The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Leaders charting new paths and deals

    Today  I deal with personalities  as I  take  on the topic of the day. The aim is to show  how the personalities, reputations  and even utterances of  certain leaders precede them in what they do   or   say, in or out of office. We  take on global  leaders, incumbents in position of power   including   those widely regarded  as opposition leaders,  alternative leaders, or leaders in waiting in their various political systems  or sub regions   on   the actions   and news concerning them in the last one week.

     We  focus on    first on     Nigeria ‘s  APC  leader  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu  and the business lecture delivered on his behalf by the Governor of Oyo State Senator Abiola Ajimobi   on the topic – Nigeria: Charting a  New Path to National Rebirth, last  Wednesday  at the 70th Anniversary  of Nigeria’s premier social club, the Island Club.  We  then take  a look  at US  President Barak Obama’s legacy project Obamacare and the challenges   facing it when its web site collapsed as people tried to access it  and the socio- economic  impact of   that development on Obama’s   legacy as  the first US  president to initiate such a  massive  Health Care project in the US. Next  we consider the views of Nobel Laureate Aung San Su Kyii  of Burma that Burma’s dictatorial  constitution has to be changed before she can ever hope to be president. We also  examine the US bugging of the phone of German Chancellor  Angela Merkel and the insistence of the German Iron lady  that the US  must be called to order  in spite of the very close ties   between both nations.

    We  go back to the Island Club 70th Anniversary lecture  of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu  whose  announced topic was Nigeria :  Yesterday, Today  and Tomorrow  until  Senator Abiola Ajimobi  announced the n topic’s  theme as  –  Nigeria: Charting A New Path  to National  Rebirth,   a title   which also determined the topic of this column  today. Naturally one would expect the Asiwaju,   as Nigeria’s virtual  and  foremost    opposition   leader  to do justice to the   announced  topic given his well known   devotion  and dedication  to analyzing Nigeria’s political and historical problems  as a pragmatic  and respected  participant observer of the growth and development of the Nigerian nation state. But  Asiwaju  switched   the topic and praised the Island Club  to high heavens before  dissecting and analyzing   the nation’s history  and growth or descent to decay, in his  usual vivid and enticing style reminiscent of the  witty anecdotes in his book – Financialism –  Water From An Empty Well; How  the financial system drains the economy, co  authored with former US  Consul, Brian  Browne.

    According to Asiwaju – ‘Drawing its  members from innovative  and   creative  segments of society, Island Club  was  from the start  set  to be great …Though   older than  Nigeria, the Club still shines. Unfortunately the glow of Nigeria has turned to dross ; the nation is a gem  obscured  by the grime  of      venal  and  menial leadership.‘   Actually  in adopting the new title as his theme, one   could again expect at  the lecture the usual  tirade of an opposition leader against a present political leadership that he has scant respect for,  which perhaps would have made the lecture boring. But  that was not to be, and that was due to the genius of Asiwaju’s  representative who delivered the lecture with such humorous  and witty jokes such that there was not a dull moment throughout the business lecture. Senator Abiola Ajimobi showed at the lecture what Former Minister of Sports Chief Akinyele meant  when representing former head of State  IBB at  a similar function  he said –  ‘when you  have seen the hand  of the tiger, you  have seen the tiger’  . The  Oyo  State Governor was in his element in terms excellent service delivery in the way and manner he   presented his leader’s paper. His jokes had the audience reeling with laughter  most  of the time. His  assertion during the Question and Answer Session, anchored  by  me, that he was  speaking for himself  on the answers  but was sure that his views and that of Asiwaju would coincide on most matters because they have been together for so long,  earned him and his leader  the respect and attention of a captive audience at  the lecture.

     The  witty Oyo  state governor set the ball rolling with the funny  story of how he came to be chosen by the Asiwaju to represent him at the lecture. At  a meeting in Abuja,  he said, Asiwaju wanted to show his APC  colleagues that he was fully fit after his knee surgery so he asked the governors to join him in a 100 meter dash with the proviso that the last man would represent him at the Island  Club lecture  –  and while Asiwaju came first  he Senator Ajimobi  came last and that why he was in Lagos. In addition he told his  wildly  cheering and laughing audience that he was selected because he was the oldest of the APC governors who were members of Island club – and there  was  no way the result of the race could  have  been different.

    Humor aside,  the contents of the lecture were brilliant,  decisive and vintage Asiwaju. I will  illustrate with  some juicy comments and quotes . Asiwaju  lamented in the lecture   thus  – ‘And  where  does  Nigeria   stand today? Today  we  loiter on the road of confusion because we are guided  by leaders who  themselves need guidance. The dream of a robust and great nation hood has been deferred . Nigeria now limps  and pleads for crutches  to help it,  just to stand.’  On  the proposed National  Dialogue which he called a Greek gift  on his return  from surgery  Asiwaju  noted – ‘Yes   we  need to talk. I remain an ardent supporter of the  call for a national conference  that is sovereign and open to all . That  is the only route out of the woods. We  must bring Nigeria back  on the path of true federalism. A  stage managed  affair  scripted   and monitored  to achieve the narrow political aims of narrow  political minds in Abuja will do nothing but whet  confusions appetite . Anything short of a Sovereign National   will be  like trying to apply a bandage to a tornado ‘. On  manufacturing Asiwaju noted that – No  populous nation ever reached   prosperity without a vibrant manufacturing sector. It is this sector that is  the  mainstay of urban employment, just as farming is the main stay of rural jobs. However our manufacturing sector shrinks under the policies of the present government. As   it shrinks so do the job opportunities of that vast army of city dwellers‘

    On security,  Asiwaju noted that the present administration said  it has the situation under control. ‘If  this is control he  concluded,‘ I  dread to  see how lack  of control looks. In  Boko  Haram, the nation faces  its largest challenge since the civil war. In  conclusion the APC  leader lamented painfully –‘We live in a land that is ours but is ruled by a government  that does not belong to the people because it does not like them. Nigerians want   democratic  governance, economic development, broad prosperity, justice, equality, moral purpose and human dignity. At  that point,   he   concluded  the state of the nation can be a state in which we are all proud and in which we  can live as a free people‘

    Surely  it  is such sentiments that Asiwaju has highlighted to drive Nigeria forward from  premises  of the Island club that has motivated the other world leaders we are focusing on today  albeit  in a different context. Obamacare is about more Americans getting heath care access and insurance  in the richest nation on earth where such favors are absent . President Obama has made this the flagship achievement of his administration and Congress has approved it. Yet  at the last dialogue on expanding the US debt ceiling, the Republicans wanted to make it a bait for discussion and scuttling it and Obama put his foot down that the deal had been done and that was why he was elected for two terms and Obama care was  not to be debated. Now  the website for accessing Obamacare  by an enthusiastic millions of potential beneficiaries has led to a crash but Obama  is not fazed. He  has acknowledged the problem and  has announced that the best IT brains in the world have been assembled to sort out the problem and keep Obama care afloat by all means. That  is how leaders should behave as they are not   expected to sleep on their watch  and see their  legacies derailed either by design, unintended results, sheer sabotage or outright enmity and lack of goodwill as in the issues surrounding ObamaCare and its implementation in the US.

    The  same dilemma faced  Burma’s Opposition leader  over a law directed at preventing her personally  from becoming president of her nation . This is a law  that bars women with  sons for foreigners from becoming president of Burma.   Suu Kyi  has two sons for a Briton who died while she was  in prison. The law was put in place when Suu Kyi was in detention after the Military  prevented her from claiming the victory  in the presidential election she won in that nation before. Now  the Military government through her role and intervention is getting global recognition  for  moving towards  democracy,  but has not removed the vile law and Suu Kyi  is not ready to buy that and is crying foul. She  is also alerting a gullible world  that the dictatorship  in Burma while seeming to move towards  democracy on the surface, is still a wolf in sheep’s clothing, until it amends  the obnoxious  part of Burma’s constitution concerning her.  Again,  the Burmese Nobel  Laureate  has  spoken boldly no matter whose ox is gored especially as the amendment concerns her and not with standing the fact that the military  in Burma still has total control  of the constitution  and any intended amendment. Again  a global leader  has shown bravery  in drawing attention to a human right flaw in the face of great personal danger and I cannot but doff my hat to her.

    Similarly German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that the US and Germany must reestablish the  trust  in their relations over the bugging of her phone is brave, timely  and correct.The US  has denied as expected  and has assured Germany that this never and would not happen ever. Yet  the US  is feverishly looking for the US security contractor whistle blower that Russia has given asylum somewhere  in Russia. It  was interesting seeing the German Chancellor fretting with her hand phone while seated by  US President Barak Obama  at a previous state  function on CNN. One  was left wondering what could have  been going on in the US president’s mind in the light  of Angela  Merkel’s phone being bugged as now revealed. Anyway,  the German leader has shown the US that even though their two nations may  be close allies and Germany may be a junior military ally  of the US  and in NATO,  such bugging of friendly leaders is indecent and is not to be tolerated. Which  is like saying  clearly  that  even amongst friends ‘your freedom ends  where my nose begins’. Which, again  is fine by me, no matter  the security or diplomatic closeness, protocols  or camaderie   of all parties  involved.

  • Praying and preying

    Praying and preying

    Nigeria is easily one of the most religious countries in the world. Our people would readily make the Guinness Book of records for their incomparable capacity to pray. We are a nation of passionate Christians. We are a nation of fervent Muslims. We are a nation of committed traditional worshippers. Many of us adhere strictly to any one of these three modes of spirituality. Others combine two or all of the three in an interesting creative synthesis. There are hardly any atheists or even agnostics among us. We are all God lovers, ever unrelenting God chasers. Worshipping God is a cardinal feature of the Nigerian character. Irrespective of faith or ethnic origin, the Nigerian proudly holds aloft the banner of his or her religion.

    The Nigerian Muslim steadfastly prays five times a day and devotedly adheres to other tenets of the religion. No less worshipful and dedicated to God is the Christian of whatever tendency – orthodox, Pentecostal or syncretic. It is no surprise that a considerable stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is fast becoming the Christian spiritual headquarters of the world. Millions of adherents converge on the many Pentecostal churches along that corridor for an endless variety of spiritual activities. Now, do we pray and worship God so much because we love him or we fear him? Why in the face of so much apparent Godliness is there so much obvious godlessness in the land? Let us leave such questions to the theologians and academics.

    Suffice it to say that is almost impossible to survive in Nigeria without prayer. Faith and prayer are indispensable existential necessities in contemporary Nigeria. You need prayers to escape the snare of kidnappers. You need prayers for protection against the assault of armed robbers. You need prayers to avoid lurking assassins. You need prayers so as not to become a victim of ritual killers. You need prayers to keep you from the path of blood thirsty Boko Haram insurgents. You need prayers before travelling on the treacherous death traps we call high ways. You need prayers before boarding aircraft that routinely drop from the skies. You need prayers so that your son or daughter does not spend eight years on a four-year course in our public universities. You need prayers so as not to fall sick when doctors are on strike. You need prayers not to be caught in horrendous traffic on the day when a certain First Lady, the mother of the nation, graces your state with a visit. Pray, what can we do in a country like this without prayers?

    But then in many ways, we are truly blessed and have so much to thank the almighty for. One of such blessings we enjoy is that we have, at least since 1999, had truly God fearing and ever prayerful leaders in charge of our affairs as a nation in Abuja. Remember the inimitable Soldier turned farmer and former tenant of the Presidential Villa. He was always so God conscious. OBJ was a reverential and ceaseless worshipper at the Aso Rock chapel. He was a frequent participant in several church programmes and activities within and beyond the Villa. OBJ would mount the pulpit and deliver exuberant homilies. He would quote scriptures like a seasoned pastor. If so how come all that third term agenda mess that rubbished his reputation and that of his administration so badly you may ask? Please don’t be unfair dear reader. The man has said if he ever desired any such thing, the God he serves so faithfully would have granted his wish. We must take his word for it. After all, prayerful men do not lie. They are only permitted to be economical with the truth.

    We are so lucky that at the helm of affairs today in Nigeria is a man who is even more prayerful and spiritual than OBJ. He is an epitome of prayerful humility. Can you imagine an OBJ, the EboraOwu himself, kneeling before any mortal man in prayer? Well, probably in private. But we have seen the likeable President Goodluck Jonathan publicly kneel in deep prayerful devotion before a revered Pentecostal General Overseer in the full glare of national and global television. Could anything be more endearing and ennobling? During the last Ramadan fast, the President even joined our Muslim brothers and sisters in observing the fast. Can there be any greater demonstration of a man’s love and devotion to God?

    As I write, our beloved President, His prayerful Excellency, is in Israel observing the holy pilgrimage. It is reported that accompanying him are several government officials including 19 very prayerful state governors. Ah! How lucky we are as a nation to have so many devout leaders. Well, at least from the pictures I saw in the press, there were the Information Minister, LabaranMaku and Governors Gabriel Suswan (Benue), Theodore Orji (Abia), Peter Obi (Anambra), GodswillAkpabio (AkwaIbom) and Jonah Jang (Plateau) in the holy land to pray along with the President. It will be interesting to know the cost to the public treasury of this pilgrimage extravaganza.

    Of course, the party would have been incomplete without the incomparable Jonah Jang. You can remember dear reader that this was the governor who miraculously emerged as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) by astonishingly leading a minority of 16 to defeat a majority of 19. Pray, where else should Jonah Jang be but in the very land where the Lord Jesus similarly performed the feat of turning water into wine? It is just that in the case of the NGF election, wine seems to have been turned into water. Surely, by the time Jang and his praying colleagues return to Nigeria they will be spiritually supercharged to perform even more mind boggling miracles.

    By the way there was also the picture of the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, standing with the prayerful President and Governors in the holy land. Pray, was the CAN President also on the Presidential entourage? Did he also go to Israel at public expense? If so, is there really any difference between CAN and the PDP under Oritsejafor’s leadership? Does this not vindicate Bishop Hassan Kukah’s contention that CAN has become the praying arm of the ruling party? Given the close alliance between church and state in contemporary Nigeria, how can the former speak truth to power? It is so sad.

    While ever appreciative of our president’s prayerful inclinations, this column joins millions of Nigerians in raising eyebrows about the strange, coincidental presence of the embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, in Israel at the same time that President Goodluck Jonathan is on pilgrimage. This is a woman currently embroiled in a monumental scandal back home. The purchase of two BMW armoured luxury cars for Stella Oduah by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at the cost of N255 million is one of the most brazen examples yet in this dispensation of how Nigeria’s leadership elite selfishly and heartlessly prey on our collective resources to the detriment of the suffering majority.

    Stella Oduah’s presence in Israel on official assignment when she is yet to clear herself of the grievous allegations against her is an indication of the levity with which the Jonathan administration treats allegations of corruption and the strong possibility that the administrative panel purportedly set up by the President to investigate the scandal is an elaborate smokescreen. A truly God fearing and genuinely prayerful leader would have promptly suspended the Aviation Minister pending the outcome of the investigations. As it were, the President’s body language suggests that in this matter he is inclined to place private and party considerations above the national interest. Yes, by all means let President Jonathan pray. But above all, let him pray for the courage to take decisive action against those Nigerians without conscience who prey upon their fellow human beings with impunity as so vividly demonstrated by the Oduahgate scandal.

  • Between 2015 and National Conference

    Between 2015 and National Conference

    You must give it to them. They are grand masters of the political chess game even if you dislike their style. I refer to the veteran old guard of the Afenifere Yoruba socio-political organization, which has suddenly bounced back once again into the political limelight. When you think they are written off, they have ways of resurfacing in the most surprising and unpredictable of ways – even if only temporarily.

    They may be advanced in years. Yet, the leading lights of the old guard Afenifere – Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olu Falae, among others – are still sprightly in political spirit and clearly not ready to leave the political stage anytime soon. There are at least two major beneficiaries, in the short run, of President Goodluck Jonathan’s latest gambit of planning a National Conference – Sovereign or otherwise.

    The first is President Jonathan himself, the perennially lucky man. In what the ordinarily perceptive Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah rather exuberantly describes as a political and ideological masterstroke, the President’s proposed national ‘conversation’ has largely deflected attention from the crisis tearing his party apart.

    Beyond that, the move has the potential of creating a schism along geo-regional lines within the new All Progressives Congress (APC) if its leaders do not steer their party gingerly and most dexterously through the mine strewn terrain.

    The other major beneficiaries of Jonathan’s surprise ‘joker’ are the Afenifere old guard politicians. Jonathan’s proposed conference amounts to a kiss of life, a veritable resurrection from political death, for a group whose glory and grandeur belongs to the past. It is certainly not for nothing that the National Secretary of Afenifere, Senator Femi Okurounmu, has emerged Chairman of the National Conference Advisory Committee.

    He would most certainly not have accepted such a sensitive assignment without the full support and blessing of the group. What we thus have on our hands is a collaborative venture principally between the Jonathan presidency and Afenifere.

    It was not thus surprising that in his interview published on page 45 of the October 14, 2013, edition of the Vanguard, the redoubtable Chief Ayo Adebanjo had nothing but fulsome praise for President Goodluck Jonathan. In his characteristically down to earth manner, he enthused, “In fact, there is no complain (sic) except that I congratulate the President for being a listening leader…Here is a man who originally opposed the system but who is now yielding to the pressure of responsible citizens.”

    Given his vast political experience, wily intelligence and much vaunted political tutelage under the unceasingly questioning and meticulous Chief Obafemi Awolowo, shouldn’t one expect a lit bit more of circumspection, healthy scepticism and restraint on the part of Chief Adebanjo on this matter? Should the veteran Awoist not be at least a little bit bothered about the nature, timing and possible motive of Jonathan’s curious Pauline conversion? No sir. The venerableAfenifere Chief obviously has sufficient faith to follow Jonathan into battle blindfolded.

    Perhaps Chief Adebanjo has just cause for his unrepentantly pro-Jonathan posture.In his words, “I don’t see any reason for the scepticism. Those of us in NADECO and Afenifere had insisted that there was not going to be election in 1999 unless we had a Sovereign National Conference…We had made a national conference a condition precedent for whatever we were going to do in this country.”

    Presumably believing that President Jonathan is the much awaited Messiah that has come to deliver the desired Sovereign National Conference, Chief Adebanjo affirmed emphatically: “To me, if the 2015 election is to be postponed for us to settle how we are going to live together, it is worth it. What is the point of having an election only for us to start quarrelling immediately after?”

    So, will there ever be a magical national conference at the end of which political quarrels and disagreements would have vanished forever from Nigeria? Well, let us leave that to the undoubted political wizardry of the Chief Adebanjos of this world while we more usefully try to locate Afenifere within the politics of this dispensation before looking more closely at the implications of the chief’s position on the 2015 election.

    In 1999, Afenifere was at the height of its political glory. The group supported the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to win all the six states in the South West. By 2003, the fortunes of the group had plummeted badly largely due to internal fissures and dissensions. Just as it is doing now with Jonathan, Afenifere went into a deal with Obasanjo in 2003, which backfired disastrously when the wily farmer played a fast one on them.

    Led by the late Chief Abraham Adesanya, Afenifere supported the AD governors in Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states for the 2003 election but distanced itself from Governor Bola Tinubu in Lagos. The latter’s crime was his adamant refusal to share elective positions in Lagos state on a 60/40 ratio with the top Afenifere chieftain, the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu.

    As we all know, the 2003 elections held. All Afenifere favourite sons in the South West were routed by the PDP. It was only Bola Tinubu who remained standing – without the support of Afenifere. What would the Afenifere chieftains do given their much vaunted Awoist credentials? Would they work to recover the region from the grip of the mainstream reactionary PDP ideologues? To our consternation, these highly respected Awoist veterans began an inexplicable political romance with the PDP state governors of the South West.

    Chief Adebanjo and his Afenifere fellow travellers had no compunction whatsoever in giving a PDP South West governor the privilege of delivering the lecture to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the formation of Afenifere. Not once during that inglorious reign of the PDP locusts in the South West did we hear the slightest whimper for true federalism or Sovereign National Conference from Afenifere.

    It took the tenacity, courage, steadfastness and determination of the likes of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Aremo Segun Osoba, Alhaji Lam Adesina, Chief Bisi Akande, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Adebayo Adefarati among others to wrest the South West back into the progressive fold.

    In the run up to the 2007 elections, the Afenifere chieftains floated the Democratic Parties Alliance (DPA) and fielded candidates for elections. I doubt if the DPA won a single House of Assembly seat anywhere in the South West including Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s ward. With the abysmal electoral outing of the DPA, the group tried working with others to form what it called a mega Social Democratic Party for the 2011 elections with Chief Olu Falae as its arrow head.

    As this column predicted at the time, the venture was a mega non-starter. Yet, the ebullient Dr Doyin Okupe claims that these are the ‘authentic’ leaders of the South West. The presidential aide may probably be right. After all, everyone is entitled to his or her delusions.

    When he contends that the proposed National Conference, whose status, composition and operational procedure are yet unknown is more important than the 2015 elections, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has given the game away. The astute politician is not too artful a dodger after all. It is obvious that the highly respected chief is simply calling for the extension of President Jonathan’s tenure beyond 2015.

    Let’s face it. Nature and indeed law abhor a vacuum. There can be no void even as the constitutional conference holds. President Jonathan is firmly in power. He continues avidly to plot towards the realization of his second term in office. He has had a change of heart as regards the necessity for a national conference. But he remains the same old Dr. Jonathan as far as he desire for a second term is concerned. His party gives no indication that it has repented of its determination to hold onto power for the next 60 years as one of its former National Chairmen openly boasted.

    The postponement of the 2015 election in the name of a national conference will thus suit President Jonathan and the PDP quite well. It will also obviously please the Afenifere chieftains. For, the ideological difference between the two has become blurred. Surprisingly, Professor Itse Sagay, the legal icon, also supports this position. Can the good professor please educate us on where President Jonathan and other elected officials will derive their authority from a minute after midnight on May 29, 2015 if elections do not hold? Or is somebody working towards a coup?

  • Journey to Ethiopia

    Journey to Ethiopia

    Flying with the Super Eagles to Ethiopia offered plenty of prospects. The first objective was to clinch the three points at stake in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and the Walya Ibex, even if the team didn’t play well.

    Little emphasis was placed on any likely encounter with the team’s chief coach Stephen Keshi. Our seeming grounds of differences have been in the course of doing our jobs. So it didn’t matter if we avoided each other. We both stood our grounds even when he walked ahead of me as we alighted from the aircraft on Monday morning in Abuja.

    Inside the aircraft on Saturday morning at 2.45am, the discussion shifted from the fear of the type of aircraft that NFF chiefs had secured. Wow was the general talk when we entered the aircraft. It was the latest, a Dream-liner, an 800 series jet. The passengers’ initial fears disappeared, but there were hisses from concerned Nigerians who were miffed that Nigeria doesn’t have her own fleet. No curse was spared our leaders over the killer status that our aviation industry had attained.

    The four hours five minutes flight was like a cruise in heaven. Even with the patches of clouds in the course of the trip, there was no panic as the Dream-liner pierced through them like hot knife through butter.

    As the aircraft taxied towards a halt on the tarmac, concerned Nigerians were startled at the number of such Dream-liners with Ethiopian Airline insignia on them. We counted seven of such aircraft and a lot more bigger aircraft, one of which took us back home on Monday morning at 2.20 am at the Addis Ababa International Airport. Many thought the NFF must have spent a fortune to charter the aircraft.

    Whilst our aircraft taxied to a halt, some spotted the presidential jet and another round of discussions ensued. Entering the airport, we were marvelled at the modern facilities in place. Everything worked. The environment was neat. Everyone did his job. No overzealous officials and immigration checks were smooth.

    Outside the airport, we were greeted with the rustic parts of Addis Ababa, beginning with the rickety buses assigned to the delegation. Well, in warfare, all is fare; so you could ‘excuse’ the Ethiopians for offering cockroaches infested buses for the best team in Africa- the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

    The rustic parts of Ethiopia offered us the opportunity of seeing antique vehicles, such as Lada, Morris Mariner, Volkswagen Beatles etc. What a comic relief.

    The Ethiopians were friendly. They showed that they watch the European leagues with the way they struggled to take photographs and get autographs of Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi, Liverpool’s Victor Moses and Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi.

    They told us pointedly that they would beat the Eagles – as was expected- although some of the fans expressed reservations about their ability to stop the Eagles.

    Saturday evening went as planned for the players and coaches. President Goodluck Jonathan, who had been in Ethiopia, a day earlier, visited the team in training. Jonathan’s visit and wise counselling raised the players’ morale and compelled them to give their best knowing that the country’s number citizen and indeed millions of Nigerians would be rooting for their success over the Walya Ibex.

    The rustic part of Addis Ababa melted into modernity when we were checked into three-star hotels surrounded by slums. But for the two days that we stayed, there was no blackout. Everything worked in the hotel. The attendants were courteous. We were shocked to find out that 1,800 Birr exchanged for $100, as against the Naira which is N16,000 to $100. Did this transaction translate to the state of the two countries’ economies? Another round of arguments (from none economists) in the Nigerian delegation began, with The rustic part of Addis Ababa melted into modernity when we were checked into three-star hotels surrounded by slums. But for the two days that we stayed, there was no blackout. Everything worked in the hotel. The attendants were courteous. We were shocked to find out that 1,800 Birr exchanged for $100, as against the Naira which is N16,000 to $100. Did this transaction translate to the state of the two countries’ economies? Another round of arguments (from none economists) in the Nigerian delegation began, with many insisting that it was wrong to judge Ethiopia from the capital city Addis Ababa. Again, this position raised another controversy when the question was asked about a particular city in Nigeria that can boast of uninterrupted power supply for two days? This debate divided us sharply, until we dispersed on Saturday night to sleep.

    Indeed, the task of changing the dollar to Birr was done in the hotel and at the airport. There were no currency traffickers. What, however, stunned us as we began the journey back was the difficulty in getting the hoteliers to change the Ethiopian Birr to the US Dollar as we were told that those collected from us had been registered and taken to their apex bank. We were impressed, although equally stunned, that some duty-free shops also rejected the conversion from Birr to the US dollar or as a medium of exchange for their goods and services.

    Match day was quiet. Many looked forward to the game, with great expectations; although some cautioned against a far-fetched upset.

    At noon when the movement towards the Eagles’ hotel began, it dawned on the Nigerian delegation that Ethiopia was not all about marathoners. They had imbibed the football culture to such an extent that a first-timer to the country on that Sunday didn’t need any prompting to know that the people were preparing for a soccer ‘war.’

    Women, including the expectant mothers, kindergarten kids, boys, girls, couples and the aged thronged the streets dressed in the country’s green-red and yellow jerseys. They raised their hands to indicate the number of goals that the Walya Ibex would score against the Eagles. As the Nigerian delegation drove through the streets, the unanimous talk inside the buses was that we were being taught a lesson in patriotism.

    Indeed, this writer gathered that those Ethiopians who saw the game live had flooded the stadium as early as 8am. By noon, when the stadium was filled to capacity, others were told to head for the viewing centres. Can this happen in Nigeria? Not possible because we would have printed more than the number of tickets needed. Besides, black market operators would have bought up all the tickets and hoarded them to create panic at the gates and inflate the prices for desperate fans. Around the stadium, security operatives were firm.

    Some of us had a hectic time entering the stadium and that was expected for visitors, especially in countries with language difficulties, such as in Ethiopia. The impact of what we saw enroute the stadium was an intimidating presence of fans rooting for their own. The Nigeria Football and Other Sports Supporters Club’s members stood besides the state box, their voices submerged in the wild and coordinated shouts of the Ethiopians.

    Soon the game began. We realised how ambitious our hosts were. A ding-dong game, with the Eagles showing why they are champions albeit through their experienced handling of the ethiopians’ spirited attacking onslaught.

    Then the disputed goal that brought out the rage and bile of the hosts. That gave an inkling of what to expect if they lost. Water bottles, all manner of objects were thrown towards the field, the Nigerian bench and the supporters.

    Pleas through the public address system from their football chiefs calmed the situation a bit, until they scored the first goal which Vincent Enyeama insists didn’t cross the line. The deafening noise from the over 25,000 Ethiopians was the impetus that the Eagles needed to prove their mettle.

    A goal not envisaged by Emmanuel Emenike and a calmly taken but deserved penalty kick ensured that the Eagles had a foot in Brazil, ahead of the second leg in Calabar on November 16.

    The return trip to Nigeria was pleasant with many recalling those tense moments and the ungentlemanly conduct of the Ethiopian fans who pelted the Eagles’ bus with stones and cudgels. Igiebor’s palm was cut. Nigeria Embassy officials, who handled the delegation’s passage in-and-out of Addis Ababa, were wonderful.

    Inside the aircraft, the Ethiopian Airlines staff did their jobs excellently. They interacted with everyone and congratulated the Eagles for their victory. The air hostesses took photographs with their preferred stars. The coaches were not left out, with chief coach Stephen Keshi getting the most attention. He had to. He was the man of the moment. Congratulations Big Boss. All hail the Super Eagles. And I pray that the November 16 clash in Calabar will be a stroll in the park.

  • Sovereignty, authority and  global justice

    I  read  some  where that colonialism    ‘with its across   borders  and across  seas‘  nature was indeed the forerunner of globalization  and I  sneered then that someone was trying to glamorize colonialism  in contemporary  terms  to make it relevant perhaps     to accommodate it in modern history . Events in the last week   however have shown that my skepticism  on the issue was misplaced.

     Just  look  at the foray  of US special  forces into Somalia and Libya this   week   and the reactions of the bona fide governments in both  nations and you see all the imprints of a new form of colonialism  actually mocking globalization as we know it today . When  you also hear  that former Liberian strong man Charles Taylor  who has been jailed for various crimes including rape, terrorism and the use of child soldiers in Sierra  Leone’s war is to serve his 50  years sentence in a British prison because Britain requested for this,  then you  see how colonialism  is very akin to globalization. Furthermore the  news that Cameroun’s  military chasing Boko  Haram   terrorists  off their  territory   informed their Nigerian colleagues  across  the border to make sure that the  terrorists  did   not escape really showed that ECOWAS’ cooperation   in fighting Boko Haram  can take shape in spite of colonial heritage,  its differences,  and history. Again,   the decision of the US  to cut military aid to Egypt  and the Egyptian government’s retort  that it will not yield to US pressure but   that Egypt will pursue its own path  to democracy say a lot about the topic of the day.

    Starting with the overnight strike  of US special  forces   in Somalia    and Libya, the reaction   of   the two  governments was markedly different. The  Somali  PM  welcomed the development and praised the Americans .He  told his interviewer   that Somalia  welcomes the intervention of its   foreign partners in fighting Al Shabab anywhere including  Somali territory. Ostensibly the Americans had come to attack or kidnap terrorists who had bombed the Westgate Mall in Nairobi  Kenya killing over 65 people. But  the raid in Somalia this time was not successful because the Americans had a new rule of engagement which did not allow them   to attack  where civilians are engaged. To the Somali PM then, sovereignty was a not an issue, and he had no qualms in the Americans usurping , as it were,  the authority of the de facto and de jure government of Somalia, as  long as the objective is to flatten the nose of Al Shabab  operatives which Somali leaders regard as a form of international justice being meted out to Al  Shabab.

    In  Libya, the Americans  carted away an Al Qada  operative who took part in the bombing of the US embassy  in Dar Es Salaam sometime ago. They kidnapped him in Tripoli and took him for questioning on a ship in the Mediterranean. The  Libyan government was livid with rage and summoned the US Ambassador in Libya  for explanation. Worse still,  over 100  gunmen were reported to have  captured  the Libyan PM Ali  Zeidane  only to release him  after 8 hours . Before his kidnap  and arrest,  the Libyan PM  had appealed to the International Community to help his government because it could not control the volume of arms flowing in and out of Libya,  which he feared would destabilize the entire region. After his  bizarre  kidnap and release, the Libyan PM  thanked those who worked for his release and noted that the issue was a distinct Libyan   problem that would be resolved in- house.

    What  is clear is  that the Libyan PM  has scant authority ,if any,  and his tenure is at the mercy of those    who brazenly arrested and later released him, as there was nothing stopping them from a repetition of the drama. Zerdane  lost power albeit momentarily and was lucky that he did not or has not lost his life yet. In  effect then the militia that detained Libya’s PM  took umbrage  at  the capture  of the Al Qada  operative   on Libya’s soil  and used the PM’s arrest to protest American violation of the territorial integrity   and sovereignty of Libya. Yet  the minlitia knew it had no authority for what it did   and returned the PM to his impotent office while it took cover in the oblivion from which it emerged to kidnap Libya’s PM.

    In  effect then both  Libya and Somalia showed their vulnerability as failed states last week. The difference is that while Somalia  is reconciled  to its fate, Libya is remonstrating like a  school boy who lost his toy and did not know who to blame but to break into childish tantrums only to calm down and live with his loss.

    In Charles  Taylor’s case one can only have some admiration for British sense of justice no matter how grudgingly. As  far back as 2007  the British had passed an Act of Parliament to  allow Taylor to serve his sentence in the UK  at the cost of government. This is because the Sierra Leonean  and Liberian government did not want the Liberian war lord to serve his sentence in the region for obvious reasons. According to the British,  the conviction of Taylor is a landmark moment for international justice. This is because it shows  that no matter how long the mills of justice  grind slowly  they  will grind exceedingly fine  and catch up  with those   leaders who rule their   people with impunity, any where in the world.

    It  is in this light that I look at the request of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s  that he could face his trial for post election violence on video rather than going to the Hague as his Vice President William Ruto  had  done for charges against them for post election violence in Kenya’s 2007  elections. Kenyatta’s request should be granted as he is a seating  president. His request still shows respect for international law  and the rule of law and is a climbdown from  the resolution passed by Kenya’s parliament not to recognize the ICC. Really  I think Britain’s  willingness to play gaoler to Taylor would have moved the Kenyan leader in the direction of trial by video rather than outright refusal,  given that Britain was the colonial government in Kenya and both  the British  and Kenya and indeed the Kenyattas  know each other so well. Which  again is a positive development  for global justice  brought about  by globalization en route colonialism.

    Similarly,  the  border cooperation between the Camerounian and Nigeria military  over the elimination of terrorists  is a welcome development in the region. This sort of accord should be extended to nations that border Nigeria in the North  East  especially Niger. Before this,  the language of the Colonialist namely French and English  had created mistrust amongst the armed forces of both nations with France encouraging cooperation amongst Francophone states to the exclusion of the armies of former British colonies like Ghana and Nigeria. Such close ties with France have been more pronounced in recent times. That  was why it was not ECOWAS that intervened in Ivory Coast to displace Laurent Gbagbo and install President Ouattara but French  troops that came and fought on the streets  of Abidjan. The  same goes for the French troops intervention in Mali  while ECOWAS  was still vacillating and dithering on getting forces  and  logistics of intervention ready .Cross  border cooperation between sovereign forces should be recognized if ECOWAS is to contain the   fast  and viral rise of terrorism in the Sahel,  especially the Boko Haram threat that is giving the Nigerian government a run for  its  money, by killing students and burning churches and mosques with impunity.

    Lastly,  the way the US  government of Barak  Obama has cut some military aid to Egypt goes further to show the confusion of the US government in the way it is selling democracy to the whole world. US  policy  on military coups with friendly governments is to cut off aid. Everyone in this world knows that the displacement of Egypt’s elected government  of Mohammed Morsi was a military  coup except the Obama government.  The  army in Egypt had asked that people come out to demonstrate against an elected government and that call was heeded  and the army proceeded to form an interim government which is the precursor of military intervention in politics called military coup. Yet the US cannot call a spade  a spade and apply its own policy. Of  course the Egyptian army knows that the US present administration has no stomach for any fight as in Syria and will  dig in like Assad and evolve its democracy on the blood of demonstrating  and defiant Egyptians who think the initial street revolution fuelled by the US has been hijacked by the military in Egypt. Well,  the US president is   is  busy at home fighting for his   economic and social legacy over debt  ceiling with the Republicans in the US and has scant time for Egypt and its tottering democracy or is it diarchy? So  in Egypt  the sovereignty lies  between the army and demonstrators with the army having the upper hand. Even with the suspended military aid the Army is stronger. In terms of global justice however the US president is learning at great cost what his predecessors have known to their  cost. That is that if you abandon foreign policy for too long for domestic policy your diplomacy will be in tatters sooner that you can ever expect   and vice versa.

  • No ‘bus stops’ in the skies

    Apart from walking or riding on a donkey from one rural community to another, there is no better way to travel than flying. In towns and cities, cycling and motorcycle rides have been proven to claim more lives than shuttling in the skies. Car and bus rides are also far more dangerous. This leaves the air space the safest way to travel.

    But if the airplane is the champ of travel, why is there so much heat when it crashes? Penultimate Thursday, a small aircraft went down just outside the Lagos airport shortly after takeoff. Of the 20 people on board, 16 died, while the rest were taken to hospital seriously injured. The plane, belonging to Associated Airlines, was conveying the remains of former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu, to Akure, the capital, for burial. A son of the late politician, also a commissioner in the state, died in the crash.

    Since the incident, there has been so much heat in the country, and it is not just the hot exchange between Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, and Ms Stella Oduah, the current chief. Nor is it merely that Oduah’s submission that the crash was an act of God has in itself won her much criticism. Temperatures have risen in private places as well as at the highest levels of government. President Goodluck Jonathan has offered his regrets and ordered an investigation. The revered chambers of the Senate have equally been heated up as lawmakers fulminated over the October 3 crash and others.

    Why do air crashes trigger such emotions? Put it down to a number of factors, some profound, others neither here nor there. Air mishaps tend to involve more of the rich and powerful since they prefer the skies to the roads. And everyone knows that the more the clout of the victims, the higher their news value and the more the focus on the incident. Also, plane crashes claim so many lives instantly, especially if they are commercial flights. The Bellview crash in October 2005 left all 117 people on board dead. One year later, when an ADC Airlines flight crashed with 104 passengers, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Maccido, and his son were among the casualties. This incident triggered so much heat, with many calling for the overhaul of the aviation sector. Mid last year, over 160 people perished in the Dana Air plane crash. There were several other mishaps.

    Now, this. And to think that in a matter of weeks, the skies have been a constant source of apprehension. From Lagos to Kano to Sokoto, air passengers and even people in their homes have been struck by fear. A plane filled with pilgrims crash-landed. There were reports of tyres exploding. There was another report of an air return, that is, a flight suddenly returning to base without getting to its original destination. Shortly after, the airline, Dana, to give it its name, was forbidden to fly until further notice. This is scary.

    There are also issues of aviation regulators’ integrity and competence, as well as concerns over the Ministry’s perceived faults. Then, add to that the cry that airlines are grappling with grave odds, some complaints being that staff are owed salaries and may even be poorly remunerated.

    All that should leave Ms Oduah worried. But she should not only be worried; she should fix the problem. To be fair, under Oduah’s watch, the airports are looking inviting, but some reports point to unflattering deficits, too. For instance, it is said that communication facilities at the airports are poor, making pilot-air-controller link-ups difficult. This is dangerous, if it is true, and will undermine the efforts and the huge cash sunk into making the airports look tempting.

    Flights are mechanical, and things can, and do, indeed go wrong sometimes, anywhere. Perhaps, that was what Ms Oduah was hinting at when she said the October 3 crash was an act of God. But the right words let her down.

    The minister will not deny that air mishaps are threatening to sully her grand efforts. She will do well to address the sources of those threats.

    Air disasters have their deathly peculiarities. No passenger wants to hear the voice of the captain announcing that some turbulence lies just ahead, let alone that the flight may not land safely. And this is for very obvious reasons. At such peculiar moments, the best engineers on board will not be able to go under the flying airplane to fix any mechanical problem. Potential problems ought to have, to a reasonable extent, been detected and sorted on the ground before takeoff.

    Again, once airborne, there are no air safety personnel positioned in the clouds to prevent an imminent danger. There are no bus stops any where, as it were, to quickly tackle a present threat. Tyres ought to be certified fit before flying. Nothing should be overlooked. The plane conveying the body of Dr Agagu, for instance, was reported to be overloaded with fuel. This is not acceptable.

    The air remains the safest route to travel but it also presents its own peculiarities, making it probably the only transport mode that requires the most thorough attention.

    I am sure Oduah knows this more than anyone else. Now, what she has to do is move quickly to correct what could possibly overshadow her aviation efforts.

  • National conference as ‘defensive radicalism’

    National conference as ‘defensive radicalism’

    The late political economist, Professor Claude Ake, had an uncanny ability to create fascinating concepts to illuminate aspects of social reality under his scrutiny.One of such concepts coined by the erudite scholar is that of ‘defensive radicalism’, which he utilised in his book ‘Revolutionary Pressures in Africa’, to explain some of the antics employed by conservative, even reactionary, ruling classes in Africa to maintain destructive strangleholds on their societies. The concept is seemingly problematic. It sounds contradictory. Yet, its explanatory power is phenomenal.

    Ordinarily, there is nothing defensive about radicalism. It is a necessarily offensive concept. Radicalism denotes an aggressive momentum to dislodge the status quo. It embodies a commitment to fundamental change and transformation in society. When then does radicalism become defensive? This happens when individuals, groups and social forces benefitting from a given iniquitous and inequitable status quo affect deceptive radical stances and become emergency advocates of change. This deft move disarms opposing forces and reinforces the capacity of the pro-establishment elements to maintain and continue to exploit a system that requires urgent and drastic change.

    Thus, beneficiaries of the status quo become the most eloquent and passionate exponents of social or national transformation. Yet, this strident advocacy is a grand pretence. In reality, the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same. There is so much motion but little or no movement. While their feigned transformational radicalism lulls society to somnolence, fuel subsidy gangsters continue to smile to the bank, pension fund fraudsters continue their feast of obscene opulence, the Nigeria Ports Authority Board remains the preserve of party election fixers and aircraft routinely drop from the sky as alleged acts of God while satanic party contractors aggressively white wash airports. Some transformation!

    An excellent example of defensive radicalism at work was former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s unprecedented anti-corruption war. It was fierce. It was intense. It was relentless. Yet, it was horrendously hypocritical and ineffectual. Right from inception in office, the Ota farmer projected himself as a veritable anti-graft radical saint. He ensured the enactment of stringent anti-corruption laws by the National Assembly. He set up anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He mercilessly made a mince-meat of his corrupt political opponents who were foolish enough to play into his hands. It seemed that the slightest scent of corruption made the immaculately clean General sick and mad.

    Yet, behind this huge obscurantist cloud of anti-corruption radicalism, government contractors, mega companies and even public institutions were corralled into donating lavishly to our hero’s private presidential library project. He was allocated huge shares in the Transcorp Corporation project initiated by his government. The petroleum sector, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) remained a cesspit of graft throughout his tenure.

    The National Assembly’s probe of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) revealed that our ‘Chichidodo’ could enjoy a feast of maggots after all while affecting a public disdain for faeces. And we can all still recall the brazen third term agenda that remains the single most atrocious case of political and alleged pecuniary corruption in this political dispensation. That then is how defensive radicalism works. An aggressive anti-corruption war was feigned only as a cover for the consolidation of corruption.

    The masters of political deception are at it again. Radicalism has suddenly gone rampant in unexpected quarters. First to set the ball rolling was none other than the Senate President, the venerable Saint David Mark. At the resumption of the Senate, he announced his conversion to the idea of a national conference. It appears that his dramatic encounter with truth occurred, not on the road to Damascus like Saint Paul, but on the highway to Boko Haram’s Damaturu. But then, he was only John the Baptist; a voice in the wilderness preparing the way for a greater one whose shoelace he was unfit to untie.

    And verily verily, on October 1, the political Messiah emerged. In his national day broadcast to a surprised nation, he announced: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of the national conference is at hand. Verily verily, I say unto you, unless you are born again to the cause of a ‘national conversation’, you cannot enter the Kingdom of the new Nigeria”. And of course, the desired effect is largely being achieved. President Goodluck Jonathan is being lauded to the high heavens by advocates of a national conference who see this as a triumph of their long cherished desire. The ever so lucky President must be chuckling happily to himself: “Ah! The kingdom of a second term come 2015 seems to be at hand”.

    But then, have advocates of a national conference clamoured for it over the years simply for the sake of having a dialogue? I do not think so. The calls for a Sovereign National Conference have been made within the context of the erosion by the military of the country’s federal and democratic ethos. After the thorough devastation and despoliation of the country for close to two decades, the discredited military oligarchy beat a retreat in 1999, but carefully engineered the emergence of the PDP as its successor to ensure the preservation of the decadent and dysfunctional status quo even in a supposedly post-military Nigeria. The PDP has faithfully performed this task over the last 14 years. It has largely retained the military’s structure and philosophy of governance and virtually all sectors of our national life have steadily degenerated under its inept and venal watch.

    Why is Nigeria in the pathetic and prostrate condition we witness today? It certainly is not because a national conference has not taken place. On the contrary we have had several national conferences. It is the absence of a progressive, change-oriented government at the centre since independence that has retarded Nigeria’s progress and aborted her potentials. The lesson of our history is that without a government with the requisite ethos, vision and values at the centre, a hundred national conferences cannot change Nigeria. And if you have such a government with the courage and competence to initiate fundamental change, a national conference may be totally unnecessary.

    While inaugurating the Senator Femi Okunrounmu-led advisory committee, for instance, President Jonathan averred that the 1957 conference “effectively prepared Nigeria for independence”. So why had the country degenerated to military rule and outright civil war six years after independence? The answer is the lack of a visionary government at the centre. The President lauded the 1978 Constituent Assembly for saddling us with the 1979 presidential constitution “with its attendant checks and balances and fundamental human rights provisions”. But a succession of inept and visionless administrations at the centre have utilised the immense powers of the wasteful presidential system to undermine accountability, erode the rule of law and worsen underdevelopment.

    President Jonathan claimed that the 1995 conference gave us the informal concept of a six-zonal structure. But governments at the centre that do not believe in a genuine federal ethos have still kept us bound to an essentially unitarian structure that breeds inefficiency, corruption, poverty and is fast turning Nigeria to a failed state. Without a fundamental change in the values, orientation and vision of the government at the centre, the planned constitutional conference jamboree will be another exercise in futility.

    For the first time since independence, the mainstream, unitarist forces that have ruled Nigeria since independence under both civilian and military rule are politically vulnerable. The President’s undisguised second term ambition has badly fractured the ruling party at a time when the opposition is getting its act right for the first time ever. Thus, we have this sudden manoeuvre of having a distracting national conference when the 2015 elections, according to the electoral law, must hold by December next year. It has taken 14 years for the PDP to see the light. Are Nigerians too gullible not to see through this trickery? I hope not.

  • Leaders in the eye of the storm

    The last UN General Assembly provided ample opportunity to see ‘World leaders in Action’ which incidentally is the title of my new book published last year by MacMillan Nigeria, Book Publishers. The spectacle of world leaders taking the stage to air their views on issues concerning them and their nations provided ample opportunity to assess not only the personalities of these leaders but to form an opinion of their nations from the way they delivered their various speeches. Space cannot allow us to focus on all or most of them. Hence I have identified just a few that I will comment and focus on, because I think they have found themselves in the eye of a global diplomatic storm by their actions and a lack of it perhaps, in recent times. Some of these leaders made an impact at the UNGA last week while one or two could not come because of circumstances beyond their control. In all, their actions and utterances affect the conduct of global diplomacy and international relations enormously and provided them ample opportunity to make history one way or the other.

    The first is the president of Iran Hussain Rouhani who shocked the whole world albeit pleasantly by declaring that Iran will never make a nuclear bomb, a prospect for which the UN has mounted sanctions against his nation for some years now. The second is the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, who could not turn up because of the attack on Westgate Mall in Kenya by terrorists who have killed over 65 people while more bodies are being recovered from the site of the murder and mayhem in Nairobi. The third is the Prime Minister of Israel who arrogantly told his world audience not to believe the Iranian leader and vowed that Israel is ready to go it alone if the whole world is not ready to act on Syria and its use of chemical weapons on women and children by the Assad regime supported by Russia and China in the UN Security Council. The fourth is our president Dr Goodluck Jonathan who was in New York but returned to find the shocking news that Boko Haram terrorists have slaughtered over 50 sleeping male students at a School of Agriculture in N. East Nigeria which was under emergency rule. The Nigerian president’s reaction to this as well as his Independence day address showed indeed that this is one Nigerian president really in the eye of a storm, in terms of the management of the challenges of insecurity facing the nation.

    Starting with the new Iranian President Hussain Rouhani, let me state that his bearing, demeanor and manner of speaking was a pleasant departure from that of his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who during his tenure always stunned his audience by insisting that Israel will be taken off the world map when Iran has its nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad also insisted throughout his tenure that the Holocaust never took place to the horror of a civilized world. Now a new Iranian president has said in a much publicized TV interview with CNN’s Christine Amanpour that the Holocaust was reprehensible and should be condemned by all right thinking people. Which really soothes global nerves and alters the image of Iran tremendously from the cantankerous and violent one created by Ahmadinejad’s fiery speeches, highly denunciatory rhetorics and volatile diplomacy. Also President Rouhani has said he is in a hurry to start talks on Iran’s nuclear programme with the UN and the nations involved with the insistence that he has the authority of the powers that be in Iran to speak authoritatively on the matter. He has since spoken to the US President Barak Obama before leaving New York which would be the first communication between the presidents of the two nations since the overthrow of the Shah and the arrival in Teheran of the powerful Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 – which led to the Iranian hostage crisis that made then US President Jimmy Carter a one term president. Now a new Iranian president is most unexpectedly offering an olive branch to the world especially the US and predictably the US president Barak Obama is ready and willing to play ball. President Obama has given instructions to US Secretary of State John Kerry to begin talks with Iranian officials on sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program which that nation has always said is for electricity and which its new president is now saying will never be used for making a bomb.

    A booming voice however shouted foul on the utterances of the new Iranian president at the UNGA last week. That was the guttural voice of Benjamin Netanyahu Israel’s Prime Minister who spoke after the Iranian president must have returned to Iran. It is necessary to discuss Netanyahu’s speech here in the context of President Rouhani’s diplomatic overtures at the UN before we go on to discuss the problem of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta . This is necessary because Netanyahu refused to let the Iranian president steal his thunder and warned that the Iranian president is ‘a wolf in sheep clothing’ which is to be expected given that the two nations are mortal foes and more so with Rouhani’s predecessor Ahmadinejad. Netanyahu reminded the world that Iran is arming Syria and sponsoring world terrorism and he would never compromise the security of Israel . His saying that Israel will go it alone showed his contempt for the climb down by the Obama Administration over the promised limited strike on Syria. According to Netanyahu it is the sanctions that has made the Rouhani ‘ turn around ‘possible and the UN sanctions should never be stopped. Anyway, Netanyahu insisted Israel will never allow Iran to have a nuclear bomb, which was a bold statement indeed.

    What is amazing here is that if the two leaders were not such implacable enemies they should know they are saying the same things in protecting each other’s interests. Rouhani said Iran will never make a bomb. This is expected to give his nation at least some breathing space in the face of overwhelming global doubt on the matter. But Netanyahu has not heard that. Instead Netanyahu said the sanctions are biting that is why Iran is softening with Rouhani . But then, does it matter why, once Iran has said it will not make a bomb? If Iran does indeed live up to its promise not to make a bomb, of what use is Israel’s threat that it will stop Iran from making a bomb it says it is not interested in? Which shows that while Israel is saber rattling on a quarrel that is expiring, Iran is trying to purge the image of its hitherto blood red color of a major sponsor of terrorism. Both sides need help very much from the international community in understanding each other and moving to a new level on engagement and understanding. They have good examples in contemporary history and politics to follow. One was Gobachev’s unexpected but historic role in bringing the downfall of communism with Glastnost and Prestroika in the former USSR. The second was the most unexpected cooperation between prisoner and gaoler that led to the release of Nelson Mandela by Apartheid S Africa’s President de Klerk and the end of apartheid in S Africa. The two leaders can be reminded that in International Relations there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests. So the ball is in their court in the eye of the storm they have found themselves.

    Let us now look at Kenya in the eye of another storm over its handling of intelligence and security on the Westgate Mall bombing. Investigations are on to confirm or refute intelligence lapses that included information that some security agencies had warned that Al Shabab was planning some thing for September to commemorate 9/11 and the revelation post – Westgate that the attackers hired a shop in the Mall in which they kept their ammunition for May Day undetected. Kenya obviously needs the international community’s cooperation and expertise in unraveling the sickening security lapses at least to avert a repetition. The Kenyan government especially needs the international community to get its head above water in terms of adequate security strategy to protect all Kenyans on its territory as is expected of any government worth its salt. But then there is or there was a little dilemma at least before the Al Shabab terrorists struck West gate. This was the fact that the Kenyan Parliament had passed a resolution asking Kenya to withdraw from the ICC because of its trial of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto for post election violence over the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya before the duo were elected into their exalted offices this year. Indeed, presumably under Kenyan prodding the AU was to have a meeting recently to discuss withdrawing from the ICC on the charge that the ICC was discriminating against African nations in prosecuting the Kenyan leaders. Which to me is just a spurious charge to stop the ICC from fulfilling its responsibility of banishing impunity and lack of respect for the rule of law, transparency and accountability in global governance including Africa. Now, most unfortunately Westgate and Kenya’s security vulnerability, not to talk of negligence or incompetence, have shown that it does not exist in isolation. Surely Kenya needs international help in securing its borders just as its leaders must respect international norms on governance and be answerable if they are not. This is because the world has become a borderless one in terms respect for the rule of law and transparency including respect for the norms of campaigns and elections which were violently brushed aside in the 2007 post election violence in Kenya.

    Lastly Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan must be the first to admit that he is really in the eye of a storm. Boko Haram aside, and really that alone is sufficient to ground any government, I think the president’s main problem is from his own party. Or at least a chunk of his party called the New PDP. This is because even though reports say a peace meeting was being brokered by elders of the party, the New PDP has challenged and wounded mortally, I think, the economic performance of the Jonathan Administration and two examples during and after this year’s Independence celebrations will suffice. In his Independence Message through the National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP faction, the Chairman Alhaji Kawu Baraje lamented that Nigeria has become ‘ a crumbling edifice as a result of corruption and bad leadership.’ He went further to say that – ‘53 years after independence Nigeria is still a crumbling edifice, wrecked to the seams by corruption, bad leadership, ethnicism, parochialism, sectarian intolerance, and childish political recrimination.”

    In another Reuter’s report the CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi blamed the political crisis in the ruling party for the huge purchase of dollars by buyers who were not involved in importation of goods and services but were politicians laundering money to be used to finance their 2015 election bids . He reportedly blamed ‘ the dollarization of the economy by political elites’ for the continued weakness of the naira, despite CBN ‘s moves to prop it up with dollar sales that had depleted the reserves to an eight – month low ‘. What more can one say except to sympathise with our president on the credentials of the party he leads and which controls government under his leadership. Surely the President’s speech on Independence Day was most patriotic but then it begs the question when squared up with political, economic, and security problems begging urgently for solutions. One prays that the President finds a solution that gives the governed succor , urgently if for no other reason than that it is not even safe for him, or any leader for that matter, to stay too long in the eye of a storm, indeed any storm again, for that matter.

  • Mourning the youths of Gujba

    Death hurts. And the closer it comes, the more it hurts. That is why it is some times hard to keep the tears at bay at the passing of even a 90-year-old close relative. Death refreshes old and fond memories. Then, it hits you with the finality of eternity. No more earthly meetings. Still, you can cope, if only for the age of it.

    But what about the death of people in their prime? A week ago, students whose number is now put at 90 were murdered at the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram. It was barely three days to the nation’s 53rd birthday anniversary. And it was in cold blood.

    Death hurts but the violent end of young people intensifies the hurt to imaginable and unimaginable proportions. And come to think of the circumstances. They were at school studying to better their lot and make something of their lives. They were at the college to prepare for life’s challenges, their future. They were studying not just for themselves but also for their families, nuclear and otherwise. Some had just returned from the mosque where, according to one of the survivors, they had prayed for a reprieve from the violence of the Islamist sect. Some other victims had retired to bed. Then, came their assailants in two vans and on motorcycles, dressed in military wear. The students were fooled at first, mistaking them for soldiers and heaving a sigh of relief. Their relief soon turned to agony and, ultimately, to grief, not only for their friends and relatives but also for the rest of the country and the world. The terrorists opened fire, killing some as they stood in single files, according to orders; some as they tried to flee and others as they failed to recover from their mortal wounds in the bushes or the hospitals.

    It must have been a bizarre scene. The students were terrified but none knew what they did to earn their predicament. Some were too close to the booming guns to flee. So they were cut down right there. Some figured they could make it if they ran fast enough. Some fled into the spaces between the ceiling and the roof.

    Thankfully, many lived to relive it. Still, a huge number did not. Initial reports put the casualty figure at between 40 and 50. Latest publications have revised the toll, putting it at 90, considering that many bodies were later recovered from the bushes. And possibly, too, some who were taken to hospital may have also died.

    Now, how do you bury and mourn 90 youths? If they lived, many would certainly not only have earned their keep (which is a good thing in these days of youth unemployment) but also looked after their families. Not all would have become millionaire industrialists but, surely, some would have made a difference, no matter how little, in other people’s lives. Perhaps, one or two would have gone on to govern their states if not their country.

    When the killers left, some students returned to view the corpses of their erstwhile colleagues and friends. As a friend, how would you mourn such friends? As a relative, what would you say at their funeral? As a parent, how would comport yourself at a son’s graveside? What words would proceed from your mouth? In what shape is Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, the state governor who has reserved some of the ugliest words for the perpetrators? As Nigerians, what fitting words can we fashion out as we contemplate the dead young students of Gujba?

    President Goodluck Jonathan in his Independence Day broadcast, sympathised with the relatives, saying his heart and everyone else’s, by inference, were with them. Elsewhere, Jonathan would ask: why did they do this? Why did terrorists slaughter innocent students?

    That question has been asked by many. But the answer is not far-fetched, really. The killers of the Gujba students did what they did because they have declared war on Nigeria. They did what they did to spite Jonathan who leads the nation. They did what they did to prove to Jonathan that they can fight dirty. Otherwise, what motivation can anyone find for attacking students sleeping in their dorm, some of whom shared the same faith as their killers?

    What justification can anyone find for their latest brutalities? Last October, gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters slaughtered about 40 polytechnic students in Mubi. In July, armed men invaded a school in Damaturu and forever silenced 29 pupils and a teacher.

    As a result of these and other attacks on institutions of learning, several thousands of people have reconsidered their education in the Northeast of the country. Many have quit altogether. We all can see a gloomy picture ahead if the trend is not scaled back. What will become of the pupils who flee school? What about their teachers?

    Other questions equally deserve answers. In May, emergency rule was imposed on the Northeast, and, to be fair, it did indeed hurt the sect and its operations. Still, its fighters have managed to catch everyone off guard from time to time, leaving blood and destruction in their wake. On September 17, they appeared in Buni Yadi, headquarters of Gujba council and unleashed some fresh terror on residents before retreating through a bush path from which they came.

    Why do the nation’s chief enemies find it so easy to strike at the people in spite of the troops? Whatever happened to policing the borders in the Northeast?

  • Apo killings: how not to fight terrorism

    The latest killings near Apo Quarters in the Federal Capital Territory have further illustrated how our tragedies often leave us with many unanswered questions and even deeper tragedies.

    In 2005 six youths riding in a car at night were killed in Apo by traffic duty policemen, triggering an outcry across the country. One predominant question then was, what offence did the six Igbo youths commit? When Nigerians tired of asking a question that no one could provide a reasonable answer, they hoped that a probe of the incident would put them out of their worries. Eight years after, no investigation of any kind has established the crime of the deceased youths, nor have their killers been seen to have faced the music they deserved. Messy incidents like that routinely leave us as a people feeling had, violated and diminished.

    On September 20, more youths were gunned down in the same area of Abuja, also by security personnel. The only difference is that the nation’s capital of today is not quite what it was when the Apo Six were felled. As I put this piece together, reports said 10 people were killed by a team of soldiers and state security agents on a raid of an unfinished house in the area. Several other people in that building reportedly sustained injuries and were hospitalised. The security men were said to be on a mission to flush out terrorists.

    Well, the mission got a bit sticky, for shortly after it was accomplished, a House committee on public safety and national security took on the minister of the territory, Bala Mohammed, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, plying them with questions. Reports said Senator Mohammed was “quizzed” while the general was only in a “closed-doors” meeting with members of the committee.

    We can take a hint. Both men were questioned regarding the killings, suggesting that the House of Representatives was as concerned about the circumstances surrounding the Apo deaths as are most Nigerians. In fact, even the Senate has been asked to investigate the killings.

    And, really, it is worth investigating. What are the identities of the dead? Were they terrorists? Were they menial workers, and if they were, what sort of menial work did they do? Were they water vendors, shoe-shine boys or refuse collectors or what? Or were they tricycle operators and commercial motorcyclists, as the chief of a tricycle and motorcycle association claimed? It is imperative to resolve these issues because lives and reputations are involved even as Nigeria grapples with its worst challenge yet. It is wise to determine what dangers occupants of that house posed to other people in the neighbourhoods, knowing, as one report said, that the building was only about 100 metres from the home of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    General Ihejirika said arms and ammunition were found in the house and that the security personnel were attacked first on approach to the building. He was also quoted saying a thorough investigation was carried out based on the information they had before the raid. The next thing is to tender the evidence before relevant authorities in order to clear the military and the state security outfit, and disabuse the minds of concerned Nigerians. It is important to show that the fight against terrorism is based on clear-headed strategies and also within the realm of acceptable standards.

    Senator Mohammed also made some contributions to the anti-terrorism campaign, but they are essentially pedestrian, lamely reactionary, if not outright unhelpful. Reports said the minister and his staff have identified no fewer than 100,000 illegal buildings and another 435 unfinished houses and have marked them for demolition. He said any building which is not completed two years after approval will be pulled down, or if it “cannot” be pulled down, will be converted to a police post. The reason for this action, Mohammed said, is to deny miscreants hiding places.

    This is a curious way to fight terrorism. The FCT, as everyone knows, is a territory under construction or deconstruction, but it is pertinent to ask the man who reigns over it why, in spite of the frequent demolitions, there are still as many as 100,000 illegal buildings standing. Did the illegal structures precede Senator Mohammed’s ministry, or did they spring up in spite of his roaring bulldozers? Are the structures popping up faster than his demolition team can cope with? As for the fate of the 435 unfinished houses, what manner of law or regulation determines the time frame within which a landowner can finish building his house? Can anyone measure the waste, to say nothing of the anguish, if after acquiring a piece of land and initiating its development, fate makes it difficult to finish up quickly enough? Think of the police post angle: why can some buildings be pulled down and some “cannot”?

    In any event, it is difficult for one to be persuaded that the issue of terrorism is really about uncompleted buildings. What about the owners of the buildings or the lack of proper surveillance?

    Senator Mohammed was also said to be intent on running integrity tests on uncompleted buildings. It is difficult to establish a reasonable link between weak structures and terrorism threat.

    So just how relevant are Mohammed’s post-Apo killings contributions to the much-needed anti-terrorism battle? Pretty little.