairo Tahrir Square Street demonstrations supported by the US and Britain forced him out of power.

    He was brought to trial in Egypt in a cage even though he was sick, and his sons too – powerful ministers in their father’s government – were arraigned with him. He was lucky not to have been lynched then because his army played a wise role in kowtowing to the Street revolution and gaining the confidence of the masses then and organising an election that brought the Moslem Brotherhood to power with the election of President Mohammed Morsi whose Islamist policies angered the Egyptian masses leading to his overthrow by a popular military coup.

    Now Housni Mubarak’s earlier harsh sentences for embezzlement have been converted to three years and he may soon be free as his boys in the army are in power and army Field Marshal El Sissy is now the newly elected president of Egypt. Housni Mubarak’s fate in Egypt is that of a man who has fallen from grace to grass and who has been made to account for his misuse of power without losing his life in the process.

    He reminds me vividly of the Chinese saying – Count no man lucky until his death. I grudgingly wish Housni Mubarak and his sons the best of luck in their political trials as the wind of change nowadays blows in their direction in the land of the Pharaohs. Not that lucky however is our next leader Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng who the Chinese have treated very badly in prison because he dared to criticise the Chinese authorities for their discriminating attitude to Christians and the Falun Gong Movement in China.

    This really is a clear case of misuse of power and miscarriage of justice. Gao according to his lawyer has been so brutally treated in prison that he has lost his teeth from the diet of cabbage and a slice of bread he was subsisting on in prison. Of course the Chinese have not extended the Mandela treatment by the Apartheid regime of S Africa to Gao.

    Mandela did exams by tuition on Robben Island and learnt the language of his jailors in prison for 27 years. Neither has he been given the Mubarak treatment of a doting Egy ptian army which observed the dictum that he who runs today lives to fight another day and was able to preserve the life of its former Commander in Chief. In the case of Mandela there is no denying that he would not be alive to become the global icon of dignity and freedom if he had been treated the way the wicked Chinese have treated Gao whose wife and children are in the US where Gao is expected to be flown to very soon on his release. I doff my hat to Gao for his courage and conviction and ask the Chinese to cover their face in shame for rusticating and dehumanising an intelligent human being such that he could not be intelligible again after being in state custody.

    That really is a disgrace to China. Lastly I salute the good people of Osun state for trooping out as advised and using their mandate to reward good performance in governance in that state. As I wrote last week quarantines such as the security ones mounted by the federal agencies in that state last week should be broken by a brave and vigilant electorate. That is how to get power and authority and enthrone justice as expected henceforth especially in Nigeria’s 2015 elections.

    Of course I congratulate the President on the sports manly way of conceding defeat and congratulating the winner in the quarantine election as he has done. I also congratulate the speed with which the Federal government has accepted the offer of a cure for the Ebola virus with the Nano Silva drug flown into the country for use after due research protocol clearance by the Health Ministry.

    This shows again that Ebola is an aberration that will go away like quarantine elections. Again I congratulate the President for his new friendly gesture which during the Osun quarantine elections was indeed no more than the friendship of the cocoyam in the midst of goats for the good people of Osun state whose will nevertheless prevailed in that quarantine election.

  • September 6 & 10 ties

    September 6 & 10 ties

    I pity soccer fans who would throng the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar on September 6 to watch the Super Eagles begin their defence of the Africa Cup of Nations diadem, which Nigeria lifted on February 10 in Johannesburg. They would have deprived themselves of some of the luxuries of life to save cash for the game. Soccer fans around the country who like to place bets on matches would need to see their doctors after the game to check their blood pressure, if they don’t get to the hospitals in ambulances.

    The fans will be coming to witness a continuation of the slaughtering of teams in Calabar by the Eagles. And no one would blame because we have a richer pedigree than our likely opponents- Rwanda or Congo. Did I hear you say Congo not Rwanda? Yes, Congo, because their football authorities have an incriminating document that suggests one of the Rwandan players has two international passports with two names.

    The Congolese Football Federation has lodged a complaint with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) against Rwanda. The Wasps edged Congo out on penalties in the second round of qualifiers of the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 in Kigali on August 2, after the two teams had tied 2-2 on aggregate. However, the Congolese officials complained to CAF that Rwanda might have fielded an ineligible player in the first leg in Pointe-Noire on July 20.

    According to Fecofoot, Rwandan striker Dady Birori is holding two passports and registered under the different name of Agiti Taddy Etekiama in DR Congo where he plays for AS Vita Club in Kinshasa. Indeed, CAF has banned Birori from its club competitions. We are waiting for CAF’s verdict on Congo’s protest. Should the continental body decide to uphold the claim, Congo could be reinstated to compete in the final qualifying round in Group A with South Africa, Nigeria and Sudan.

    What this scenario suggests is that the Eagles don’t know their opponents. It means that the coaches will have to study the tapes of the two countries to fashion out counter strategies to drub them groggy with goals on September 6. This isn’t an insurmountable task for the Eagles, except that the team has no coach. Nor is the NFF paying attention to how we hope to prosecute two games in four days from September 6 to 10.

    NFF chieftains and indeed eggheads of the supervisory body are focused on how to dislodge Aminu Maigari from the Glasshouse, forgetting that without the Eagles and all the national teams, they will have no business being in the NFF and the NSC. They are paying lip service to how the Eagles will prepare for both games, especially the September 10 clash against Bafana Bafana in Cape Town. They have forgotten that we are the defending champions and will need the six points from both matches to secure the group’s qualification ticket.

    Matters are made worse by the incredible figures being bantered in the media as the chief coach’s fees. Some reports suggest that the coach wants a tax-free N15 million monthly salary, a car and a house, not forgetting the funny clause of getting ten months salary upfront. What happened to the two cars the coach got from Globacom’s owner Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr), following a written letter from the NFF for the vehicles? What won’t you hear from the Glasshouse when it comes to the Super Eagles?

    There is also the cheap talk that the coach is being wooed by as many as seven countries. Equally disturbing is the chest-beating claims by one of the coach’s agents that he turned down a mouth-watering $120,000 monthly salary from an Angolan club for the Eagles job that is still a contentious issue as at today. The loquacious agent also told the media that the coach won’t come to the country until this matter is settled.

    If the coach was asking for these mindboggling figures after the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, many a Nigerian would have pleaded that he be paid what he asked for. They would have based their position on the Eagles’ remarkable outing in South Africa. They would be projecting into the World Cup held in Brazil. But, given the way the Eagles played so poorly at the Mundial in Brazil, especially the worst game against Iran, not many people would subscribe to paying the coach as much as N15 million monthly, if it is true such demands are before the NFF negotiators.

    I hope that the coach understands what his canvassers are doing. What should be paramount on his mind, if he wants the job, is for him to sign a deal in which his salary can easily be paid. Stories about salary indebtedness are legendary with NFF. The flipside is for the NFF to insist on paying the coach what it can afford.

    We are tired of incidents where players and coaches refuse to embark on trips until their entitlements are paid. Such disgraceful acts can be avoided if the NFF seals a deal that will make it have full control of the coach. And it starts with prompt payment of his salaries and entitlements. Indeed, we had forgotten about players holding us hostage before big competitions over their entitlements – until this era. The show-of-shame in Namibia and Brazil mustn’t be allowed to repeat itself.

    The first question one should ask the feuding NFF chiefs is what their mandate is if the Eagles don’t win both games on September 6 and 10? Don’t they know many of the Euro

  • Of madness and Ebola

    Of madness and Ebola

    The outbreak of the vicious, deadly and unsparing Ebola Virus Disease demonstrates, once again just how fragile, vulnerable, insecure and unpredictable human existence can be. Massive natural disasters can occur in an instant sending millions to an unanticipated grave. New diseases surface without notice to wreak havoc on humanity. Even human behaviour is unpredictable. Who knows when, where and how depraved terrorists will strike next on their impassioned mission of destruction? Remember 9/11. Remember the on-going tragedy of Chibok. It is the very unpredictability of the future that makes efficient organisation of society vital to human survival. Eternal vigilance through good, effective and competent governance is the only way for society to develop the capacity to respond decisively to contain unanticipated challenges. The Ebola threat also shows how interconnected humanity really is despite our diversity. That which unites us as a species is far more important than the things that divide us. We simply cannot afford not to be our brother’s keeper. Incompetent and careless governance anywhere can have negative implications for human existence everywhere. That is the crucial lesson being taught by the ruthless Ebola predator.

    Of course, I can understand President Goodluck Jonathan’s anger and exasperation when he described the Liberian, the late Patrick Sawyer, through whom the Ebola Virus was brought into Nigeria as a mad man. Many Nigerians will surely share this sentiment. After all, Sawyer knew he had the disease. He knew the implications of his travelling out of Liberia and the danger he posed to anyone he came in contact with. His action was thus deliberate. But then, can anybody be afflicted with such a venomous affliction and still retain his or her rationality? Confronted with such a predicament, an imminent appointment with death, will the human mind not become a whirlwind of incoherent, confused thoughts? Can anyone predict how he would react in the face of such a terrifying reality? But then, when we adjudge others as mad, we presume that we are sane. But is our assumed sanity, many times, not difficult to distinguish from the presumed madness of others? Let me explain.

    We have all known for some time that some West African countries including Liberia were hit by the Ebola epidemic. There had been reports of hundreds of deaths in those countries. We knew that Nigeria, particularly her major commercial centres, is a prime destination for people across West Africa. What anticipatory steps did we take to protect our people against the invasion of the virus? Why were our immigration officers and health workers not placed on red alert and measures taken to screen entrants into the country, especially from vulnerable nations, for the virus? As Mr Femi Kusa wrote in his column in this newspaper on Thursday, “The government should investigate how the Liberian who brought Ebola virus to Nigeria beat immigration officers to it. They should have known he was a Liberian and stopped him”. But I speak here not just of a failure of governance at all levels. Rather, it is a collective failure of society including the media. Why, for instance, did leading columnists, editorialists or public affairs analysts fail to sensitise government and the general public to the dangers posed by Ebola long before now? We are all complicit. This kind of suicidal complacency and laxity is a more dangerous form of madness than that exhibited by the late Sawyer.

    But then was Patrick Sawyer’s trip to Nigeria a spontaneous and irrational act of madness? If his widow is to be believed, he carefully and rationally calculated and planned his trip to Nigeria. According to her “He didn’t tell me this, but I know in my heart of hearts that Patrick was determined to get to Nigeria by all means because he felt that Nigeria would be a place of refuge…Patrick went to Nigeria for help so that he can get properly diagnosed and not misdiagnosed in Liberia. And if it came back that he did have Ebola, he trusted the Nigerian health care system a lot more than he trusted Liberia’s…Patrick didn’t want to die and he thought his life would be saved in Nigeria”.

    Well, some may see this as the biased rationalisations of a mourning wife. But Mrs Sawyer’s submissions raise some pertinent questions. Patrick Sawyer was an American citizen. His wife and daughters live in the US. He knew that the US has a superior healthcare system to Nigeria’s and would probably have preferred to go there. But he also probably knew that he did not have the slightest chance of gaining entry into the US in his condition. The US system had put in place effective measures to protect its citizens against Ebola and other killer plagues. But he obviously reckoned that he could easily beat Nigeria’s lax system and was proved right after all. There was a method to his madness. If he had not physically taken ill at the airport, the ailing man would have simply walked through the various check points and disappeared into thin air – a veritable mobile weapon of mass destruction.

    Yes, I am aware that Sawyer was rushed to the hospital at Obalende from the airport and it was only later that he was diagnosed as suffering from Ebola Virus fever. But if the relevant agencies and the general public had been sufficiently sensitised as regards the danger of Ebola and anticipatory measures put in place, there would have been greater vigilance and caution in handling this case in the interest of public safety.The very fact that Sawyer was Liberian and ill should have triggered an alarm in the system right from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport leading to greater caution on the part of all that would have probably saved the lives now needlessly lost and others that are still endangered. Those with him on the flight would have been better tracked and monitored rather than being allowed to simply disperse in different unknown directions.

    However, there is absolutely nothing irrational about the late Sawyer expecting Nigeria to have a better and more effective healthcare system than Liberia. Given Nigeria’s abundant natural and human resources, there is no reason why the country should not have a world-class health care system that would offer hope and succour to her own people and those of less endowed African countries. Until we get rid of the current impunity and disregard for the rule of law that erodes the country’s immunity against monumental corruption and gross irresponsibility in public office, the Nigerian state will not develop the capacity to effectively protect its citizens from the vagaries of existence in our dangerous world. The virus of impunity is to the Nigerian state what Ebola is to the human body. It is the more urgent ‘madness’ that must be checked if we are not to continue to be the victims of the ‘madness’ of the Patrick Sawyers of this world.

  • Birth pangs of a new order

    Birth pangs of a new order

    On the surface the impression one gets  is that democracy in the true sense of the word is greatly enfeebled and endangered if not absolutely non-existent in Nigeria today. Some contend that we have simply exchanged military for civilian dictatorship since 1999. This is substantially true. Yet, I believe that, against undeniably daunting odds, the country is marching forcefully and irresistibly on the path to true democracy.  Of course the forces of reaction are staunchly opposed to the emergence of a genuinely democratic and federal Nigeria. They ceaselessly devise new and ever more sophisticated methods to undermine the rule of law, sabotage federal ethos and dress the most fascistic measures in democratic robes. Yet, beyond surface appearances and transient, illusory ‘victories’ such as witnessed in the Ekiti June 21 governorship polls, the people are winning.

    The battle between reaction and progress in contemporary Nigeria shifts today to Osun State. Today the people of Osun will decide who will preside over their affairs for another four years. Let me quickly say that I am under no illusion that  the forces of reaction in Nigeria are completely devils and those of progress are untainted saints. The acquisition and utilization of state power as a means of primitive accumulation of wealth is common to both ideological camps and is largely a function of the character of Nigeria’s dependent, backward and neo-colonial political economy. However, the progressives have demonstrated a greater capacity, will and vision to stimulate real development and lift people out of poverty through massive infrastructure renewal, job creation and the provision of qualitative social services.

    In Ekiti, the reactionaries believe they demonstrated convincingly that performance in office does not matter.  A performing incumbent governor was overwhelmingly defeated by an opponent who presented no coherent manifesto to the electorate. Worse, the winner in the election had a dismal record in his previous outing as governor of the state and his party has handled the affairs of the country most catastrophically since 1999 that it has been in control at the centre. The reactionaries are thus ecstatic that all Nigerians care for is the immediate gratification of their stomachs. Tomorrow does not matter. Thus, the formula for electoral victory is simple. Distribute bags of rice and tons of money to the hungry, gullible electorate. Deploy federal might to cow those who refuse to mortgage their votes and future. Electoral success will be assured and governance can go to blazes.

    The campaign leading up to today’s election in Osun has been most interesting. The progressives have showcased the spectacular accomplishments of the incumbent who within a short period has taken unprecedented steps to turn the fortunes of the state around in various sectors. They have been wooing the electorate to vote the incumbent for a second term on the basis of his solid and undeniable record in office. The reactionaries have showcased their control of federal might to the people. Their candidate has taken to riding on okadas or eating roast corn by the roadside. He has presented no superior alternative programmes or policies to that of the incumbent. Unfortunately, unlike Ekiti, the reactionaries in Osun are faced with an incumbent who has been working and walking with the people on the streets right from his first day in office. The tag of elitist cannot stick on him even though he is as cerebral as they come.

    As I write these words, we are driving out of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, back to Lagos. The state has been heavily militarized. Heavily armed soldiers have mounted checkpoints across the capital. Sirens ceaselessly pierce the air as various security agencies continually demonstrate their potency and capacity to the populace. The aim seems to be to shock and awe the opposition into submission. Yet, from my observations in the state capital, the incumbent has a cult-like grassroots following. This is reported to be the case in many other parts of the state. His main challenger is also said to be strong on the ground in his native Ile-Ife and adjoining Local Government areas. It is obvious that if the results announced do not reflect the will of the people in the respective strongholds of the candidates, there will be a spontaneous negative reaction that all the militarization in the world will be unable to contain.

    To be fair, the soldiers we encounter at the checkpoints within and leading out of Osogbo are polite, courteous and professional. They have their name tags on and they have no masks on. Some of them even crack jokes with us. The impression I get is that the genuine and legitimate members of the armed forces deployed to Osogbo are performing their duties within the limits of their professional rules and ethics. This thus lends credence to the allegation that those purported members of the security agencies who have been behaving like terrorists in parts of Osun State, wearing masks, shooting into the air and harassing citizens re not genuine security professionals. They are reportedly trained armed militias who have been provided with fake uniforms and armed to help pervert the electoral process in Osun. A senior security operative told me that it would be exceedingly difficult to directly use any of the constitutionally established security agencies in the brazenly partisan manner that has been witnessed under Musliu Obanikoro and Jelili Adesiyan as helmsmen at the Ministries’ of defence and police affairs respectively. From his initial utterances as the new Acting Inspector General of Police, however, it appears that the loquacious, obsequious and theatrical Suleiman Abba, is ready to breach all professional ethics to worship at the altar of the presidency.

    Ironically, it is the very resort to the excessive militarization of elections by the Jonathan presidency that convinces me that the march to genuine democracy is irreversible in Nigeria. Such militarization and obscene show of brute force actually masks a growing helplessness and powerlessness on the part of the entrenched political forces at the centre. They are getting increasingly vulnerable, insecure and fearful of the affirmation of popular power in free and fair elections. The unintended consequences of such arrogant exhibition and utilization of federal might is that it will most likely embolden the people to defy federal might and develop the capacity to defend their votes. As the British historian, Arnold Toynbee noted, development occurs across space and time when individuals and groups are forced to respond to challenges. Militarization has become a challenge to Nigeria’s democracy. The organization and manifestation of people’s power will be the response and democracy will be the beneficiary.

    Beyond this, the core of the leadership of Nigeria’s security agencies are highly trained professionals who are reportedly unhappy with the increasingly brazen politicization of the agencies. In this age of globalization, they realize that the Nigerian military-security complex can only be truly effective, competitive and professional if its values are not corrupted by partisanship. Continued militarization of elections to ensure pre-determined partisan outcomes is thus likely to elicit subtle resistance within the security hierarchy with negative consequences. From my reading of the mood in Osun, if the result of today’s election does not reflect the will of the people, there will most likely be a spontaneous backlash. If the deployed officers and men go on a killing spree in response, Nigeria’s current military high command must be told that they will be liable at the International Criminal Court of Justice in a post-Jonathan era, which will surely come sooner or later. The excesses we are seeing in the militarization of elections under the Jonathan presidency may be a sign of hope after all. The old order is dying. The new is struggling to be born. What we are witnessing are the death throes of the old and the birth pangs of the new.

  • Eagles going, going…

    Eagles going, going…

    When shall we learn from our mistakes? Why hurry to disband a body whose life span is scheduled to lapse on August 26? Couldn’t we have employed more diplomatic methods in easing out this body, if we truly had evidence against its leadership? If the evidence was damning, isn’t there a body responsible for such an assignment? Since when did this body become a pariah?

    Members of a body that has celebrated its achievements with our soccer teams six times with President Goodluck Jonathan shouldn’t be blown out of the nostrils like catarrh. A body that received a commendation letter from FIFA for being the only country to qualify for all its competitions deserves a pat on the back than being hounded like common criminals.

    How do we feel when FIFA asks us to explain processes that we should be conversant with? What was the reason for going to Brazil to meet with FIFA, if they can still ask us to explain why Aminu Maigari was impeached?

    In an August 4 letter to NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu, signed by Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner, FIFA demanded a more detailed explanation of Aminu Maigari’s sack.

    They asked for the agenda of the executive committee meeting that sacked Maigari, the conditions for the amendment of the agenda and whether the president was given the chance to defend himself.

    FIFA also stated that the dismissal of any executive committee member was the prerogative of the NFF general assembly and not the executive committee. The world football ruling body also expressed surprise that despite the lifting of the suspension on the country, the situation in Nigeria has become “so inextricable”.

    What I really don’t understand is how the current board has found the majority votes to take the decisions it is churning out. Where were these new voters in the past regime? What is the secret behind this change of gear? These are some of the reasons why FIFA is curious.

    Some people have turned the NFF into an oil well. When they are out of the place, nothing works. They must tell us what they have forgotten in NFF; otherwise we will be back here again in 2018.

    It is absolutely impossible for one man or a troika to be responsible for the mistakes noticed in our Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign. I find it difficult to understand how in one breath we are celebrating the players and coaches for qualifying for the Round of 16 while lampooning the body that took charge of the team’s preparations.

    When Nigeria lifted the Africa Cup of Nations diadem, the coaches and players got the plaudits. The federation chiefs stood aside like orphans. Yet, when the team is adjudged not to have lived up to its potential, those who were sidelined during the happy times are being fingered as the culprits. Our football needs structures to develop and it should start with the immediate abrogation of Decree 101.

    The draconian decree gives the sports minister the power to intervene anytime he perceives any infractions in the system. Most times, ministers unwittingly fight the battles of some disgruntled elements in the soccer family, anytime he/ she decides to invoke the decree to “correct” the flaws in the system. I sympathise with Dr. Tammy Danagogo, because he seems to me like a man desirous of surpassing the novel achievements of his predecessor, Bolaji Abdulahi.

    Danagogo admitted that he was learning the ropes of the industry. He promised to use good advice to correct any mistake that he makes, provided they are objective. I remember asking him at a press conference in Lagos, before the World Cup, what his plans for the post-Brazil 2014 World Cup were. I also asked him how he hoped to cope with the pressure of lickspittles who would bombard him with ‘quality’ advice meant to re-engineer the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). I, again, asked him what stage the abrogation of Decree 101 was and what it required to become an Act of parliament.

    I recall hearing Danagogo say that he had a few problems with the NFF chiefs but he would treat the issue with care in order not to disrupt our preparation for the World Cup. Danagogo wasn’t committal. I didn’t press further because he was still new then on the job. And he showed that he was reading the notes from all the arms of his ministry.

    So, when the news broke in Brazil that the NFF was in turmoil, I asked why? I knew that Danagogo had been hijacked by the hawks in the sporting industry. I also knew that Danagogo had taken his consultation too far, hence such a horrible decision to sack the NFF board without any recourse to the FIFA statutes.

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s financial intervention in the show-of-shame in Brazil underlined the fact that the $3.850 million wasn’t with the NFF men or the minister. I had thought that the minister ought to have tackled the problem from that point, even if he didn’t want to rock the boat back in Nigeria.

    It would shock the minister to note that Nigerians know where the problems of the game are. And we won’t be able to correct them with the defective Decree 101. We would be deluding ourselves to think that we can run the NFF with the decree after dragging FIFA eggheads to conduct the elections that brought Sani Lulu into office as president.

    Besides, prior to the World Cup, NFF board members beat their chests to say that all was well within their rank and that the Super Eagles would lift the World Cup. Not one member voiced any complaints about how the NFF was being run, aside those suspended by the members at board meetings.

    In Brazil, the members showed no sign of discontentment. Some say that is the hallmark of politicians. Not for our football, because we ought to build on the gains of the Mundial and not destroy it, which is what the brouhaha indicates.

    On August 13, most of the countries at the Brazil 2014 World Cup will be engaged in friendly games, geared towards seeing how some of the new things that they have introduced to their sides have yielded dividends. Some of them would strive to improve their new ranking after the World Cup in order to have the guts to seek to play against better ranked teams.

    Sadly, the Eagles won’t be playing any game because no federation among the 2009 recognised by FIFA would accept a game. Many of the countries that have games on August 13 struck them during the Mundial. For others, agents established links with such federations based on how well their teams played to strike good friendly games with top finishers at the Mundial. Even if our NFF men struck such deals, no federation would feel comfortable doing business with those who were not part of the initial arrangement.

    We are tired of hearing our coaches describe the Eagles as work-in-progress. After such outing in Brazil, we expect that those who didn’t perform should be shown the exit, especially as there is a glut of talents at the grassroots to replace them. The essence of playing international friendlies is for the other 208 countries to see that we can give them the challenge they desire from such big games.

    We have lost that chance of moving up the ladder by not playing in the next FIFA-free window on August 13. The immediate repercussion of such a painful slip is that our FIFA ranking for the month of September would fall. And no country would want to invite countries in the bottom half of the ranking for big games.

    Except we start doing what others have perfected to get to where they are, we would never get big countries like Brazil, Germany, England, France and Portugal to play in Nigeria, like we see them do in South Africa, whose players cannot compete with Eagles stars. Friendlies are the biggest windows for sponsorship. They also encourage firms to invest in the game. Self seekers shouldn’t be allowed to drag us back with their intrigues. Those who have served in the NFF before must be stopped from returning to the place.

    Corporate firms would only appreciate the advantage of investing in the game when Eagles start playing big countries either in Lagos or Abuja. Visits to Nigeria by a Portugal side that has Cristiano Ronaldo or an Argentine side with Lionel Messi will be a box office hit any day, with Nigerians filling the stands to watch and touch their idols.

    A troublesome NFF would not get any serious FA to do business because they won’t be sure of who to deal with. It is good to read that the coaches would be retained. What about the reasons for the coaches’ antics in the past? Can this NFF pay N5 million monthly, for instance? Our football problems transcend impeaching Maigari, suspending Chris Green and Ahmed Fresh.

    The abrogation of the Decree 101 and the full implementation of the FIFA statutes will correct the lapses and define the electorate for subsequent elections. Danagogo holds the key to resolve the imbroglio. We will remember him as the man who gave the game the fillip anytime the draconian Decree 101 is abrogated. Danagogo must not allow FIFA impose another ban on us due to the bungling of some sit-tight administrators in NFF. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!