The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Varieties of kidnapping

    Varieties of kidnapping

    It was the ultimate demonstration of utter contempt for the Nigerian state. I refer to the public appearance on September 18 of the notorious kidnapper, Kelvin Ibrukwe, surrounded by some of his equally masked and heavily armed supporters. The veritable felon had the temerity and dexterity to seek to justify his criminal but profitable kidnapping enterprise by the ineptness and lack of vision of a Nigerian state that has not been able to utilise the humongous resources of the country to uplift the standard of living of the vast majority of our people.

    Thus, Kelvin was lustfully hailed by members of his Kokori, Delta State community, as he defiantly gave the government an ultimatum of 60 days to provide necessary facilities and amenities for his people or face dire consequences. It would appear that Kelvin is a hero of sorts among his people. Many of them apparently do not see him as being more criminal than many in government who lead prodigal lives amidst an ocean of mass poverty.

    Kelvin’s trade of kidnapping prominent citizens for huge sums of ransom money may thus be seen, in this context, as a class struggle of sorts. The only snag that exposes Kelvin’s clever hypocrisy is that there is no evidence that he used the money realized from his obviously lucrative trade in any way to ameliorate the plight of his much beloved people.

    Obviously stung by Kelvin’s audacity in giving the Nigerian state an ultimatum to live up to its responsibility, the security authorities swung into action and, in a matter of days the kidnapper’s world collapsed like a pack of cards. A joint operation between the State Security Services (SSS) and the Joint Task Force (JTF) smoked him out of his hideout and his reign of murderous impunity has come to an end.

    But given the parlous state of Nigeria’s economy, the massive poverty in the land, the mass unemployment among our youth, the criminal opulence of our elite, the ever increasing inequality among social classes in the country, will a hundred more Kelvins not spring up to replace one who is arrested and taken out of circulation?

    Yes, the Kelvins of this world have no place in a decent society. The very notion of kidnapping fellow human beings is odious and nauseating. They subject their victims to unthinkable psychological trauma. They put whole families into pain, stress, strain, anxiety and grief. It does not matter to them that their victim is a renowned lawyer and social activist like Mike Ozokhame or a venerable cleric like Archbishop IgnatiousKattey. They kill with impunity while carrying out their operations. But the truth of the matter is that arresting one Kelvin is not enough to contain kidnapping and other violent crimes perpetrated by our youth across the land. The Nigerian ruling class must get serious about rigorously addressing the socio-economic roots of this social peril or risk even more dangerous acts of criminal insurgency.

    It is all too easy for us to see the Kelvins of this world and his likes as the sole kidnappers in our society. It is so tempting for us to condemn and revile them. But there are other, perhaps even more dangerous kidnappers in our midst. These kidnappers wear exquisitely tailored suits. They drive the most exotic cars, befriend the most beautiful women, cruise around the skies in their private jets and are the most generous payers of their tithes and offerings in their respective places of worship.

    Let us take those bank chief executives whose nefarious activities led to the collapse of their banks for instance. They virtually captured the institutions they had the privileged of managing including depositors funds. Their loot was on a far more monumental scale than could ever be realized by the likes of Kelvin. Their pens wrecked more havoc than the automatic rifles of the lower degree of kidnappers. These bankers today still retain their ill- gotten wealth and live in continued opulence while many of their depositors and shareholders have been brought to ruin or sent prematurely to their graves. Can any group of kidnappers be more dangerous than these?

    Another set of veritable kidnappers are those who have completely messed up the country’s pension fund scheme. We read regularly of the embezzlement of hundreds of millions of pension funds that should serve as succour for those who had served their country in their prime. The activities of these pension fund kidnappers result in the pitiable sight of aged pensioners’ queuing up endlessly and futilely for their pensions that have disappeared into private bank accounts. Some of them are known to have died in the process. The Kelvins of this world kill their hundreds; the pension fund kidnappers kill their thousands.

    A notorious example is a certain Deputy Director in the civil service who was deployed to head the Pension Reform Task Force Team and restore sanity to the country’s corrupt pension system. In the course of discharging this task, he reportedly helped himself generously to the pension funds under his control. Invited by the National Assembly to shed light on about N195 billion reportedly misappropriated under his watch, he resorted to various tactics including media propaganda and manipulation of the judicial process to avoid public searchlight on his activities. Even though he was known to move around Abuja in a convoy heavily guarded by policemen, the Inspector General of Police could not produce this high profile kidnapper on the demand of the National Assembly. It was so easy to arrest Kelvin. But this more dangerous VIP kidnapper remains elusive. All hail Nigeria.

    Perhaps the most interesting variety of kidnapping is on the political terrain. Here we have the most mystifying incident of kidnapping whereby the Y2015 has taken a giant leap backward and kidnapped the process of governance in most parts of Nigeria today. While governance lies in miserable confinement, politicians are obsessively preoccupied with 2015. Senators want to become governors. Governors want to become Senators. Everybody wants to become President. The incumbent is determined to remain in office come that magic year, 2015. Meanwhile hunger stalks the land, poverty dehumanises millions, disease reaps human lives and public infrastructure remains decrepit.

    Thus, the largest political party in Africa has become fractured as various factions strive to kidnap the behemoth ahead of 2015. In the Nigeria Governors Forum, we have witnessed a minority of 16 governors trying to kidnap the organization and lord it over a majority of 19. It is all in the name of 2015.

    In Rivers State, we had the absurdity of five legislators trying to kidnap the Assembly and impeach the Speaker in a House of 32 members. That is a state where the police have obviously been effectively kidnapped by partisan politics. The latest antic of the police in that state was to forcibly disperse 13,000 new teachers who had converged at the stadium to receive their letters of appointment.

    The lame excuse was that they planned to demonstrate against the President as if that is a crime. Unfortunately, the luckiest President in the world appears to have been viciously kidnapped and irredeemably distracted by his second term ambition. Is Nigeria not thus a kidnapper’s paradise? God help us.

  • Here and there

    Here and there

    Super Eagles Assistant Coach Daniel Da Bull Amokachi must forgive me for this slip. In fact, I almost missed out the name of John Mikel Obi as one of the Nigerians who have rocked the English game with their sublime skills.

    Perhaps, my slip may have arisen from the pains Amokachi caused those of us who support Liverpool. It may sound funny because that should be the reason why I shouldn’t remember to list him. On this score my unreserved apologies to Amokachi. I plead that he doesn’t walk alone. Don’t ask me what I mean. Amokachi knows exactly what I’m saying having played in the Merseyside derby for Everton.

    There is also Efan Ekoku, the first man to score four goals in a game in the Barclays English Premier league era while playing for Norwich. He was in the Eagles side to the 1994 World Cup held in the United States (US). I won’t forget the exploits of the Ameobi brothers and Sone Aluko, one of the few Nigeria-born players who dumped England for Nigeria.

    The list of Nigerians playing soccer in England is legendary. It just struck me that Danny Shittu once played for Bolton in the Premier League. With these exclusions, it should convince those who think that I have issues with Amokachi that nothing like that exists. I could have hidden under the cloak of listing a few because of space constraints. Not so for me because Amokachi ranks high on any Nigerian internationals’ list. Amokachi is, indeed, a legend of the Nigerian game. I rest my case.

    Easily the pick of the pack of performance by Nigerians in Europe is Mikel Obi, who scored his first Barclays English Premier League goal after 185 matches. What struck me first wasn’t the goal but the fact that Mikel will soon join the list of players who have played 200 Premier League matches. I hope he celebrates it with a goal.

    Again, this writer was excited that Mikel proved he could score goals. 24 hours after Mikel struck, the only African that can cause Nigerians pain by depriving Mikel of the 2012/2013 African Footballer of the Year award, Yaya Toure, scored one of the four goals that ruined Manchester United’s title defence. Yaya plays for Manchester City and is the incumbent African Footballer of the Year.

    For those who felt strongly that the Special One, Jose Mourinho, ruined Mikel’s career at Chelsea by converting him to defensive roles, they must do a rethink. The burden of scoring goals for any player rests with his predatory instincts which can only be actualised when such a player is adventurous.

    John Terry plays in the heart of Chelsea’s defence, yet he surges forward to score goals for the team. Ghana’s Michael Essien plays in Mikel’s position sometimes and scores goals. Ramires also plays in Mikel’s position at Chelsea and scores goals. The onus of scoring goals lies with Mikel and I hope that this is the catalyst he needs to join the legion of midfielders, such as Lionel Messi, who score goals with aplomb.

    One had been skeptical about Mourinho’s sincerity to give Mikel the desired games. But listening to him on television last Saturday, one had hope. Mourinho told the world that he introduced Mikel and Ramires for the game against Fulham for freshness and to add width to Chelsea’s forward surge towards the goalpost. He also explained why he preferred Oscar to Mata. It is no coincidence that Mikel and Oscar scored the two goals that separated Chelsea from Fulham at dusk on Saturday evening. Indeed, it was the hallmark of a good tactician, such as the Special One.

    While Mikel had a ball with his game, Victor Moses’ second outing for Liverpool caused pains. Hitherto lowly placed Southampton nicked a lone goal victory over the Reds, with the own goal scored by Liverpool’s reliable midfielder Steven Gerrard.

    Liverpool was awful against Southampton, making the few upfront runs by Moses counting for nothing. Pundits were, however, looking forward to Moses’ combination with Louis Suarez and Sturridge beginning with Wednesday night’s show-stopper at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Liverpool, a fixture Wayne Rooney described as bigger than the Manchester derby. Rooney surely knows what he is saying, having also played the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton severally. Moses will definitely have a fruitful season at Liverpool, given the way both players played on Wednesday.

    Moses has distinguished himself with Liverpool. A goal and three regular shirt appearances justify why he left Chelsea. It will also help Nigeria’s course at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

    The story from France is exciting about goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Several cleansheet outings show that he is in form, which should be good news for holidaying Stephen Keshi. Enyeama’s sparkling form spells doom for the Ethiopians as the October 13 tie in Addis Ababa approaches.

    Interestingly, Brown Ideye has found his shooting range by scoring goals for his Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev at a time when Fernerbahce FC of Turkey’s management are worried over the scoring form of Emmanuel Emenike.

    Keshi would sigh at the Turkey side’s agony because he knows how to utilise Emenike to score goals. What Ideye’s return to scoring form does for the Eagles is that it increases the team’s fire power upfront and equips the coach with enough options to nail the Ethiopians in Addis Ababa on October 13. Victory over the Ethiopians at home is what the Eagles need to make the return leg in Calabar on November 16 a formality.

    Our midfielders in Europe, except for Mikel, are having a torrid time with their clubs. They have performed below par, with some of them taking the stick from their coaches. One hopes that their poor forms with their clubs would be corrected with 15 days to the battle of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

    The biggest fillip in this discourse is that most our players are playing regularly for their clubs. And it is an added advantage as we prepare for the Ethiopians.

    Huge cheers for Keshi

    Stephen Keshi is a good sport. He reads. He listens and has opted for the diplomatic resolution of his seeming intricate matter with Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet. I must commend him.

    Recently, one wrote in this column the need for Keshi to swallow his pride and negotiate for an out-of-FIFA-court settlement over the alleged racist comments on the then Malawi coach Tom Sainfiet.

    On Wednesday night, the story broke in one of Malawi’s national newspapers that Keshiwa hoping that FAM would withdraw the case in the spirit of sportsmanship. FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda confirmed that “he (Keshi) called me last weekend to ask if there is a way we can sort out the issue amicably, but I told him that it would need Tom’s consent.”

    “We only facilitated the complaint on behalf of Tom as an association. Otherwise; it is between the two of them,” said Nyirenda.

    Keshi wants an amicable resolution. The NFF must reach out to the FAM chief to see how they can reach Saintfiet through him. I know that Saintfiet won’t do any business with the NFF, given the way he was shoved aside for the Nigerian job.

    But with FAM, Saintfiet will listen, especially when he is told that the initiative came from Keshi. We must save Keshi from an imminent five-match ban, no matter the quality of defence we may have for the Big Boss. I don’t want us to let this chance slip because we never can tell what FIFA chiefs will decide.

    To avoid regrets, the NFF must move fast to mend fences with Saintfiet. That is what the Belgian needs to withdraw the case. He wants to make Keshi the fall guy to get back at the NFF and the Nigerian government. Who is the coach who doesn’t want to work in Nigeria? It is the easiest way to stardom. Clemens Westerhof, Johannes Bonfrere, Father Tiko; the list of foreign coaches who made name coaching Nigeria, is endless or is anyone disputing this? Oba Khato Okpere, Ise.

  • New respect, fears  and terrorism

    US  President Barak Obama’s  speech at the UN General  Assembly  this week  was indeed an homily on  the need for global understanding of   his nation’s dilemma  on being ‘exceptional’. According to Obama  the world does   not expect    the US  to be its policeman especially in the Middle East  but  blames it all the same when  it decided  to keep off  as it did on Syria and the promised  US  limited  attack  on Syria’s use of   chemical weapons on its people. Obama’s   speech had the rapt attention of the audience of the UNGA and it had  a  word for every major part of the world   in crisis  and in search of peace. Yet, it was a most apologetic speech, a lesson in finding an excuse for not rocking the boat of world peace and security on his beat and watch,  with  his ‘great ‘ reason being that   his predecessor   started wars he condemned, and for which he was elected   and he   wants no excalation  of such or any  further  wars. Obama’s   two   terms then  seem unalterably   focused   on wrapping up the wars he inherited,   as he has no stomach for any new wars,  no matter the provocations or assault on his nations well known   values   on democracy and human rights.

    Really,   history  is the ultimate judge of global leaders and their actions  and I expect Obama’s speech at the UNGA to  get the usual treatment and leave the  rest to posterity. To  me  however the US President went to a great extent to rationalize why his nation cannot play the role that its policies and history have made the world to expect it to play,  especially in those parts of the world where despots  and governments tyrannise   people with impunity and have no respect for the rule of law. The US through its president last week was  asking such nations and people to paddle their canoes out of despotism because the US under him has closed shop on such expectations. Which  to me is a real pity, and a great global one too, and  a bad day for American image as a champion of democracy and human rights that some have come to believe it is – and that raises a host of questions, some of which we can discuss today.

    First, one could ask what Obama would have done if he had been in George Bush’s shoes in the first year of his presidency in 2001  when  Al Qada struck  on 9/11 . Perhaps another homily similar to the one this week   at  UNGA  would have wished the tragedy away, rather than launching the  war on Afghanistan   or the invasion of Iraq. It  is instructive that while Obama was rationalizing   American dithering and  inaction on Syria and  Egypt  and berating Egypt’s   President Morsi  ,Al  Shebab, an ally of Al Qada was  terrorizing Kenya with impunity and it was from Kenya that Obama’s father came to the US to father the 44th President of the United States. Really,  pleading   before the whole UN  for understanding   of US  foreign policy, mortgages the right of leadership of  the US  in the comity of nations and shows pitifully,  crass  inability to take difficult, personal  decisions on behalf of the US  and indeed humanity as demanded of that office.  Everyone except this US President  knows that the UNGA  is just a talk shop and that real power is in the UN Security Council where  there  are only a handful of powerful members taking action on behalf of the rest  of the UN. And even there,  China and Russia have effectively  shackled the US policy on Syria   for now at least to one of irrelevant indolence.  This may sound harsh but just as   a revolution is not a tea party,  as Morsi and the Egyptians have learnt at great costs, being president of the US is not a bed of roses and demands more than stale sermons that fail to impress in the face creepy and viral   global terrorism that is emboldened by the absence of leadership inertia and deterrence.

    It  is important to know that   this week the US President met his Nigerian counterpart  President Goodluck Jonathan  in New York  before his UNGA address  and there was mutual backslapping and congratulations on the approach they have   both adopted in fighting global terrorism   and a promise of further cooperation between both nations   on the matter. Which is to be expected, as they  are really birds of the same feather in the  way their two nations are fighting the so called global terrorism which is really Islamist militancy. Both leaders are fighting terrorism with kid gloves and in the process allowing terrorist organisations to gain the respect and recognition which they don’t deserve   and which they should be denied at all costs to ground their nefarious  activities and ambition. A sickening revelation on CNN on the Newgate Mall attack  in Kenya were the twin  disturbing  news according to those who survived the attacks, that the Al  Shabab  attackers at the Mall  asked if people were Muslims or not , and killed them if they were not,  and the terrorists did not come to take hostages but to kill as they did not react to any  offer of  hostage negotiations by the Kenyan authorities. Now  over 65 innocent lives have been lost in Kenya to  the emboldened Islamist Militants who say they are fighting Kenya because it has its troops in AU  contingent in Somalia but are really trying to bring the world to its feet with their warped way of life.

    In  Nigeria, the Boko Haram is getting more ferocious and murderous and it seems government policy is to wish it away while government business continues as usual. Even as the President was away in New York a video tape of the leader of Boko Haram, that the authorities claimed  had been killed showed him saying he was hale and hearty and had organized an attack  at Benisheik   in the North East  that killed many people when he was presumed dead. He threatened our President, the French president and the US president and said there will be no democracy in the world but a government of Allah  and for Allah. Such  videos create fears in people’s minds as well as a pervasive environment of insecurity  which  make people doubt if their governments really have their welfare and interests at heart and such doubt can threaten the political and socio economic stability of any society.

    It  would  appear that  the US  and Nigeria are fighting both local  and global  terrorism within the precints of international law  and the rule of law which is an approach that is leading to a dead end   and  growing  global fear  and insecurity. This is because terrorists do not respect the laws of military engagement subsumed in the rule of law or international law. Terrorists use civilian population as human shield and kill women and children to put across their message and should not be allowed to get away with it. A  case in point  is Syria  where the deed has been done and now there is negotiations going on,  on how to dispose of the chemical weapons of murder. It  is a unique case of getting wise after the event. Such  lackadaisical  policy and   diplomacy breed  fiercer breaches of international law as the  Kenyan Mall terror showed. According to a survivor,  one  of the attackers said  Somali women and children have been killed and threw a grenade into the midst of parents and children who were at a TV Show  at the Mall when the terrorists struck in Nairobi. Such  terrorism has no respect for the rules of engagement in international law  and should not be protected by it in any circumstances. Indeed it is arrogance   and the mistaken belief that the terrorist  can not go far   enough that encourages such careless policy that has made the world unsafe for the rest of humanity as we know it today.

    Since we are leaving leaders who unwittingly promote terrorism  and its   murderous appendages, by their action  or inaction, to history   and posterity to judge, it is to history that we turn  for an example that we hope can inspire the way forward  for a peaceful world. We  ask  the world to look at the monument to Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar Square in London and  the story of the War that begat   it. Nelson’s   high Column adorns Trafalgar Square in tribute to the feat of the British Admiral with one eye who routed the Spanish Armada that was threatening Britain at the time. When the smoke signal came that the British  fleet should  abandon the chase of the Spanish  Armada,  other British Admirals turned back their ships but Horatio Nelson persisted and secured a great victory for his nation over the Spanish fleet. When told by his lieutenants  that the smoke signal to go back was on,  Nelson famously retorted –  ‘I  have only one eye. I have a right to be blind some time. I really do not   see the signal’.

    That is the stuff of leadership  and defiance that the world needs  in confronting global terrorism today and running it aground, once and for all. Such leadership comes  from a hunch or action  or a sense of honor or responsibility  that gets it right in spite of the law or the odds  and in the nick of time.  It  is not to be found in any sermon or  speeches  at  the UNGA  as at this week nor in any post dated negotiations  at the UN Security Council. It  is to be found in the balls of leaders who take calculated risks to save lives and nations. Horatio Nelson had it   and used it and the world is still paying its homage to his  Column shooting   straight into the air at Trafalgar Square in the British capital. That really is the gratitude of history and posterity to really great leaders. We  wait with  apprehension,  baited breath and hope for such leaders to save us from the terror that has engulfed our  global  environment for now ever so murderously and pray  that they have the courage to emerge sooner than later and in God’s name we pray Amen.

  • Is Kaduna about to break jobs jinx?

    At the state and federal levels, the unemployment profile is depressing. The last time he checked the statistics, Dr Christopher Kolade, chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SureP), found that over 40m Nigerians were without jobs. This figure, grossly underestimated and clearly a year or two behind current profile, does not represent everyone that is not working. Those who can work, though are not prospecting, are not included. The figure essentially, if roughly, covers those who are looking for work. Add 40m to the other undocumented segment of the jobless and you have a bustling, frustrated and angry army in our midst.

    This dismal picture is seen across the country and it worsens every year in spite of the rhetoric and best efforts of the state governors and federal authorities.

    Something good seems to be happening in Kaduna State. Reports suggest the textile industry there may come to life after it was left to decline over the years, with much of it eventually dying off. After talks with the Governor Mukhtar Yero administration, foreign investors are said to have visited the state with a view to assessing business viability and setting up shop. Textile is reported to be one crucial area of interest, although other businesses have also caught the eye of the investors. Pakistanis seem to be ahead of the Indians and Chinese in reviving comatose industries in Kaduna.

    Textile holds a lot of interest to me, too, though not as an investor, of course. The industry is a veritable employer, and therefore a problem solver. A recent report said in Kaduna, textile firms had a 300,000-strong combined workforce. That was many years ago when the population of the state was nothing to compare with the present figure. Those workers took their incomes home and sorted out many needs. As everyone knows, unsettled is the home whose bills are scarcely ever settled. And it also spills into the outer society. Brothels, I imagine, are filled with women who were once girls growing up in unsettled homes. Among the community of armed robbers I am sure you will find a good number with similar backgrounds, young men from homes whose breadwinners lost their sources of income because the firms where they worked wound down.  The causes of our jobs crisis are not difficult to determine. Nor do you have far to look before seeing why just about every state seems to be perpetually strapped to federal allocation, which in itself has created another problem of its own. There is almost as much hustle for federal cash as there is to share it, fuelling Nigeria’s most intractable problem: corruption. The drive of industry has remarkably slackened, and with it the dignity of labour. There is this thinking that every seat of government, whether local, state or federal, has some good cash to throw around and if you are smart you just might catch as much as possible. Once thriving local industries have since collapsed, giving rise to roadside entrepreneurs: mechanics, vulcanisers, battery technicians, commercial motorcyclists and tricycle operators and such other hard-working but low-earning workers. Among them, unfortunately, you will find graduates of tertiary institutions.

    One other troubling thing. Whereas Kaduna textile firms once engaged over 300,000, our universities and other tertiary institutions are reckoned to be graduating about that number every year without any hopes of jobs for them.

    If industries are revived in Kaduna it is a good thing. But politicians are difficult to follow. Sometimes the picture they project may differ from reality while what they promise may tarry interminably.

    Still, the news from Kaduna is uplifting. If the dead factories do indeed rise up again, the residents will tell new and exciting stories. Some have argued eloquently that the insurgency in the North fed directly from immediate social dislocations, including poor jobs profile in the region. I agree and I also believe that getting industries working again will make insurgency less attractive.

    What about the rest of the country? I am persuaded that each of the regions has or had its own brand of insurgency, even if by other names. But at its heart is a common economic cause. The Niger Delta question is still fresh in memory. The violence started with breaching pipelines and taking some expatriate oil workers hostage, then the scope widened, with the kidnapping of kings, grandfathers and their grand kids. While all that lasted, the economy of the region suffered as firms were locked up, some relocating to safer grounds far afield. The national economy was hurt too. Can anyone say how much taxpayers’ money went into containing the Niger Delta violence. And who can tell how much the federal government sank into the amnesty programme which involved not just getting the fighters to lay down their arms but also to train many in professions and skills and starting them off in their new vocations?

    If it gets it right, Kaduna may be on the way to inspiring a brand new order in the country. It just might be leading everyone in the direction of solving old problems by exorcising the demons of joblessness.

  • Moses walking alone

    Moses walking alone

    The most popular football league in the world will soon witness a Nigerian raise his humble beginning with a meteoric rise to stardom, wearing the jersey number 12 at Anfield.

    Victor Moses is poised to hit the headlines, with his sublime skills and his goals that could break the 28-year duck for Merseyside giants Liverpool. The Reds haven’t won the Barclays English Premier League diadem since it started 20 years ago. But Moses’ creative instinct and whistling shots could serve as the match sticks to burn this Liverpool title hoodoo.

    Many a Chelsea fan predicts that Jose Mourinho would regret Moses’ sale when the league season comes to an end in May 2014. We all say a big Amen.

    Significantly, this Nigerian’s emergence in England smacks of pity, having been declared a refugee occasioned by the bloodshed that sacked Kaduna, including the death of his parents. But he has put those traumatic periods behind, preferring to make his mark through soccer.

    Not many were surprised that Liverpool manager Brenda Rodgers gave Moses a debut appearance because he had known the Nigerian as a kid in Chelsea’s youth squad and followed his growth while with Crystal Palace and Wigan.

    Scoring a goal on his Liverpool debut is the fillip Moses needs to roll back the years for the Reds. With this weekend’s game against Southampton at Anfield, all eyes will be on Moses. If he scores a goal and four-goal hero Sturridge doesn’t, the media will start a countdown to see if he would surpass Sturridge’s four-goal record over the four matches.

    Moses is in good hands at Anfield. He won’t be the main striker for the crunchy tackles, given Sturridge’s exploits this season. He also would be given less attention with the return of Liverpool attacking gazelle Louis Suarez from a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s defender Ivanovic.

    With two prolific strikers in Liverpool, cameo outings for the Reds won’t be enough to attract markers, since many of the clubs would rather hold down Suarez and Sturridge.

    It has been quite a while that a Nigerian held the English game spell bound. Recall the days of Austin Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu. Most pundits won’t forget Kanu’s sterling show at Stamford Bridge, where he scored a hat-trick to nick the game for Arsenal 3-2. That game was the beginning of Kanu’s superlative outings for many English teams.

    Okocha didn’t play for the big clubs as Kanu, but he was so good that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) twice named Jay Jay the best African player in the English game.

    A few other Nigerian stars, such as John Mikel Obi, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Obafemi Martins, John Utaka, Joseph Yobo, Victor Anichebe and enfante terrible Osaze Odemwingie, have either played or are playing in England with credible marks that have enchanted the fans and made many a European manager crave to have young Nigerians in their teams.

    Indeed, most pundits have envisaged a naughty 2014/2015 transfer showdown between Chelsea and Liverpool, if Moses hits the mark that many are envisaging. They have foreseen a situation where Moses will insist on remaining with Liverpool and what happened between Tottenham and Real Madrid in the sale of Gareth Bale will be a child’s play. The pundits feel strongly that Mourinho made the wrong decision to loan Moses out

    Moses’ absence was felt on Wednesday night during the game against Basel FC of Switzerland as Chelsea didn’t have a player in Moses’ mould who could hold the ball in the midfield and spray the defence-splitting passes to open up the Swiss for goals.

    Moses helped Chelsea to lift the Europa Cup last season. His goals brought smiles to Chelsea fans’ faces. Rafa Benitez didn’t flinch in giving Moses a starting line-up in the Europa Cup.

    It was shocking when Mourinho declared Moses a surplus to his team’s requirement. At the pre-season, Mourinho poured plaudits on Moses. But after Nigeria beat South Africa 2-0 in Durban during the Mandela Challenge, Moses may have incurred the Portuguese’s wrath when he returned late to England from Durban. Moses has moved on, leaving Mourinho to stew in his selection mess as seen in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Basel in the UEFA Champions League.

    A regular first team shirt for Moses would affect his performance for Nigeria, now that qualification for the Brazil 2014 World Cup is but a piece of cake for the Super Eagles, if our players play to their strengths.

    The Eagles have the Ethiopians as their last group opponents. With a galaxy of stars such as John Mikel Obi, Emmanuel Emenike, Shola Ameobi, Ahmed Musa, Brown Ideye et al, the Eagles should bury the Ethiopians with goals over the two-legged ties.

    As for Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi, a last fixture against Ethiopia is the icing on the cake of his efforts to rebuild the squad. Having lost the opportunity to lead Nigeria to the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup and Togo to the Germany 2006 World Cup after securing the qualification tickets for both countries, Keshi won’t want to miss this attempt.

    It would be foolhardy to dictate what he should do. He knows what the stakes are and cannot afford to make any mistakes with his team selection and tactics.

    We only hope that the Tom Saintfiet’s racist saga doesn’t put a spanner in the works for the Big Boss. Thank God Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) eggheads participated in answering the query sent to Keshi by the Federation of International Football Federations (FIFA).

    This writer doesn’t expect any stiff sanction against Keshi, a first-time offender (that is if any harm was done, in the first instance). The lesson from the Saintfiet saga is that Keshi must henceforth be drilled on how to answer questions before he faces the media.

    Keshi must understand that mind games are meant to unsettle the opposition. It behoves on him to ignore such distractions, no matter how irritating they may be and focus on ensuring that his boys whip such coaches and their teams silly on the field.

    I was impressed with the introduction of Mikel into the Basel tie on Wednesday. It showed clearly that Mourinho didn’t have any reason to keep the Nigerian on the bench.

    The pre-match claim that Mikel was struggling with a knee injury looked like a hoax, given the way he played to help salvage at least appoint for Chelsea, which eventually became a mirage as the visitors stole away the vital three points with a 2-1 victory.

    Wanted: Official stadium for Eagles

    In other climes where there are official match venues for national teams, games such as the Nigeria versus Ethiopia tie are prosecuted with celebrations.

    Considering the fixture’s significance, FA chiefs and government officials pull all the stops to create the ambience to celebrate their stars and sponsors. The carnival setting on match days compel other sponsors to tag their products and services to the beautiful game.

    Tickets are sold out immediately the fixtures are announced. Advertisers launch new facilities to capture the audience and the overall setting forces the fans to throng the stadium in their numbers since there are compelling reasons for them to do so.

    Not so for Nigeria because of frequent changes that make it impossible for any firm to identify with our sports not just football. A classic case for a permanent venue for the Eagles is manifest with the return of the fans to watch last weekend’s Federation Cup finals.

    The fans stormed the Teslim Balogun Stadium because they liked what they saw last season. Besides, they planned ahead for the game, having known that the finals for the next three seasons would be played in Lagos. Is anyone shocked that fans hardly leave their homes to watch the Eagles play, in spite of the fact that the team is the most loved by Nigerians?

    I cannot understand the noise surrounding the likely change in venue for the final qualification game against Ethiopia.

    Much as I appreciate all the Cross River Government has done to galvanise the team to where it is today, we would be better playing against Ethiopia in Abuja because the Stadium’s setting will intimidate the Ethiopians, who may not have played before such a large crowd.

    It may be quite premature to start talking about where the team should play. But, talking about the Eagles drawing 2-2 against Guinea is bunkum because the Eagles couldn’t beat Kenya in Calabar, in the team’s first game as Africa’s champions. That draw against Kenya almost scuttled Nigeria’s quest for the ticket, until we salvaged it with an away win over the Kenyans in Nairobi.

    I will support NFF if they choose to compensate Cross River by insisting that the Eagles play in Calabar. It will be the best way of showing appreciation. But it doesn’t foreclose the need for the Eagles to have their own stadium where matches are played, reminiscent of England’s Wembley Stadium or Brazil’s Maraccana Stadium. The choice is NFF’s to make and I hope they make the wisest choice.

  • Is Kaduna about to break jobs jinx?

    At the state and federal levels, the unemployment profile is depressing. The last time he checked the statistics, Dr Christopher Kolade, chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SureP), found that over 40m Nigerians were without jobs. This figure, grossly underestimated and clearly a year or two behind current profile, does not represent everyone that is not working. Those who can work, though are not prospecting, are not included. The figure essentially, if roughly, covers those who are looking for work. Add 40m to the other undocumented segment of the jobless and you have a bustling, frustrated and angry army in our midst.

    This dismal picture is seen across the country and it worsens every year in spite of the rhetoric and best efforts of the state governors and federal authorities.

    Something good seems to be happening in Kaduna State. Reports suggest the textile industry there may come to life after it was left to decline over the years, with much of it eventually dying off. After talks with the Governor Mukhtar Yero administration, foreign investors are said to have visited the state with a view to assessing business viability and setting up shop. Textile is reported to be one crucial area of interest, although other businesses have also caught the eye of the investors. Pakistanis seem to be ahead of the Indians and Chinese in reviving comatose industries in Kaduna.

    Textile holds a lot of interest to me, too, though not as an investor, of course. The industry is a veritable employer, and therefore a problem solver. A recent report said in Kaduna, textile firms had a 300,000-strong combined workforce. That was many years ago when the population of the state was nothing to compare with the present figure. Those workers took their incomes home and sorted out many needs. As everyone knows, unsettled is the home whose bills are scarcely ever settled. And it also spills into the outer society. Brothels, I imagine, are filled with women who were once girls growing up in unsettled homes. Among the community of armed robbers I am sure you will find a good number with similar backgrounds, young men from homes whose breadwinners lost their sources of income because the firms where they worked wound down.  The causes of our jobs crisis are not difficult to determine. Nor do you have far to look before seeing why just about every state seems to be perpetually strapped to federal allocation, which in itself has created another problem of its own. There is almost as much hustle for federal cash as there is to share it, fuelling Nigeria’s most intractable problem: corruption. The drive of industry has remarkably slackened, and with it the dignity of labour. There is this thinking that every seat of government, whether local, state or federal, has some good cash to throw around and if you are smart you just might catch as much as possible. Once thriving local industries have since collapsed, giving rise to roadside entrepreneurs: mechanics, vulcanisers, battery technicians, commercial motorcyclists and tricycle operators and such other hard-working but low-earning workers. Among them, unfortunately, you will find graduates of tertiary institutions.

    One other troubling thing. Whereas Kaduna textile firms once engaged over 300,000, our universities and other tertiary institutions are reckoned to be graduating about that number every year without any hopes of jobs for them.

    If industries are revived in Kaduna it is a good thing. But politicians are difficult to follow. Sometimes the picture they project may differ from reality while what they promise may tarry interminably.

    Still, the news from Kaduna is uplifting. If the dead factories do indeed rise up again, the residents will tell new and exciting stories. Some have argued eloquently that the insurgency in the North fed directly from immediate social dislocations, including poor jobs profile in the region. I agree and I also believe that getting industries working again will make insurgency less attractive.

    What about the rest of the country? I am persuaded that each of the regions has or had its own brand of insurgency, even if by other names. But at its heart is a common economic cause. The Niger Delta question is still fresh in memory. The violence started with breaching pipelines and taking some expatriate oil workers hostage, then the scope widened, with the kidnapping of kings, grandfathers and their grand kids. While all that lasted, the economy of the region suffered as firms were locked up, some relocating to safer grounds far afield. The national economy was hurt too. Can anyone say how much taxpayers’ money went into containing the Niger Delta violence. And who can tell how much the federal government sank into the amnesty programme which involved not just getting the fighters to lay down their arms but also to train many in professions and skills and starting them off in their new vocations?

    If it gets it right, Kaduna may be on the way to inspiring a brand new order in the country. It just might be leading everyone in the direction of solving old problems by exorcising the demons of joblessness.

  • Is Kaduna about to break jobs jinx?

    At the state and federal levels, the unemployment profile is depressing. The last time he checked the statistics, Dr Christopher Kolade, chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SureP), found that over 40m Nigerians were without jobs. This figure, grossly underestimated and clearly a year or two behind current profile, does not represent everyone that is not working. Those who can work, though are not prospecting, are not included. The figure essentially, if roughly, covers those who are looking for work. Add 40m to the other undocumented segment of the jobless and you have a bustling, frustrated and angry army in our midst.

    This dismal picture is seen across the country and it worsens every year in spite of the rhetoric and best efforts of the state governors and federal authorities.

    Something good seems to be happening in Kaduna State. Reports suggest the textile industry there may come to life after it was left to decline over the years, with much of it eventually dying off. After talks with the Governor Mukhtar Yero administration, foreign investors are said to have visited the state with a view to assessing business viability and setting up shop. Textile is reported to be one crucial area of interest, although other businesses have also caught the eye of the investors. Pakistanis seem to be ahead of the Indians and Chinese in reviving comatose industries in Kaduna.

    Textile holds a lot of interest to me, too, though not as an investor, of course. The industry is a veritable employer, and therefore a problem solver. A recent report said in Kaduna, textile firms had a 300,000-strong combined workforce. That was many years ago when the population of the state was nothing to compare with the present figure. Those workers took their incomes home and sorted out many needs. As everyone knows, unsettled is the home whose bills are scarcely ever settled. And it also spills into the outer society. Brothels, I imagine, are filled with women who were once girls growing up in unsettled homes. Among the community of armed robbers I am sure you will find a good number with similar backgrounds, young men from homes whose breadwinners lost their sources of income because the firms where they worked wound down.  The causes of our jobs crisis are not difficult to determine. Nor do you have far to look before seeing why just about every state seems to be perpetually strapped to federal allocation, which in itself has created another problem of its own. There is almost as much hustle for federal cash as there is to share it, fuelling Nigeria’s most intractable problem: corruption. The drive of industry has remarkably slackened, and with it the dignity of labour. There is this thinking that every seat of government, whether local, state or federal, has some good cash to throw around and if you are smart you just might catch as much as possible. Once thriving local industries have since collapsed, giving rise to roadside entrepreneurs: mechanics, vulcanisers, battery technicians, commercial motorcyclists and tricycle operators and such other hard-working but low-earning workers. Among them, unfortunately, you will find graduates of tertiary institutions.

    One other troubling thing. Whereas Kaduna textile firms once engaged over 300,000, our universities and other tertiary institutions are reckoned to be graduating about that number every year without any hopes of jobs for them.

    If industries are revived in Kaduna it is a good thing. But politicians are difficult to follow. Sometimes the picture they project may differ from reality while what they promise may tarry interminably.

    Still, the news from Kaduna is uplifting. If the dead factories do indeed rise up again, the residents will tell new and exciting stories. Some have argued eloquently that the insurgency in the North fed directly from immediate social dislocations, including poor jobs profile in the region. I agree and I also believe that getting industries working again will make insurgency less attractive.

    What about the rest of the country? I am persuaded that each of the regions has or had its own brand of insurgency, even if by other names. But at its heart is a common economic cause. The Niger Delta question is still fresh in memory. The violence started with breaching pipelines and taking some expatriate oil workers hostage, then the scope widened, with the kidnapping of kings, grandfathers and their grand kids. While all that lasted, the economy of the region suffered as firms were locked up, some relocating to safer grounds far afield. The national economy was hurt too. Can anyone say how much taxpayers’ money went into containing the Niger Delta violence. And who can tell how much the federal government sank into the amnesty programme which involved not just getting the fighters to lay down their arms but also to train many in professions and skills and starting them off in their new vocations?

    If it gets it right, Kaduna may be on the way to inspiring a brand new order in the country. It just might be leading everyone in the direction of solving old problems by exorcising the demons of joblessness.

  • Thank you Emenike

    Thank you Emenike

    Emmanuel Emenike showed that he is a true professional by insisting on collecting the $5,000 match -winning bonus for beating Malawi in Calabar last Saturday.

    Emenike hinged his decision on the fact that it was a privilege to play for Nigeria, with a population of close to 190 million people. He felt honoured to wear our colours and looked forward to subsequent appearances for the country, unlike John Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, who were up in arms to fight for $10,000.

    Emenike’s decision quenched the fire in the troika, who were said to have had the coaches’ support. No one would say that Emenike is NFF’s lickspittle, not after his harsh words to the federation’s chiefs for failing to show concern about his welfare when he was injured playing for Nigeria.

    Emenike drew a parallel with his club by stating that he was satisfied with what he earned and would rather see playing for Nigeria as payback. This is not the first time that Emenike has shown love for a dear country, irrespective of what we say about NFF chiefs. He dumped playing for South Africa and a few other countries. Indeed, he pestered Joseph Yobo to convince Eagles coaches to invite him to prove his mettle. Little wonder Emenike doesn’t spare any moment to pour encomiums on Yobo.

    Interestingly, one former Eagles coach told me that the reason why our players insist on getting such ridiculous figures is because they are bench warmers in their European clubs. One is tempted to believe this coach, given Emenike’s, the late Rashidi Yekini’s and the late Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji’s commitment to Nigeria’s matches.

    It is absolutely ridiculous that some players could contemplate another bonus row on a day when they shared N25 million given to them by Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke. Do the Eagles think that the money they received was the governor’s personal cash? Do the players not know that the N25 million came from taxpayers?

    I really cannot understand why Mikel keeps spearheading revolts in the Eagles. He plays for one of the biggest clubs in Europe and should know how requests for changes are made. What Mikel and his ilk don’t understand is that they would have been languishing in one of these novelty football-playing nations but for the opportunities they got to play for Nigeria. I would have been excited to hear that Mikel, Enyeama and Ejide rejected theirs when the matter was resolved.

    That they took the $5,000 tells a lot about their character and it is rather unfortunate since they are our ambassadors in Europe. Wait a minute: Didn’t Mikel get Tom Tom’s Man of the Match award of $5,000? So, what does he really want? Or is playing for Nigeria another casino?

    Except for Victor Moses and, indeed, Shola Ameobi, every other person in the Eagles got to Europe playing for one of our national teams. It behoves on them, therefore, to play for Nigeria on grounds of loyalty and show understanding when there is cash crunch.

    Sadly, we don’t have the right leadership in the team to call Mikel’s, Enyeama’s and Ejide’s bluff, largely because they also benefit from the increased largesse if their protests succeed. We are the laughing stock anytime issues such as bonuses, are discussed in the media. The big questions are – how do others do theirs without rancour? Is there no instrument in place to punish offenders? Will the trio say they are unaware of what has been said about the bonuses even after the show-of-shame in Namibia?

    Could this be the reason why Mikel feigned injury and headed straight to London, when his mates were busy playing for their countries in the European Group World Cup qualifiers?

    Mikel needs to exhibit the traits of a role model and desist from this despicable act whether or not he is being propelled by bigger forces in the squad. At this rate, it would be suicidal to make Mikel Eagles’ captain in sync with what is happening in other countries, such as Argentina where Lionel Messi is the captain.

    Mikel stands in good stead to become 2012/2013 Africa’s Footballer of the Year and he needs to be worthy in character, based on his stay in Europe where he ought to have acculturised to the European ethos. As for Enyeama, it is about time he stayed off the team. When Samson Siasia wielded the big stick on Enyeama after a mutinous act in the Eagles, we cried foul and begged Siasia in vain. We can now appreciate what Siasia saw then when he tagged Enyeama as a very bad influence. Let me tender my apologies to Siasia for hitting him so hard for refusing to accept pleas from Nigerians to return Enyeama to the fold. I really don’t know where to start in explaining Ejide’s conduct. A good goalkeeper, no doubt, but I didn’t know him to be a disobedient player. His calm mien disarms you. But his recent role of spearheading protests is shocking. Enyeama, Ejide and Mikel are our potential captains. It says something about their protests. Read my lips. Don’t ask me how. Let me urge Maigari and his NFF men not to succumb to any threat on this bonus issue. We cannot pay players match bonuses for all the games, yet they will also insist on having a share of Nigeria’s share of the gate-takings accruing from matches played by the Eagles at the World Cup. It amounts to eating their cake and having it. In other climes, revenues from appearing at the World Cup are ploughed back towards developing the facilities in their countries. But in Nigeria, our players share it. This dastardly act must stop. If the players want the revenue from our World Cup participation, they should forget about match bonuses. Thumbs up Jonathan President Goodluck Jonathan scored the bull’s eye in Abuja on Wednesday, when he decorated Africa’s speedster Blessing Okagbare with a national honour and gave her N3 million. It may be less than what the footballers got but the thought of rewarding her is commendable. Jonathan’s tall order to the sports administrators and athletes to win gold medals at the Brazil 2016 Olympic Games is good, except that the President ought to have told us how much his administration is pumping into the challenge. The President should also tell us when the cash will be released for the athletes because the task of winning any gold medals at the Olympics is a four-year project anchored on proper planning. As I have canvassed in this column in the past, the President needs to direct that a presidential dinner with Okagbare and the business community should be organised for our Olympic Games plans as envisioned by Jonathan be laid bare before these technocrats. Jonathan needs to ask what happened to the sports lottery projects in the past. Another sports lottery with a different organogram is required to lift our sports. The President must be commended for retaining Bolaji Abdullahi as the sports minister. The fillip in our sports owes its course to Abdullahi’s transparent handling of issues bogging the industry. Adbullahi has plugged all the loopholes in our sports with his enduring policies. His unbiased approach to issues that have bedeviled the industry underlines the relative peace in the federations. This has indeed restored confidence in the athletes, knowing that their efforts would be recognised with every feat achieved. Take a bow Abdullahi, for wonderful job. Jonathan should challenge Abdullahi to fix the rot in our sports lottery scheme, if we hope to attain the heights befitting of our athletes’ stature. We should have a deliberate policy to support the athletes and safeguard their future. This must have a presidential backing for the blue-chip companies to identify with. Our administrators must learn how to account for the cash given to them. No company will want to tag its goods or services to any form of scam arising from the misappropriation of cash given to sports federations to organise competitions. Corruption has been the bane of sponsorship of sports. Okagbare as a Nigerian brand with any company will signpost the way forward for sports and the athletes. It could also resolve the problem of securing their future since most of them would be funded by these companies to combine sports and the acquisition of quality education.

  • Pdp: Two sides of a coin

    Pdp: Two sides of a coin

    Are there any fundamental ideological differences between the two feuding factions of the People’s Democratic Party? I do not think so. What is currently going on within the self-proclaimed largest party in Africa is a bitter family quarrel for supremacy with 2015 in view. The feud is not about ideology. It is not about principle. It is not about the people. The fundamental issue at stake are the 2015 elections particularly the presidential poll.

    There is a sitting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who is obviously bent on securing a second term in office. There are also those within the party who are determined to thwart his ambition. Those forces have now crystalized in the Kawu Baraje faction of the party.

    Interestingly, this faction is not confronting Jonathan on the basis of his performance in office. This implies that they must be satisfied with or utterly indifferent to the question of the current standard of governance in the country. All the PDP want is internal democracy in the party and a level playing field to enhance their chances of assuming power come 2015 so as to continue to milk the Nigerian cow to their heart’s content.

    No matter how much anyone loathes the PDP, the party’s implosion will not be in the best interest of the development both of the country’s party system and democracy as a whole. The emergence of the All Peoples Congress (APC) raised high hopes that with a viable opposition and a more balanced party system, the prospects for democratic sustainability in the country had been enhanced.

    The implosion of the PDP will once again lead us in the direction of a one party dominant system particularly if the opposition remains cohesive and gets its act right.

    There is no doubt that PDP deserves to lose the next election at the centre. But this must be on the basis of its monumental failure in governance over the last 14 years and not because it has splintered into factions. It is only when parties begin to lose elections on the basis of non-performance that democracy will become a hand maiden for development in the country.

    How can we understand the raging crisis within the PDP? The party was conceived in 1998 as a pro-establishment party to help preserve both the status quo and the country’s unity. Seeing that the party was not committed to the fundamental structural changes needed in the country, the progressives pulled out of the nascent party and formed the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD).

    Since the PDP was so obviously the party of the establishment bent on maintaining the status quo, the most prominent and influential politicians from across the country flocked to the party. The party had a broad pan-Nigerian outlook. Its structure was centralized and reflected the unhealthy centralization of the country itself.

    Most unfortunately for the party, President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed leadership of the party even when its constitution provides for the office of National Chairman. Obasanjo ran the party like a military garrison removing and imposing party Chairmen and other officials as he pleased. The party could no longer hold its government to check. Under Obasanjo, the PDP could not be distinguished from a military organization.

    Ironically, it was his stranglehold on the party that enabled Obasanjo to foist the late President Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan respectively as the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates for the horrendously rigged 2007 polls. Now, Jonathan is showing that he is a most faithful disciple and student of his godfather and benefactor. President Jonathan has now effectively taken charge of the PDP and is ruthlessly and brazenly manipulating his way towards 2015. Like OBJ he is running the party like his private fiefdom.

    With the obvious support of Jonathan, the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has been running the party like a tyrant. Executive committees in states are dissolved arbitrarily; governors are suspended while threats are made to declare seats of members of the National Assembly vacant. There is no doubt that Tukur has become a huge liability to Jonathan if the President really wants a second term.

    Like I said earlier, there are really no fundamental ideological differences between the Tukur and Baraje factions of the PDP. Both groups believe in Nigeria as she is currently structured. They both believe in the retention of the country’s current obsolete security architecture. They do not see a national conference to re-define the terms of our continued co-habitation as a multi ethnic entity as imperative. In any case, neither has told us that.

    Beyond that, there is no reason to doubt that even if the arrow head of the nPDP, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, had the opportunity of wielding presidential power, he would not use it as ruthlessly and mindlessly as Jonathan and Obasanjo before him. However it must be admitted that Atiku is a far more accomplished and astute political actor than either.

    The only source of grievance for both parties is the fierce and bitter struggle to control the levers of the party towards the 2015 election. It is so sad that this intra-party struggle and the attendant crisis have completely grounded governance in many PDP states whose governors are almost always in Abuja holding endless meetings. I once said here that President Jonathan is distracted by his obsession for a second term in office. Now, it is the entire PDP that is hopelessly distracted. Is it a farewell to the transformation agenda?

    The possibility of a healing of the wounds afflicting the PDP appears very remote although it is not impossible. However, any resolution of the crisis can only be superficial, hypocritical and unsustainable. This is because Jonathan is as bent on serving a second term in office as the North is determined that power should return to the region. Thus, even if daggers are sheathed now, be assured, they will be drawn again sooner or later.

    The crisis within the PDP further boosts the electoral chances of the APC if the latter get its act right. Of course, the party will be eager to work with the aggrieved faction of the PDP if the latter do not go back to their party. While this might be politically pragmatic, the party will also have to decide how much of its core values it wants to trade-off for electoral success. If on the other hand, the nPDP decides to align with the newly registered PDM, the race for 2015 will become more complex and interesting.

  • Politics, impunity  and deterrence

    The  International  Criminal Court – ICC – trial  of  Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto   over  crime against human

    ity in the post election  violence that marked Kenya’s 2007  elections  began at the Hague  this  week.  Just  as the US  secretary  of State John Kerry  also  met   Russia’s Foreign Minster  Sergei  Lavrov  in Geneva to sort out  plans on  how Syria will submit its nuclear arsenal to an international custody to avert Barak Obama’ s  now   sterile  threat  of the  use of a limited attack to punish Syria over the use  of chemical weapons against its people. These  went on against a background  of violent protests in Chile over the 40th  anniversary of the coup that brought in former President  Augusto Pinochet into power  when he ousted President  Salvadore  Allende violently  in 1973  and held on to power brutally for 17 years during which thousands of people disappeared in unmarked graves;  and for which the Chilean Judiciary offered an unreserved apology to the Chilean people for its complicity in the Pinochet era,  just last week.

    If  you lace these  events with the home based political skirmishes between  New  PDP Secretary former Governor  Olagunsoye  Oyinlola  and   embattled PDP Chairman  Bamanga Tukur  and their  utterances  over the split in Nigeria’s ruling party; as well  as the verbal  gymnastics between former EFCC  boss   Farida  Waziri  and the charge  by  former  President  Olusegun  Obasanjo  that she was recommended to her   high profile  anti- corruption job by a former governor  of Delta  State  James  Ibori  now   jailed for corruption overseas, then you know that we have  very juicy cocktail for consumption and analysis   on global politics  and diplomacy today.

    First  let me caution that we have grave issues  to  discuss  today on which  l  have strong opinions which may  rankle  some bones but then that is the essence  of political  analysis  and public discourse. I  fire the first salvos by making some initial comments on the issues highlighted before going on to clarify extensively  on these issues . On  Kenya I  agree with former UN Secretary General  Kofi  Annan who said that the trials of the two Kenyan leaders must go on even  though some have charged the ICC  of prosecuting only Africans, a charge that does not jell at all with me.  On  the meeting between John  Kerry  and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, I think  it is a poor substitute   for the deterrence an attack would   have created  over Syria. This has  in turn  unwittingly and diplomatically   given great leverage to Russia in world affairs such that a dictator like Russia’s Vladmir Putin can,   in an   appeal to the American people  in article in New York Times    now write that the US  is  noted for  ‘brute force’  globally in interfering in other nations internal   affairs,  and  not democracy . Such  a statement coming from a man with  Putin’s  repressive leadership credentials is just  nauseating . But then that is the result of a drifting and rudderless US  policy on Syria for now.

    It  is with the likes of leaders like Vladmir  Putin in mind that I sympathise with  those who foment trouble in Chile when they  see the beneficiaries of Augusto   Pinochet’s  dictatorship taking to the streets  in Santiago  to celebrate his 17 years of dictatorship which started in 1973  and ended in1990. Relatively Chile had political stability but the  democratically elected Marxist leader that had mass appeal was slaughtered by Chile’s military to install their boss as president in that nation and the supporters  of Allende still have painful memories of their political loss  and the psychological trauma  of living in fear under military rule. It  was  an era  with arbitrary rules,  insecurity,  detention and torture aided  by a judiciary  that was too willing at the time to use the law to back and strengthen the   rotten government of the day

    In  Nigeria the mudslinging between the New  and Original PDP  and that  between Waziri  and a former Nigerian dictator threw up  some interesting vocabulary   like ‘senility‘, dictator’, ’exposure’  and ‘respect‘  which I  am  sure make very interesting reading. Especially  when  we analyse  their context, relevance and appropriateness  by  both the sender  as well as the receivers of the verbal exchanges.

    Let  us now go back to the trial  of William Ruto Vice President of Kenya which has begun although the Kenyan Parliament has voted that Kenya should pull out of the ICC  which has said the trial will continue any way. That  the Kenyan VP is attending shows that in spite of Kenya’s pull out of the ICC that nation has respect for the rule of law  and the international community. Again  Kofi  Annan who played a part in the investigations has affirmed that such trials are necessary  to affirm the rule of law and show that no one is above the law any where in the modern world .President Uhuru Kenyatta’s trial is to start in November and he has said he would attend as long as both himself and his VP  are not  away on trial at  the same time, a fact that the ICC has promised to respect. So  impunity is on trial at the Hague in Kenya while politics  and the threat of deterrence  take a back seat and that is good for global democracy in my book.

    Again let us  talk about the floundering  US  foreign   policy  on Syria which has subsituted   deterrence with diplomacy  . This   was  in the hope that threat of force will  galvanise the use  of diplomacy  to achieve   the objective  of making the Assad regime pay for  its use of chemical weapons , of which the US president said he had proof  and  with which the  Russians said they  disagreed. Now, speaking at home,  the US president pleaded  with Americans to give him permission to strike and he alerted his armed forces to prepare to strike any time and the law makers  to give him a vote to strike. At the end these   muscle  flexing and diversionary  press  ups  however,  the US president did nothing because right from the outset he had no stomach for this or any fight   whatsoever;  and that is the grim truth that the international community must face during the remaining part of the presidency of Barak Obama. When even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon could exclaim and denounce what he called the ‘paralysing inaction‘  over the    Syrian  matter, then  one can see how far the US president has led both admirers  and critics down a blind alley over the deterrence  option in calling the blood thirsty regime in Damascus to order, over the use of   chemical weapons against children  and innocent victims in Syria.

    Undoubtedly,  the US president has been boxed into a corner by the strong  anti war lobby in Europe  and the US that heralded  his assumption of office. They even gave him a Nobel  Prize  just  because they hated those who carried out the invasion of Iraq on a false premise of availability of weapons of mass  destruction. Now Obama’s albatross is in living up to his electoral promises  as well as pleasing his admirers  while forgetting those whose hope for freedom he ignited in the Arab world with his Cairo Speech and the support he gave to the Arab Spring   street  revolution together with  France  and Britain leading to the overthrow  of dictators in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya.  In  those heady days, David Cameron and France’s former President Nikola Sarkozy even visited the demonstrators in Cairo to offer support before using the No Fly Zone to scuttle the  Muammar Gaddafi regime.

    Now,   Britain  has jumped ship in liberating the Arabs as Parliament has handcuffed David Cameron on the matter and he can only bark and not bite but could  shout   only on humanitarian aid on Syria’s use of chemical weapons. I  am sure Winston Churchill is turning in his grave  at the impotence of his present  replacement  and his beloved Britain  over  the use of chemical weapons on thousands of innocent Syrians by their government.  Only  France’s  new president is trying to do what he can to get the Americans who have developed political incontinence over Syria to do something at least similar to that which France did so well in driving the Tuaregs away from Mali so recently.

    One  thing is clear. The American leader has allowed domestic politics to befuddle international diplomacy and he will pay a steep price for that eventually before the end of his presidency as history will attest. This  was  what Richard Nixon noted in his memoirs  and he in spite of Watergate opened up US relations with China. Now the Americans have a man in charge who revels in gay rights and same sex marriages  at  home, and sells  human freedom  and liberty  abroad.  Yet,  when it comes to the crunch when he should  show a red card to  a blood thirsty  tyrant in Damascus,  he chose  to hobnob  with the residue of the Red Army in the Kremlin and to sermonize his armed forces and legislators to a miserable state of inertia  and   hand wringing over the  violation of their  core ethical  and cultural values,  right before their eyes  and  with them in full control of their senses. Really ,   I do not know whether to cry or laugh at the impotence of US foreign policy over Syria  and  its    consequences  for global democracy, freedom  and liberty in all ramifications.

    On  the PDP  spat  and Farida’s tussle with Obasanjo,  some things are clear. First it was wrong for Tukur and Oyinlola to be trading tackles while the elders have been called in  to mediate  in the crisis rocking the party. Secondly  it was right of Tukur to see dictatorial  tendencies in Oyinlola who  served as a military governor of Lagos state before. But  Oyinlola is now a lawyer and Tukur should beware. Just as it was  in order    for  Oyinlola to use the word ‘senile’  on Tukur who has been  in the public gaze  for so long since his days   as boss of the NPA that one was wondering if Oyinlola was not talking of another Tukur. Tenacity or longevity of office can more often than not induce unexpected senility  sooner than later. That  too can be a great  political risk or hurdle for anybody or any political party.

    Similarly  it was  highly uncalled for for Obasanjo  to mention the Ibori connection with Farida  and to question Farida’s credentials the way Obasanjo  has done in EFCC house magazine interview. Undoubtedly  Farida  has impeccable credentials  for her job in spite of Obasanjo’s unexpected spite and hatred. In  addition she operated under very difficult conditions and she could not have moved mountains alone in her anti corruption crusade. It  was nice to hear that her successor Lamorde at a function asked the media  to exercise restraint in reporting cases involving the EFCC  to avoid media trial of suspects. That was rampant during Farida’s  time and that could not have  been her fault alone especially in a high tension democracy like Nigeria.