The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • An anatomy of the Ondo gubernatorial polls

    An anatomy of the Ondo gubernatorial polls

    These are indeed most interesting times to be alive in Nigeria. There is a grim battle on for the very soul of the country. Things are clearly falling apart. Bombs boom in the North. Armed robbers and kidnappers are universally on rampage. Corruption is endemic. Education has virtually collapsed. The health sector is comatose. Wealthy Nigerians routinely travel abroad to die. It has become the most fashionable way to transit to eternity. Unemployment wastes millions of young lives. Public infrastructure is in a calamitous state. The Nigerian state totters on the verge of collapse. Can things continue this way?

    The PDP, the ruling party at the centre since 1999, says yes. It is the party of continuity. The ACN, the leading opposition party, is at the vanguard of the advocacy for fundamental structural change. Each election is a veritable battle in an ongoing war for either continuity or change in Nigeria. Battles are bitterly fought, won or lost but the war continues – ferociously. The ACN won a marvelous victory in the July 14 Edo State governorship election, a victory that fired it up to fight earnestly for a repeat performance in Ondo State on October 21. But the forces of continuity staged a come back and won a tactical victory. That is the beauty of democracy – the suspense, the unpredictability. For the avoidance of doubt, the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State shares ideological and philosophical affinity with the PDP. Any difference between the local Ondo PDP and the LP is due to ego and personal rivalry, not a fundamental divergence of principles. That is why the presidency was so obviously relieved at the victory of Governor Olusegun Mimiko and was quick to congratulate him even as the local PDP is still licking its wounds. A repeat of the Edo scenario would have sent disturbing signals towards the very crucial 2015 elections.

    I give full marks to the Governor Olusegun Mimiko administration’s information machinery, led by the experienced and versatile Kayode Akinmade. Through deft dissemination of information, they most effectively marketed the perceived achievements of the Mimiko Administration. The opposition disagreed vigorously, contending that the governor’s first term performance was dismal. Given the substantial resources available to Ondo as an oil producing state and Dr. Mimiko’s own rich political and managerial experience, I am inclined to believe his administration ought to have performed better. I was personally in Akure, Ondo, Ore and Ikare, among others and strongly believe that the Sunshine state is in need of radical redemption.

    Governor Olusegun Mimiko has a second chance. He must immediately commence the radical and aggressive modernization of the state’s infrastructure. The administration must re-think the whole concept of mega schools. Ondo State has a population of 3,440,000. In Lagos, Alimosho Local Government alone has a population of 2,047,028. Yet, Lagos had to abandon the concept of millennium mega schools after building four of such massive structures. These structures are difficult and expensive to maintain. Maintaining discipline among such a large concentration of children is a challenge. It also makes proper psychological bonding among the students virtually impossible. The money can be better spent rehabilitating dilapidated classrooms across the state and building more compact, functional and cost-effective schools.

    In the health sector, the idea of the Child and Maternal Care Centre in Akure is good but this is grossly insufficient. General Hospitals must be built in local governments and health centers at ward level. The Mimiko administration may quite naturally feel that its first term performance has received the electorate’s stamp of approval with the outcome of this election. But if it does not significantly improve on its performance, Governor Mimiko’s candidate will face an even fiercer and more vigorous challenge in 2016. It is pertinent for the administration to note in this regard that it scored a minority of votes cast in the October 20 election (41.6%) as against 57% of the votes recorded by the opposition. This narrow escape should spur it to hit the ground running in its second term.

    One good thing about the Ondo gubernatorial polls just like the preceding one in Edo is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to take the electorate for granted. The debates among the candidates were vigorous. The campaigns were intensive. In particular, the ACN campaigned strenuously throughout the length and breadth of the state. Some contend that the passion and determination with which the ACN national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, led and invigorated his party’s campaign is indicative of a personal expansionist hegemonic agenda. The respected columnist of The Punch newspaper, Professor Niyi Akinoso, even insinuated that Tinubu has his eyes on controlling the oil resources of Ondo State. This is scandalous and reckless blackmail not supported by the slightest scintilla of evidence.

    As far back as the 80s, Tinubu was a key financier and leading strategist of the Dapo Sarumi-led PRIMROSE group of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) that shook the foundation of Lagos politics in the aborted third republic. At the historic National Convention of the SDP at the Jos Township Stadium in 1993, the then Senator Tinubu hardly had any sleep for three nights as he vigorously lobbied delegates to help ensure Chief Abiola’s narrow victory over the mercurial Babagana Kingibe in the keen contest for the SDP presidential ticket. Thereafter, he was a key figure in Abiola’s nationwide campaign. Tinubu was one of the key financiers and frontline activists of the NADECO prodemocracy struggle that led to the exit of the military and the current democratic dispensation that the likes of Niyi Akinoso is no doubt enjoying. In any case, if Tinubu had taken the electorate for granted or held the people in contempt, he would certainly not lead his party’s campaign in Ondo so vigorously.

    Akinoso indicts Tinubu for not heeding requests that the ACN should not field any candidate against Mimiko. But is this not a democracy? Is democracy not about competitive elections? Could Tinubu overrule the Ondo State ACN if they decided to challenge the incumbent? This is sheer bumkum. What the Akinosos of this world do not realize is that if Tinubu put in so much zeal and energy into the campaign at 60, it is because of his demonstrated passionate commitment over the last two decades to any cause he believes in. The way he campaigned in Ondo was the same way he campaigned for his party across the country in the 2011 elections. Tinubu had become financially secure for life as Treasurer of Mobil Oil. He could have easily chosen a private life unconcerned with the fate of Nigeria. Yes, he has his own weaknesses but he deserves commendation not blackmail for choosing the path of service and sacrifice.

    According to INEC, the ACN candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), came third in the election. Yet the party really ought to be happy with its performance. Its precursor, the Action Congress (AC) scored just 33,510 votes in the 2007 election as against 128,669 votes recorded by the PDP and 198,269 votes scored by Dr. Mimiko to win the election. Following the reclamation of his mandate by Dr. Mimiko, the ACN, due to a reported agreement assumed that the governor would cross over to the party. The ACN thus left its structure to grow moribund. When it discovered almost too late that Mimiko had no plans to leave the LP, the ACN clearly found itself in a dilemma.

    This was probably why in the run up to the governorship election, the party encouraged the emergence of a multitude of aspirants believing that their campaigns would revive and galvanize the party at the grassroots towards the election. This later became a problem as the emergence of a candidate brewed an inevitable crisis that tasked the ingenuity of the party leadership.

    In the choice of a candidate, the ACN leadership was obviously swayed by Akeredolu’s towering professional and human rights antecedents. They probably saw him in the mould of Governor Babatunde Fashola – his fellow SAN. For them, integrity, character and competence superseded geo-ethnic and other primordial calculations. Is that not too idealistic a stance given the realities of Nigerian politics? Mimiko is a wily and shrewd political tactician. Akeredolu plays politics as if he is in a law court. For instance, I am told that on election day, the ACN candidate was informed that a political party was paying each voter N3000 to defeat and embarrass him in his own polling unit. It was suggested that he should also make necessary financial provision to checkmate this move. What was Akeredolu’s reaction? He most solemnly and gravely announced that such conduct contravened the Electoral Act and he would not indulge in it. Haba! Just imagine!! In Nigerian politics!!!

    By placing premium in its campaigns on Mimiko’s alleged failure to join its ranks as initially agreed, the ACN leadership created the impression that was why it was so vehemently against his re-election rather than non performance. This then helped reinforce the LP’s contention that all the talk of regional integration was nothing but Tinubu’s attempt to ‘colonize’ Ondo State just as he had purportedly done in other ACN states. A more effective propagation of the accomplishments of the ACN states would have helped contain this brilliant but misleading propaganda. In any case, if anybody wanted to colonize Ondo, Akeredolu would most certainly not have been the candidate. Like Tinubu himself, Akeredolu is a veritable study in stubbornness and fierce independence of mind.

    What the Ondo State governorship election has shown is that the ACN states must go beyond rhetoric and immediately begin to practically demonstrate the benefits of economic integration through concrete joint developmental projects. They must not assume that the populace will automatically buy into the idea of regional economic integration, which has become imperative not just in the South- West but in all geographically contiguous zones of Nigeria. Yes, all states in a region must not necessarily belong to the same party for integration to be achieved. But the perceived lukewarm disposition of Mimiko to the idea was probably one reason why the ACN mounted such a fierce challenge against his re-election.

    On its part, the Ondo State chapter of the PDP wanted to have its cake and eat it. The party probably reckoned that the ACN and LP would battle each other to a standstill making it possible for it to steal the show and spring a surprise. It did not envisage that the presidency would rather throw its full weight behind an incumbent Mimiko as the best bet to checkmate a rampaging ACN. What was the motive behind the unprecedented militarization of Ondo State by the presidency during the October 20 election? Why was there so much violence in many parts of the state despite the heavy presence of soldiers and policemen?

    The Ondo governorship election effectively marked the commencement of the battle for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid. Even as the Ondo State PDP is still questioning the credibility of the election, the national PDP and the presidency rushed to congratulate Mimiko. In the same vein, without waiting for his party’s position on the election, Governor Adams Oshiomhole endorsed the election and congratulated Mimiko. One wonders how the comrade governor would have felt if his party had rushed to congratulate Professor Oserheimen Osunbor in 2007, even as he battled to retrieve his mandate in court. What roles will Governors Oshiomhole and Mimiko play in the strategic calculations of President Jonathan’s second term Think Tank? Time will tell.

    Can a viable legal challenge be launched against the outcome of the Ondo State governorship election? Absolutely yes. For instance, some of the incredibly high votes recorded in many polling units are unlikely to stand close legal scrutiny. The votes purportedly cast in many polling units are statistically unattainable within the legal time frame permitted for voting unless votes were being cast every second! But should aggrieved parties go to court? I do not think so. Rather, let the parties play their opposition role effectively so that the battle for 2016 can commence immediately. Even then, I congratulate Governor Mimiko on his victory. He should enjoy his electoral triumph for as long as it stands legally. Above all, he should re-dedicate himself in selfless service to the people. That ultimately is what politics is about.

  • Incumbency, performance and elections

    Chest  beating is a natural human impulse  when evidence shows that a leader has performed well in his appointed  or elected role. You would   expect admission  of failure too would be a normal reaction   when  performance is proven to have fallen short of expectation  for any leader.   This however is not always the case as failure  is always treated like an orphan   by world leaders.  How leaders in various political and economic systems perceive and react to failure and success as incumbents is our focus today. In addition we look at the role of   coming  elections in some polities to see what type of shadow they cast on the performance of these incumbents  as they try to implement policies they promised in their election campaigns. Lastly we examine how incumbents  view  criticism  of their policies especially when they think they have paid their dues to those criticizing them.

    It  is not very difficult to decipher what I have in mind if you followed the global network news closely in the last one week. In  Britain the main economic news was that the Olympics and Para Olympics that the nation hosted recently  had  helped it to achieve a growth rate of 1%  which means it is at last getting out of the recession;  a fact which made Prime Minister David Cameron to quip quite wisely that  ‘we are on the right track ‘. In  Nigeria  the main political event  this week  was the Ondo State gubernatorial elections  won by incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labor party who gave the elections a pass mark as free and fair because it was an isolated event while the party that came second the ruling party – PDP – has sworn it is going to court to contest  the validity of the results.

     In  the US,  last Monday  night,  President Barak Obama was hard put to defend his performance before his rival,  Mitt  Romney   of the Republican Party, who  switched positions on most issues on debate night, to the consternation of the incumbent president of the US, who many thought did enough to defend his policies especially the foreign one with regard to global security    in the third and last  debate before the US presidential election of November 6. In S Africa an  Inquiry on the 34 miners shot at Marakana Platinum mine  was told that  it would receive evidence that  14  of them were shot in the back by the Police – a development that could jeorpadise the relection  next   year of S African President  Jacob Zuma who was  also criticized recently  for   using state funds to renovate his village house.

    Aside from elections the use of  poison to truncate presidential incumbency was enacted in the Benin Republic where AU President Boni Yayi escaped assassination by poisoning involving his niece and his doctor  at the behest  of an  aggrieved business man who nursed a grudge over a lost cotton import license. To round up we look at the threat of the  incumbent President of Uganda, the long serving  Yoweri   Museveni  to pull Ugandan troops out of the UN contingent serving in Somalia because of a UN report that criticized Uganda’s role as supporting rebels  in the upheaval in   the  Democratic Republic of Congo – DRC.

    In terms of size and length therefore we have a big menu list for consumption,  but the ingredients  that grill  and combine them into a delicious mix  of analysis are simple enough. David  Cameron and Segun Mimiko fall  into the same category in terms of chest beating over  unexpected economic growth by the former and an election victory by the latter. In  the US, Obama  is fighting for his political    life  and performance in office and has had to amass and flaunt the whole weight of his incumbency before a dogged and determined  challenger – Mitt Romney – who  is said to be one of the few  presidential candidates  to have  made a presidential debate matter in the race for the US presidency  reaching a climax just less than two weeks away.

    In S Africa the application of apartheid-  like violence on miners in a post apartheid S  Africa  with the ANC in power is simply outrageous and unacceptable. Just  as  the shooting of the miners in the back is a horrendous shot in the back for S Africa’s democracy  and a betrayal of trust  of the people   of S Africa  by the leadership of that nation. Boni  Yayi’s escape of assassination from poison shows the vulnerability of security arrangements that thrive on  nepotism and cronyism in high places given the personal relationship of the Benin Republic president with those who would have had  him for dinner had their plot been successful. Similarly Yoweri Museveni’s  threat or blackmail of the UN  on Somalia  is no more than a fake indignation that should be ignored by the world body because it is  no more   than  a mark of aaffliction of power and sheer tenacity of office . Let me now      dilate at length  on each event.

    Really no   one can blame David Cameron for  being happy with the growth figures from the National Office of Statistics in the UK. Coming at  time of   government spending cuts,   high school fees  and withdrawal of benefits for the British masses by the government,  it has provided a  much needed staff of support for the ruling government coalition on the slippery path of  rapid erosion of public support that got the coalition parties into power in the first instance. In  addition some have argued that life in Britain is so difficult today that the growth means nothing to the common man in terms of bread and butter as well as an improved quality of life.

    Yet, whether one likes the Coalition or not, one cannot take away  the fact that it has the admiration of a global audience not to talk of that of a passionate and patriotic British one,  for the way it conducted a flawless Olympics that  can now be aptly dubbed a beneficial and growth inducing one . I grudgingly agree that David Cameron’s  incumbency is in its finest hour and it is difficult to argue when he said – we are on the right track!

    In similar vein the Ondo State newly elected governor can be congratulated on his reelection given the fact that he admitted that the isolation of the election made it successful. But would he have said that if he had lost? The isolation of the election gave a boost to his incumbency  and candidacy as the Chief Security Officer  of the State in charge of the elections and to whom all federal officers must pay obeisance. Could that swayed events and voters in his direction?

    Certainly performance as incumbent played a major part in his relection but he will be the first to admit he met first rate competition for power that must have taxed the immense aura of his incumbency tremendously. Given the fact that the PDP  has threatened to go to court it may be too early to celebrate victory yet because of  the experience   of recent guber elections in neighboring states where incumbencies have been overturned by court decisions based on fresh facts as expected in any democracy.

    I  think  I have really said enough on the US presidential elections for now as well as on the poison issue in Benin Republic. I  will therefore go to the S  African police shooting next. At  a government hearing on the Lonmin Marikana Platinum massacre of August 6 this year  lawyers of the victims claimed that there was no evidence that any police officer was killed although there was evidence that 14 miners were shot in the back. The Police had said in their opening statement that the miners were planning a bloodbath. Initially after the shooting  prosecutors charged about  300 miners that survived the attack to court in a bizarre application of an apartheid law  based on a purported ‘common law‘ that seemed  crazily to charge the miners for surviving police shooting  on the day  in question.

    Although President Zuma sympathized with the miners family after the shootings,  he was slow in ordering government investigation of the killings. He  faces a reelection bid as President of the ANC  later this year and the miners shootings could cost him the presidency of the ANC meaning he would not be eligible to contest for reelection as President of S Africa  in next year’s presidential elections. Whether Zuma loses his incumbency or not the shooting of black miners by a pack of white gun totting white policemen is a racist issue that is repugnant in any nation especially one liberated from such oppression recently and being ruled by blacks who were imprisoned before by such racist policemen. It is very disgusting.

    Lastly, Yoweri Museveni’s threat to the UN on withdrawing his troops from the UN Somali contingent is not diplomacy but banal horse trading. Is  the Ugandan strongman saying that because he has been a  good man in Somalia,  the UN should turn  a blind eye to his disruptive behavior in the DRC where thousands are being slaughtered by the rebels, said to be supported by Uganda and Rwanda?  Is Museveni  not  reading the same script drafted in Kigali, the capital of Uganda which has made a similar threat on contribution to regional security, when  similarly  indicted by a UN report on the DRC? The  UN should stick to its guns  and ignore Uganda’s bluster as  there are enough nations in the world willing to ignore sit tight bullies like him who have mastered the art of using democracy and elections to perpetuate their incumbency. Since they are mortal, there is no need to lose  any sleep on when their incumbency will inevitably end, which  invariably, is sooner than later.

  • A rescue mission for sports

    I dislike flying on the domestic route. I always have this sneaky feeling about the maintenance culture of our airlines. So, I decline invitations to sporting events around the country, except it is extremely important.

    One of such expedient sporting events was the late invitation to attend Monday’s Presidential Sport Retreat at the State House in Abuja. My first thought when I got the late invitation was to pretend that I didn’t see the e-mail. But, my dad had pleaded with me not to decline any presidential invitation. And I had to respect his order. Dad’s directive is law. Getting a ticket at the Lagos airport was a challenge. Yet I was pleasantly surprised by the attention I got from the ticket office. I stood, hands akimbo, wondering where to go. In this transfixed state, someone walked up to me, asking for my travel details.

    I hesitated, but he knew so much about me that I accepted his assistance. When he returned my ticket, I was ushered through the congested entrance like a king. I was stunned, but on reflection inside the aircraft, I appreciated the impact of working for a renowned newspaper, such as The Nation, and the power of the television (appearances on Silverbird, among others).

    I thought that people would have protested as I strolled past. What I heard were complementary remarks that bowled me over. Inside the aircraft on Sunday, I prayed for a smooth flight to Abuja. When the aircraft landed, my plan was to sleep off till the next day. I achieved this objective because I kept my phones inside my bag.

    On Monday, with an open mind, I attended the retreat. What struck me was the presence of senior government officials, captains of industry, the financial institutions, governors, National Assembly members, the Vice-President and President Goodluck Jonathan.

    It was a mixed grill of the serious issues and the hilarious revelations from the presidents of the Paralympics and Wrestling Federations.

    The Paralympics Federation boss rocked the hall with laughter when he informed President Jonathan that the Federal Government’s resolve to eradicate polio by 2015 is the death knell for Nigeria at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio d’ Jameiro, Brazil.

    Dr. Frank Thrope told everyone that till date, Nigeria has won 51 medals; 49 of them were won by paralympians with polio cases. He was the only serious looking person. Will you blame him? But he did say that there were areas in the physically-challenged sports for impaired persons, amputees, etc. For several minutes, the hall, the President inclusive rocked with laughter. But, Jonathan, in his closing remarks, stuck to his wipe-out-polio mandate, with a promise to the federation chief that money will be released on time in subsequent sporting competitions.

    Indeed, when the Wrestling Federation President informed his audience that everyone partook in wrestling daily, even at homes, it took close to three minutes to stop the laughter. In fact, the President broke from a smile to serious laughter, after listening to what the Adamawa State governor whispered into his ears.

    Trust Nigerian men with their pranks as they visualised wrestling from another prism, forgetting that the wrestling the federation boss referred to is an Olympic sport, which is displayed in the open and watched by all; not involving two opposite sexes in pitch darkness.

    President Jonathan again showed his humorous side when, in his closing remarks, he told the audience that the Adamawa governor confided in him that the wrestling in the homes was won overwhelmingly by the women. Everyone laughed. Mr. President, was telling the truth, they must have felt.

    So much for the rib crackers. The first lesson from the retreat is the political will to make sports a big business, which inevitably will create the platforms for employment.

    The second lesson is the need to cultivate business concerns to embrace sports, but with a caveat -transparency and accountability. It was quite commendable listening to the President pour cold water on Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s assertion that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is the most corrupt organisation in Nigeria.

    In another remark, Jonathan said: “I don’t think the essence of what we are doing is to apportion blames. What I can see is that our penchant for releasing funds close to competitions provides people with the conduit to ‘chop the money!” My President, you bowled this writer over when you acknowledged that sport is the biggest mobiliser of people. You admitted that the only time when Nigerians forget creed, religion, political divide and the infamous federal character is during sports competitions, especially soccer.

    Equally, important is the President’s acceptance that there was the need to create enabling environment for business concerns to key into sport patronage, first to change the way it is run in Nigeria and then to get Nigerians to know that sports help increase the country’s GDP as seen in other climes.

    The exhaustive evaluation of what models in achieving climes such as the US, Asia, Britain etc, exposed the essence of getting government less involved in sports in Nigeria. Interestingly, the retreat underlined the essence of sports as a viable socio-economic tool for youth development, nation building and instilling the core value of social justice.

    The President disclosed his resolve for Nigeria to rule the sports world based on hard work, greater sense of purpose and dedication, adding that: “If we must achieve excellence and meet the objective requirement for the rapid development of our sport industry, then we must broaden the finance base of the industry and create the right conditions for private sector funding and investment in sports.”

    What then is the trouble with sports? Participants identified poor management, much to the consternation of the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And Mr. President buttressed the voting pattern when he said: “Adequate funding of sport is very crucial to this endeavour but efficient and transparent management of resources is key.”

    Is sport all about funding and administration? Not exactly. Without the athletes and the coaches, no sports events can hold. Athletes and coaches form the fulcrum on which sports thrive. It was very pleasing to this writer’s ears hearing the participants pass a vote of no confidence on Nigerian coaches for lacking the technical savvy to propel our athletes to attain their zenith. Although it was agreed that they would be trained and retrained, the general consensus was that we need to bring foreign coaches to train our talents at the grassroots.

    Participants agreed that our athletes have the wrong approach to details of their sport at the early stages. They submitted that governors pay sufficient attention to sports development at the grassroots. Much as the Rivers State governor identified with this grassroots sports development, he hastened to add sports takes the backstage in state governments’ quest to deliver the dividends of democracy to the electorate.

    Of course, many frowned at the levity with which we handle maintenance of facilities. It was also agreed that there was the need to concession edifices to the private sector to take care of them.

    It must be said that much as the participants nursed hopes that a new dawn beckoned after the retreat, yet when the question was put to them, shortly before Jonathan’s closing remarks, the conveners of the retreat were shocked to see the biggest percentage of votes read: “Doubtful but hopeful.”

    Will you blame the participants for their damning verdict? Not with the avalanche of such retreat reports on the dusty shelves at the National Sports Commission (NSC).

    The biggest fillip for sports development in Nigeria, in my opinion, arose when Jonathan promised to give executive seal to the NSC Bill, which, when passed into law, will make the body to be run by professionals and technocrats and not administrative staff, Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi told President Jonathan this accounted for the NSC’s workforce.

    NSC’s bill will ensure that those who formulate policies don’t execute them. That way, we will be able to identify who to hold responsible if things go awry.

    There would be a board that will churn out policies, which the NSC eggheads will implement. The present Jack-of-all-trades scenario at the NSC makes it impossible for new suggestions outside those of its hierarchy that the present order, has forced on us.

  • Ondo poll: Myth of Mimiko’s landslide victory

    Ever since the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Dr Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP) as the winner of the October 20 governorship election in the Sunshine state, there has been a frenzy not just among the governor’s supporters but also in certain sections of the media. Many newspapers have been trying to outdo themselves in dramatising the scale of Mimiko’s purported landslide victory. The headlines have been creative, even entertaining. ‘Landslide Mimiko’. ‘Mimiko crushes ACN, PDP’. ‘How Olusegun Mimiko trounced PDP, ACN, Others’. One could go on and on. The objective is to manipulate public opinion and create the impression that Mimiko won an emphatic victory in the election. But accuracy of reporting is critical to the capacity of the press to help sustain and deepen democracy. Without accuracy of information, people could be easily misled into reaching wrong conclusions and innocently taking harmful decisions. The press must present and analyse the facts with scientific rigour devoid of partisanship. That is the only way it can effectively play its role as the watchdog of the people and facilitate the sustainable development of democracy in the country.

    Now, what do the statistics of this election tell us? The total number of registered voters was 1,546,081. The total number of accredited voters was 645,594. The total votes cast was 624,659 representing 40% of registered voters and meaning that there were 30,415 invalid votes. Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the LP was declared winner in 13 out of 18 local governments by INEC with 260,199 votes, which represents 41.6% of total votes cast. Olusegun Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared second winning in 2 local governments with 155, 961 votes representing 26.25% of total votes cast. Rotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was declared third winning in three local governments with 143,512 votes representing 24.15% of the total votes cast. A close analysis of these figures shows that more voters actually voted against Mimiko. Approximately 57% of total votes cast were actually against Mimiko and in favour of his opponents. He, therefore, did not get a majority of the votes and could not logically have won a landslide victory.

    To demonstrate this point further, let us examine the statistical implications of the July 14, 2012 governorship election in Edo state which returned Governor Adams Oshiomhole to office. In the Edo election, the total number of registered voters was 1,651,099. The total number of votes cast was 647,698 representing 40% of registered voters. Governor Oshiomhole scored 477,478 votes, representing 73% of total votes cast. General Airhaivbere of the PDP scored 144,235 votes, which was 22% of total votes cast. The other candidates in the election recorded 6% of total votes cast. All Governor Oshiomhole’s opponents put together polled 152,621 votes, thus trailing the comrade governor by 324,857 votes. Oshiomhole won a majority of votes cast and it is this example that can be accurately and properly described as a landslide victory.

    A perceptive analyst, Mr. Emmanuel Aziken, graphically captured this point in his clinical dissection of the October 20 Ondo state governorship election result. According to him “In the end, the people of Ondo state decided to return Dr. Mimiko apparently based on what has been largely described as his credentials in office. However, it was a narrow escape. Yesterday’s declared results gave Mimiko 260,199 votes out of a total of 624,659 voters representing about 40%. He thus did not get majority of the votes. The PDP candidate, Olusola Oke who came second with 155,961 votes and ACN’s Rotimi Akeredolu who came third with 143,512 votes together mustered enough votes that could have probably sent Mimiko packing. However, the past history of animosity between the PDP and ACN did not allow the two to form an alliance. Remarkably, Mimiko was returned to power by the Court of Appeal in 2009 which scored him 198,261 votes and his rival, Segun Agagu with 128,669. Then he had more than 55% of the votes. How the governor’s votes proportionally diminished between 2007 and 2012 is an issue for the governor and his handlers.”

    It is significant in this respect that the governor enjoys the advantages of incumbency. The PDP is crisis ridden. Believing that Mimiko was coming to join its ranks, the ACN allowed its structure to grow moribund only reviving its machinery a few months to the election. Interestingly, before Governor Mimiko headed to court in 2007 to challenge the election result, INEC had declared Dr. Segun Agagu winner with a landslide of 349,258 votes representing 53.2% of total votes cast. Mimiko was said to have scored 226,021 votes, which was 34.4% of total votes cast. Forensic investigation proved INEC’s declaration a fraud and Mimiko reclaimed his mandate. The results declared by INEC in the October 20 election will surely attract the interest of forensic auditors. The story may have just begun to unfold and the press should simply keep the people accurately informed.

  • Only truth will set us free

    Only truth will set us free

    Relief returned to the country as First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan’s plane touched down in Abuja last week. Moments before she stepped off the aircraft, her hands went up in the air, a broad smile flashing across her dark-goggled face. It felt good to be back after what she called her “trial time.” That trial took over a month to conquer. And it was, crucially, about health. On the one hand, she was relieved and happy; on the other, she was quite sad and concerned. She expressed those contrasting emotions almost in equal measure. Waxing spiritual, in fact, quoting the Bible, Mrs Jonathan just about blessed those who prayed for her. As for those who spread uncomfortable tales about her during her ordeal, the First Lady had a word of caution, to put it mildly. They will do well to remember that God’s plans are different from man’s, she told the tale bearers, some impertinently reminding their audience that not all First Couples going into Aso Rock came out intact. Some thought and speculated that she had gone for either a face job or tummy tuck.

    I subscribe to the Dame’s admonition because life is too precious to be made light of, especially when it is in any danger. Besides, man’s best efforts to declare who will live or die, often fall flat simply because he is so miserably unqualified to venture into that field. Doctors, for instance, have given up on their patients, only for the condemned to bounce back to life.

    Still, it is quite easy to understand why Mrs Jonathan’s health status excited the tale bearers. There is so much secrecy surrounding leaders and their spouses in this country. We know pretty little about those whose business it is to mind our business. And where information is scare, speculation thrives. Where truth is nonexistent, lies fill the vacuum. We have experienced this all too often and paid very dearly for it. Our leaders across the tiers of government, as well as elected or selected ones, steal away to foreign lands, claiming to be on vacation, whereas they went in search of answers to their health questions. They are entitled to their privacy, of course, but at some point and to some extent, individual privacies must be surrendered to the public. For public officers are, after all, public property, as it were, being sustained by taxpayers.

    In the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo, it was after the unfortunate death in 2005 of his wife Stella at the hands of an incompetent doctor in Spain that Nigerians learnt the First Lady had gone for a tummy job. The physician was later jailed for placing a tube in the wrong place, his licence suspended for a time. His last high profile patient was just weeks away from her 60th birthday.

    In President Umaru Yar’Adua’s era, things worsened in this regard. When the president’s health seemed to fail and the people desired to know the truth, the issue of squash and how he could play it almost nonstop, popped up. When the president disappeared from view entirely, his handlers said everything was just fine. When it finally became public knowledge that Yar’Adua was rushed to a Saudi hospital and that he might be there for a while. His minders said all was still well with his administrative obligations, and that he could indeed preside over the affairs of the country from any part of the world. Then, one fateful night, when much of the country had gone to bed, his caretakers smuggled him back, still doing their best to sustain the lies they had been serving up. One day we heard the Commander-in-Chief was ascending and descending the staircase; another day we were told he recognized his mother. One day it was all over.

    All the secrecy and lies were unnecessary. They reduced the number one man to an object of manipulation. This was unfortunate. His handlers also gave Nigeria away as a lying country but, more crucially, they made infirmity look like something of which to be eternally ashamed, whereas everyone knows that people, including presidents, nurse one disease or another, some even doing so through life.

    Yar’Adua’s protectors either neglected or more ignorant of the fact that leaders are never judged by their health profiles, but by their records. Tumours have been extracted from presidential insides, and the executive patients returned to duty. Commanders-in-Chief have had their diseased hearts attended to. One president administered one of the most powerful countries in the world from a wheelchair, and at a time of great crisis.

    The First Lady’s health concerns brought back the pains of the past. For one, her well being is of interest to the entire nation by virtue of her position. Enshrouding the whole “trial” period in secrecy, kept much needed information from Nigerians to whom she is a mother. No one knew exactly where she was or what was happening to her and how she was coping with it. Even those disposed to prayer may have been starved of precise prayer points. A vital point in all this is that this sort of secrecy alienates leaders from their people. And consequently, as in the case of the First Lady, scarcity of information put the rumour mill and tale bearers to work, bringing a whole lot of distraction to the country and it’s people.

    Mrs Jonathan was disturbed that the “bad people,” to borrow a term from her arrival response, went as far as mentioning a certain hospital in Germany. She dismissed the claim, as she denied going for plastic surgery or stomach operation. All were denials and denials but she may be right and all the rumour mongers wrong. Still, the First Lady failed to set the records straight. She neither named the ailment for which she was flown overseas, nor disclosed the hospital where she was attended to. She desires respect and support, and rightly so, but it is equally imperative that she does not starve her people of information.

    Still, the First Lady should not be singled out for blame. Why? It is not a personal failing. Hoarding information from the public is a national pastime. See how difficult it is to make freedom of information easy. Everyone keeps what they should give out. It is hard knowing how much our leaders earn, how much they pay in tax, how much they get to lead or how much they spend leading. It is difficult to get the truth.

    But that is the basis of leadership. We need the truth. Our leaders need to open up more. They need to admit where they have failed. Only truth will set us free.

  • Trading  sovereignty, debts  and values

    Last  Thursday, Greeks went on the streets for the 20th demonstration against austerity measures aimed at making Greece capable of meeting its debt obligations  under the auspices of the EU which  has just won the Nobel Prize for the way it has handled the euro zone debt crisis.  The demonstrations came on the day EU financial czars were to meet in Brussels over Greece and its bail out progress report. A Greek woman in an interview  shouted that Greece should pay its peoples salaries and hospital bills and stop paying the creditors. An  economist mused that Europe should pool  sovereignties which is something the British never want to hear. In a BBC Hard talk programme a French  Minister said  achieving social justice is at the heart of France’s  new government policy of taxing the rich  massively  to fund revenue generation,  pay Frances huge debts and  reduce its  spiraling  deficits.

    From  China came the news that the country’s growth rate has stalled  from 7.6%  to  7.4 %  because  of the decreased demand for its products especially from the huge market of the euro zone in  now dire economic straits;  and from  nearby Ghana came the news that a court in Accra has ordered the seizure of an Argentine ship because of Argentina’s debt default of  2001.

    Unfortunately,  Greece  has replaced Argentina   nowadays as the wayward  or  prodigal  son of the global financial community and the   painful  human side of that opprobrium is what the Greek woman has uttered in blind fury at austerity and  economic solutions that create more human misery  and do not have a human face. But  then Greece has  to  pay her  creditors  and honor its sovereign  debt obligations to remain a credible member of the global financial system. No  one  or nation on earth  wants to be like  Greece  today and that was very aptly  and succinctly put at the expense of incumbent President Barak  Obama by his opponent at the last town hall  presidential debate  last Tuesday in the US.

    Mitt  Romney, the Republican presidential candidate put a dagger at the heart of Obamanomics, the   economic policy of the US government in the last four years, when he said that the US  could not afford another four years of Obama’s presidency as that would create a debt crisis for the US  similar to the euro debt crisis.  According to Romney – ‘We ‘ve gone from   $ 10tn   national debt to $16tn   of national debt. If  the president were reelected   we ‘d go to $20tn of national debt. This  puts us on   a road to Greece.‘ Given events in Greece and the sovereign reputation of that nation nowadays, Mitt Romney has laid a grievous charge and painted a dire figure of Obama’s economic policies that cannot be easily waived off especially as the Greek demonstrations took off almost after the debate that many thought Obama had won this time around.

    Although there is a third debate on October 22 there is no denying that Obama has found his mettle to defend his policies but there is not much he can do to deny high unemployment figures as well as the glaring deficits. More importantly he must find  a quick advert or campaign message to counter the ‘road to Greece message‘ of Mitt  Romney as  the satellite pictures of the austerity demonstrations in Greece on the global media are bound to be exploited by  the Mitt Romney campaign team in influencing the electorate in the November 6 presidential elections.

    In  reality what Romney and the Greek woman have said separately are two sides of the same coin. The woman reply is personal  anguish while Romney’s categorization is sovereign and is being used to get a political advantage and win power from Obama. Both are allowed in politics and in any democracy and both have taken a step further. You can bet the Greek woman will be in the forefront of the  demonstrations on the street of Athens and will  predictably be dealt with by the police. With regard to Romney it is up to Obama to allow his opponent to trick him out of the White House.

    At  the first debate Obama looked like a king who forgot his clothes at home  and almost danced naked. At  that  first debate Obama allowed Romney to  look,  as his supporters said,  dynamic and radiant while Obama looked professorial and stuck  on issues. The town hall debate has equaled matters a bit but there is no denying that the aura of incumbency has been badly damaged by the challenger  who has become bolder and like a lone wolf  that has   smelt blood,  now knows that the this president can be mortally rattled in this close presidential race. It  is my considered opinion that the Obama campaign team must be more aggressive than hitherto and the best opportunity  for now is to counter  ‘the Road  to Greece‘  message as it affects  Obama’s  domestic economic policy. This is because for once an incumbent president in the US  presidential campaign has allowed an opponent to successfully make a mockery of his existing economic policy using an example of a very economically sick  foreign nation – Greece. That  really is unfortunate for the Obama campaign team.

    On  the suggestion that the EU members must find a way to pool sovereignties  I  think that is   an idea   that is easier  said than done. What part of individual member nations will go into the sovereignty common pool and which will not? Is  it security, finance, banking, political parties, or tourism? Given the  unique culture,  chequered  history and peculiarities of each nation,   who will bell the cat and cast the first stone   in surrendering sovereignty? Can  Germany  with its history  of fiscal discipline and prudence  ever come to accept Greece’s profligacy as a way of life to be condoned or tolerated?

    Can any EU nation other than France tax its rich citizens that high and take compliance   for granted as  a fait accompli? Can any other nation in Europe respect its monarchy like the British do and how are the British going to put that in a common European sovereignty pool when it is the basis of their political stability? And  how many EU nations can put up with the sex and fun loving lifestyle of Italy‘s former PM Silvio Berlusconi the owner of the AC Milan  football club and the most popular Italian leader of our time? Really pooling sovereignties in the EU  will involve so much horse trading and bargains that Europe may not be able to recognize itself at the end of the exercise.

    However the cheering news on the global economic scene was the news from the Chinese of a reduction in their growth rate,  albeit minimal. To  those who think  that Chinese economic growth was going to burst, the slow pace is good news. To  the Chinese who have planned their economic progress with the Chinese Communist Party holding the reins and its high officials firmly in the saddle, the small reduction is a sign of economic stability. This is because China‘s growth has been based on exports and manufacturing with credit financed investment directed by the Chinese government.

    So  China has never claimed that its economy  is unregulated or that the blind forces of the market are in control and competition is there for the taking by all stake holders. It  follows therefore that since purchasing power from its customers overseas especially the euro zone is diminishing because of the global financial crisis  its economic performance results must  reflect such shortcoming hence the slight reduction in the growth rate as reported for the quarter under consideration.

    There is no denying that China will eventually take over the world economy given its huge resources and the discipline of its political leadership in providing what has been called guided democracy in  most of the mock democracies littering the globe .

    What is not too certain is for how long the Chinese government which is financing  the production  of communication gadgets and  IT equipment at an unprecedented rate at its massive computer villages  in China is going to be able to monitor the flow and use of the information  in and out of China and still be able to keep power within an elite group of party members who still run China as at now.

    China  was rattled by the North African  street revolutions and thought it could not happen in China. It  has been emboldened in this frame of mind by events  in  Libya where it felt cheated by the French and English who ditched Gaddafi, an age long  ally of Russia and China,  both long communist friends. China is using events unfolding in Syria to consolidate its official view that strong governments must not give in to popular uprising such as those  that removed Mubarak in Egypt and later Gaddafi  in Libya.

    That is at the heart of  its seeming solidarity with Russia in not allowing the no fly zone in Syria as it knows that the masses of its people are watching on the internet and pondering why what is sauce  for the goose in foreign lands cannot be good for the Chinese   masses  at home.

  • Re-thinking Nigeria’s party system

    Re-thinking Nigeria’s party system

    One of the sources of contention in Nigeria’s current political system is the power granted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the constitution to de-register political parties that do not comply with the Electoral Act. In this regard, the commission recently reiterated its determination to ensure that parties meet requisite conditions before they are allowed to field candidates for elections. In the words of INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, “It is good to have a multi-party system and to allow as many parties as possible to register but we really need to sanitise the process of registering parties. This will ensure that only the most deserving in terms of programmes, their constitution and their physical presence in states and in localities that are registered”. Ordinarily, Jega’s position may be perceived as restricting the horizons of participatory democracy which many believe was broadened by the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s judicial success in de-regulating the registration of political parties. Those who reason this way see the existence of a multiplicity of parties as an end in itself – a demonstration of rights and an exercise of liberty. However, is there a nexus between a country’s party system and the broader goals of political evolution and national development?

    A legitimate goal in a multi-ethnic, culturally complex polity like ours will be promoting national cohesion as a basis for political stability. It is obvious that a system of limited number of parties will more likely help achieve this than an unrestricted party system. What are the lessons of the June 12, 1993, presidential election regarded as the freest and fairest in the country’s history in this regard? Did the two- party system not play a part in the much celebrated national spread and success of the election – its pan-Nigerian character? Are we giving sufficient attention to the structure and administration of political parties? Arguably this institution is more central to the state than any other; it is the platform on which members of two critical arms of government – the legislature and the executive – emerge. Yet, parties continue to be run in a largely informal manner. This is unlike the Babangida administration’s transition programme during which parties were registered by government and had functional offices at all levels with party officials democratically elected and formally remunerated.

    Of course the idea of trying to ensure that all members of the government created National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) were ‘equal founders and joiners’ was largely utopian and unrealistic. Individuals have varying degrees of orientation to politics. The degree of an individual’s interest in party activities and public affairs depend on what students of political behaviour describe as a person’s ‘sense of political efficacy’. Some individuals are more willing to expend their time, energy, resources and energy on politics than others. These political personality types are more likely to participate more actively in and have more influence within the party and polity than others. In any case, a fundamental contradiction of the Babangida transition programme was that its Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was widening social equality at the economic level while its Political Transition Programme (PTP) was seeking to equalize participation and influence in the political sphere! A logical impossibility.

    Yet, the institutionalization of a more formal party system with specified boundaries will demonstrably have a beneficial impact on the political system and there can be no better example than the celebrated June 12 presidential election. During the IBB transition programme, I was one of those who criticised the NRC and SDP as nothing but artificial parties and government parastatals. We attributed their quick capitulation after the annulment of the election to the fact that they were purportedly ‘inorganic’ parties. But if we follow this logic, why did the purportedly organic parties of the first and second republics – Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), Action Group (AG), Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) – literarily vanish into thin air when they were peremptorily banned by the military usurpers of political power. This is unlike the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, which survived and ultimately triumphed over apartheid after decades of persecution, harassment, torture and outright ban.

    Now, I do not want to be misunderstood. The IBB regime’s annulment of the presidential election exposed the motive behind the highly regimented party system, which created two parties, foisted manifestoes on them and located them by fiat ideologically a little to the right and a little to the left of the regime’s neo-liberal Structural Adjustment Programme. It needed a highly regulated and controlled party system to legitimate and consolidate its extreme deregulation of the economy, which had the consequences of dramatically increasing poverty and inequality. But the outcome of the election and the regime’s inability to contain the implications of the annulment only illustrates what the late Professor Aaron Gana described as ‘the limits of political engineering’. But whatever, its motives the truth is that the regime’s more formal and regulated party system facilitated the best and most pan-Nigerian election in the country’s history.

    The present chaotic party system is ultimately subversive of the national goal of deepening democratic development. it encourages a one-party dominant system where a veritable behemoth in control of the centre since 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), profits from the existence of a multiplicity of largely unviable parties that compound the problems of evolving a cohesive, potent and viable opposition. A fundamental re-thinking of the current dysfunctional party system has become imperative.

    …Welcoming the Dame

    The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, looked quite radiant on her return to the country on Wednesday after a six-week stay in Germany. Her remarks were quite interesting, even impressive in parts. She told us everything that was not wrong with her. She does not have a terminal illness. She did not undergo cosmetic surgery. She did not have a tummy tuck. She was never in hospital. But where was she and why was she there? The nation remains in the dark. She faulted the logic of those who, citing Sani Abacha, Stella Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua, say “that anybody that goes to the Villa or Aso Rock will die”. How about those who went there with their families and came out alive, she asked? Smart thinking. She sounded romantic: “My husband loves me as I am and I am pleased with how God created me, I cannot add to it”. She sounded spiritual: “God has said it all, that when two or three are gathered in His name, that he will be with them.” The Dame sure knows the scriptures. Shout Alleluia somebody! Above all, she sounded presidential: “God has given me a second chance to come and work with women of Nigeria, children and the less privileged. I have come to serve Nigeria. I have come to work with Nigerians. I am there for them”. Pray, who did we vote for? Are we blessed with two Presidents? All the same, it’s nice to have the Dame back. There surely will be no dull moment at the Villa.

  • Tottering Super Eagles

    Tottering Super Eagles

    These are interesting times for Nigerian football. Hitherto, it was a deluge of criticisms about the way the game was being administered and the ineptitude of the coaches, who didn’t have the courage to discipline the Super Eagles’ foreign legion.

    Most people cringed at the conduct and the passion that our Europe-based boys exhibited during Nigeria’s matches. They sneered at the lackadaisical attitude of our players on the pitch. They played as if nothing was at stake.

    Put simply, the Eagles’ convulsive style of play forced many fans to the clinics to check their blood pressure after every uninspiring outing.

    Many spiritualists have been disappointed by the outcome of the Eagles matches. But don’t our opponents recognise the efficacy of prayers? Doesn’t the Holy Book detest slothfulness?

    Since last Saturday, the mood of football fans has changed. A new dawn is being celebrated. The drum beats of a resurgent Super Eagles is deafening. No one is bothered about Liberia’s pedigree in global football competitions. Years past, Liberia was a piece of cake. Beating Liberia should be the norm. Countries, such as Liberia ought to surrender even before the kick-off when pitched against Nigeria in a football match. What the wild celebrations portend is that we will waste precious time backslapping and shouting at the roof top, forgetting that others have left us behind.

    Sadly, the reality from the Liberia conquest is that our best legs are in Europe. And I’m glad that Stephen Keshi recognises this fact. Nine of the starting 11 men came from Europe. The two home-based played because we didn’t have men in the foreign legion in those positions. It hurts though that the goal conceded came from a defensive error of the best home-based defender.

    The home-based stars couldn’t compete with the others, perhaps because the domestic league is off. I hope people are reading this. Again, Keshi should accept that he would be judged not by what he does on the field in training, but by what the players showcase during matches.

    Therefore, he must learn to accommodate their idiosyncrasies to get the desired results. This is not to say that players should be disciplined. Coaches get the best from their players through personal contacts. With Keshi’s feats and pedigree in the beautiful game, no player would be rude to him. Rather, they would be prepared to learn from him.

    The truth about the Saturday game is that the Eagles tottered, despite the 58 seconds first goal. They barely were able to string passes together just as they played without a plan. Perhaps, they forgot all that they were taught in training. Our second goal was scrappy, except from the bravado show of the scorer Ahmed Musa in burying the ball at the back of the net.

    After the second goal, I looked at the Eagles’ bench. Keshi’s countenance told the story of what I saw on the pitch. He kept scratching his head, apparently remembering his playing days. I don’t blame him. He was an excellent, strong and zestful player.

    He got up most times to shout out instructions, yet he wasn’t impressed. As for the fans, they were satisfied, but the coach was certainly looking beyond the minnows.

    The argument can be made that they stay together to train but their experience ought to have counted. It never did because we struggled for the better part of the first. Emmanule Emenike was the worst culprit. He was anonymous, except for that bone crushing pass that Musa squeezed into the net. He needs to take a cue from the way Mikel executed the goal he laid on Victor Moses’ head for the fourth goal. Why the coaches took so long to substitute Emenike accounted for the anxious moments that the Liberians created for our players. I always wonder what these coaches see in Emenike who couldn’t dribble past his marker and does not he know how to open up the space for his mates to make the darting run at goal. He certainly shouldn’t be at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    Kudos must go to Keshi for fielding Musa instead of Ikechukwu Uche. I was excited when I saw the change because Ike Uche can be wasteful with goal-scoring chances. Ike Uche did miss quite a few in the second half, despite scoring Nigeria’s fifth goal. What I took away from Keshi’s decision to drop Ike Uche is that he knows that he needs taller, stronger and faster strikers for the Africa Cup of Nations. Good thinking.

    Keshi’s revelation that he has Newcastle of England striker Shola Ameobi and Everton’s Victor Anichebe bowled me over. I can’t wait to see how they will blend, when the team plays the 4-3-3 formation. Keshi should always seek Sydney Sam’s consent to play for Nigeria. This idea of waiting for the boy to show interest won’t pay him. Nigerians are impatient. They will call for his sack, if the team fails. Sam will give his team depth, especially in the attacking midfield role. He also is a prolific goal-scorer. He is younger than those playing the roles in the Eagles. Is anyone suprirsed that the two young men in the Eagles -Victor Moses and Ahmed Musa- shone like million stars? Age is the key for good football. The average age of most teams in the game now is 23. No one in the Eagles, except Moses, is less than 28. Forget what they have on their international passports.

    Nigeria’s best player on Saturday was Moses. This is not because he scored a brace, but his deft touches, his inter-play with his mates and the skill with which he scored the goals, showed a future Africa Footballer of Year- if we can assemble a winning team. Moses can play better than he did on Saturday, but Keshi must find him an intelligent right back to complement his efforts. If Taiye Taiwo was right footed, he would have brought the best from Moses and we would have been talking of a harvest of goals. With a menacing right wing, no opposition will dare attack, using their left footed players because they would be too busy defending or retrieving the ball from inside their net against the Eagles.

    Efe Ambrose isn’t a good player. He scored our first goal, but was a misfit. He ran the most on the pitch, yet his contribution stopped after 58 seconds, with the first goal. Keshi can return to the experiment he did in Benin City in his first game when he switched Yusuf Ayila to the central defence.

    Keshi is thinking of drafting Nedum Onouha into the team. He is a utility player. I have seen him play in all the defensive positions for Manchester City and now Queens Park Rangers in England. It is also good to know that goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama is playing regularly after a torrid time on the bench in France. He is our best. His recent poor form was because of match rustiness. His substitutes are good goalkeepers, but they need to wait for sometime, if Enyeama finds his form. Anyway, the rivalry is good for competitions.

    The Eagles urgently need younger players with international exposure from foreign leagues. Victor Anichebe, Chuka Aneke, who plays for Arsenal but has been loaned out to play frequently and, of course, returnee Osaze Odemwingie will strengthen the squad.

    Nosa Igiebor did better this time. He was poor in Monrovia, though he looked timid in front of the yawning net. I’m excited that Joel Obi has started playing again. He will make an awesome midfield quartet, playing with Mikel, Moses and Obiora Nwankwo. Nwankwo was the gem against Liberia. He played flawlessly. He impressed me at the botched U-23 side at the London 2012 Olympic Games qualifier in Morocco last year. He is temperamental, but Keshi can talk him out of this.

    Is there anything to cheer from the Eagles going forward? I doubt it, if the opponents are Cote d’ Ivoire, resurgent Algeria, Ghana and Morocco in Africa.

    As for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we had better not qualify if what we saw against the Liberians is used as a yardstick. Glad to hear Keshi say that he doesn’t have a team yet. That is the truth, Big Boss. Will Keshi give Brown Ideye and Ogenyi Onazi several trials like he did with Emenike and other fringe players? Your guess is as good as mine.

  • Wild, wild country

    Wild, wild country

    We must make life count

    The two killing incidents, set apart by just four days, were as horrifying as the word can be. The one took place in the night when the day’s work was done and many had retired to bed; the other happened in broad daylight. On Independence Day, in Mubi, the second biggest town in Adamawa State, and its commercial nerve, students of the Federal Polytechnic sited there were in their hostel when guns began to boom. They sounded near at first, said one student; soon the gunmen drew nearer, still shooting. Panic gripped the hostel community. Everyone hurried into their rooms and locked their doors. But the visitors were on a mission they must accomplish. They kicked the doors open, shot and killed one student after another. At the end of the operation, over 40 students, according to some accounts, lay dead. The incident threw the polytechnic community into imaginable trauma. Friends and families of the dead were left in the deepest grief. The nation was in a daze, while the entire world stood stupefied.

    That was one wild night in the Northeast of the country.

    Four days later, and down south in Aluu, where the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, is located, four students of the institution faced the grimmest ordeal of their lives, none of them surviving to relive it. They were stripped naked and beaten until there was no life left in them. Finally, their bodies were burnt.

    That was another wild outing.

    Some reports blamed the Mubi attack on fundamentalists, while in Aluu, residents were said to have done the job.

    Both incidents, not forgetting the killings in a Kano school within the same period, have sharpened up a whole new, horrifying angle in the country’s insecurity challenges. Schools have been attacked before, only now, there seems to be more boldness in taking on larger numbers of Nigeria’s young people secluded for the purpose of study. We must worry about the ease with which assailants invade our schools and kill young people being groomed for leadership. Our educational profile may not lift our spirits but we must worry when students are wasted. More fundamentally, we must worry when lives are wasted by people who neither have the sanction of the creator to do so nor the authority of the law of man. We must worry when mobs become accusers, prosecutors, judges and executioners in one fell swoop, as in the case of the Uniport Four, who were reportedly accused of stealing laptop computers and mobile phones.

    Reports said a crowd watched with interest, even applauding, as the four, all below 22, were tortured to death and their corpses set ablaze. What do you make of such a scene and such an act? Such brutalities attack every claim we make to civility, and rebrand us a wild, wild nation.

    Mob action or jungle justice did not start in Aluu, to be sure. All over the country, people have faced instant death at the hands of streetwalkers and bystanders, and for even the pettiest of offences. But for me, one nasty thing about such brand of justice is that the people dispensing it may be woefully unqualified for the job. Some who clobber mob victims to death may actually be thieves themselves. We can tell from the mob which was eager to slay a certain adulteress caught in the act.

    But there are weightier concerns about jungle justice. It questions the character and professionalism of the police, the outfit whose responsibility it is to sort out civil disorders. How was it that a mob tortured and killed four undergraduates, then set their corpses on fire, an operation that must have lasted hours, without the police getting any wind of it? What do you make of such police? Again, why are people better disposed to taking the law into their own hands rather than reporting their concerns to law enforcers? Why has confidence in the police waned?

    It is perhaps naive to conclude that the Aluu executioners were inspired by the assailants in Mubi simply because of the short space of time between them, but it is safe to say that unlawful killings, of which Nigeria has quite a pile, if not punished, pave the way for more of such barbaric illegalities. Heaps of files of unsolved murders are still with the police, as are bunches of reports on bloody communal and sectarian crises with government. Hope may have died out on those files being reopened or the murderers being brought to justice, and it is just this sort of profile that helps to reduce the value for life in the populace. In time, people with propensity to kill, begin to do so knowing that, as in the past, there is little or no chance of ever being caught and punished. Such scenarios make life seem worthless.

    Everyone has a role to make things better, but people in authority have a bigger responsibility. You can tell if life matters in a local council if the chairman defends one threatened resident with all his soul. It is easy to see if a state or federal government cares for its people if a small endangered community is given the best possible attention.

    Let’s make life count otherwise we are just one wild, wild bunch.

  • Eagles… redeem your image

    Today, not a few Nigerians would wish that they had better things to do. For those who have societal engagements to attend, they would prefer that their destinations are places where they won’t monitor the Super Eagles game against the Lone Star of Liberia at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar. Others will opt to watch corresponding European qualifiers than raise their blood pressure watching players who feel that they are doing Nigerians a favour by playing in the Eagles.

    Going to watch the Eagles in the past was akin to attending a bazaar in church. The massive crowd moving towards the stadium, armed with food packs, games sets- ludo, scrabble, cards, draught and chess boards, umbrellas etc – all meant to kill boredom while waiting for the game to start. The camaraderie in and around the stadium and the brisk business from the market setting of wares made it a place to be on match days.

    What about the drum beats from the fans? Those who cannot afford the gate fees watching the game from roof tops, not to talk of those holding their radio sets inside and outside the stadium to follow the commentaries. Such was the craze surrounding the Eagles that everything came to a halt when the team played anywhere in the country.

    Nigerians deserve to boycott the uninspiring Eagles. When our players are not complaining of bad pitches, they grumble over allowances owed them. The big ones choose the matches they want to play.

    Indeed, the Eagles’ attitude to our matches has left much to be desired. Discipline is a problem, with many players being caught importing girls into their hotels. The show of shame in Tunisia 2004, where some Eagles stars were expelled from the camp is still fresh in our minds. Or is it the case of one Eagles star who would have been shot by security operatives at the Ghana 2008 Africa Cup of Nations while he was jumping the hotel fence to another hotel in town? The security operative said he spared the player because he had seen him pass earlier that night. He recognised his dress and dreadlocks, hence he spared him. Well, we can say that Keshi and, indeed, the NFF have curtailed that untoward act by keeping them in hotels where they are the only residents.

    Nigerians haven’t forgotten how they stormed the National Stadium in Abuja, last year to watch the Eagles clinch the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification ticket against Guinea. Many have not recovered from the shock resulting from the Eagles’ dismal 2-2 draw against Guinea. Their angst stems from the fact that neither the players nor the coaches knew what could guarantee them victory. This shocking post- match revelation put a lie to the fact that they are professionals, especially when they started blaming NFF eggheads for failing to interpret the rules to them. Such is the commitment of our players to Nigeria’s matches that no one will blame the fans, if they shun the stadium today for better things. However, it could be a redemption day for the Eagles and it is about time.

    In past years, many fans would be in a party mood, predicting who would score the goals. You won’t blame them because watching Eagles then could reduce one’s blood pressure. Fans stormed the stadium in smart kits to join the celebrations. Many of them lost their voices. Work stopped the following week, with everyone talking about the highpoints of the game. In fact, the week preceding the game, the discussion would centre on how fans could save money to watch their idols, where friends could gather to watch the game on big screens, especially those outside the city where the match was played and where fan would spend the evening savouring the sweetness of victory. Not anymore. Now, the fan’s heart is broken- always.

    Years past, players played with their hearts. They knew what it meant to disappoint the fans because they lived with them and would not want to be asked the question: what happened? Since these players of yore lived with the fans, they gave their best. They knew that disappointed fans could take the laws into their hands. They had also seen how those who failed in the past were treated.

    Not anymore. Now, there is a new generation of Eagles who play in Europe. They leave the fans gnashing their teeth and raining curses on them. In their absence, the fans vent their spleen on the NFF as if the ones before them were any better. Don’t remind me of incidents such as that in which the Eagles cut their tracksuits into shorts to play a game. Or is it the incident where we forgot players’ passports at home? What stood Eagles’ players out was their fighting spirit, laced with the non-stop support from the world acclaimed Nigeria Supporters Club. Many have asked what happened to this fighting spirit.

    But today, the Eagles must confront the Liberians as if their lives depend on the match. As they walk onto the pitch, they may find half-field seats. Rather than allow this setting to dampen their minds, they should see it as the challenge to win the fans back. And only a resounding victory can lure heart-broken Nigerians to watch them.

    Our coaches must pick our best 11 players. They must pay attention to the trends in the game. They must be prepared to take early decisions than wait for the crucial moments. We must start to score goals with the first three opportunities. Early goals anchored on sustained pressure that will force the opponents into committing more errors.

    Asking the wingers to fall into the midfield is obsolete; it must be discarded. What this system has caused Nigerians is panic, high blood pressure and disappointment. Samson Siasia adopted this pattern and failed.

    Tasking the wingers with additional responsibilities of dropping into the midfield burns their energy. Little wonder, the Eagles trek on the pitch in the closing stages of games and are unable to defend slim goal margins.

    One may not be a coach, but the language of football is the same. Eagles have natural midfielders who can win the balls back from the opposition and pass it to fellow midfielders, who will supply the sublime passes to the strikers to rip the net open.

    One won’t join the league of critics chastising goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Stephen Keshi’s preference for two holding midfielders creates a void in the midfield, which the opposition exploits. Again, Eagles don’t pay attention to such details as man-marking the opponent’s danger men.

    Enyeama should still be in goal, but one must plead with the coaches to parade overlapping wing backs to increase the supply line of crosses from the flanks for the two strikers to bang in the goals. One doesn’t know what the Eagles’ tacticians see in Emmanuel Emenike. He falls easily, making it difficult for referees to support him, given his physique. One would opt for a two-man attack of Brown Ideye and Ike Uche.

    Eagles coaches have watched how Chelsea’s manager Roberto D’ Matteo plays John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses in their recent league matches. Moses is given a free role to operate at Chelsea; because he is fast, he commits his markers into making hasty tackles in critical areas where free kicks can be converted into goals. Besides, he passes and shoots the ball well. One will opt for Joel Obi and Onazi Oguenyi for a water tight four-man midfield. I know that Keshi will pick Obiora Nwankwo ahead of Onazi and one won’t quarrel with him. Nosa Igiebor was confused in Monrovia and lacked the initiative to co-ordinate the midfield even though he scored the first goal. Who won’t score that as a professional, anyway? This idea of asking Ahmed Musa and Uzoenyi to fall back is cumbersome and has not yielded any dividend.

    Defenders Azubuike Egwuekwe, Godfrey Oboabona, Umar Zango, Efe Ambrose and Elderson Echiejile have been the Eagles’ albatross in matches. They are so uncoordinated that one pass beats them hollow, leaving Enyeama exposed for slaughter. Only Egwuekwe plays well with unmatchable his aerial prowess.

    All said, one doesn’t need to worry if the opposition is Liberia, given the two countries’ pedigree in football. Therefore, Keshi and his men must crush Liberia at dusk. We don’t want to hear that there are no minnows in football. Liberia is a minnow to us just as we would be in the eye of pundits, if Nigeria is pitched against Spain at the 2014 World Cup. Good luck great ambassadors. This is your best chance to redeem your image.