The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tunji Adegboyega

  • So help them, God

    It was a good piece of news to hear that northern governors have made up their minds to abolish the almajiri system as well as street begging, two of the critical aspects of Nigeria’s northern region requiring urgent attention. The person who made this known was Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF), Simon Lalong. Lalong, the Plateau State governor, said the forum was working towards abolishing begging and almajiri practice in the north, as well as ensure that each child benefited from formal education.  The governor said he and his colleagues had resolved not to tolerate any form of begging again from children who were supposed to be in school. He spoke in Jos, the state capital, while bidding farewell to the 1,195 intending pilgrims of the state origin, who were leaving for Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.

    Perhaps this is one of the most salutary ideas from the northern part of the country in recent times. Many people have agreed that there is something wrong with the way the almajiri system was being run and that, this, coupled with street begging, had remained one of the most daunting challenges facing the northern region. Unfortunately, not many have agreed on the way out of the mess. Not a few northerners, particularly the elite, had tried to draw a line between almajiri as a socio-cultural phenomenon, and street begging. They had tried to romanticise almajiri as an acceptable Islamic practice.

    The good news these days, however, is that some other people are now coming out from the region to say that almajiri, by whatever colouration, has become antediluvian and is high time it was reformed. So, basically, what is the almajiri system? Arif Kasim Bala, a lawyer of note describes the concept thus: “In traffic everyday around major towns in northern Nigeria, you see boys with plastic bowls begging. When I was much younger, I used to mistake these children for orphans but they are not. They are students of Islamic boarding schools, known as almajiri, People send their children from all over northern Nigeria to get Islamic education from respected Islamic teachers known as Mallams. This practice is common in many West African countries and goes as far as Gambia and Senegal. Some children come from as far as Chad, Niger and Sudan to learn at the feet of some Mallams in Nigeria. These children are as young as four or five years of age.”

    But the truth, of course, now, is that the line between almajiri and street begging is blurred. Whilst almajiri might have worked perfectly many years ago, when population was relatively manageable and the economy was booming, it has now become anachronistic. The demography has since changed. For example, it has been widely reported that there are about 10 million out-of-school children in the northern part of the country alone. We need no one to tell us that these are potential bombs that may explode at any time.

    But no one should be under the illusion that abolishing the almajiri system would be an easy matter. Something that has gone on for ages cannot be decreed out of existence overnight. It requires systematic planning and collaboration among all the critical stakeholders that have come to recognise the issue as the socio-economic malaise that it is. I have said it on this platform several times; that a child that one did not train (educate) will eventually end up selling cheaply the house that one struggled to build. This is because he would lack the capacity to know what to do with such vital investment. So, he would end up selling it at a give-away price and still see the peanuts he collected as proceeds as commensurate with what he sold just because he did not have the capacity to properly assess the property.

    But, to adequately address the almajiri problem, we need to understand the psyche of those reaping from the system. A friend once told the story of what a northern elite said when they were travelling somewhere around the north a few years ago. My friend said he was alarmed by the sheer number of children he saw on the streets at a time when their age mates in other parts of the country were in school; apparently it was in the morning hours. He said the reply of his friend from the north stunned him. You want to know? I’ll tell you. Wait for it! He said who would cater to the needs of his own children if every child went to school!

    This answer might have been a Freudian slip, but that was his response to the question of why those children were not in school. And it was instructive. Many northern elite might scream at this response today, but that is the simple truth about this almajiri phenomenon. Those of the northern elite who are truthful to themselves know this for a notorious fact, even if they are not willing to so admit publicly. Many of them send their children to some of the best schools around the world even after studying Qur’anic education, to study some of the best courses one can think of, but these foreign schools are not good for the children of the talakawa (the masses). Rather, they should be satisfied with the limited Qur’anic education they acquire, which cannot take them anywhere, not to talk of take them home.

    This is the cause of the huge army of illiterate and ignorant children in the region who are now a pain in the neck for the rest of the society. The truth of the matter is that the almajiri practice has become a source of embarrassment even to the name of Islam. The ignorance, fuelled by the prevalent illiteracy in the region is a drag on national development because no country with such a high illiteracy rate can make progress, with education as the bedrock of national development. It is this same illiteracy and ignorance that fuel the prevalence of vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF) in the region.

    This is one strong point why the northern governors who appear to be feeling the negative effects of this huge army of illiterates now should be supported by all patriotic Nigerians. I only hope their threat to do something meaningful about the issue is not political rhetoric; I hope they would carry out the threat. But this is a matter requiring the cooperation of all the stakeholders, including the Federal Government that has also made known its intention to intervene in the matter. They do not have to work at cross-purposes. They should rather work collectively to end one of the major eye sores afflicting the northern region.

    Schools have to be built and well equipped to enable the pupils and students learn in a conducive atmosphere. The school feeding should be intensified and made to speak to the diverse needs of the different people in the country.  In the same manner, there should be massive enlightenment on family planning. Parents must be ready to give birth to only the children that they can cater for. There is no point giving birth to children only to dump them on the streets or on some other people who cannot take care of themselves. We need to redirect the minds of the idle youths from the streets to the schools. As the saying goes, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. So many idle hands are lurking around, and for as long as they remain in that condition, the rest of us should not think we can sleep with our two eyes closed. That is already evident in the level of insecurity in the country.

  • A not-too-cozy affair

    For strictly personal reasons, I had initially thought I would not comment on the allegation of rape levelled against the Senior Pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Abuja, Biodun Fatoyinbo, by Mrs. Busola Dakolo. In this part of the world, you don’t speak ill of the dead. Similarly, you have to watch what you say where men of God are concerned.

    Otherwise, people will remind you of the admonition: touch not my anointing, and do my prophet no harm. Mrs Dakolo had claimed the man of God raped her when she was 18. She is now married and her husband has been solidly behind her in this matter, so as to ensure that girls in churches are not abused the way they claimed his wife had been abused. Indeed, the matter has been trending in the social and mainstream media in the last few weeks. I decided to hold my peace meanwhile to see how the police would treat the matter. Of course we have seen the way some of the members of the church have reacted to it; standing by their spiritual leader. Even the Abuja chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has decidedly fumbled in the matter the way it has stood by Fatoyinbo. It is however heartwarming that the national CAN is more cerebral in its intervention.

    But I cannot continue to hold my cool with the detention of Abimbola Adelakun, a columnist with The Punch, on the church premises, last week Sunday. Adelakun said she was in the church to continue her research on Pentecostal churches. Somehow, some members of the church recognised her and informed the security men who promptly arrested and detained her , on the grounds that she had come to spy on the church. Her entreaties that she should be allowed to leave were rebuffed. Rather, she was later transferred to the police station in Asokoro, where the policemen there threatened to charge her with ‘criminal trespass’!

    Pray, what is ‘criminal trespass’ in a church? The last time I checked, a church is supposed to be a public place where people who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and saviour go to ‘speak’ with their creator. As a public place, methinks it should be open to virtually anybody who decides to go in there for this purpose. There should be no holds barred; except of course in these days of terrorism when it has become expedient for churches, like other public places in the country, to be wary of people coming in, ostensibly to worship. They can now screen people for explosives and be sure they have nothing on their bodies that could bring harm the way of others who have truly come to pray and dance before God. The only other reason that may be used to bar someone from church is if he is known to have broken any internal rules or regulations of the church, the punishment of which would have been clearly spelt out in the church’s rules and regulations.

    But for a church to be on the lookout for journalists, or to even know and isolate one for detention and harassment is, to me, mildly put, ungodly. But it is just one of those impunities going on in some of these worship places, particularly churches, big or small. In the case of the smaller churches, illiteracy and ignorance could be the driver of such impunity while in the mega churches like COZA, the impunity is fuelled by the typical Nigerian ‘big man syndrome’. What has COZA to hide? Or, what is COZA hiding to warrant sniffing for journalists and shutting them out?

    If the Dakolos, with all the public sympathy they are enjoying, and with their clout in society, could experience this kind of treatment with our police force, which, when it should be trying to investigate the matter professionally rather chose to be intimidating the alleged victim, then we can understand why many cases of rape are unreported and will likely go unreported in the country for a long time to come. It is just that we are not yet a serious country. In very serious nations, the wages of rape would have been made so severe that only people who are ready to spend the rest of their lives in jail would go near it. Because our laws are too lax, the police and even the courts demand all manner of impossibilities to prove that rape has been committed. This is why the crime has assumed an epidemic dimension, with very old people, some of them nearing their graves, having carnal knowledge of five-year-old girls. Hardly would the newspapers not report rape stories on any day; some of them as bizarre as they can be. Yet, the courts would be asking for blood-stained pants, they want to see whether traces of semen could still be visible hours or even days after the crime had been committed. In police stations, the police turn it to wall-clock joke by asking all manner of questions, like whether the victim was screaming or moaning when the act was going on (in other words, whether she was enjoying it or it was a painful experience), etc.

    If the instant Dakolo/Fatoyinbo case gets to court, we are going to be treated to some of these embarrassing scenarios. I must confess the Nigeria Police Force has not handled this matter satisfactorily. Apparently, the force was jolted from its inertia in a tweetthat the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, sent to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed A. Adamu:  “Attention IGP. #SayNoToRape, #JusticeForRapeVictims, #SayNoToIntimidation”. It was not until this tweet that the police appeared set to step into the matter.

    It should be stressed that, tempting as it is to want to believe the story as told by the Dakolos, especially with some other people coming out to say they had a similar experience with the pastor, the case still deserves to be thoroughly investigated. It could be true; and it could also be true that some people who are envious of Pastor Fatoyinbo’s success story are all out to bring him down. There are randy pastors all over the place just as we have peer envy all over the place, not excluding churches and other places of worship.

    As a matter of fact, these were part of the reasons why I decided to reserve my comment on the matter until this aspect of a reporter being fished out in church and detained surfaced. One can only imagine what could have happened to her if she had not quickly sent words out about what she was going through immediately she was arrested by the church security men.

    Sensing that the matter had gone viral on the social media, the church people then told her that she should inform The Punch that she was not arrested by the security men, as a condition for dropping the charge (criminal trespass?) against her. She therefore sent words out again that: “I’m aware of the info abt my arrest at COZA today. I wasn’t arrested. Earlier, I sent out an image bcos I was concerned when pulled aside by the protocol dept for questioning. Thanks to everyone who has been concerned about me. I am sorry for all the misinformation out there.” Adelakun had apparently been well schooled on the necessity to follow instructions in such tight situations when one is between life and death.

    However, she reversed herself when it appeared the coast was clear and everyone had been aware of her whereabouts. So, the question of her disappearing without trace cannot arise. “But the security men at the church detained me. They pulled me out of the service. They said they wanted to question me and they didn’t let me go. When they saw the tweet and report online, they then took me to the police station. They said it had become a criminal case and they had to go to the police station to resolve it because people had been coming to their church to write stories. I told them I was not writing, that I am a researcher, this is what I do, I go from church to church but they said we had to go to the police station.”

    So, since when has writing stories about a church become a crime or an offence? At any rate, why would a church want to stop people writing stories about it, if it had nothing to hide? Why should a columnist go through the pains of explaining that she is researching into Pentecostalism when inside what is supposed to be a sanctuary of praise? There are many questions to answer. Were the security men who detained Adelakun acting on instructions? Were they acting in conformity with the body language of their senior pastor, because, sometimes, some bosses can say everything without saying anything; that is, without opening their mouth? Or, were they only being overzealous?

    Whatever it was, it is perhaps the sign that things are no longer at ease at COZA. Seems COZA is no longer as cozy as before. It is something else when a church begins to screen people not for terrorism, but for coming to write stories about the church. We should thank Aisha Buhari for waking up the police from their slumber over this grievous issue. The rest of us should keep the matter in focus until the end.  We must ensure justice for both sides.

  • Frivolous electoral cases

    Media reports to the effect that Court of Appeal judges had been directed to forget their annual vacation this year on account of the volume of pending election-related cases should send us thinking about the nature of the country we are in, as well as its future. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the court’s president who announced the cancellation of the vacation said this became inevitable “considering the enormous petitions the court is faced with”. She added: “2019 being an election year, it became obvious that we have to forfeit our annual vacation to enable us entertain and determine all appeals arising from the various election petition tribunals transmitted to the court.”

    Whilst I was still unsure of what to comment on this week, even as late as Friday afternoon, I again stumbled on the report that even the Supreme Court had set up two panels to sit during the judges’ annual vacation which begins tomorrow. A statement by the director of press and information of the apex court, Dr Akande Festus, said “The panels of the Supreme Court, comprising five judges each, will be sitting during the annual vacation which marks the end of 2018/2019 legal year. This development arose from the numerous appeals on election-related matters that have been streaming to the court since the conduct of the election … The panels will sit during the holiday period in order to see that all election-related matters are dealt with”. It was at this point that it dawned on me that it won’t be a bad idea to comment on the issue.

    We can say litigation is an integral part of democracy; that people who are not satisfied with the conduct or outcome of an election should approach the courts for redress. As a matter of fact, we have been celebrating many people who follow that course of action since the return to civil rule in 1999; instead of resorting to violence to settle whatever the political scores are. But we have got to a point where we should begin to interrogate some of these electoral litigations. The truth is; one does not need to be a senior advocate to know that some of these political (or even other cases) ought not to have gone to court in the first place. Eaglet or baby lawyers know this for a fact.

    Even as laymen, we have eyes to see clearly enough that some of the cases that are taken to our courts are lacking in merit and lawyers should have so advised their clients. But what do we have? We have a situation where some lawyers turn themselves into something worse than laymen (remember I have said that even as laymen, some of us know that some of those cases should not go to court in the first place) usually because of what they want to eat. Whilst it is bad enough that some of these ‘charge and bail’ lawyers engage in such frivolities that waste the time of the court, one becomes sadder still when those behind such cases are supposedly senior lawyers who have either made it, or just had their palm kernels cracked for them by some benevolent spirits (apologies to the late Chinua Achebe).

    The number of election-related cases pending in our courts is simply amazing. I have no doubt that such would make the Guinness Book of Record if those compiling the facts for the ‘wonder book’ take interest in such matters. According to the summary of cases in the Court of Appeal Divisions prepared by the head, legal services unit, Mrs. Adaeze Oby Aziwe, a total of 2,397 appeals and 5,120 motions were filed during the period under review. Similarly, reports from the office of the DCR, Court of Appeal, Election Petition Tribunal, Mrs. Rabi Abdulazeez Yakubu, say that a total of 800 petitions were filed as at June 17, 2019.

    “A breakdown of this figure shows that, State House of Assembly recorded the highest figure of 415, Senate 105, House of Representatives 214, governorship 62 and presidential, four petitions.

    “According to the fact sheets emanating from the 77 election petition tribunals set up by the President of the Court of Appeal as at April 23, 2019, 65 petitions were either dismissed or struck out while 735 petitions are pending.”

    With such a huge number of political cases in courts, the impression is erroneously created that our politicians really love us that they cannot see their opponents sitting on the same seats they both contested for, ostensibly on our behalf. But nothing can be more fallacious. If this country has had leaders who fight for the common good the way they fight for political office and relevance, we should not be where we are today.

    Rather than simply going home to plan for the next electoral contest, most of these bad losers end up going to congest our courts that are already brimming with other criminal matters, wasting the precious time of the courts in the process. What is at stake is the bucks. Perhaps there are no cases where people have money to waste than on electoral matters. For God’s sake, why would someone be ready to spend his hard-earned money on electoral petitions, if not for the hope of recouping the money if he eventually wins?

    I think it is high time the judges began to come real hard on these politicians, and harder still on lawyers who should know but allow themselves to be blinded by the filthy lucre from the engagements. Having corrupted the political space, the politicians have extended the corruption to the sanctuaries of justice. All right-thinking and patriotic Nigerians must unite to fight this scourge. Annual leave is not something that should be trivialised. Those who started it did so for a purpose. And if our judges must be kept without annual leave, it should be for something more serious; not for frivolous electoral petitions. The judges deserve their rest.

  • Unorthodox Obaigbena!

    Coming almost a week after the publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena, celebrated his 60th birthday; it would not do justice to a man of Obaigbena’s nature to cast a simple headline to capture his essence. At any rate, most of those straightforward headlines had been used last week: ‘The Duke @ 60’, ‘Nduka Obaigbena is 60’, ‘The Duke clocks 60’, etc. The man turned 60 on July 14.

    One thing that singles out Obaigbena is his penchant for the unorthodox. He came into the newspaper business at a difficult time in the country’s history, when the most vibrant independent newspapers – The Punch, National Concord and The Guardian – were proscribed. He was able to make his mark before the return of those papers; and it is his staying power that made the ThisDay to continue to be relevant even after the newspapers were de-proscribed.  Unarguably, Obaigbena experimented with razzmatazz, etc. in newspaper journalism in Nigeria in the most unusual manner, and with a high degree of success. His training as an artist contributed in no small measure to the newspaper’s success story.

    I had about 17 months stint on the Editorial Board of ThisDay. I must confess I had a nice time in the organisation; the only snag being that I considered my salary then too low. It was only unfortunate that I had made up my mind to leave before my pay was doubled. But two or three things I cannot fail to mention about my experiences at ThisDay despite my short stay in the system. One was when I was named member of a three-man committee responsible for renting and furnishing of outstation offices for the newspaper. The other two members were Pastor Patrick Enilama and the newspaper’s accountant then, one Aminu. We were able to do the Port Harcourt office but I can’t remember what happened to the committee after I left the company in Year 2000. I still keep wondering what could have qualified me for such sensitive assignment in an organisation where I was barely four months old.

    Trust Obaigbena, there is hardly anything he does without panache. Talking about Year 2000, I remember the newspaper made a lot of hype then with what the publisher called ‘millennium editors’. It was also at ThisDay that I leant how to use computer. It was nothing unusual then, as many editors of the newspaper had the same phobia for/disinterest in computers, and were satisfied sending their handwritten materials to computer operators for typesetting and planning. But Obaigbena made it compulsory for all of us to use computers, and almost all of us sooner than later got hooked on the computer. Today, I cannot write longhand again.  Apart from writing editorials for the paper, I also maintained a weekly column which was coming out (I think) on Mondays.

    But of all these experiences, the one that fascinated me most was when I wrote about a top security chief that I learnt was the publisher’s close friend. Somehow, the publisher happened to have come around on that Sunday evening when I was putting finishing touches to the piece and he saw the headline. He then took a more curious interest in the write-up. I had erroneously lumped the security chief with some other persons with a different matter. What Obaigbena did was simply to put the record straight and the piece was still allowed to go. Some other publishers could have dropped it because of the friendship with the security chief. This editorial/content pluralism is another of the newspaper’s strength.

    I acknowledge that Obaigbena, like the rest of us, has his shortcomings, especially with irregular payment of salaries. This notwithstanding, many of the journalists and others who worked at ThisDay would not forget in a hurry that they rode in some of the best cars and jeeps money can buy at a time not many publications thought journalists deserved some of these goodies hitherto believed to be exclusive preserves of bankers and other people in the corporate world.

    I pray for the grace to make Obaigbena overcome the shortcomings. I have been told that wines taste better with age. All said, I join the numerous well-wishers of this ‘author’ of ‘newspapering unusual’ and unorthodox publisher, a happy 60th birthday.

  • Osun: The lessons

    Oyetola must not allow the ugly side of history repeat itself

    That a huge relief! That was what the July 5  judgment of the Supreme Court on the last governorship election in Osun State offered those of us who had been livid with fears on what would become of the state should it be handed over to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Senator Ademola Adeleke. Although some people felt the court judgment was predictable; and that it was certain to go in favour of the  All Progressives Congress (APC), the truth is that, nothing can be left to chances where our judiciary is concerned. As they say, the law is an ass. Even though I have always believed that Law is predictable, but then, I could not sleep with my two eyes closed until it was really over. That is, until the apex court had pronounced on the matter. Well, did the judiciary do well in this matter? That is a question I would not like to be dragged into because I would, and quite rightly too, be accused of taking whatever stand I take because it went the way it did. I therefore leave that to the students of Law and jurisprudence.

    The only point many people who are averse to Adeleke becoming governor in Osun State has against him is that he knows nothing but dancing and that he is not likely to bring anything of value to governance in the state. They believe the state would, under him, be entertainment headquarters for the years he would be in the office as governor. For me, this argument is neither here nor there. I guess that was part of the reasons the result of the governorship election was so close as to necessitate the ruling party now requiring crutches from the judiciary to retain power in the state.

    But Governor Adegboyega Oyetola whose victory has been upheld by the apex court should be humbled by the court victory. This is because judicial intervention in the result of the election should have been uncalled for if the right things had been done by the APC and the immediate past government in the state. Some of us saw some of these things coming and we did say so long before the elections. Unfortunately, no one seemed interested in those early warning signals until our worst fears were confirmed. Anyway, all that is history.

    Governor Oyetola should proceed immediately to appoint commissioners to run the state. The only reason I would excuse his inability to form a cabinet since November 27, 2018, when he was sworn in is the fact that his victory was contested by his opponent and the matter required judicial adjudication. This whole argument of not appointing commissioners for the sake of saving money, to me, is bunkum. Even a Yoruba saying says ‘owo la fi’n peni owo’ (we spend money to make money). Osun State cannot be lamenting that it does not have money because it is a civil servant state. Whenever I hear such argument, not only from Osun, but also some other southwest states, I keep asking myself whether this problem was not there (if it was a problem) in the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as premier of the Western Region. I now wonder since when did civil servants become leeches that governments would now be lamenting that their states are dominated by them. Governors do not have to be regretting having a surfeit of civil servants the same way some parents were crying in those days in the country when their wives gave birth to twins. Twins, like other children, are a blessing, at least thanks to Mary Mitchell Slessor who put an end to the infanticide of twins.

    Cabinets have to be formed because governments need people to think for them; people who can think out of the box. The problem in forming of cabinets often is because many extraneous considerations come into play; oftentimes making it impossible to have round pegs in round holes. Otherwise, it should be a blessing when the right people are put in the right places to advise government and execute government’s programmes for the benefit of the people. Anyway, now that it has come from the most authoritative source that Oyetola is the authentic governor of Osun State, and the governor’s heart no longer skips when he remembers that his fate is still hanging outside there, he should go ahead and appoint commissioners with whom he can now reason together to gift the people of Osun State the dividend of democracy. Those who aspire to rule south west states with a preponderance of civil servants already knew before they contested elections. So, they should not get in only to be wringing their hands and looking as if they have been confronted with leprosy. How do they change the narrative, if they think it is a curse? This should be their concern, instead of bemoaning their plight.

    I read Femi Ojudu’s piece in which he reacted to Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s lamentation about two ‘Nigerias’ – the backward north and the developing south. I think I had written something along this line of thought; and if I haven’t, then it should come someday. Titled (or to be titled) ‘My fears for the south west’, the whole idea is to remind the south westerners of the dangers ahead, especially as we seem to be living on old glory. There is an agrarian revolution going on in the north that those of us down south seem to be ignoring. Today, we rely more on the north for pepper, onions, rice, tomatoes, etc. I doubt the ability of the southwest to feed itself in case something happens today. Yet, we say once hunger is out of the poverty question, then there is no more poverty. May be this is one of the things those who want to force Ruga on us see that we are not seeing. They see we are that vulnerable as to want to jump at the offer of Fulani herdsmen living in our backyard so we can have easy access to cow meat (beef).  Yet, we delude ourselves that we won’t call cow brother just because we want to eat cow. I pray we don’t call cow father the way we are going. There is a lot to do to wean some of these so-called civil servant states from their people’s dependence on government’s job for a living.

    Interestingly, it is only in the southwest that this kind of excuse is rampant. I hardly hear any such complaint from outside the region. Let the governors in the region move from the level of just talking about issues at symposia and workshops to the level of concrete implementation of policies that would return the region to the level that Chief Awolowo envisaged we should be by now. Today, we are worried that we are being dragged back by the north; I hope we do not suffer a role reversal the way we are going. What we have to our advantage is that the north has suffered too much degradation such that it would take ages for it to recover from it. But let no one in the southwest tell me that it is not easy. It can never be easy. It was not easy even in the days of Chief Awolowo. Yet, the man made all the difference with his ‘first this, first that’. Where has that ingenuity gone to? The region’s civil servants that we are now complaining about I hear were better paid than some other workers back then in the Western Region. So, what is the problem?

    So, now that Governor Oyetola is fully in charge in Osun, what we expect is the changing of the narrative. Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in spite of his political foibles did some things in the agricultural sector that can be built upon. He also recorded impressive performances in education, infrastructure and so on until the bubble burst when income could no longer sustain expenditure, due to the state’s heavy reliance on the federal purse, like many other states.

    The people of Osun State are now looking towards the Oyetola government for a new lease of life. It is needless asking if the governor has learnt a few lessons about the Yoruba people; particularly his Osun people. When last week I saw people milling around him in a picture after an event, what dawned on me was: such is life. But Governor Oyetola must remember where he is coming from; he must remember the price he paid to be governor. The sleepless nights he kept waiting for the courts’ final verdict, and all. The Yoruba people are a proud people. They can sing ‘hosanna’ today and shout ‘crucify him’ tomorrow. They detest emperor-governors. Good governance/performance must go with humility. Where the latter is missing, they would not hesitate to put their caps on their navel, instead of their heads. They’ve done it before and they are capable of doing it again and again..I have had cause to repeat this parable in the course of my writings on the southwest several times. Oyetola’s watchword should be: come, let us reason together.

    If the governor does, and is indeed guided by all of these suggestions throughout his first term, then, he would have learnt the trick of returning for second term, stress-free. A word is enough for the wise.

    Welcome on board.

  • Ruga: Buhari’s cul-de-sac

    Just as well that the Federal Government has suspended its proposed Ruga settlement policy. Coming at the time it did; and from a government that is perceived to be pursuing a Fulanisation’ or ‘Islamisation’agenda, the policy was as insensitive as it was highly provocative.  This is not about whether the claim is right or wrong; it is just that perception is key in this matter as in any other.

    That, indeed, explained the barrage of criticisms that trailed the policy, which became too strident for the government to ignore; hence its eventual suspension of the project. Whoever advised President Muhammadu Buhari that Ruga settlement is the panacea to the herdsmen/farmers’ insecurity has done more harm than good, given the wild reactions that have trailed the decision. It is either the advisers did not wish the government well; or they were oblivious of the depth of the ethnic mutual distrust and suspicion in the land, which, to be frank, has not been helped by the president’s handling of the clashes in the past. Anybody who is not just arriving the country from outer space must have known that Ruga will never fly.

    It is good the president did not announce this policy before the last General Elections because it would have affected the fortunes of his All Progressives Congress (APC) in the elections. If those who advised him on this course of action also advised him to shelve the announcement until after the elections, it means they knew it was going to boomerang. As a matter of fact, even the president would appear culpable if he delayed implementation of the policy until the elections had been won and lost. But the point must be made that it is a policy which even the most repressive of the military regimes we have had in Nigeria could not have seen through; one that all the decree four in the world would never have achieved. Indeed, if it is anything, it is bad market.

    It is however sad and regrettable that President Buhari is starting his second term on this controversial note. The country has more than enough problems, with the government only trying to address them. Not one of these problems that he inherited has been solved. That is not to say his government is not trying; but the little successes here and there can only be wiped off with a policy like Ruga settlement.

    Many people have made the point, which bears restating, that cattle rearing is like any other business; it is a private matter, therefore, it does not require any especial governmental intervention along the line the Buhari government is approaching the issue. President Buhari should know that this is a policy that is dead on arrival; it cannot work unless he is ready to embark on a journey of no return on the country’s unity. The point has been made loud and clear that the people of the southwest and southeast do not want Ruga. Needless to say it is not a popular idea in the south-south either. The president needs to be warned of the dangers ahead should there be any attempt to force this policy on unwilling Nigerians through the back door. This warning is particularly necessary in view of the Federal Government’s insistence of having Ruga in a state like Taraba where the governor has said it loud and clear that his state was not favourably disposed to the idea. Yet, the Federal Government was said to be pressing ahead with the project in the state.

    What the Taraba case tells us is that even the north is not unanimous on this matter. This is a point that those saying the project should be restricted to the north have to take cognisance of.  After all Taraba is in the northeastern part of the country; yet, the government is opposed to Ruga. This is not a matter that only governors should decide. It is one that should be thoroughly debated by state legislatures before a position is taken.

    Nigerians who feel sufficiently concerned about this issue should unite to drag the Federal Government to court if there is any attempt to bring it back surreptitiously, especially in view of the ultimatum reportedly given to it by some northern youths to do that. We should be in a position to decide whether we want to eat beef or not; and if we want to, we should be able to go to wherever they are selling it to buy. We do not necessarily need to have them at our backyard. There are one million and one serious problems plaguing the country calling for the president’s attention. Surely, Ruga is not one of them. Yes, there is insecurity in the land; Ruga is not the solution, Indeed, Ruga can only aggravate, rather than douse the tension created by insecurity.

    The report by the chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State to the effect that Ruga is optional, that is it depends on state’s acceptance or rejection would have been enough relief. But the Taraba case makes one doubt the truth in this claim.

    Cattle rearers that we know today are quite different from the ones we knew growing up. These days, they go about with some of the most sophisticated weapons, AK 47 rifles and what have you, compared with their forefathers who went about with horsewhips, bows and arrows. Well, it could be said that they are reacting to the level of sophistication of criminals these times. But, do they have license for the arms? Moreover, it is being clever by half for herdsmen to embrace sophisticated arms in view of the dynamic nature of crimes and criminals in the country only to reject the modern way of rearing cattle, insisting only on government crutches in other people’s land to survive. Now that they seem to be ready to modernise, the government should not do it in a way that other segments of the country would feel threatened that it is only a matter of time before Fulanis would take over the country.

    Some people have even picked holes in the name ‘Ruga’, a Hausa term that means cattle settlement. I do not see any difference even if it had been given an English name. So, the name is not the issue. It would still have been rejected once the modus operandi is as understood by Nigerians. The truth of the matter is that the issue of herdsmen has been so badly handled, especially by the Buhari administration that no matter the amount of deodorants used to clear the putrid smell, the stench would continue to assault the nostrils. Even the Fulanis themselves are not helping matters. Reports have it that they have invaded some parts of Imo State. The impression they are giving is that they are incapable of embracing civilisation and that they are ready to become landowners by fire by force even far from their places of origin. No civilised person would want such interlopers in their vicinity.

    Although Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) said it was still studying the government’s suspension of the Ruga policy, some northern youths are said to be threatening fire and brimstone if the Federal Government did not revert to it within 30 days.  It is difficult to blame them because that is part of the consequence of the seed of illiteracy and ignorance that the political elite in that part of the country has sown and indeed nurtured over the decades. We have always known that it was a matter of time for this to manifest. As I said in some earlier articles on this same page, the rest of the country is now bothered because those uneducated youths are not restricting their ignorance and impunity to the region that denied them education, and, by extension civilisation which would have opened their eyes and broadened their horizon to know that there is what is called fundamental human rights and that where one man’s rights start; another man’s begins. Where herdsmen’s rights stop, farmers’ take over.

    With this kind of threat from such youths, President Buhari would have a herculean task reining them in. So, he would be torn between doing their bidding and doing the bidding of those who rejected Ruga. It is difficult to see how a government that has not been able to achieve much in its first four years would now have the peace and presence of mind to concentrate on giving Nigerians democratic dividend with this kind of storm in a teacup that the government has elevated to the front burner of national discourse. But that is the cul-de-sac the president brought upon himself. It is all well and good if he is able to get out of the self-inflicted dilemma. But, as many commentators have said, President Buhari is not the first Fulani to rule Nigeria. So, he should ask himself why the Fulani are now becoming an issue in his time. This is why I said those who advised him on Ruga might have done it deliberately to box him to a corner. If he was not party to the idea, then he should by now have realised that the issue was not properly thought out.

    Herdsmen, whether Fulani or Yoruba or Igbo who feel they can drive others away from their ancestral lands must be daydreaming because I do not see any ethnic group simply abandoning their God-given territories to some lawless marauders who believe that cattle are more important than agricultural produce or even human beings. No one with a thorough grasp of history would give the Fulani such mileage in Nigeria. So, only a government that is prepared to be Nigeria’s undertaker would insist Ruga is the way out of farmers/herdsmen’s clashes.

  • Buhari: time to run

    The president has to activate his ‘faster mode’ if he is to make any serious impact this time around

    President Muhammadu Buhari is at it again. There is absolutely no reason why he should not have formed his cabinet by now. It is over four months since February 27 when he was reelected and exactly one month, yesterday, since he was sworn in for a second term of four years. So, what is he waiting for? One can only hope he is not travelling along the familiar route that he travelled in 2015 when it took him almost six months to appoint his ministers. If he was that late in coming up with a team because he was relatively new in government, maybe we can pardon that because even if we don’t, it does not make any difference now. It is needless throwing away the knife when it has already cut the child’s hand! I remember I advised the president in 2015 on the need to hit the ground running.

    I remember doing countdown for him when he was six months in power. Many others did same; but it did not seem the president was swayed enough by whatever arguments we propounded for him to act fast. Yet, it was the president himself who inundated us with the gargantuan task ahead; he told us that he did not know that the havoc the immediate past Goodluck Jonathan administration did was much as he later found out.

    Just as it was in 2015, so it is even now. It does not seem President Buhari has realised the need for urgency. When, the other day, the president said he was aware that he was being called ‘Baba go slow’ and promised to improve on his speed of governance, I was somehow happy; happy in the sense that at least the message got to him. It is not in all cases that such messages get to the leader concerned. It probably shows that the president is in touch with the independent media; particularly the opposition elements because those are the ones with the audacity to call him such names. There is nothing wrong in calling a spade by its real name instead of referring to it ambiguously as a farming implement. We have so many farming implements!

    On June 7, 2015 I wrote on this page that “within the next few weeks, one expects that the policy thrust of the new government would be crystallising. And that “already, nine days are gone out of the four-year tenure. That is how time flies. So, President Buhari should know that the ball is now in his court. He has talked the talk; he should walk the talk”. I least anticipated what eventually happened. That is to say, I never expected that the president would not name his cabinet until November, about five months later. That June 7, 2015 article was titled: “Leading Nigeria aright”.

    About six months later, precisely on November 29, exactly six months after President Buhari was sworn in, I also wrote to remind him that his government had only 42 months left. Titled “42 months to go!”, I had said, inter alia: “With six months already gone, those asking for President Buhari’s policy direction obviously have a point. Government, like an aero plane, needs a compass. Otherwise, ministries would be working at cross-purposes and ministers will be singing discordant tunes. Beyond that, there must be yardsticks with which to measure the government’s performance.”

    Regrettably, President Buhari seems to be travelling the 2015 trajectory. If President Buhari takes his mind back to 2015 when he took over, he would understand that the issues that led to the Goodluck Jonathan administration being fired remain as ever. Under Jonathan’s watch, some 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their hostel in Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014.The economy was in ruins, with all kinds of corruption and allegations of corruption flying all over the place which the then president lacked the will to tackle. Power supply was terribly low, despite the then president’s promise to ‘dash’ Nigerians his generator when, hopefully his government would have fixed the power problem. Despite the improvement in power supply now, I am cock sure the former president still needs the generator because he has been used to 24/7 power supply ever since he dropped the chalk as lecturer, with either his home state of Bayelsa or the Nigerian people settling the bills. The Oshodi-Badagry Expressway has remained chaotic as a result of the activities of articulated vehicle owners who have one thing or the other to do at the Apapa Ports which had also remained shambolic long before the Jonathan era. Education, to paraphrase the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti , is “disorganised patapata” (completely). Health nko? The same thing. We can go on and on.

    So, just how far has the Buhari government addressed these problems in its first four years? The government may be giving itself pass mark. Unfortunately, that cannot fall within its precinct. It cannot mark its own script. Virtually all of these problems still remain with us. No one expects corruption to be wiped out of the country within four years. But then, when the generality of the people see the battle as selective, that is targeted mostly at the opposition party members, there is a problem. President Buhari did not help matters when early in the day, he could not take a decisive decision against Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) , who was alleged to have fiddled with money meant for cutting of grass in refugee camps. The president gave the go-ahead (an unnecessary green light where the anti-corruption war is structure and not personality-driven).

    If school girls were abducted under Jonathan, some were also abducted under President Buhari’s watch.  We have in mind the 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, in Bulabulin, Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State, in the northeast part of Nigeria. The difference is that whilst the Jonathan government dilly-dallied on the abduction of the Chibok girls, Buhari’s government moved to secure the release of more than 100 of those kidnapped in Dapchi. It also got many of the Chibok girls freed. But that is not to say that Boko Haram is dead. While the government and its security agencies keep saying the sect has been degraded, it keeps on recording surprise attacks which have also led to loss of many lives and caused many to be displaced and take refuge in underfunded largely unhealthy refugee camps.

    The security problem is compounded by herdsmen who have now found kidnaping a pastime. The point is that whilst they initially restricted their activities to the north, many of them have found their way down south, and are being joined by undesirable elements in the south to perpetrate the crime. The economy is still in the woods. Whilst the exchange rate appears to have stabilised somehow, the rate remains too high for comfort. What this tells us is that we still import more than we should. Here, petroleum products take a chunk of the forex. Agricultural products like rice and other items keep draining the available forex. Yet, there does not appear to be any clear direction on local refining of petrol. It is as if the government has placed all its hope on Dangote Refinery. Our four refineries remain as comatose as ever.

    Without doubt, this government has done a lot by fighting the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to the point where they have been forced to accept the imperative of prepaid meters as a way of putting an end to crazy bills that has left Nigerians at their mercy. Electricity supply also seems to have improved. But this cannot be felt unless and until it is sustained. About 19 years ago, Ghana celebrated one year of uninterrupted power supply. I later learnt, rightly or wrongly, that they once celebrated five years of same. This has not been sustained though, but the point is that they made that feat at a point. Let’s even do three months of uninterrupted power supply. We’ll clap for the government.

    Look at the Oshodi-Badagry Expressway. If care is not taken, the Buhari government would leave it worse than it met it; if it continues to behave as if it is in control of time. The road has witnessed many inspections by everybody that matters, including the president, yet there is little done.

    So, just what am I saying? I am saying that President Buhari has to add speed to his style of governance. It is not for nothing that many Nigerians refer to the president as ‘Baba go slow’. That he has not appointed his ministers till now, clearly one month after he was sworn in, and four months after winning reelection  does not inspire hope that things are going to be significantly different this second term. Yet, most of the country’s challenges ought to have been solved as early as yesterday. To wait till eternity to understand them, or plan to tackle them, does not show a deep appreciation of their effects on the people who voted the president into power.

    Baba, please go fast. Fast does it. And if  you are fast already, then faster, please. Perhaps faster does it!

  • Scary cutoff

    Education is in trouble in Nigeria. I have always known this; but this was further reinforced when, at the 19th Policy Meeting on Admissions to Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria held by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on June 11, at the Bola Babalakin Auditorium, Gbongan, Osun State. It was the second time the annual ritual would be taking place in the ancient town, at the same venue. It was also my second time of attending the forum.

    It is universally agreed that education is the bedrock of development. It is like oxygen without which no human being can live. It is important because it gives people the knowledge and skills that they need in life. Even Boko Haram terrorists who say ‘book is haram’ (sin) cannot succeed without the by-products of education. The vehicles they use in conveying themselves and their abductees; the bomb they use both for suicide and to cause havoc, etc. all are by-products of western education that they say they are campaigning against.

    Unfortunately, despite this much acclaimed importance of education, many governments at all levels in the country merely pay lip service to the educational sector. Indeed, one state governor literally gave glory to God that his people could not read newspapers, when asked, a few years back, whether he would not be bothered by his people’s reaction to a particular action of his! This might have been Freudian slip, but that, really, is the way some of the state governments treat education. And we are having the result. Can this low cutoff mark be proof of a decline in education standard? If you say it is not part of it; please tell me what it is.

    Read Also: 22-year-old commits suicide in Anambra

    Just on June 11, the stark reality stared us all in the face when, in a possible score of 400, those determining the fate of our children seeking admission into our higher institutions fixed the UTME cutoff mark at 160 for public universities. This is barely 40 percent; what is known as ‘Let my people go’ (LMPG) in some higher institutions. LMPG is simply the least pass mark grade to graduate or move to the next academic level. Different cutoff marks have also been set for private universities (currently 140), public polytechnics (120), private polytechnics (110), and colleges of education (100). This is really discomfiting. But I quickly composed myself when I remembered that it was even worse in 2017 when the cutoff mark for public universities was pegged at 120. We can only imagine what those for other ‘less favoured’ institutions would have been then. Mercifully then, however, some of the universities, notably the Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Lagos, University of Benin, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka,among others, set their own cutoff marks at 200 which, even in some cases was higher, depending on the course of study.

    It was in this vein that I was scandalised when one of the institutions affiliated to the University of Ibadan (name withheld) was asking for cutoff of 140 or 160 at the policy meeting. So, what is the country turning into? How on earth could an institution that wants to parade the degree of the premier university be asking for such a ridiculous cutoff mark? I was however relieved with the response of Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the JAMB  registrar and chief executive, that the university’s vice chancellor had personally written to the board that the institution would not accept anything less than 200 for admission into any of its programmes.

    Before I started witnessing the policy meetings, I had always had the erroneous impression, like many other Nigerians, that the cutoff point is usually fixed by JAMB. I now know better. Vice chancellors, provosts, rectors, admission officers, registrars from federal, state and private universities and colleges of education and polytechnics play key roles in determining the cutoff mark. I think it was the 2017 cutoff that became so controversial, with some higher institutions feigning ignorance of the 120 cutoff mark and JAMB had a serious battle convincing the public that it was collective responsibility. As could be observed, even at the last policy meeting, some of these ’disadvantaged’ institutions did not hide their fear about high cutoff point. They believe it is only the ‘privileged institutions’ that are at advantage to get some of the best qualified candidates.

    And this is not a challenge for universities alone; it is as much an issue among the polytechnics and colleges of education. It is also a big problem along ownership lines, with the private higher institutions frantically making attempts to have rock-bottom cutoff points. Only a few private universities support high cutoff; and these are the eyebrow ones. Most of the other private institutions do not see themselves in good stead when the cutoff mark is high.

    I do not see Prof Oloyede rejoicing over a low cutoff mark but the matter is not determined solely by JAMB. What baffles me is that some parents are upbeat about this cutoff mark. But I have been telling those of them that seek my opinion that there is nothing to celebrate in it. So, any parent whose ward looks toward admission with barely 160 marks is wasting his or her time. Many of the institutions of repute are unlikely to come as low as the cutoff prescribed as their benchmark.

    But the JAMB registrar made a very valid point at the occasion: the market, the ultimate leveller, would at the end of the day rate every institution by the quality of the graduates produced by it. But parents who are seeking the least admission benchmark for their children should know that there are consequences. Even the candidates too should realise that. How can you enter higher institutions with different admission criteria only to expect parity in remuneration at the end of the day? Things don’t work that way.

    University admission in the country has for many years been war; it has always been survival of the fittest. I remember the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Akin Adesola (now late), during our matriculation in 1981 saying something like it was only about 10 percent of the 30,000 plus of those who applied for admission into the university were admitted that year and that those of us found worthy must count ourselves lucky. Then, there were no private universities. I can’t even remember if there were state polytechnics. If there were, they would be so few. Today, we have many private universities, many private polytechnics, monotechnics; more colleges of education in addition to many federal and state-owned universities. Yet, we do not have enough space for the teeming number of youths seeking admission. It is true that some of them may not be admitted due to their insistence on certain courses or institutions; but the fact remains that many too, even if qualified, cannot still find space in existing institutions.

    Be that as it may, what we are now seeing by way of constant reduction of cutoff marks tells us that we have to do something about our educational sector. The Punch carried some distressing stories about the state of some of our schools, with some not better than pigsties. There is no way quality teaching and learning can take place in such places. Governors who are celebrating (openly or secretly) that their people cannot read newspapers should be seeing the consequences of their stupidity. My only worry is that the products of their system are now disturbing the rest of us.

    Thank you, Sanwo-Olu

    I said in my column titled “Sanwo-Olu, ise ya (1) and (2) written early this month that the minimalists that they are, Nigerians would clap for any local government chairman, governor or even president who does his job well. I mean his job; and not something extraordinary. The reason is simple: many people in public office take the positions for the allure and the glamour; not necessarily because they want to better the lot of the citizenry. So, they rarely do their job.

    I had written in the earlier mentioned articles the need to fix some roads that suffered as a result of the construction of the BRT corridor on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. One of these was Ajiboye Crescent in the Okeodo area of Agege. Barely a week after that publication, the terribly bad portions of the road were fixed, including the ‘amateurish’ culvert which has now been improved upon. Or, was this a mere coincidence?

    Whatever it is, we should still clap for Sanwo-Olu because similar complaints were made in the past without any attention given to them. Again, one can only hope though, that this is not the usual ‘gra-gra’ by new governments; that this would be a major characteristic that would define the new administration in Lagos State.

  • The 9th Senate

    Lawan and Co. must work hard to beat their predecessors’ record

    On June 9, the 8th National Assembly ended its term, which commenced exactly four years ago on that day, precisely on June 9, 2015. The election and subsequent swearing in of new officers of the National Assembly (NASS) effectively brought an end to the Bukola Saraki-led 8th NASS. The Majority Leader of the 8th Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila were on Tuesday elected President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. Lawan polled 79 votes to defeat another ex-Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume, who had 28. In the same vein, Ovie Omo-Agege the senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District was elected Deputy Senate President with 68 votes, while his challenger, the immediate occupant of the seat, Ike Ekweremadu, scored 37. It is instructive that all the principal officers of the NASS that matter are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Ekweremadu, the erstwhile deputy senate president, who desired to keep the position was rejected by his colleagues. This is the kind of result that one who does not know how to quit when the ovation is loudest, gets. One would have expected Ekweremadu to read between the lines and appreciate the fact that the circumstances of his emergence as deputy senate president no longer existed as at the time he was contesting and therefore stayed out of the race.

    The beauty of the election of the principal officers of the NASS this time around is that party supremacy reigned . Although there were all manner of discordant tunes prior the election, everyone fell in line the moment it was clear the ruling party’s position was firmly established.

    Saraki’s emergence as Senate President did not follow this trajectory. Although he was also a member of the ruling party on which platform he contested and won the senatorial seat, his emergence as senate president was controversial. He conducted election into the leadership positions at a time some of the party’s members who should have participated in the exercise had a date with the president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. It is a long story, but to cut it short, he and the party never saw eye to eye throughout his four-year tenure.

    However, in spite of the no love lost between the executive arm of government and the legislature, the 8th senate still recorded an impressive outing with regard to the number of bills it passed. Indeed, it had passed          93 as of May 7, whereas the 7th senate passed 128, the 6th 72 and the 5th senate passed 129 bills. What this means is that the 8th senate passed 36 bills more than the 7th and 5th senate and 36 bills less than the three senate tenures altogether. This is commendable, especially given the backdrop of the executive/legislative fiasco that characterised that era.

    Innovations introduced by the 8th senate included televising senate plenary session as well as live tweeting of every activity on the floor on Twitter and Youtube. This was the first time this would be happening in the upper legislative chamber. The aim is to let Nigerians know what was happening there as well as have the opportunity of expressing their views on the goings-on at the sessions. To a large extent, this aim was achieved, with about 20,000 viewers daily and about a million tweeting daily on their opinions of happenings in the senate.

    The senate also passed the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2017 into law in April 2017. This allows for electronic voting which, in the view of the senate, is capable of eradicating electoral malpractices and ensure transparency and facilitate the electoral process. The senate saw this as one of its best contributions to the country’s electoral process. For the first time in the country, the senate also began to announce public hearing on the annual budget. It started this in 2016 and has been steadfast about it since then.

    Worried by the continued rise in the incidence of sexual harassment in our higher institutions, the 8th senate passed the Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Institutions through a Motion on May 30, 2018, using the case of Miss Monica Osagie, an Obafemi Awolowo University student who had named a lecturer in a ‘sex-for-grades’ allegation, as the immediate impetus for this particular intervention. The bill proposes a jail-term of up to five years but not less than two years for perpetrators. In like manner, the 8th senate also made moves to encourage the youths to take active roles in politics. This was done through “A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and for other Matters Connected Therewith, otherwise known as the “Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill.”

    Persistent calls by Nigerians for the reformation of the Nigeria Police Force to improve its efficiency led to the 8th senate’s resolve to completely review and amend the Nigeria Police Act. This it did through the Police Reform Bill and the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Bill as recently as April, 2019.

    The senate’s intervention in primary healthcare came through the passing of a clause in the 2018 Budget to set aside one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)  for the provision of primary healthcare. The additional funds are meant to make healthcare available for millions of Nigerians who need medical attention.

    The insecurity plaguing the land got the attention of the senate last year and the law makers organised a National Security Summit in February 2018.  At the summit, heads of military and paramilitary agencies rubbed minds and made submissions to parliament which in turn put forward 20 recommendations to the Executive on strategies for strengthening national security.

    The 8th senate’s intervention in the arbitrary charges charged by money deposit banks in January 2018, led to policy revision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a thing that many bank customers have benefitted from.

    Of course we can go on and on but then, time and space will not permit. Suffice it to say, however, that though the effects of some of these bills might not be much now, with time, their impact would be felt. But this also depends on how the other arms of government, particularly the executive, play their part. The lawmakers can make the best of laws, if the executive refuses to execute them or lacks the will to bring them to fruition, then the laws made by the legislators would have been made in vain. For instance, it will be unfair to blame the budget delays on the NASS alone. The presidency is also culpable, especially with its late submission of the document on some occasions and withdrawal of same for amendments, even after it had been laid before the NASS for consideration. Surely, no one expects the NASS to rubber-stamp the budget, given its national importance.

    This is why it is heartwarming that the 9th senate is not coming on board with the adversary-of-the-executive perception that the immediate past senate ended up having after the leadership was elected. When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. So, when there is no cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature, it is the people, the voters, that suffer. As I said earlier, no one is interested in a rubber-stamp legislature. What we want is a situation where there would be mutual trust and respect for one another. With regards to Saraki and the politics of his home state, Kwara, it is too early to say what the future holds in stock. After all, kings rise and fall only to rise again; empires had risen and fallen to rise again. No condition is permanent, even countries have risen and fallen. Once upon a time Britain ruled the world; today it is the United States of America. But Britain remains an issue in global affairs. It may be another country tomorrow. So, Saraki’s political relevant in future depends on him; it depends on his handling of the situation at home. But he can only do this if he had learnt the appropriate lessons. For him, however, settlement of his home front must be his eleventh commandment.

  • Remembering June 12

    We can still claim the country from the vagabonds who have been paying themselves with our blood

    Remember where I was on May 29, 1999, when the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was making his inaugural address at the Eagle Square in Abuja. I remember how I looked toward the new beginning with renewed hope that, after about 16 years of military interregnum (1983-1999), I was excited that Nigeria was once again breathing the air of freedom from the jackboots. At last, our agitation as a people to have us governed by ourselves rather than by a clique in uniform who seized power through the barrels of the gun had finally berthed in what we thought was democratic rule.

    Specifically, I was in a popular canteen somewhere around Yinusa Adeniji Street in Ikeja, Lagos, where the ThisDay Newspaper where I was on its editorial board then was located. I was eating ‘fufu’ with ‘mixed soup’ (draw soup and egusi) and assorted pieces of meat watching the president reading his address. Not forgetting my favourite drink then, Guinness Stout, to wash the food down. But thank God, that thing I used to do, I do it no more. I have left Egypt that I have now known my then favourite drink to be, on my way to Canaan land.  I know Chief Obasanjo on that day promised to lead the country aright. He raised our hopes with that speech and I remember writing a piece titled “Obasanjo: The rejected stone” in that newspaper, to mark his election.

    Let me state once again, that Chief Obasanjo is not my man on all days; rather, my relationship with him depends on the issue and his stance on that issue. So, if you like, call it a swinging relationship. I guess that is the way it is with many other Nigerians. So, in terms of controversy, Chief Obasanjo has always been controversial. Indeed, he is controversy personified. Back then, his Yoruba ‘kinsmen’ did not favour him for the country’s number one seat and characteristically did not hide their feelings. The southwest where Chief Obasanjo hails from pitched their tent with Chief Olu Falae who lost the presidential election to Chief Obasanjo. That informed the headline of that piece; the rejected stone. If Obasanjo was unwanted at home; he was at least loved ‘abroad’ (in the other parts of the country).

    Anyway, this piece is not about Obasanjo; so, let’s leave the rest of that till another day.

    But June 12, 1993 did not come on a silver platter. It was the culmination of several struggles by Nigerians who had seen through the need for a return to democratic rule and indeed came out to exercise their mandate to elect leaders of their choice on that historic date. The election finally came despite the shenanigans of the then self-styled military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, to truncate it. Not even Babangida’s last minute joker to stall the elections through a kangaroo night court judgment on the eve of the election delivered by one Justice Bassey Ikpeme (now late) could stall the process; the election was still conducted by the Humphrey Nwosu-led National Electoral Commission (NEC). Babangida, otherwise known as Maradona because of his dishonest transition programme under which he banned and unbanned politicians according to his whims and caprices did everything under the sun to stay put in power, beyond the August 26, 1993 date that his administration had finally promised after several prevarications.

    However, in spite of everything, June 12 came and Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He trounced his rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC), the only two political parties that Babangida registered in his bid foist a two-party state on Nigerians. The election was a watershed in several respects: it was the first of its kind in which Nigerians were not bothered by whether the SDP’s ticket was a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Just as they never cared about ethnicity. They trooped out in their millions to vote for Bashorun Abiola in an election that was described by both local and international observers as the freest and fairest in the country’s history.

    Unfortunately, Babangida annulled the election. His government did not even dignify Nigerians with an appropriate process to announce the annulment, which was done through an unsigned press release. Babangida himself compounded the impunity when about two weeks after the election, he defended the annulment and anyone who cared to look very well would see clearly that he seemed to be acting under the influence of something that was beyond him. That was clear the way he was bouncing like a football at the occasion.

    But neither Babangida nor the military itself could sleep well after the annulment. The government unleashed the security apparatus on Nigerians, killing and maiming at will. Critical newspapers were proscribed and de-proscribed at will by both Babangida and General Sani Abacha who succeeded the contraption that Babangida called Interim National Government (ING) which he hurriedly installed, headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan. Many journalists and pro-democracy agitators were hounded into jail, many were maimed and a few others killed, albeit in questionable circumstances. I remember I was taken to court as acting editor of The Punch then by the Abacha government (I guess) over our report on the bombing of retired General Alani Akinrinade’s house which many regarded as premeditated, with accusing fingers pointed at the government, due to the general’s involvement in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a group of eminent Nigerians who played a very active role in putting an end to military rule. I had earlier spent one long night at the Shangisha office of the State Security Service (SSS) whose officials came to pick me up from our company’s hospital in Ikeja on a Thursday night.

    I remain eternally grateful to the then CP Legal, who ensured I had a nice time with the police throughout my stay with them for a weekend, as well as the judge who struck out the case for want of diligent prosecution. My predecessor, Bola Bolawole, was locked up in his office at The Punch premises at Onipetesi area of Lagos for three nights, with about 36 security men keeping watch over him. He was then taken to Awolowo Road office of the SSS where he spent another day. But, critical as our newspaper was of military rule, I don’t know how both of us who edited the paper in those critical periods escaped being taken to Abuja like many of our other colleagues. Those taken out of Lagos returned with tales of woe.

    Suffice it to say, however, that when the heat became too much for the military president to bear, he left on August 26, 1993, contrary to his earlier boast that he would not be stampeded out of power. Indeed, anyone who saw the clip on national television on the day would know that Babangida was himself confused after the broadcast that he made announcing his exit from office. He made for his seat as head of state even after he had ‘stepped aside’ (to use his words) but was quickly diverted to another seat, an indication that it was all over.

    It is now that I am beginning to understand our elders when they say that they still do not understand how Nigeria came to its present sorry pass, given the huge hopes they had in the years shortly before independence in 1960, and the years immediately after.

    The story of June 12 is too long to be told in any single piece. Suffice it to say that the painful part is that those who are now the major beneficiaries of the democratic struggle are people who contributed little or nothing to the struggle. As a matter of fact, some of them are unrepentant apologists of military rule. After the military had retreated to their barracks, the civil society groups and the pro-democracy activists simply came out of the trenches and went about their normal businesses. That was how our democracy got to the hands of charlatans, jesters, rogues and all manner of riff raff some of them not knowing their left from their right. And that is why we are where we are.

    The constitution that the soldiers bequeathed to our nation which they purported to be our handiwork is not entirely so and the contradictions are beginning to manifest more than ever before. Even in their dishonesty, the military and their political class colleagues imposed May 29 on us as Democracy Day, when, in actual fact, June 12 was the day Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for the man of their choice. No matter what we might say, we have to give kudos to the Muhammadu Buhari government for righting this wrong. May 29 could not have come about without the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.

    But the situation is not irredeemable. We can still claim the country from the vagabonds who have been paying themselves with our blood with the mouth-watering allowances they collect even for pauperizing our people during their tenures, whether they spent four or eight years in office. Civil servants who put in their best for the better part of their productive lifetime get peanuts as gratuities. I am saying it again that the day we are able to stop these mindless payoffs to our so-called lawmakers, that day would be it. Until then, we are just deceiving ourselves that ours is a country where people know their rights. I am afraid it is not.

    So, as we mark 20 years of the return to civil rule (yes, civil rule not democracy), let us resolve to be putting our rulers (again, yes, our rulers, not leaders) on their toes. The country would not be like this if truly we have been having leaders. And it can only change if we decide to play our own role as citizens. But the only good deed we can do for Abiola and all those who lost their lives in the course of the struggle is to continue to demand our rights, go to the streets in a peaceful manner when necessary, and let them know that we would not take nonsense from those of them in power any longer.