The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Encounter with Keshi

    Encounter with Keshi

    The time was 7.45pm on Tuesday. I looked at the pages of Sportinglife for Wednesday and couldn’t find a lead story to sell it. I went into my office to cross-check my diary. It was empty. A few stories that I saw were either not topical or weren’t good enough for a midweek edition.

    Tense, I took my telephone outside the office to call my colleagues in Abuja to find out why the day was dry. Two calls to Andrew Abah and Patrick Ngwaogu added to my frustration of not finding a lead story. They were headed for the new secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja, where Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi was visiting, ahead of the opening of the facility built with the cash generated by the Presidential Task Force (PTF). The minister’s visit was to ensure that things were in place for President Goodluck Ebere Jonathan to open it for football business.

    A last call to another colleague, Segun Ogunjimi, didn’t resolve the matter. It brought forth the poser many readers of this column have asked me. Many were wondering if I talk with Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi. They looked forward to the day we would meet.

    When Ogunjimi picked his phone, the place was rowdy. He told me he was at the new secretariat. Then Ogunjimi shouted: “Hold on sir!” I could still hear the noise but I felt he wanted to give the phone to a source who he felt could confide in me to get a story. It wasn’t to be. It turned out to be Keshi.

    When Ogunjimi handed Keshi the phone, I could hear him whisper, “na who bi that?” Ogunjimi replied: “ Na my editor, Ade Ojeikere”.

    I could feel Keshi’s deep breath. Then he said; “Ade Ojeikere, na wetin I do you? I take your girlfriend, abi na your wife? You just dey yab me. Wetin I do?”

    Keshi expected an answer, but I wasn’t ready for that. His voice was high. He was angry and never hid his disgust about my writing. I waited until he said: “Oh boy, I dey vex for you. You just dey hit me. In fact, I dey watch AIT this morning (Tuesday) where you talk say if you bi sports minister, you for don sack me for wetin I do for Namibia?

    At this point, it was evident that Keshi’s anger had fallen into a receptive voice where I could throw a counter question. Again, I expected his response to be laced with rage.

    “Skippo, I dey vex for you too. You sef yab with the things wey you dey do. Dem no good at all. You fall my hand. You go dey fight anybody wey talk wetin you no like. Abi we no get right to ask you things wey we no know? I dey write my columns, ask you those questions make you for fit answer. Even if you no talk to me.

    Keshi interjected: “Ade wetin you dey talk so? Shebi you get my number? Why you no call me? Walahi, Ade, you dey disappoint your fans o. Dem don tire for you. People wey like you before dey vex. No matter wetin you think say I do, you for call me na?”

    It was clear that a dialogue had ensued. I told him I didn’t have his number anymore. The number I had, I was told he broke the SIM card in anger when he resigned in South Africa.

    Keshi raised his voice again, this time he said: “How can you talk like that Ade? Why didn’t you ask Segun for my number?

    Yet I asked Keshi if it was out of place for him to call me if he felt what I was writing was not fair to him.

    “Oh boy, na true you talk. But you know now, I dey vex. You sef, you too talk.” Keshi said.

    “Big Boss, me too dey vex,” I retorted. Keshi wanted to interject again. This time I stopped him, saying that I would be in Abuja on Wednesday and we would talk.

    “Okay o. I dey wait. Make we see o! And he handed the phone back to Segun Ogunjimi, after saying: “Ade Ojeikere, na wa for you o.”

    This dialogue lasted for five minutes but it broke the ice of a relationship that had gone awry, occasioned by the demands of our jobs.

    Keshi has the right to pick his players. He chooses how he wants to train them and how he wants the team to play. Keshi has done well with the Eagles, although he admits that it is work- in- progress.

    For this writer, there is the need to ask the coach why certain things aren’t in place. But most coaches don’t like to be told about their team’s flaws no matter how close you are to them. If you dare ask such questions, they will either not pick your calls or raise their voices in resentment. It happened to me once with Keshi, when I wanted to pick his brain to write a story about his likely list of players ahead of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

    At the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, I had a little unsavoury session with Samson Siasia, when I questioned the rationale in dropping Osaze Odemwingie and Victor Anichibe for fumbling players. Siasia told me to face my journalism job while he does his.

    Surprisingly, Siasia made the desired changes in the next game and Osaze and Anichebe were the goal scorers. Smart guy Siaisa is, he apologised at the next international post-match press conference. He said he was in a foul mood after that game. Siasia is human, so I moved on.

    One of the hazards of journalism, a few would say. But the job must be done in this era where those in authority blame journalists for all the societal ills. Busy bodies, they shout to the roof but we are condemned tell our readers the stories the next day. I digress.

    How did you feel Ade after the Keshi spat, many would ask? I’m still excited. The best copies for journalists come when you put your interviewer on the spot. You need to ask him the questions that outsiders confront you with. We are confronted daily with questions. And it is always nice to throw them back at the coaches so that their responses could get to the soccer faithful.

    Once The telephone conversation over, I went back to contending with finding a lead story, which I got by sending a text message to a source.

    Behold, Keshi’s team list for the August 14 Mandela Challenge in Durban, South Africa. I was excited. A good copy had come at last. The list, though tentative as it turned out to be had Obinna Nsofor and Shola Ameobi. I was relieved that Keshi had started listening to good advice. If what Keshi said was anything to reckon with it, it was that he also reads this column, given the details he reeled out in his fit of rage.

    Again, my informant said Keshi submitted the 24-man list to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for vetting, unlike in the past. The NFF directed him to prune it to 18- the number of players that the organisers asked for. Keshi chose 20 players instead and listed four others on the waiting list. Kudos, big Boss. that is what we want rather than outright rejection of the NFF directive which makes your employers look like puppets.

    I was pleased with this revelation. Besides, it didn’t leak to the press nor was it an issue for public debate until I stumbled on it. If you ask me, we are making progress.

    It is also cheery news that the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye, reconciled Keshi and the NFF chiefs. Elegbeleye’s message of securing our national interest above selfish agenda should serve as the fulcrum for Keshi to take the good criticisms and discard the others.

    Keshi should know that he is answerable to Nigerians and not all of us will tell him what he wants to hear. Keshi shouldn’t insult our sensibilities by telling us that Joseph Yobo is the team’s captain. Keshi’s body language and utterances show that Yobo isn’t in his plans He only wants to mock Yobo. He should move on because Yobo isn’t a fool, given his recent stoic silence on the team and Keshi.

    Indeed, Keshi’s double-speak at press conferences is disturbing. In one instance, he tells his audience that he won’t beg Victor Anichebe. In another response on the same issue, he startles his listeners with suggestions that he has asked Mikel Obi to talk with Anichebe to do a rethink. Keshi should know that the world is a global village. Whatever he says about his players during press conferences are read by them. He must put himself in these players’ shoes and see if he won’t react otherwise. Thank you for the five minutes discussion. Let’s do it again soon. Ramadan Kareem.

  • Leaders, ideologies  and development

    Leaders, ideologies  and development

    Last Wednesday the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a $ 1.1 bn low interest  loan deal with

    the Chinese President Xi  Jinping  during a state visit to China. The loan is for  infrastructure development and particularly for roads , airport terminals in four Nigerian cities  and a light rail  line in Abuja. In  Egypt which  is in  political  and socio economic  turmoil, with both the opposition and the formerly ruling Muslim Brotherhood disagreeing bitterly with the electoral plans and strategy of the leader of the interim government, put in place by the army which killed 51 pro – Morsy demonstrators in front of the army barracks where he was being detained recently,  the US  went on to honor a contract to deliver 4 F-16  planes to the Egyptian army now running Egypt by proxy. These two  events  namely a state visit to consummate an infrastructure contract and an arms sale to an army truncating democracy in a foreign land by a nation that calls itself the champion of global democracy and the market economy, open a pandora box on the quality of leadership in these nations  as well  as the manner of ideas  or ideologies  these leaders pursue in driving the economic development of their nations.

    Let me first of all mention some clichés that are relevant to these two events  and the nations involved. With regard to China the Chinese leader noted that   the development of their two nations had  brought about the visit and their growing economic relations and ties and ended with a Nigerian proverb that –  a man cannot sit down alone to plan prosperity. On  Egypt which is in the throes of two revolutions now,  with no end in sight,  the Egyptian masses  are learning the hard way that a revolution   like  Chinese  leader Mao Tse Tung   said  sometime  is not a  tea  party. On  the arms sale to the Egyptian  army the Egyptians again are learning that bread and butter politics take precedence over democratic  rights and norms, at least where US intervention in foreign lands  are concerned and  this is not the first time the US will show its hands this way  in Middle East  politics.

    Given  the state of Nigerian infrastructure the new China loan deal is much needed and the visit may well be quite worth the while.  But  of what use is infrastructure if it is not well maintained, which really is the sad story of Nigeria’s economic development. The  Chinese definitely provide a welcome alternative to the endless questions and conditionalities  of the IMF  but at least they should have asked how and what happened to our infrastructure facilities especially our Tin Can Island Port and its access road, the Apapa – Oshodi Express Way which is as unpliable as it is a death trap to all  traffic going to the port or passing by it on  a  daily basis.

    Secondly President Xi and President Jonathan could have been brought together by the mutual quest for the development of their two nations but  their background and culture on the use and maintenance of infrastructure are at  variance. China has a history of building infrastructure like roads and airports  to open up China starting from the time of Mao and this has continued after Mao died in 1976. Since  then China has opened up its economy from a planned  to a mixed one with the acknowledgement by the Communist Party , which runs China proudly affirming that its  economic ideology is –  Socialism  with Chinese Characteristics. Unless  the Chinese have some ulterior  motive   therefore, they should  put in place an after – sales service condition for the delivery of the infrastructure involved in the loan deal. Unless  of course too they are confident that we do not have the quality assurance capacity to  vet whatever infrastructure type they  give us with the loan which is a low interest  one anyway. Anyway still, the Chinese  need our oil  because of their huge population the largest in the world, and they  need our infrastructure to open up our nation too to have access to our minerals but then the low interest rates may be a Greek gift as  the Chinese are a very commerce and profit oriented nation just like the Americans they are competing with to dominate the world economy. Already ,  it is estimated that China’s demand for our oil  will rise  to ten times the present level at 200,000 barrels per day by 2015 which will be 10 times the present Chinese demand for our oil .

    Which  brings us again to  the Nigerian proverb quoted by the Chinese president that a man does not sit down alone to plan prosperity. This  may  be a Nigerian proverb and I wonder about its origin but  it  really does not reflect  the Nigerian situation in any context. This is because in Nigeria leaders don’t really plan for prosperity. They  stumble on it and call that good fortune which they are not ready to share with any one. Which  again reflects the nature of our political competition and economic management of our resources. Our  presidential  system vests power in the presidency at Aso Rock from where the largesse trickles down to the states and local government while the ruling party indulges in the enjoyment of power in the best syndrome of the winner – takes –  all embroidered by  the determination never to lose any election  by all,  or any means while still in government. Which really  is a pragmatic way of perpetuating power and since there is really a lacuna in terms of theory or knowledge to formulate a working ideology to govern, you are  welcome to call that, the average  Nigerian leader’s    working ideology.

    Notwithstanding its obvious flaws, the Nigerian leader or politician still feels superior in terms of ideology to his Chinese counterpart. That will explain why the Nigerian contingent to China  must have been surprised at the use of a Nigerian proverb  by the Chinese president . This is because Nigerians don’t regard Marxists as democrats but as dictators and this is really true in a way. The  Chinese Comminist Party which runs China has a membership of one million people and it is lording it over 1.4 bn Chinese people. China is a one party state and Nigeria runs a plural democracy although one  party has been in power since 1999 . The  Communist party in China has five – yearly party national conferences and a decadal change of leaders which just brought in Xi  Jinping as president and Li Keqiang  as Premier. Right now in Nigeria there is a debate on whether the Nigerian president will contest again in 2015  or continue for 6 years if a constitutional amendment goes through .In China there is orderliness in succession albeit dictatorial and not as democratic as in Nigeria. But the Chinese  Communist Party plans  a lot for the prosperity of its people and  it does it severely  alone and without competition. Yet it has made China a world power in terms of  high quality  infrastructure such as it is giving Nigeria  a loan for . My concern is that China should not stop at giving loans  for infrastructure  but make a condition for maintaining the infrastructure  imperative for giving such a  loan to Nigeria.

    While  one may be forgiven for calling China’s  mixed economy  and  Marxist government a dictatorship and Nigeria’s presidential system a unitary democracy,  as distinct from the federation it purports  to be,  one is in a real quandary on what to call  the effervescent street democracy  emerging  in  Egypt, where the army has become a referee  of sorts in the political imbroglio.  Egypt was a dictatorship under Housni Mubarak who guaranteed stability funded by the US yearly donation to the Egyptian coffers for the peace Egypt Anwar Sadat made with Israel’s Menachem Begin  on his historic visit to Israel. That peace made enemies for Sadat till he was assassinated at a military parade by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood   whose member   Mohammed Morsi  was elected recently  as  President of Egypt only to be deposed again by the military and replaced by an Interim president. In  two years therefore Egypt has moved from a Mubarak  dictatorship   to a full blown democracy   with Morsi and now with the incarceration of Morsi Egypt has become an explosive diarchy. But  then there is still no end in sight as both the opposition and elected government have rejected the future  election plans of Interim leader Adly Mansour   and the Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to fight to finish till the deposed Morsi is reinstated while  the army keeps watching . Predictably as usual in the past the army will mow down protesters as it has done in the past in the name of national security  and will return to power . Undoubtedly, Egyptians have learnt bitterly that the US does not hate the Egyptian army when it comes to contracts especially expensive military jets like F16 . That is why the US still supports the tyranny of the  House of Saud’s  monarchy in Saudi Arabia. That is why it still sold F16s to the Egyptian army mowing down Egyptian politicians and demonstrators goaded to the streets by Obama’s Cairo speech a couple of years ago. For Egypt and its demonstrators, democracy activists  and  actors  therefore, the horizon is bleak and bloody. Democracy has become an expensive ideology in Egypt and sooner than later the army will make it an expedient and disposable commodity. Which really will be a great  pity as it seems so so inevitable.

  • This rot must stop

    Football is just a game. It entertains the fans. It also unites people. It belongs to them. They follow it passionately. It has also forced warring nations to sheathe their swords for it to be played. Need I mention the contrasting scenarios in Brazil at the 2013 Confederations Cup?

    Despite the protests from angry Brazilians over the state of their country’s economy, the Confederations Cup held. Football has global appeal. It ranks among the highest money spinners. It creates employment for the people.

    One is still pinching oneself to ask why any right thinking Nigerian will leak out unfounded information to necessitate the exit of the country’s flag-bearer at the CAF Confederations Cup competition, Enugu Rangers FC.

    One has heard of rivalry among club sides, which is permissible. But, providing facts to undo the other to the detriment of the nation is one offence that requires stiff sanctions for the saboteurs. We must denounce bitterness in our sports, which what this diabolic act translates to. I wonder if any country would do that. I ask: why are we so blessed?

    No matter how aggrieved any group may be, they ought to have known how to utilise all the channels of seeking redress than to wash our dirty linens in the public.

    Participating in continental competitions opens a new vista for the players, most who couldn’t make the national teams. This platform provides another exit route for the good ones, who later get picked for the country’s bigger soccer competitions. It is the denial of the motley group from seeking greener pastures elsewhere using Rangers’ Confederations Cup matches that should have pricked the conscience of these saboteurs before leaking out what appears to be the information.

    One doesn’t support fraudulent practices, provided they are proven. But with what the League Management Company (LMC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are brandishing as it concerns goalkeeper Daniels’ registration, it is only fair that Rangers are reinstated by CAF. Are both bodies telling the truth on this issue, especially with 3SC’s startling revelations?

    Interestingly, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) officials argued that Daniels collected October 12 salaries from them.

    3SC’s spokesman revealed that their protest letter against Daniels, certainly in their away game against Rangers in Enugu was acknowledged by the Match Commissioner, Mr. E.E.E. Ebito, who included it (the protest letter) in his match report. A copy of 3SC protest, which was acknowledged by the Match Commissioner, is also attached for ease of reference, according to the club’s mouthpiece. So, where is the Rangers’ versus 3SC’s match report LMC and NFF? Is it true referee Ebito that the protest passed through you?

    They alleged that Rangers notified them of Daniels’ presence in their camp without negotiating for his transfers. They said that N3 million was the transfer fee discussed with Rangers, but the Enugu-based side’s management said they could only cough out N2.5million.

    What this means is that no deal was struck between 3SC and Rangers. How come Daniels played for Rangers in three Globacom Premier League matches? Who signed Daniels’ licence for Rangers without clearance from 3SC? In fact, one of the three matches was against 3SC? Will the LMC and NFF say that 3SC didn’t lodge a protest in the game against them? Haba! This case is looking like the one between Rangers and Warri Wolves involving Sunday Mba and Chibuzor Agbim. Clearly, it seems to me that the person who handled transfers for the Flying Antelopes does not know his job. When the dust on this issue settles, it is important that the NFF and the LMC review the whole gamut of transfers, beginning with the intra-club movements.

    Globally, intra club and inter-club transfers are revenue generators. But the scams associated with these two exercises are mind-bogging. Ordinarily, details of players’ move

  • Imperialism, immigration and UK visa bond

    Imperialism, immigration and UK visa bond

    The proposed decision of the British Government to introduce a UK visa bond of 3000 pounds for first time visitors to that country from six countries including Nigeria has understandably generated heated reactions. The Nigerian government has vehemently protested against the idea and threatened to retaliate. Many commentators have described the decision as discriminatory, unjust, racist, hostile and against the spirit of the commonwealth. However, others contend that there is absolutely nothing wrong in the British conservative government taking whatever steps it considers desirable to protect its perceived national interests. The Cameron government believes that citizens of the affected countries – Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan – are most likely to violate that country’s immigration laws and compromise her security. Those who hold the latter view insist that Nigeria in particular, should get her act right, actualize her potentials, achieve rapid development and thus discourage her youths from seeking to flee the country to foreign havens at all costs.

    Of course, those who hold this view have a pertinent point. On a personal note, for instance, I have persistently and trenchantly refused for several years to acquire British citizenship despite my wife being a British citizen. I simply do not see how the average Briton will not rightly see me as a bloody parasite and second class citizen should I indulge in such an option. Yet many of Nigeria’s depraved and thieving elite after looting the country blind, deliberately travel abroad to deliver their babies so that such children can enjoy foreign citizenship! Talk of absolutely unpatriotic elite with no faith in the future of a country whose grave they are actively digging on a daily basis.

    For me, however, the proposed UK visa policy offers us an opportunity to re-examine the dependent role of Nigeria and Africa’s role in the global political economy and the way in which, at every point in time, her destiny has been determined by external interests to her continued detriment. Today, capitalism is in severe crisis and immigration has become a key issue in most western capitalist countries. The triumphalism attendant on the collapse of communism with Francis Fukuyama proclaiming the ‘end of history’ and capitalist democracy as the terminal point of human development, has largely evaporated. Global economic power is markedly shifting from the west to the east with the remarkable resurgence of China and other Asian countries, even as many western countries lie economically prostrate and millions of their citizens sink deeper into poverty.

    In their authoritative handbook and guide to the contemporary anti-capitalist movement, a group of radical scholars and activists including Susan George, Alex Callinicos and George Monbiot, point out ironically that at a certain stage in the development of industrial capitalism, the western countries caused the ‘forced migration’ of millions of people from the underdeveloped world through the human slave trade. As they put it, “The imperialists obtained labour by force, first through transporting between 10 and 20 million African slaves to work in the mines and plantations of the Americas, then through various forms of indentured labour in which over 30 million Indians and Chinese were more or less coerced to migrate. Africans and Indians were also forced, through tax demands and sometimes physically, to work for European colonisers”. Yet, these same countries, which had developed largely through the exploitative slave trade and colonialism that lasted over 400 years, are today “imposing ever harsher and more brutal restrictions against the movement of people (unless they are white or exceptionally rich). At the same time they are demanding policies which create unemployment and poverty which are at least partly responsible for the wars and political repression from which people flee”.

    In his immortal ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’, Walter Rodney has demonstrated irrefutably the link between western imperialism and underdevelopment in Africa. Of course, some contend that several decades after the termination of colonial rule, Africa has no excuse for remaining mired in poverty and underdevelopment. This is a short sighted and simplistic view. Africa is the most brutalized, raped, oppressed and dehumanized continent in human history. The scars of the experience continue to haunt the continent. As Claude Ake so clearly put it “The circumstances of our history have conspired to produce an elite which cannot function because it has no sense of identity or integrity and no confidence, does not know where it is coming from or where it is going. This has to do with Africa’s long decline over the centuries and our domination by outsiders”. Nowhere best illustrates Ake’s thesis than the tragic experience of the Congo, one of the most resource-endowed regions of the world that is today a hotbed of mindless violence, brutality, unimaginable suffering and poverty. The current fate of the Congo can only be understood within the context of the brutal and savage plundering of the region by King Leopold II of Belgium in the colonial era.

    The same western countries that forcibly exported millions of souls from Africa over four centuries and stalled the continent’s progress are today trying all means to stop immigration of people fleeing the hell that is a consequence of their historical legacy on the continent. Worse still, even after the formal end of colonialism, they are still dictating the continent’s economic destiny, insisting on the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies – free trade, unbridled liberalization and deregulation of the economy, privatization, removal of subsidies, currency devaluation etc – that worsen poverty and deepen underdevelopment. These are the same countries that subsidise and protect key sectors of their own economies.

    In his classic, “Africa In The World of the 20th Century”, the late Professor Bade Onimode argues: “Why, this being the case, should the governments of developing countries not be allowed to exercise any controls on the entry of manufactured goods, capital, investment and technology into their countries, while the countries of the North stoutly shut out migrant workers (labour) from the developing countries, including Eastern Europeans, who want to enter their countries? Why should free trade, liberalization and globalization be good for manufactured products, capital and technology (intellectual property rights) and be bad for labour? Is this not simply because of the inequality between the powerful owners of commodities, capital and technology on the one hand, and the weak atomized owners of labour-power, on the other?”

    The pertinence of these questions posed over a decade ago has been highlighted by the UK visa bond controversy. It is not enough for the Nigerian government simply to declare its intention to retaliate against the proposed UK visa policy. The challenge is more fundamental than that. We need a government in Nigeria that will give Africa the intellectual and political leadership that will help liberate the continent from the grip of neo-liberalism and come up with policies that can effectively address the technological dependency that lies fundamentally at the root of our underdevelopment. The current leadership across Africa has proven pathetically incapable of rising to the challenge of containing rampaging neo-liberalism and devising original, alternative ideas for transforming the continent. Thus, the empty talk of an African Renaissance championed by ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Thambo Mbeki of South Africa a few years ago has expectedly fizzled out into nothingness. It is tragic that dyed in the wool World Bank and IMF apologists have been in charge of Nigeria’s economic policies for the last 13 years. We can thus understand the continuing remarkable attainment of unprecedented economic growth without development, which enables Nigeria to get richer while the majority of Nigerians get poorer.

  • Sovereign rascality and  global democracies

    When  nations and world leaders   try to  hijack presidential planes or kidnap themselves and go on to deny such actions,  that is sovereign  rascality,  in my lexicon. When a president of a sovereign nation tells the world that a well known fugitive in the transit  lounge of an airport in his nation is not in that nation but on the move,  that again is diplomatic  mischief, which is another kind of sovereign rascality. Also when a nation  harboring a wanted fugitive in its   embassy  in the capital of another nation now turned round to accuse that host nation of bugging its embassy,  then that is carrying even sovereign rascality to the point of absurdity.

    This then is the kernel   of our discussion today as events unfold in Egypt where the Army is playing a love game with the Egyptian masses while suppressing their democracy,  albeit to their tumultuous cheers and approbation. More  bizarrely   though, the US, the catalyst of the whole scenario now has the temerity to warn the   Egyptian Army to return Egypt  to democracy as if that is the duty of the army which said it ousted former President   Mohammed  Morsi because he did not  ‘achieve the goal  of the people’  in Egypt,  as  if that Army   also  is the best or most suitable  judge of that too. Which means that in Egypt for now,  the Army  is the state,  or guardian  of the state, as long as the promise of election is in the air,  which reeks for now of the impending doom  and abortion of democracy in Egypt.

       Similarly   the   scenario in  Senegal where former President Hissen Habre of Chad from 1982  to 1990  is to face a special international court in that nation for crimes against humanity in his time as president , grips our attention in terms of  and  its deterrence,  even as we examine the problem of sovereign rascality amongst global democracies.

    Again,  I repeat  that  when nation states and their leaders say funny things they don’t mean, or say bluntly things they are  not expected to say ,  like  ordinary citizens of their nations, but this time  on the world stage  and in the comity of nations, then  they are indulging in sovereign rascality and making a mockery  of diplomacy which is the machinery for the conduct and process of international  relations in the comity of nations. Now let us look at the   specific  scenarios I have painted here today.

    We  start with Bolivia whose President Evo  Morale’s presidential plane was,  as it were,  ‘brought down to ground ‘in Vienna,  in Europe  for 11 hours  and searched purportedly for  carrying or hiding Edward Snowden the US citizen fugitive on the run from American justice. Morales has accused France, Spain and Portugal for being involved in scuttling his flight which was said to be  coming from a conference in Russia. Since Snowden was not seen on the plane, Morales was allowed to continue his journey but he has accused EU nations of ‘kidnapping him ‘for the time he spent at Vienna airport and France through its President Francois  Hollande has apologized, blaming the whole incident on poor communication. But the French embassy in La Paz, capital of Bolivia is already under siege and a conference of all Latin American states was called to address the insult to the Bolivian leader which the presidents of Brazil and Argentina have denounced as insult to all Latin American nations.

    So, really, what is the import  of this otherwise comical incident of people in high places and at the high altitudes of presidential jets? At  best  it is a comedy  of errors in that Snowden was not on the flight and the Bolivian president looked anything but presidential  in the shirt sleeves he wore in Vienna on the internet, raising rather pertinent burning  questions. Could the EU nations involved have stopped him on a private trip to embarrass him using the fugitive issue as excuse? If so must the whole of S. America go on umbrage on this? I  smell a rat in this fugitive on the run saga of accusations and recriminations and the mockery of location and transit status also fuelled by Vladmir Putin, Russia’s president who has not uttered a word on the Bolivia’s president trip to a conference in Russia prior to the grounding of Morale’s  plane or thereafter.

    Similarly the situation in the Ecuadorian embassy where  Wiki Leak fugitive Assange is hiding and the accusation that the embassy is being bugged beats the imagination. The  Ecuadorian authorities must be the original ostrich with its head buried in the sand. What do they expect of the British? Assange while holed up in the Ecuador embassy in London working and living in a room there, is on the internet coordinating the international effort to find sanctuary for Snowden, still in ‘nowhere  in Russia’  but a transit lounge, yet under the protection of Russia’s strongman Vladmir Putin. The  fact that the Ecuador Foreign Minister made the bugging charge in Ecuador and not in London showed how  unrealistic Ecuador  has been in the way and manner it is viewing the humiliation British diplomacy is going through over Assange’s stay in the Ecuador embassy while the British wait for him to step out   on a London street  and arrest him. That  wait in London  alone  must be the most agonizing and expensive wait for British foreign policy ever in modern times and Ecuador must just be careful.

    Going back to Egypt, a reversal of role especially for the army is palpable. The army is playing politics with the Egyptian people. It has supported their popular demand for the removal of an elected president and his party platform – the Muslim Brotherhood.  But the army and the Brotherhood are old acquaintances and sworn enemies. On getting Morsi elected as president the Brotherhood thought its time had come to get even with the army which suppressed it successfully under Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Housni Mubarak, Egypt’s three despots after the overthrow  of the Pharaoh in 1952. But the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi miscalculated in trying to rush in Islamic Law  and the army is the beneficiary of that error. The army is wooing the Egyptian masses with the air force drawing the sign of love in the air sky and soldiers observing their prayers even as they confront demonstrators to show that the army is as Islamic as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The new Interim President sworn in has promised a constitution that will stop Egypt from having tyrants and the Egyptian Army  is bidding its time. The fact that imprisoned Housni Mubarak was even asked to call on Morsi to step down is a pointer of sorts. Like the patient vulture,  the Egyptian army  is waiting to swoop  on the carcass  of the Egyptian populist democracy which  for now does not really know what it wants .Which really is  a pity.

    Hissen  Habre’s arraignment finally in Senegal  is good for the future of good political  administration in   Africa  generally. This is because I have a lot of respect for the new administration in that nation. The standard of democracy is high in Senegal and that was why the US president just visited the place. Also Obama  could not have influenced Senegal’s decision to try Habre who butchered  his people while in power as  the US  did  not subscribe to the EU propelled international Criminal Court of Justice   as  it has got a treaty not to bring US citizens  to the ICC. But Senegal has shown respect for African dignity in arraigning the trial in its capital Dakar rather than the Hague where Charles Taylor   of Liberia was taken. That is a clear message to African leaders who have no respect for the rule of law that although the mills of justice may grind slowly they grind exceedingly fine   and the Court  in Dakar may well  be an open house at the end of the day for all African leaders who rule and misuse power with impunity like Hissen Habre will soon find out as  he faces his own inevitable nemesis.

  • Your verdict on UK PM, gays and June 12

    Your verdict on UK PM, gays and June 12

    British Prime Minister David Cameron has cultivated a curious taste for picking on Nigeria. I pointed this out in my effort in this space last week. In that article entitled ‘Again, Cameron hits Nigeria, I offered my perspective on the £3000 (N750,000) which intending Nigerian travellers to the United Kingdom were required to deposit with the UK authorities before being allowed in.

    I remain as disturbed by that development as other Nigerians, but I argued in that article that the only reason Nigerians are harassed, punished and humiliated like that is simply because the UK sees Nigerians essentially as irritating pests from whom British people get little or nothing.

    I also culled a section of an earlier piece published in November 2011 dwelling on Cameron’s order that Nigeria must embrace gays or lose British aid.

    Readers were touched off by Mr Cameron’s unflattering disposition to Nigerians. They sent me their verdict on the 47-year-old British leader.

    Readers also reacted to another article published before the visa bond saga entitled “Cosmetics of June 12”.

    I print some of those reactions herewith:

    Again, Cameron hits Nigeria (June 29)

    •What don’t the British and Americans understand about the minority having their say and the majority their way? Who told them even the majority of Nigerian homosexuals want to be rescued, including the homosexuals in the National Assembly who voted for their own kind? Most Nigerian homosexuals know that what they do is immoral and despicable and therefore never openly flaunt it. I believe the few who openly admit it may not even be homosexuals but may be seeking asylum abroad because we will continue to speak against them until they change. I am proud that even though we are hypocritical in many areas and even though the whole world condones homosexuality, Nigerians will not disappoint God on this one!

    2347042325266

    •I have read your article in The Nation of June 29. If we had more people as bold as you, David Cameron and his “Great Britain”would  know that the land of Africa still has lions like Jomo Kenyatta and Kenneth Kaunda left on it. Do not give up because truth, bitter though, is satisfying.

    Terfa Ayua, BSU, Makurdi

    2347058385332

    •I read your article of Saturday, June 29 and I am so much impressed. It proved to me clearly that you are a good citizen of Nigeria and Africa as a whole. What would it benefit to embrace sodomy, lesbianism, gays? But because those white men, they don’t practise any religion and this gives them the privilege to go above the law as provided by God because they don’t understand who is God. Although, I am a Muslim and Islam does not give room or tolerate sodomy, gay, lesbianism and a host of others.

    Sir, my question to you is what sort of aid did British PM David Cameron want to offer the Adrican country that engages in gay relationship? Because he said it clearly that are not gay friendly would not gain any assistance from his country.

    Ahmadu, Kwara State

    2348169444651

    •Thank you for giving it back to Cameron in that piece. Gay marriage is a demonic invention thrown up from the pit of hell. Man was made in the image of God, not animals. Of course, if Cameron wants to devalue himself and his people to animal status he should be free to do so and shouldn’t extend such indecent and unholy arrangement to Nigeria. Before Lugard was born God had preconceived the historical reality called Nigeria, and never had in Britain in mind for our survival. We can jolly well move on without them. Perhaps to Cameron God has insulted him by elevating a small boy  like him to such Olympian height as the PM of his country. He now would want to throw it back to God with the introduction of gay marriage not only in his country but across nations. That is is own gratitude to his creator. And the same God who has the ultimate power to defend His cause will certainly reply him and associates in due course.

    Emmanuel Egwu

    2348037921541

    Cosmetics of June 12 (June 15)

    •Thank you, my brother. The third to the last paragraph of your write-up captured it all. Are the progressives not in the National Assembly. Did they push for anything symbolic in respect of the late MKO and to the logical end. We don belly-full and bother less about whoever hunger is walloping. That is Nigeria for you. May MKO’s soul continue to rest in peace. Ameen.

    Lanre Oseni

    2348023023745

    •Go and sue IBB, former military president about June 12 at ICC instead of wasting your time and money in Iocal media publication. A team of lawyers (SANs) are on standby to defend the former military president in any court or panel. The federal government cannot declare public holiday in respect of June 12. Also, Babagana Kingibe was a victim of June 12 but as a true Muslim and democrat he left everything in the hands of Allah to judge.

    2348108049113

    •You failed to say even ONE good thing that the nation benefits from either the NSGF or the NGF. To me your write-up is irrelevant.

    2348037064761

  • Unending battle for soul of NGF

    Unending battle for soul of NGF

    The Jonathan presidency is obviously in no haste to accelerate the tempo of governance and up the ante of its performance. This is certainly no surprise for an administration that awarded itself a superlative mid term performance report card based on a self-designed ‘marking scheme’ even if the quality of life of the vast majority of Nigerians bespeaks an embarrassingly mediocre Federal Government. Even as the country drifts dangerously further on the stormy waters of poverty, graft and insecurity on a daily basis, the Jonathan presidency is content with dissipating time and energy on a petty, needless ego war for the control of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF). All this is, of course, motivated by the perceived higher political ambition of the Chairman of the forum, Governor Rotimi Amaechi in 2015, and the need to de-fang him at all costs and by all means before then. So far, the attempt to prevent Amaechi from being re-elected for a second term as NGF Chairman, has backfired badly and become a veritable public relations disaster for both the presidency and the 16 minority governors who cast their lot, unsuccessfully, with Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State.

    But then the Presidency is unrelenting. It creates the impression that the world will come to an end if Amaechi is not removed as NGF Chairman at all costs. In the process, the legitimate, democratically elected government of Rivers State has been deliberately sabotaged and undermined. The state House of Assembly has been emasculated and incapacitated for the flimsiest and untenable of reasons. The Rivers State chapter of the PDP has been split through curious judicial processes emanating from Abuja. Militants and other ruffians have been encouraged to demonstrate on the streets of Port Harcourt against Amaechi thus eroding the normalcy and peace that had been restored to Port Harcourt under the governor. The ebullient and irrepressible First Lady, Dame Patience, was recently in Port Harcourt for nearly a week where she illegally and immorally flaunted federal might, made inciting public statements against the Governor and generally carried on in a very unruly and rather unladylike-like manner.

    Having failed to prevent the democratic re-election of Amaechi as NGF Chairman, the presidency has been active in striving to keep the body divided and preventing Amaechi from functioning. The latest antic of an apparently idle presidency was to invite governors for a meaningless and needless presidential dinner at Aso Rock Villa for the same day and time that Amaechi had convened a meting of the forum. Despite all the harassment and relentless pressure, the 19 pro- Amaechi governors have refused to be intimidated. They have insisted that his mandate in a free, fair and open election in which 35 governors participated remains sacrosanct and inviolate. So far, the 16 dissenting governors have been unable to conjure the figures to magically transform their minority into a majority.

    In deference to the office of the President, the 19 majority governors under Amaechi’s leadership decided to honour Aso Rock’s dinner invitation. But what reportedly happened at the event was unbelievable. Presidential body guards prevented Amaechi from paying his respects to Jonathan in the hall saying it was a breach of protocol. The presidency was thus perceived as descending to new depths of pettiness, meanness and vindictiveness. In the same way, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, had been encouraged and emboldened to cast aspersions on and disparage the office of the Governor. There was no reprimand of the unruly police commissioner from any higher authority. State institutions that should be relatively autonomous of partisan politics are thus directly or indirectly given official cover to undermine legitimate authority.

    The entire NGF saga has hurt the Jonathan presidency badly. Hardly anyone believes the futile effort by presidency officials to distance Jonathan from the attempt to divide and, if possible, destroy the forum. Surely, this does not appear like the man who once claimed he did not want to be a Goliath, Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar. No, this is not the same man who would readily kneel before men of God exuding humility and deep spirituality. In the wake of the unfolding NGF drama, the President has come across as vindictive, unforgiving and lacking in grace and large heartedness. The impression has been created that he will readily utilize the immense powers and influence of his office to achieve his desires even if this leads to the violation of due process and institutional integrity.

    President Jonathan’s position has been made even more untenable by the comic and laughable posturing of the 16 minority governors. With each passing day it becomes more obvious that they are only bad and losers unwilling to abide by democratic tenets. There is the irrefutable video evidence of the voting process that has gone viral on the social media. The very argument that Jang had been endorsed in a preceding consensus arrangement undertaken in secret implies that he lost the actual open and transparent election. Furthermore, governors like Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State and Babangida Aliyu of Niger State have openly named the PDP governors that voted for Amaechi thus making nonsense of claims of a bloc vote for Jang by northern governors.

    Even worse than the charge of being undemocratic is the impression that the 16 governors are perpetrating a deliberate falsehood by claiming that a loser won an election among 35 presumably honourable men. Surely, somebody is lying. So can President Jonathan continue to lend the weight of his office, directly or indirectly, to the charade of the minority governors. I believe this would do incalculable, almost irreversible, harm to his already seriously eroded moral integrity and ethical authority.

    Yet, the President and his strategists seem to have boxed themselves into a tight corner. They have antagonized Amaechi too openly, too vehemently and too bitterly to beat a honourable retreat now. Yet, it is unlikely that they can ever get majority of the governors to back a candidate who will be seen as a stooge of the presidency. At the end of the day, the outcome most likely to salvage and even boost President Jonathan’s image is one that portrays him as placing fidelity to democratic principles above partisan considerations. If he shows a willingness to respect the autonomy of the NGF and the right of the governors to democratically choose their Chairman, many of them may be willing to give him a face saving way out of the log jam. But then, the forces backing genuine autonomy for the NGF and thus Amaechi’s Chairmanship may be as strategically interested in the permutations for 2015 as the pro-Jonathan forces so obviously are. In which case, the ongoing battle for the soul of the NGF may continue right up to the next general elections.

  • Again, Cameron hits Nigeria

    Again, Cameron hits Nigeria

    British Prime Minister David Cameron has hit Nigeria again. He was reported saying Nigerians entering the United Kingdom would deposit £3,000 (about N750,000) before they are let in. The money, it was said, would be returned if the immigrant did not stay longer than his visa stipulated. The report has had Nigerians fuming, from the Presidency to the National Assembly to the streets. Some have called for a retaliatory response, judging that Cameron’s planned move is unfair, uncalled-for, punitive and disrespectful. In other words, it is a hit below the belt.

    I share Nigerians’ sense of collective offence caused by the UK PM’s disposition. But not our apparent eagerness to draw out the 47-year-old British leader for battle beginning with a well-aimed counter-punch. Cameron hardly speaks for himself. He conveys the mood of his people, and that mood is generally not pro-Nigeria or Africa, whose citizens die to live in the white man’s country. Britain does not pretend to respect Nigeria from which it gets only raw materials, not finished products. Our old colonial and neo-colonial lords do not see us as equals when our people do everything to settle in their land to struggle for space and facilities with them. And even cause them grief.

    After the killing in London of officer Drummer Lee Rigby on May 22 and the arrest of two men, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, both of Nigerian descent, some British people started a campaign to restrict the entry of our people into their country.

    The planned £3,000 visa bond did not surprise me. It was a blow, alright, but Cameron has since developed a fondness for blowing us. In November, 2011, he tried to bully us on gay and lesbian relationships. Back then, I wrote an article entitled “Don’t blame Cameron”.

    I reprint some of that article here:

    “Meeting with former colonies of imperial Great Britain in Australia, Cameron told the world that African nations that were not gay-friendly would not get any aids from his country. In other words, if your country’s laws are not favourable to people in same sex relationships, then you get nothing from Britain. If your country does not allow homosexuals to marry one another, British aid is not for you. No gays, no aids. That, in a nutshell, is Cameron’s law.

    You probably sensed the Prime Minister’s imperial confidence. But can you blame him? At 45, he is the youngest PM Britain would have in two years short of two centuries. He is well educated, coming away with a first class from Oxford. The fact that he presides over the affairs of a country which once reigned over a good portion of the world looks like something to crow about.

    So why shouldn’t Cameron be cocky? Why shouldn’t he strut around with a swagger?

    But, really, was that why he demanded that African countries must embrace gays and same sex union in order to get any assistance? No!

    Was that why he practically insisted that we must swallow what we spat out? Was that why the British PM wanted age-old taboos and abominations to become present-day delicacies? No! Cameron could not have slighted Africans simply because he heads the great Great Britain of colonial fame. No. Britain’s imperial profile is not necessarily a bullying tool. The United States and Canada, for instance, were once British colonies but I cannot imagine Britain slighting them over aids the way Cameron did Africa. I cannot imagine him or anyone else asking Americans or Canadians to embrace the very things they abhor as a people or change the things that sum them up as distinct nations simply because they need help.

    God detests sodomy, and wiped out the biblical city that gave the word to the world because of that satanic indulgence. African communities also detest it, and do not approve of gay marriage of any gender.

    Should we now embrace sodomy and allow men to marry their kind, and women to tie the nuptial knots with women just because we want British aid? By what strand of logic should that be allowed to stand? Even in Britain an anti-gay pastor of Nigerian parentage has just been voted the most inspirational African, beating Obama and Mandela.

    The reason Cameron is harassing us with his curious advocacy is because we are a very poor, borrower continent. It is because we have failed to grow up and fend for ourselves. Africa is a notorious receptacle of other people’s products of all types. We are a deficit continent, importing almost everything under the sun. What we manage to export is in crude form, and is often shipped back to us at prohibitive costs. It robs us of economic power. Take Nigeria’s crude oil as an example. Then take Ivory Coast’s cocoa, too. The world’s biggest supply of cocoa comes from that West African country where it is produced so crudely and so cheaply, sometimes by child labour. But cocoa feeds the chocolate factories of Europe and boosts their economies. Even in colonial times, our raw products were shipped overseas to grow their economies while we remained impoverished.

    Nothing has changed. We are still impoverished. We beg and borrow, beg and borrow again. Our creditors know this. Cameron knows this, too. My folks in Delta State say your barber reserves the right to twist your neck. So when we want to look good, we turn to our barbers in the West and, trust them, they sure know how to twist our necks. Beggarly people beget donor insult. That is what Cameron has done with the gay insult. We should not blame him.

  • Globalisation and the politics of ideas

    Globalisation and the politics of ideas

    When a state governor in Port Harcourt dares the State Police Commissioner to shoot him when he leads a

    demonstration that the Commissioner has refused to approve for security reasons then a real crisis of confidence and security is imminent. Yet that is what happened between Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and the State Police boss over the week and it was carried all over the world. In the US, before coming to Africa on tour, President Barak Obama sent a message to some same sex couples congratulating them on the slim decision of the US Supreme Court to cancel a US law that excluded gay couples from certain property rights on the grounds that they are not man and woman. That in Obama’s view is a victory for freedom, a stance echoed by Amnesty International which at about the same time asked African nations and governments to desist from the practice of homophobia which is hatred of homosexuals.

    In Qatar the unimaginable happened when the Emir of Qatar aged 61 suddenly handed power to his son aged 33 in a nation or area that kings reigned forever or were forcibly removed from office as the abdicating Emir did to his own father when he seized the Qatar royal throne in the nineties. On security matters and the law, the US received a lecture on legal process from Hong Kong over the extradition application the US put in over the arrest of Intelligence whistle blower Edward Snowden who the Hong Kong Authorities allowed to travel because he had not violated Hong Kong’s law which Hong Kong claim is the superior authority on Hong Kong territory. To rub salt into US injured ego on this, the whistle blower proceeded via Moscow which turned a blind eye ostensibly enroute to Ecuador whose Foreign Affairs Minister gave another homily on freedom and human rights to the US as the fugitive whistle blower was in transit to Ecuador whose London Embassy is housing another famous whistle blower the Wiki Leak editor Assange. Strange events and happenings you may call all these global news, but thanks to globalization and information technology, one can keep abreast of the new ideas and perceptions they generate and acknowledge that nothing is sacrosant in the world anymore.

    From the unthinkable squabble between the Governor and the Police Commissioner in PH, to Obama’s happiness at gay marriages, to the unexpected abdication in modern Arabia and the evolution of Ecuador as the new global sanctuary for whistle blowers tormenting the US, it is apparent that the world is moving on in terms of ideas like the fast bullet trains in China and France which race with time to deliver passengers to their destinations in the twinkle of an eye .But then let us pause awhile to digest the nitty gritty of these strange events which are like a clash of titans and even civilizations but which certainly strongly challenge the status quo as we know it today.

    First Governor Amaechi’s ‘shooting’ challenge to the PC is a sure sign of a breakdown in communication and confidence between the executive and security arm of government in the state. So the state is on the verge of anarchy and the PC should just have asked for a new posting or assignment from his bossesas the Governor is the elected Chief Executive Officer of the State in charge of Security in the Presidential System of government in our constitution. The Governor had earlier reportedly accused the PC of whistle blowing on matters discussed at the State Security Council Meeting in which he is a key member. The fact that in spite of this the PC is staying put and the Governor has issued the ‘shoot’challenge is bad for democracy not only in Nigeria but in any part of the world. If the state governor feels threatened by his chief security officer in the state, then the rule of law is in jeopardy in the state and security is none existent. Which means that the common man is on his own or should just flee the state and that is a real pity. Yet a solution has to be found before the situation degenerates further.

    President Obama’s happiness at the rights of gay couples is distinctly American happiness which most Africans definitely find distasteful given their own cultural and religious background and history – and the US leader had better understand that on his African tour. In S Africa he will be on safer ground as that nation recognizes gay rights but he should not broach the topic in Tanzania and Senegal a very Islamic nation. Indeed at a news conference in Senegal Obama asked for respect for different laws while the President of Senegal retorted that Senegal was not ready to change its laws and that does not make it homophobic as the Amnesty International was saying of such African nations. In addition it is not the duty of Amnesty International to tell the legislatures of African nations what laws to enact to govern their people. Warning them on Homophobia is therefore an extravagant and insensitive preoccupation and is a violation of their sovereign rights to make laws as expected in a democracy founded on human rights that Amnesty International is expected to defend and promote instead of heckling them on gay rights which in some places is just a taboo from time immemorial .

    The abdication in Qatar is a sign of the changing times especially in the Arab world. According to the IMF, Qatar has the highest GDP in the world and is very much involved in the conflict in Syria on the side of the opposition. In Qatar itself where the royal family holds sway, the Arab Spring street revolutions in North Africa has rattled royal nerves on tenacity of office and that may have propelled the abdication. Similarly the abdicating Emir may not want to present himself as another coup target for his son as he did to his father, hence the move to step aside in good time. What this shows again is that life Emirship may become an anachronism and perhaps that too may translate into more power sharing and diffuse political participation by more people in Qatar’s closed, and very wealthy monarchy. Surely for the monarchy in Qatar, the fear of an uprising similar to that in the Arab Spring revolutions in S Africa and neighboring Bahrain is the beginning of wisdom in modern governance and political survival .

    Fleeing whistle blower Edward Snowden has provided ample opportunity for some nations to poke fun at the US human rights record. The President of Russia Vladmir Putin confirmed that Snowden is in the transit lounge at a Russian Airport but is a free citizen to go anywhere outside Russia. The US has accused Russia of treating its request for Snowden’s extradition with levity undeserved by a UN Security Member like the US. But the Russians are not moved. Similarly the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper laughed at the Americans for hypocrisy for condemning human rights violation elsewhere while gathering private information on individuals and institutions at home, which is what Snowden has exposed. Really Snowden is charged by the US government with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defence information and communications of classified communications intelligence.

    Let us look at the Snowden saga again. Morally what Snowden has done is a breach of confidence and he has betrayed his nation. But he told some people that as a computer expert he could not stand gathering information on people and institutions without their consent which he thinks is a violation of human rights and he is certainly right on this. Obviously he has hit a raw spot in America’s foreign policy by divulging such information and must be ready for the consequences. Even if he gets refuge in Ecuador he will be a refuge ever on the run as he will have problems once the present President of Ecuador who is anti America completes his second and final term and a new president well disposed to the US comes to power. For now, the US is feeling the heat and power of globalization which it set in motion years ago. The powerful US cannot catch one man just because the whole world is watching how the US plays by its own rules on international law, human rights and the sanctity of human life. That is a very exhilarating and educative spectacle indeed.

  • Keshi sack Amokachi now

    Keshi sack Amokachi now

    Stephen Keshi deserves to be praised. We

    had written off the Super Eagles until the

    Big Boss turned things around for the better. But, Keshi got intoxicated and wanted to run the race all by himself. Such ambitious moves are permitted, except that football is a team sport.

    Wherever Keshi is today, he would realise the difference between being a winner and a loser. Keshi changed his lines, which were usually jammed after the Cup of Nations. He evaded calls – not because he didn’t want to answer them; he needed rest after guiding Nigeria to lift the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    Now Keshi’s phones aren’t that busy. Don’t worry, Nigerians are like that. They like winners. Who doesn’t, anyway? What happened to the Eagles in Brazil was expected, given the pedigree of some of the four countries that qualified for the Confederations Cup semi-final. Yet I felt that Nigeria would have upset the apple cart had we not totally destroyed the Eagles side that lifted the Africa Cup of Nations on February 10.

    Ideally, that winning squad ought to have formed the nucleus of the squad to Brazil. Keshi thought otherwise. I won’t blame him. He wanted to avert the setting where some players would think that they are indispensable. I have no quarrel with such instructive changes, provided they are not done on the altar of using indiscipline to eliminate players who don’t bow to the coach.

    Keshi should subject his list to the scrutiny of the technical committee. He needs to explain why he picked players for assignments. They may not agree with some of his reasons. They could also provide solutions which he could tacitly accept by subjecting those new additions to his programmes in camp, because without the technical committee members, he has no job. When Keshi was employed, he subjected himself to the committee’s scrutiny and we saw the results.

    He denied himself of holidays while rebuilding the squad. Today, he doesn’t work with those people. He picks his squad without consultation. This has brought plenty of problems, given the replacements he has made. They are not better than the 2013 heroes. If you must make changes, they must be worth it and task the 2013 heroes in a competitive environment.

    To correct this mistake, Keshi must accept to work with the technical committee because his right hand man, Daniel Amokachi, has failed. Amokachi should teach the strikers how to convert chances. He doesn’t. He cajoles Keshi to drop players who don’t kowtow to his dictates, forgetting that they are adults who make their decisions.

    I recall asking Keshi why he opted for Amokachi. What I went home with was that Da Bull was picked to satisfy the geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Keshi’s body language, while we talked on the subject showed that he would have preferred the Togolese Valarie.

    Amokachi was a prolific striker with the Eagles, easily one of our best. It is a different setting now as a coach. Amokachi should be left to do his television commentaries with Supersports weekly programmes instead of being a cog in the Eagles’ wheel.

    Eagles have problems with their attack because Amokachi has failed to identify the right strikers for Keshi. Nigeria is blessed with strikers. I’m not surprised that Amokachi doesn’t know what to do. He is a loudmouthed braggart who feels he knows it all not to ask the relevant questions from the domestic league coaches. Keshi needs to move on without Amokachi. No paddy paddy for jungle, Big Boss; a word is enough for the wise.

    I’m sure that if Fernando Torres was a Nigerian, he would have been dropped from the Confederations Cup squad based on his club form. The Spanish coach stuck to Torres because of his records with the national team. This is the first lesson Keshi should learn from his unfulfilled mission to Brazil.

    It is a travesty that Ikechukwu Uche has been dumped from the Eagles simply because he was poor at the Africa Cup of Nations. He is the country’s highest goal scorer behind the legendary Rashidi Yekini. He didn’t have a good outing in South Africa, but he is a better player than those Keshi paraded in Brazil. Ike Uche’s poor show wasn’t surprising after a long lay-off from football due to an injury he sustained while playing for Nigeria. It isn’t also fair to drop Ike Uche on spurious claims that he and two other players canvassed for Keshi’s sack with a certain top shot at the National Sports Commission (NSC). Do you not have a contract to know that players cannot sack you? I’m sure too that if Balotelli were a Nigerian, Keshi would have banned him for his conduct. The Italians haven’t done that. They have stuck with Balotelli because of his talent which transcends his “negative” attitudes. Keshi, please show me a perfect being; are you one? I dey laugh o!

    It is about time Keshi reached out to Shola Ameobi. He dumped Nigeria at the Cup of Nations due to contract clauses with Newcastle, not because he doesn’t want to play for Nigeria. I don’t know why Keshi always insists on players showing commitment to Nigeria before he picks them. Do these players not have reasons why they are reluctant to play for Nigeria? In any case, there are two sides.

    Therefore, Keshi must head to England to sort out things with Victor Anichebe. Anichebe is indifferent to playing for Nigeria because each time he sustains an injury he is neglected until when he is fit. The good thing is that this trend didn’t happen in Keshi’s tenure. Instead of demanding commitment from Anichebe, given his reason, Keshi should go to England. He does not need to call. His presence will convince Anichebe that things would change.

    Suarez won’t be in Brazil with Keshi’s hard line rule. The Uruguayans took him. His impact was awesome until they were eliminated in the semi-finals by Brazil on Wednesday night. The lesson again is that good players are brats. Keshi needs to manage players’ idiosyncrasies. He should pick what he wants in them and get the results. A coach is as good as his last result and Keshi’s in Brazil, I dare say, is nothing to cheer. Osaze Odemwingie’s comments have been terrible. He can be forgiven if he apologises. He can still play for the Eagles. Obinna Nsofor has a place in the Eagles, only if Keshi wants him. Nsofor ranks among the few players who give everything playing for Nigeria. He is clearly better than those Keshi paraded in Brazil. Eagles’ camp should not be a rehabilitation centre. It also shouldn’t be the platform to expose players for mercantile purposes.

    Those who didn’t see anything wrong in Keshi placing skipper Joseph Yobo in limbo must ask why the Uruguayans ensured that Diego Forlan hit the landmark 100 caps for his country. Unlike Yobo, Forlan was stripped of his captain’s band, yet the coaches fielded the Uruguayan. Of course, he capped his 100th game with a blistering goal, as if to remind Keshi that it takes nothing out of any coach to help his captain attain glory. Yobo should return now that a void has been created in the defence.

    I don’t know what was going on in Keshi’s mind for refusing to replace injured Ogenyi Onazi. Onazi promised to rejoin the team, according to the doctors. Was that enough to convince Keshi? He must be ruing his folly because Oduamadi’s injury further reduced the Eagles’ depth-in-strength, ahead of Sunday’s outing against Spain.

    Keshi should carefully look at Brazil’s coaching crew. It has Pererrira on the bench as one of the assistants. He won the 2002 World Cup for Brazil. He is there to help Scolari expose the weak points of the team. He also reads the games for Scolari.

    I don’t know if Keshi has ever called Adegboye Onigbinde for advice? The Big Boss must emulate what happens elsewhere. He doesn’t know how to read matches. His substitutions are awful, leaving those watching the Eagles’ games asking if he understands his team.

    If Keshi is reluctant in sacking Amokachi, can’t the NFF help him out? This is the time for Keshi to mend fences with his former players. He needs them; 2014 is barely 12 months away. The rebuilding of the Eagles must stop, if we hope to make any impact next year.