The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tunji Adegboyega

The teacher in Governor Wamakko

His Excellency should not have flogged the PHCN officials

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State reportedly flogged the business manager of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto State, Moses Osigwe, an engineer, on October 20, for failing to supply electricity to his community, Wamako. That, naturally has brought him into opprobrium in the eyes of many Nigerians. The Acting Managing Director of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), a subsidiary of the PHCN, Mohammed Adamu, told the story better: “On Saturday, 20th October, 2012, an unusual and unfortunate event took place which was beyond our comprehension. On the said date, our business manager, Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto State, Moses Osigwe, was invited by the Executive Governor of the state, Aliyu Magatarkada Wamakko to his personal residence, over the issue of lack of power supply to his hometown, Wamakko, as a result of a failed 2.5MVA transformer. He accused our staff of deliberately denying his community, Wamakko, of power supply. As the business manager was trying to explain to him, the governor just brought out a horse whip (popularly known as bulala in Hausa language) and lashed him to a pulp”.

But that appears to be only a part of the story. A report in another daily that gave what looked like a fuller account of the situation said the governor, having been worried that his people did not have light, decided to invite a PHCN official and find out what was required to make his people have light. According to that report, he was told about N17million would be needed to purchase a new transformer, cables, and other items that were necessary for the installation, an amount the governor promptly approved. It was when there was no improvement after all these that he invited the business manager and two others – Isyaku Daura, Officer 2 (Electrical) and Nuruddeen Mohammed, Staff 1 (Lines) to his office to find out from them why his people still did not have light. When the business manager could not give a satisfactory answer, the governor became annoyed and flogged him.

If the report is true that the governor actually gave N17million to ensure that the people in his town have light, without doubt, he has every reason to be pained. This is especially so that electricity supply to many parts of the country improved in the past few months. At any rate, that is what many state governments do these days to ensure that PHCN delivers electricity to as many people as possible in their states. But there are other questions begging for answers. Is the blackout peculiar to the people of Wamakko town or is it state-wide? If it is state-wide, why the special attention to Wamakko?

Without doubt, the governor should be sufficiently concerned about the welfare of citizens of his state. He should doubly feel sad that after providing what he was told was required to supply his community light (that is assuming that this was a correct version of the story), light remained elusive. But this is what millions of Nigerians experience daily in the hands of the PHCN. Although its top shots always insist that communities do not have to contribute money towards the repairs or replacement of its transformers or other equipment, the fact is that many communities still go ahead to contribute money towards the same purpose so that their cases could be promptly attended to.

In some instances, they are, whilst in many others, the problems persist in spite of the involuntary contributions electricity consumers make to have electricity. Unfortunately, no receipts are issued for these monies because, apparently, they must have gone into private pockets since the organisation insists it does not take such monies from individuals. And, in the absence of receipts, it is difficult to prove that such monies changed hands. Again, where it can be proved, not many people would want to go public that they parted with the money because of the implications.

May be Governor Wamakko has been hearing about such cases and could never have imagined that he could be a victim, at least not whilst he is governor. So, it is as well another case of the rich also cry. And it is good for the system because part of our problem is that those in leadership positions hardly understand the pains of the governed because they do not have first-hand experience of the pains.

All said, however, though I do not like the attitude of many PHCN staff to their jobs, and I am sure many Nigerians are on the same page with me on this, (as a matter of fact, many of them would say serves them (PHCN) staff right), the fact remains that the governor should have controlled his anger. He ought not have embarked on self-help as he did. This is the only reason I am supporting the electricity workers in the zone who have asked the governor to tender an unreserved apology to the three PHCN staff assaulted within seven days, and also to pay compensation to them. It is sad that the governor did not tender the apology within the seven days not to talk of compensating the PHCN staff.

It is actions like this that make many people to be clamouring for the abrogation of the immunity clause from our constitution. One gets the impression that the governor is still not convinced that he did any wrong by flogging the PHCN staff and then handing them over to his security details to ‘perfect’ what he had started.

In the interest of the exalted position of governor that he occupies, Governor Wamakko should apologise for his actions. A situation where the electricity workers in the zone would put everybody in darkness just because of what His Excellency has done is not good enough. When that happens, many people who never knew about the incident would get to know because news travels fast and far in these days of information technology. And most people will usually side with the underdog, in this case, the PHCN staff.

As I said earlier, it is painful to pay for a service that is not delivered; but then, there are some actions that one would not expect certain persons to do, one of such is for a governor to flog a public official. Did it not occur to the governor that things might have gone awry during the flogging if Mr Osigwe had engaged in a scuffle with him? We thank God however that this did not happen just as well that His Excellency was not sufficiently provoked to repeat the Amakiri episode. Amakiri was a journalist who was flogged and his hair shaved on the orders of former military governor of Rivers State, retired Cdr. Alfred Diete-Spiff in 1975.

Obviously, Governor Wamakko allowed the teacher in him to prevail (the governor was once a teacher). But that was wrong. Provocative as the case might seem, the governor should have allowed the governor in him, rather than the teacher, to prevail. It is teachers, particularly those of old that do not spare the rod so as not to spoil the child. The governor should have spared the rod.

November 4, 2012
These irritants called ‘Okada’ riders

They should comply with the law or return to the village

I have strong reservations about certain aspects of the Lagos State Traffic Law, no doubt. But the aspect having to do with the regulation of the activities of ‘Okada’ riders in the state, I wholeheartedly support. As a matter of fact, the regulation should have come a long time ago, considering the nuisance that many of the ‘Okada’ riders have constituted themselves into. Even if I had any doubts before about the necessity for that aspect of the law, those doubts have evaporated with the activities of the ‘Okada’ riders in the past week or so, when enforcement of the law against them began. The ‘Okada’ riders have demonstrated their true colour within the period by vandalising about 42 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses in the state. This is a thing they do daily to private motorists who have issues with them on the roads. Unfortunately, they are almost always wrong, but they insist they are right obviously because many of them do not even know what constitutes right or wrong on the road. Many of them are stark illiterates when the issue has to do with the Highway Code.

For sure, most of them never rode motorcycle all their lives; they learnt it for a few days in Lagos and soon begin to carry passengers. The results are there for all to see. Anyone who has seen accidents involving ‘Okada’ riders would not even think twice before asking that their activities be banned completely. Anyone who has been to the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Igbobi, Lagos, and seen the wards dedicated to victims of ‘Okada’ accidents would understand what one is talking about. There are many people whose dreams have been shattered simply because they had the misfortune of riding on ‘Okada’. And, instead of banning them outright, the Lagos State Government merely came up with a law that bars them from plying some 475 of the about 9,000 roads in the state. This, to me, is the height of magnanimity. It also shows the sensitivity of the state government to the plight of Lagosians who still, of necessity, must patronise the ‘Okada’ riders. It is also a way of showing consideration for the riders themselves to still be able to do something to keep body and soul together.

But when last did you see any ‘Okada’ rider obey traffic rule in Lagos? Nine out of 10 of them would ignore traffic lights. They carry more passengers than the motorcycles are designed to carry. When they break car side mirrors or dent other vehicles, they run away; and where they stop, it is for the purpose of fomenting trouble. They not only argue with the owner of the vehicle whose mirror they have broken or whose vehicle they have dented, they exhibit an uncommon esprit de corps, with every ‘Okada’ rider passing the route stopping to side with their colleague, irrespective of whether their colleague is right or wrong.

Lawlessness apart, quite a number of armed robberies have been committed by ’Okada’ riders or by people on ‘Okada’. Hear the state commissioner of police, Mr. Umar Abubakar Manko: “Motorcyclists have done so much damage in Lagos State. I am the Commissioner of Police and I am telling you from the point of knowledge that most of the armed robberies that we recorded were carried out by these motorcyclists. People go to the banks to collect money, they will hang around banks, they will hang around people’s’ houses, take their belongings, collect their money, even in traffic hold-ups”. So, what are we talking about?

The annoying thing is that most of the people involved in the’ business’ left their own states for Lagos when their state governments proscribed, outright, the activities of ‘Okada’ for the same reasons that the Lagos State Government has now merely regulated them. They did not vandalise their state government property back home; indeed, they did not even lift any serious finger beyond some feeble protests that soon fizzled out. I know of a governor in the south-south who merely ‘decreed’ ‘Okada’ out of existence in his state with effect from January 1, last year. He did not afford the ‘Okada’ riders the luxury of any long notice that the Lagos State Government gave those in Lagos to turn a new leaf before the coming into existence of the new law; or even the period of grace after the law came into force.

This matter is particularly infuriating because after their state governments sent them packing, they joined the next available Lagos-bound bus for the sole purpose of coming to ride commercial motorcycle in the state. And, in spite of the fact that they are not doing it right, they want the state government to leave them alone to behave as they like, sending many more people to untimely graves even as they render many others invalid for life. Where in the civilised world is that done? It is difficult to blame them though; they had committed most of these atrocities over the decades unchallenged that they have now come to see them as the norm.

Of course I am neither deaf nor dumb to the dire economic downturn that has led some of the people into riding commercial motorcycles. But the impression should not be given that the state government owes all Nigerians jobs and that those who cannot find things to do in their own states can just come to Lagos and expect that they must do ‘Okada’ business the way they like. Lagos is not getting any special funding from the Federal Government to warrant that kind of expectation from it. Lagos, like other states of the federation relies on monthly allocation from the Federal Government and internally generated revenue. Many other states have access to the same sources of funds. Unfortunately, there is so much mismanagement and fraud all around, thus making it impossible for them to manage their resources well. If those who are protesting that Lagos is not allowing them to do “Okada’ business on their own terms have gathered themselves to stage similar protests, demanding good governance in their respective states, there would not have been any need for the influx of people to Lagos, overstretching the facilities in the process.

All these explain why I am shocked about the hoopla on this matter. Lagos State has come up with a traffic law that it feels is in the interest of its citizens; if any ‘Okada’ rider feels the law is too stringent to be obeyed, let him return home to demand that his state government should let him operate ‘Okada’ business unregulated. When the south-south governor in question threw ‘Okada’ riders out of his state, many of them were seen conveying their motorcycles to the nearby state from where majority of them came. Much as the country’s constitution guarantees freedom to live and work anywhere in Nigeria by any Nigerian, it does not take the prerogative of making laws for the good governance of the state from the respective state governments. People who intend to do ‘Okada’ business in Lagos must be ready to abide by the law or return to their respective villages. The state government should not fold its arms and allow its citizens being wasted on the streets simply because some people want to eke a living. The Federal Government and state governments have to provide conducive environment for people to be gainfully employed. Lagos alone cannot bear that burden.

October 28, 2012
Ondo election on my mind

Other things being equal, the governorship election in Ondo State must have come and gone by the time you are reading this piece. But the kind of security arrangements that were put in place by the police and other security outfits for the election is mind-boggling. Barely 72 hours to the D-Day, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said roads leading to Ondo State would be closed from last Thursday (October 18) preparatory to the election. Not only that, 20 armoured patrol security personnel and marine police patrol men would be provided at the riverine areas. “There will be no fishing on that day. Whatever fish you have on that day, stay at home and eat it…” Abubakar said, among other things.

Even soldiers are not left out of the security arrangement. The General Officer Commanding (GOC) Nigeria Army 2 Division, Major-General Mohammed Abubakar gave a shoot-on-sight order against hoodlums who may want to rig election or foment trouble to disrupt the polls. In addition to the no-fishing order by the inspector-general of police, the GOC also said that there won’t even be any hunting on Election Day (yesterday). So, people who might want to carry arms under the pretext of going to hunt must have been effectively checkmated. Also, soldiers drafted for the election would get a dress code to differentiate them from fake ones that some politicians might have recruited. Again, soldiers would mount check points on major roads even as the INEC office has been heavily protected against bombing and other criminal activities.

Now, do we blame the security agents for relying on ‘war and chariot’, as it were, to give us free and fair election? Yes and no. I will explain.” Experience”, they say, “is the best teacher”. The fact of the matter is that our politicians have not imbibed seeing election as any other contest in which there is bound to be a winner and a loser. In other words, they are bad losers. Long before former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s coinage of ‘do-or-die battle’ to describe election, elections in the country have become another kingdom of God that suffereth violence and only the violent taketh it by force.

I agree that is not good enough, but the point is that in its 13 years of governing the country since the return to civil rule in 1999, the PDP has not taught us much lesson concerning corruption, particularly political corruption. And there is a limit to how far it can go in the matter because it is a major actor in and beneficiary of election rigging. But I plead with the army to take things easy by not killing innocent voters in the process of killing hoodlums.

Again, the point must be made that all these security arrangements would amount to naught if they are for superficial purposes. We will only have result if the security agents were posted on election duty for genuine reasons. The point must be made too that it would be tragic if all these security arrangements are to feather the nest of any of the contending parties, particularly the federal ruling party. It would be tragic because of the peculiar history of the Ondo people who cannot tolerate their votes being tampered with.

All said, it is important to point out that Ondo election and even the last governorship election in Edo State that returned Adams Oshiomhole, the Action Congress of Nigeria’s (ACN) candidate to office are now assuming the nature of serious business that elections should assume, that is minus the violence aspect. In spite of the fact that Oshiomhole ought to have been returned ‘unopposed’ based on his track record, he still had to fight the battle of his life to ward off the rampaging PDP that wanted to rattle him out of the seat.

We saw the same thing in Ondo State. The three leading contenders for Mimiko’s job, Mimiko himself, of the Labour Party (LP), Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), the candidate of the ACN, and Olusola Oke of the PDP; and particularly the first two, had been selling themselves to the people in the last few weeks. They had traversed the state in their individual attempt to woo the voters. The incumbent must have fought a battle of his life too. This is the way it should be; votes need not come cheap because when they do, they are hardly appreciated. What you do not labour for, you do not value. As they say, “no pain, no gain”. If we continue in this hard work tradition for elections, one day, the voter would be the king that he should be.

October 21, 2012
Welcoming our dear Patience Jonathan

I was angry when Dame Patience Jonathan left the country’s shores unceremoniously late August. I was still angry when she returned on Wednesday. Indeed, I was angrier when the media made her return an issue. Why must you roll the carpets out to welcome someone who did not bid you goodbye when she was travelling? Even if she was not capable of doing that, should her aides too not have explained at least a little of what the issue was as she was leaving the country, or even after she had left? To make matters worse, one of them had to remind us that madam is not his ‘mate’, when we asked him for an idea of when to expect the First Lady. “Is she my mate”, that I should ask her that kind of question? he asked angrily. Anyway, my Christian conscience would not allow me grudge her for too long. So, welcome back, ma’am.

But I won’t allow what I noticed when she returned to go just like that. For a man whose wife had been away for about seven weeks, one would have thought that President Goodluck Jonathan would be more romantic when receiving his wife on her return. But, what did we see on Wednesday? A President Jonathan who appeared too shy to properly hug his Dame in the open, when she returned after the weeks of ‘resting’ abroad. He must have disappointed those of us who were waiting for the award-winning picture of the President hugging his wife on the tarmac, and squeezing her tight, Lagos-style, her two feet off the ground in the process. I trust President Barack Obama, if he had such an opportunity in the open, he would convert it to political advantage so that weeks after the great ‘event’, it would still be the focus of the media worldwide.

President Jonathan would be lucky if the women’s rights groups would not conspire with others at large, to wit: sue him for this run-on-the-mill welcome peck. And when the President should have been making plan to make up for this casual welcome back home hug, he left the country for Niamey, the Niger Republic capital on official assignment. Pray, what business has he in Niamey at a time Patience’s lips must be saying something like ’near-me’?

Anyway, President Jonathan has a rare third chance: having returned from Niamey, he should declare a week-long national holiday to do the needful; Nigerians would understand. Then, in their inner recesses in Aso Rock, they should put a sticker on the door with the stern warning: “First Couple at work” (or is it at play?) with some of the best hits of Donna Summer, Sonya Spence and (cap it with that of) Marvin Gaye, at the background. It is dangerous to let Patience run out of patience.

October 21, 2012
Happy birthday, jare, Gov Okorocha

How can anyone accuse the governor of extravagant celebration?

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has been in the news again of late. As usual with people who would not give the governor a breather, it is for the wrong reasons. The bile this time is the governor’s 50th birthday, which ought to have been marked on September 28, but was postponed to October 8 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the governor’s foundation and schools. This is where the critics first got it all wrong. If Governor Okorocha had been as flamboyant and wasteful as he is portrayed, he would have celebrated the two ceremonies differently. Because both were landmarks in their individual rights would have called for double celebration. The birthday would have been marked on September 28 and the foundation and schools that clocked 10 would also have had their day on October 8.

Apparently, Governor Okorocha knew that armchair critics would take him to task if he did that; so, he decided to collapse the two ceremonies into one, thus killing two birds with one stone. Some savings had been made from this decision; obviously, from whichever coffers the money for the celebrations came. Not a few had speculated it must have come from the public till; some were even so categorical that the money spent on the ceremonies was from the government coffers as if the state’s accountant-general has furnished them with the necessary papers to make such a categorical assertion. Now, even if that were so, people still have to realise that money had been saved all the same because money would still have had to come from wherever if the governor had not been considerate enough to collapse his twin celebration into one.

I can smell two rats in all these criticisms: poverty and envy. The problem is that many of those complaining that the governor is extravagant did so because they did not know how it feels to be 50, especially so when one has the deep pocket to let the invitees eat and drink to their full and still have more than enough to take away. Many of the critics must have matched the array of personalities at the ceremony: former (self-styled) President Ibrahim Babangida, former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, governors of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; Rivers, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; Delta, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan; Katsina, Alhaji Shehu Shema, and Bauchi, Mallam Isa Yuguda with what these and other dignitaries consumed, and the exotic wines that they would have used to flush down the small chops and sumptuous meals, and concluded that it must have cost a fortune to put together such an event. That is poverty at work. Or is it at play?

As ‘King Sunny Ade once sang, when the poor gets to the mansion of the rich, as he is cursing God, so would he be speaking so disdainfully of Him, wondering why He should create some people tall and others short; they would be wondering whether it was not the same God that created the rich who is spending so lavishly, and the poor who like Lazarus must wait to feed from the crumbs falling under the tables of the rich.

The interesting thing is that Imo people did not behave like that, at least not the hoi polloi, which really is soul-lifting. That is to say that those protesting the governor’s ‘extravagant spending’ on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee are essentially busy bodies who delight in their fantasy that no good can ever come of the ‘Okorocha Nazareth’. Now, how do I know? A commentator’s ‘notorious fact’ revealed this in his description of the arrival of Babangida to the Heroes Square, venue of the celebration: “Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who in company with the governor, rode into the square with some streak of a triumphant entry, as the mass of the people who had gathered at the square since 8.00 a.m. rose in loud ovation on sighting their governor and his array of important guests”.

Pray, how does this show disapproval with the governor’s ceremony? I am sure they must have sung ‘Happy birthday’ for the governor. Their representative/s must have joined in cutting the birthday cake, etc. How could people in this felicitation mood complain about the economy of the state shut down for just one day to mark the governor’s 50th birthday? Now, when these critics got to their wits’ end, they even contradicted themselves by saying the governor shut down the entire economy in the state by approving the holiday, when time and again, these same critics have always reminded whoever cares to listen that the state is predominantly a civil servant state. So, which businesses must have lost colossal amounts due to the declaration of a day holiday? Which man-hours could have been lost? If the major source of sustenance is the monthly federal allocation, how did the holiday affect the state’s share? Those who say basic infrastructure is weak if not non-existent in the state; and those who say the schools are dilapidated, that the people have no potable water and that healthcare facilities are inadequate, in short those who say Imo State is backward, thus trying to give the impression that the governor has not been working would see how little they are when they hear what some of the invited eminent persons said of the governor at the ceremony.

Tsvangirai, in his remarks charged African leaders to look inwards by delivering those promises they made during their electioneering campaign, adding that the electorate expected more from them. He commended Okorocha for his milestone in ensuring that his people benefit from democracy dividends. General Babangida on his part extolled the virtues of Okorocha for his achievements in education, philanthropy and governance. He called on other leaders to assist the special citizens by providing for them at all times. What he did not add is that they should emulate Governor Okorocha. When these gods who have seen it all in public office have spoken, who are people who do not know how hot the seats on which the governor and other highly placed people are sitting (or once sat) to contradict them? What other testimonial could have been greater than these?

All those who have been condemning this wise and prudent decision from an equally wise and prudent governor should ask for asagafurulahi so that God can forgive them. The governor’s ears must be full by now over this storm in a teacup. I plead with him not to let this stop the good works he has been doing in the state since his election in May, last year. That is the way it is. I am sure he must have heard of the wise saying that ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’. The governor should not forget that when his predecessor was there, the people complained; they said he was present more on billboards than on ground.

The problem with the critics is that they cannot see the larger picture that the governor is seeing. Governor Okorocha at the occasion restated his vow to put Imo in the map of the fastest developing states by executing only people-oriented programmes. That is to say more holidays are coming. Isn’t this one sure way to make that happen? Happy birthday, jare, your Excellency. Even on auto-pilot, Imo Ebeano!

October 14, 2012
Jonathan counts his blessings

FG suffering from ‘celebrating too soon syndrome’

President Goodluck Jonathan must have been a generous lecturer in his years at the Rivers State College of Education. In spite of the abysmal performance of his government on many fronts, the President still gave himself a pass mark in what was supposed to be his speech on the occasion of the country’s 52nd Independence anniversary, last Monday. Indeed, his self-assessment reminds one of the lizard which falls from a wall and nods in self-appreciation of the ‘feat’ it has performed since the people around were not willing to acknowledge same.

Let’s start with President Jonathan’s claim on security. Is it not surprising that the President who always tells Nigerians that his government is ‘on top of the security situation’ has not celebrated the last two Independence anniversaries at the usual Eagle Square in Abuja? His aides are never short of excuses; no matter how illogical. I am sure if you ask them why this is so, they would readily tell you that it is because the celebrations have to be low-key; or that the President could mark the anniversary anywhere in the country; he could even choose to do it in his native Otuoke in Bayelsa State. But low-key or high-key, Nigerians want to see their President in a place they can connect with, like the Eagle Square, and not Aso Rock where only the privileged people attend cocktail circuits on behalf of themselves.

This year, the President still could not come out of the ‘rock’ to felicitate with his ‘fellow Nigerians’ on Independence Day; yet he was decked in full military ceremonial uniform. If someone promises to borrow one a dress, we have to assess what he is wearing before knowing whether to take him seriously or not. How does the President expect us to believe that his government is ‘on top of the security situation’ when he keeps waving to us from the safe confines of Aso Rock on Independence Day? Or, does he not give a damn about that, too?

If he has security reports that ‘danger looms’ if he goes to Eagle Square for the event, what of the rest of us that are not privileged to have such reports? The best people to score the President on security are the relatives of the many victims of the Boko Haram crisis, as well as the over 40 students massacred in Mubi, Adamawa State, hours after the President had beaten his chest that the security situation was improving.

Perhaps the most astonishing claim in the President’s October 1 speech was that alleging that Transparency International (TI) rated Nigeria second after the United States, in anti-corruption efforts. This claim has been denied by TI and it has remained a source of embarrassment to the country. What the TI alleged claim has shown, further still, is the penchant of our government officials to do selective exposure, selective perception and selective retention. What do I mean? These people see only what they want to see. Take the case of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) that recently alleged that some 800 companies closed down in the country between 2009 and 2011. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (apparently in cahoots with the Federal Government, countered this and said, rather, that some 249 more companies had registered to operate in the country. They did not specify any time frame. Interestingly, it was the MAN statistics that the President referred to in his speech. In other words, that is what constitutes sweet music to the government’s ears. But the government would be making a big mistake if it thinks that Nigerians believe such manipulations. Again, they are the ones whose children left schools years back and are still roaming the streets in spite of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) 13-year rule in the country. So, they are in a better position to know whose statistics to believe, NACCIMA’s or MAN’s.

The truth of the matter is that the kind of indefensible claim that the government made about its anti-corruption efforts is the way Nigerian officials bandy figures and claims; they had been doing it within for long, it is only that the attempt to begin‘charity’ abroad this time has backfired. They said they found the claim in Business Day newspaper. Would they have seen the report (even if published in the New York Times or Times of London) if it had been negative? Even if his aides had included such a claim in his speech, the President ought to have been truthful to himself to know that it is a bogus claim. Whatever his government is doing to fight corruption is based on pressure from Nigerians; it is not a thing the government initiated of its own volition. Perhaps the fuel subsidy scam is about the most important anti-corruption war the government is fighting, and we know what it took Nigerians to make the government rise to the occasion.

Even then, we are not sure if there would be any gain from the efforts if the matter is left completely in the hands of the present government. TI is not a frivolous body, neither are its scores as cheap as the President’s when it comes to assessing countries’ corruption profiles. Rather than apologise for misleading the President, one of his aides who should know said we need not lose sleep over the claim and that “People should focus on the message, namely that a lot of progress has been made and is still being made to tackle corruption in the system”.

In the first place, this is in itself debatable; to now claim that Nigeria is the second country after the United States, in anti-corruption efforts, is taking a silly joke too far. Isn’t there a gulf between sleep and death? Let no one make any mistake about it, the so-called ‘notorious facts’ that the President relied on in his anti-corruption claim was just a reflection of the shoddy manner the country is being governed. When government is honouring people, the medals would not go round; the next year when the medals go round, other arrangements would be mismanaged and recipients would be stranded on arrival in Abuja for the ceremony.

Another example is the Gross Domestic Product that the President claimed to be growing at 7.1 percent annually in spite of the global economic crisis. The question to ask is how does this translate to better life for Nigerians? Nigerians reject to live by figures alone; even though they know that that is what they are as far as their government is concerned – mere statistics!

Also, President Jonathan’s claim on free and fair elections suffered from the same ‘celebrating too soon syndrome’. The President had a free election last year because Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for him. If there is another poll today, the story would be different because the result would be significantly different from last year’s.

Perhaps the only area that the President could claim to be making some progress is power supply. In spite of the phenomenal increase in the amount of megawatts available in the country, it is yet too early to lay claim to any credit in this regard. Let’s see how far this can be sustained so that we don’t dance ourselves lame even though we may never have an opportunity of having the real dance later.

All said, President Jonathan is not competent to count his blessings yet. He is too generous with marks in his self-assessment. What we need is an impartial external examiner in Nigerians to rate him appropriately. They are the beasts of burden carrying the brunt of the country’s many challenges.

October 7, 2012
Robbers and the tragedy of modernity

Policemen should be steps ahead of criminals, not the other way round

For their era, the Babatunde Folorunshos, the Ishola Oyenusis and the other armed robbers who made the headlines in Nigeria in the 1970s were indeed armed robbers to reckon with. But if they were to be operating today, they would not have qualified for the kind of attention that they got then, given the ‘professionalism’, expertise, precision and sophistication that today’s armed robbers bring to bear on their illegal trade, unless they retrain and retool. Today’s armed robbers have taken full advantage of modern gadgets and arms and ammunition in a way that would make those who are shaping our present world regret that their inventions are now being turned into the tragedy of modernity.

When the news of the armed robbery that shook Lagos on September 9 hit the town, many people knew from the way the robbers operated that a lot of logistics went into their operations; we also knew that it was not the kind of robbery that was hastily executed; it must have been well planned and perhaps rehearsed before the day of attack; we had every cause to suspect too that sophisticated weapons were deployed by the bandits. Indeed, this is the area that interests me most.

Confessions following the arrest of three of the suspected robbers in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos, following a tip-off, exactly two weeks after their operation confirmed that much. Indeed, the songs that they sang at the Lagos State Police Command in Ikeja after their arrest are enough to instill the fear of God in many of the people who saw what they referred to as their armoury last Monday, when they were paraded by the police. Not a few persons too would have wondered how the 23 year-olds – Uche Okeagbu, Emmanuel Ezeani and Chinonso Nwuangwu- could have been so sucked into armed robbery. Obviously, going by their confessions, ‘bad society’, as the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti called it, had a great influence on them.

It was Okeagbu’s confession that led to the recovery of a large cache of ammunition: one rocket propel grenade launcher, 225 AK 47 magazines fully-loaded, over 10,000 rounds of AK 47 live ammunition, two general purpose machine guns, 260 rounds of GPMG live ammunition, five dynamite with detonator and nine AK 47 rifles. A Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) team led by Mr. Abba Kyari, found the gang’s armoury in two Volkswagen buses parked at Okeagbu’s residence at Ajangbadi. The police also seized a Toyota Camry belonging to the gang. The car was fitted with sensors and camera. That way, the robbers could monitor whatever was going on behind them. If we recollect the kinds of arms and ammunition that the police seized in Oraifite, Anambra State recently, in the course of arresting a suspected kidnap kingpin as well as many others, we should worry about the source/s of these weapons.

Indeed, all these and more should be enough to make one wonder why, in spite of all these unsavoury developments, the government cannot see the larger picture of what should constitute national priorities. A nation besieged by these kinds of security challenges ought to be able to put its acts together to deal frontally with them. Just last week, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said some 800 companies have closed down in the country in the last three years alone. LCCI has not said anything new, though; the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other bodies that should know had raised similar alarm in the past. The implication of this is the erasure of millions of direct jobs and many more of ancillary others. This point has come for mention in view of the fact that many of the people involved in violent crimes in recent years are youths, most of them with tertiary education but with nothing meaningful to do. And, since the state cannot provide them with something worthwhile, the devil is delighted to keep them busy. But that is at the peril of the larger society.

The Lagos State Police Command has every cause to be angry and to put in their all to fish out those who troubled the peace of Lagos ansd almost rubbished their efforts at crime prevention, because, when on September 9, the gang struck, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said the robbers succeeded largely because his men were sleeping. The command swiftly denied this but that would not have impressed anyone. However, with the arrest of three of the suspects, the command is probably trying to prove to the IG that it is not sleeping. And, that, really, is the next logical thing to do; it is not that there is yet any fool-proof system to stop people from armed robbery, but those going into it would think twice if they know that the chances of being caught are high.

We saw the typical robbers’ greed in this Lagos gang. Like most other robbers, this gang too comprises Oliver Twists. Even as the dust was yet to settle on the Lagos robberies, the gang went to Ilorin in Kwara State, where it allegedly robbed a bank and attacked a police station. If their confessions are anything to go by, the suspects had carried out at least four major robberies this year alone in places like Ibadan where they had four operations; Uyo; and Share, Kwara State. It is not clear when the other robberies in Akure, Ondo State, Osogbo, Osun State, Okene, Kogi State and, Auchi, Edo State, as allegedly confessed by one of them, took place. Now, if these people stole as much as N50 million as was reported in Lagos alone, how did they share the proceeds and what did they do with it that they could not resist the urge to go for another operation so soon?

No doubt if it were possible to ride a horse in the stomach of the state commissioner of police, Mr. Umar Manko, there won’t be any obstructions. This is some progress made in the battle to demystify the gang that shook the state after a long break from such incidents, but it is not yet uhuru. Neither the state, nor any other part of the country is safe until the real kingpins of the gang are held because, as we have seen, they have robbed in many parts of the country. Again, if we go by the confessions of one of the arrested suspects who said he got N500,000, N800,000 and another N800,000 and N100,000 (for the Lagos robbery where at least N50million was said to have been stolen), then who are those who got the lion’s share of the loots? We have to keep such people out of circulation if Lagosians and Nigerians as a whole are to have a truly merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Above all however, the Federal Government has to rethink its attitude towards the police. It is criminals who should be following the law enforcement agents and not the other way round. Policemen cannot be carrying glorified Dane guns and be expected to confront criminals with the most sophisticated weapons. That is akin to a man jumping in front of a moving train.

On this note, I say happy 52nd Independence anniversary in advance. If you have cause to thank the government; please do; but for me, I give glory to God Almighty. May next year’s anniversary be more rewarding (Amen).

September 30, 2012
Honoured today, dishonoured tomorrow

It is better to scrutinise awardees’ credentials before honouring them

“Prevention”, we have always been told, “is better than cure”. In line with this wise saying therefore, one would have expected that the Federal Government would have sifted the wheat from the chaff before announcing people to get the national honours. But the wise saying was inverted with President Goodluck Jonathan’s announcement at the presentation of the awards to recipients last Monday when he said undeserving people who were given the awards would lose such whenever the government finds reason to withdraw it from them. “In the light of the foregoing, I have directed that the National Honours Committee compile a list of persons conferred with the national honours but that their current credibility is questionable. If they are found wanting, our prestigious honours will be withdrawn.” This is not good enough.

Granted that it is possible for some people to misbehave after being honoured, the fact remains that we do not need any special committee to know that some of the recipients did not merit it. And we would have expected the government to know that. Or, do we need foreign countries to help us select people who merit national honours as they have done with the cases of some of our big thieves who used to be walking our streets free but who are now languishing in some foreign prisons? How, for instance, could we have honoured people that were suspected to have swindled the country through fuel subsidy? Yes, we might argue that suspects are deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the fact remains that the awards are not running away. They are too many to go round. So, why must we rush to give people with question marks against their names? Why can’t such people wait till sometime in the future?

The honour, unless we are being told otherwise, is supposed to be conferred on people who have contributed meaningfully to the country’s development and who are of impeccable character. It is an annual event; that presupposes that it should not be a ‘fire brigade’ thing. If the awards are truly important, there should be sufficient time for selection and screening of the nominees such that by the time the list is released, it would be accepted by a wide spectrum of Nigerians and there won’t be need for the kind of medicine after death that President Jonathan has in mind. But the kinds of confusion that trailed the event, especially last year, and even the last exercise, did not show that even the government that is conferring the awards appreciates its essence. Last year, the medals did not go round. This year, accommodation and other arrangements were shoddy as many of the recipients had to make personal arrangements for their stay in Abuja last Sunday, on arrival for what was supposed to be a major national event. Or, is the shoddy preparation part of the statement that the thing has become more of an annual ritual that no one thinks should warrant any especial care for essential details?

These are some of the things that President Jonathan does that attract criticisms from Nigerians. With due respect to the president, many of these policies were hardly well-thought out. That is why, unfortunately Nigerians protest when such are made public. It has nothing to do with whether they like the President’s face or dislike it. But, as I have always argued, if the same Nigerians who voted overwhelmingly for him last year now find his policies reprehensible, then he should know that there must be reasons for that. And it would be better for him to see it from this point of view rather than keep assuming that it is the handiwork of some political detractors as he tried to rationalise last week on the fuel subsidy protests that rocked the country in January. Were these same detractors not around when Nigerians voted for him last year? President Jonathan has to wean himself off this misconception and change for better. Has the President seen any child that is being flogged that would not cry? That was what removal of fuel subsidy amounted to; it is what also the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) plan to introduce N5000 note amounts to; any wonder then that Nigerians cried foul before they were dispatched to untimely graves while some fat cows keep ripping them off in the name of fuel subsidy, or before the country embarks on a journey of no return if the N5000 note had seen the light of day? It is good that the President has seen sense in what Nigerians are saying by asking the CBN to forget about this poison! President Jonathan would do well by not taking, hook, line and sinker, the advice of so-called experts on such a serious matter because they have wider implications. He should not allow himself to be bamboozled by high-sounding theoretical assumptions that would fall flat in the face of reality or our peculiar socio-cultural circumstances.

I am not someone to be fanatical about all things foreign. But I believe we should copy whatever is good from any part of the world. What stops us from copying a country like the United States of America which has given, in its 200 years of existence, national honours to less than 500 people, whereas Nigeria has in less than 40 years of the awards, given to more than 30,000 people? If the awards truly have meaning, that is if it is all about patriotism and contributions to national development, Nigeria may not be as developed as the United States today, but it also has no excuse to be in this sorry pass. What this tells us is that the so-called awards are not worth more than the pieces of paper on which the awardees are listed. The thing has become too cheap, such that it is even believed it is sometimes sold to people with the means.

For the awards to have meaning, we have to depart from the past. And that we can start by drastically reducing the number of honorees and giving it to those who actually merit it. It doesn’t make sense that people get award just for being made Senate President or Speaker, House of Representatives. As a matter of fact, being elected President should not be automatic qualification for the award. Neither should one’s fat bank accounts. Contributions to the country should be the essential prerequisite. President Jonathan can start the revolution because it can only take a revolution to do that, and he would see that Nigerians would stand solidly behind him. The important thing is that the thing should be fair and should be seen to so be. This is in line with his view that “… holders of national honours are truly worthy representations of our national values and honour, and especially are patriotic Nigerians or real friends of Nigeria.”

We have to recognise and reward good deeds, but the way we have carried on with the national honours is apparently not the way to go. Giving honours to 155 Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in just one year is rather unwieldy. That explains why some eminent Nigerian have rejected the ‘honour’ over the years. The honours need not be debased as we have many chieftaincy titles.

September 23, 2012
‘Black’ Sunday

Men of the Lagos police command must wake up to sustain war on criminals

Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, appeared right on the mark when he said his men in the Lagos State Police Command were sleeping; that was after last Sunday’s robbery incidents in the state which caught many Lagosians unawares. Of course there had been pockets of robberies in Lagos before that incident; there had been some cases of car snatching and even armed robberies; it was just that they were not as serious as that day’s. It must have been some two or so years that Lagosians were treated to such a rude shock by armed robbers who operated in broad daylight then, robbing banks and other places of value. As a matter of fact, such operations then usually began as part of the devil’s perilous package of the ‘ember’ months. So, for Lagosians, end-of-the-year accidents were not the only headache then; they were also worried about end-of-the-year robberies.

But the state government gave the robbers a good chase, equipping the police, boosting the pay of their men on patrols and assisting them with sundry other items that they need to facilitate crime prevention and crime fighting. With the kind of investment the Lagos State Government has made into providing security, the bulk of which is splashed on the federal police force, it would be interesting to know if it would require anything more substantial to run its own police force. Soon however, the investments began to yield result; the heat became unbearable in Lagos that the hoodlums relocated to neighbouring states, making residents in the state to be able to sleep with their two years closed for so long.

But that was until last Sunday. Many people who went to church had probably just returned and were relaxing at home when the news hit the air waves. I was somewhere on Dopemu Road when a call came from a Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) official who called the Lagos Traffic Radio and alerted of the robbery operation going on around the Agege area of the state. That was the road I and my family members that were going out were supposed to take; I only made a detour when I got to Dopemu Road so as to show them something along the way. So we did not have inkling of how serious the robbery was until we were returning and we took Capitol Road. It was there we saw a crowd of sympathisers and we knew it was not a joking matter.

Given the manner of their operations, it would seem that the robberies in the metropolis on the day were well planned. That it took the better part of Sunday afternoon was one pointer to this. The robbers attacked a bureau de change at Agege where they shot some of the currency operators and carted away two sacks (Ghana-must-go bags) containing foreign and local currencies. They also reportedly gang-robbed in the Anthony, Ojodu, Itire, Ikeja, Ilasamaja and Gbagada areas of the state between 1.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. Obviously they came to Agege purposely to attack the bureaux de change operators there and they made a big catch. Indeed, if the stories of millions of naira and other foreign currencies the robbers were reported to have carted away there are true, then the people operating the bureaux de change attacked must know there are moles in their midst. If not, how come the robbers knew when such huge sums would be found on them?

The robbers killed no fewer than six persons, including three policemen and a commercial bus driver. The incident was unfortunate for one because the Lagos State Government has invested heavily in the police, even as it has led the private sector to do same. As a matter of fact, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of the state was to launch 114 new patrol vans presented by the 20 local government areas and the 37 local council development areas in the state, 40 motorcycles and other equipment for the police, to battle rising wave of crime in the Lagos metropolis the day before the robbers struck. Also billed for launching for the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, were four big vans and an ambulance vehicle, bullet proof jackets and helmets. The other equipment, apart from the patrol vans, were donated by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, STF. Good enough, Mr Abubakar was present at the event.

Could it have been that the robbers carried out their operations because they felt waiting until the equipment were launched could make the job more difficult and hazardous for them? We might need to investigate if there was no collusion between the hoodlums and some bad elements in the police. This is much more so that there were claims that the robbers probably intercepted police communication, hence they were able to navigate their way without much hitches.

Well, the state police command has said the robbers made it easy because they (police) were trying to avoid a situation where there would be many civilian casualties. This makes sense. But the robbers’ success in their operations makes it imperative for the police to restrategise so they won’t be giving us the same excuse if the bandits decide to strike again. We are already in September and Christmas and the New Year celebrations are only a few months away. Everybody wants to celebrate; thieves, robbers and hard-working people. Whilst people who actually worked for their money would make their celebration low-key, knowing that January is usually a ‘long’ month, those who made cheap money from armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes want to celebrate big because every day is Christmas for them until they are caught.

All said, we have to do something about unemployment in the country. Without mincing words, the governments, particularly the Federal Government, has to give Nigerians the enabling environment to do something worthwhile with their lives. It does not appear this government has the hands on the handle concerning what to do to stem the tide of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, and if it has, it is damn too slow in making progress.

Well, the Lagos State Police Command has said its men are not sleeping. Its spokesman, Ngozi Braide, a deputy superintendent, also debunked claims that there is an upsurge of crimes in the state. In her words, “There is no upsurge at all. Yesterday night (Tuesday September 11) we arrested eight suspected armed robbers with seven AK47 rifles and six locally made pistols. So, the men are not sleeping”. I agree with her that crime has gone down considerably in the state. But the state police command has to prove that it has gone down for good. And the only way to do that is to ensure, as the inspector-general has warned, that there is no repeat performance of last Sunday’s incident in the state. The command would also do well to apprehend the robbers as demanded by both Governor Fashola and Mr Abubakar. That will be the icing on the cake and a true deterrence to others who might be planning to replicate the act. That naturally should be the least to expect from a police command that the state government has had to bend over backwards to provide mobility, allowances and other forms of assistance. It will also be a way of ensuring that their colleagues and others killed by the bandits did not die in vain.

So help them God.

September 20, 2012
Cynthia and the beastly cousins

Parents and children alike have lessons to learn here

Sometimes, I feel tempted to agree with former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, who once said (I think at a press briefing) that the Babangida government that he was second-in-command in would ‘arrest and jail’ some suspects. Aikhomu characteristically forgot that after the police have made arrest, the judiciary is supposed to take over, and that it is only the judiciary that has the power to jail or convict. Even after one of his aides had allegedly reminded him of this serious error of omission, Aikhomu amended his statement to read that yes, they would ‘arrest, prosecute and jail’ the felons! The point, nonsensical as it seemed, was that the military had no patience for the rule of law. The point I am also making is that there are times when matters have resolved themselves, and we need not belabour issues by looking for what is not missing all in the name of rule of law.

Two recent incidents in the country seem to have vindicated this position. The first was the death, on August 17, of Clifford Orji, and the second, the brutal murder of pretty Cynthia Osokogu, the daughter of Major-General Frank Osokogu (rtd), by two satanic cousins, on July 22. Orji came into limelight when people began to suspect his activities under the bridge at the Toyota Bust Stop area of the Oshodi- Apapa Expressway in Lagos in the late 1990s. He was arrested and subsequently arraigned on February 19, 1999, at the Ebute-Metta Magistrate’s Court in Lagos.

Perhaps the most curious thing in his case was that for the 13 years that he was at the Kirikiri Prison, he was never tried in court for the allegations of cannibalism and being in possession of human parts over which he was arrested, ostensibly because he was mad. And no psychiatric hospital in the country could treat him! The next thing we were told was that he has died. So, we may never know whether it was some big men that actually planted him under the bridge to source for human parts for them, or not.

We were yet to digest this when Cynthia’s death hit the news waves. The 24 year-old was the last child and only daughter of Major-Gen. Osokogu (rtd). She was killed in an hotel in FESTAC Town in Lagos. Two men who had reportedly admitted that they murdered her were paraded on August 22 by the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja. The suspects are Echezona Nwabufor, 33, and Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka, 23. Eloka said they killed Cynthia because they thought she had a lot of money in her possession.

From what they reportedly said, and as captured by journalists during the police parade of the duo, it would seem Cynthia’s blood was crying for vengeance. Otherwise, the two suspects would not have been singing like canaries the way they did, after they were caught. When the story broke, some people felt there might have been more to it than was initially reported. Unless those paraded are later found not to be the ones that lured pretty Cynthia to Lagos, or unless they repudiate the story they told the press when they were being paraded, it was clear there was nothing between the suspects and the late Cynthia. The suspects themselves admitted that they met on Blackberry group chat and began communicating from there.

No doubt, one expected a lady doing post-graduate programme to have been more circumspect about the kind of people to trust, and not to jump at offers, particularly from strangers (that was a creed many of us were taught when we were growing up; I do not know whether such things are still being taught today), that might have been a weakness, and Cynthia’s eventual undoing. From what is in the public domain however, one gets the impression that she possibly might not have been in dire need of the free air ticket and hotel accommodation that her suspected murderers used to lure her. Parents have a job to do here. People addicted to the social networks also have to watch it. At any rate, whatever Cynthia might have been, sinner or saint, she did not deserve to die the way she did in the hands of the brutes in human skin that killed her.

The suspects themselves probably realised this, and the consequence; hence, the song they have been singing that they never meant to kill her; that all they wanted to do was dispossess her of money and other valuables. As a businesswoman, they had thought she would come to Lagos with a lot of money to buy the cheap goods they promised they were going to offer her. But one should wonder what that means, considering that they admitted drugging her with 10 tablets of Rohypnol, which they injected into three packs of Ribena juice that they served her in her hotel room. They did not meant to kill her, yet, they kept her under ruffling sheets for 12 long hours, a thing they denied, yet, traces of semen were found on her private part! I do not know whether even professional prostitutes could have survived such assault.

Again, the suspects denied having sex with her; they denounced the condoms found in the hotel room and stuff like that. Yet, they claimed she was about their fifth victim and that they had only always robbed and raped the other victims, that none of them ever died in their ‘protective custody’. The kind of stupid things they have been saying, and so incoherently too, once again shows that many criminals hitherto thought to be men become lily-livered when finally apprehended. How do people who claimed they had only been raping their other victims now say they never did in Cynthia’s case? And they want us to believe that? What pleasure would the lady have derived from using a vibrator (sex toy) on herself when she had two able-bodied suspected serial rapists in the same room with her? They want us to believe that, too? Cynthia’s first striking feature was her captivating beauty. Not to have ‘known her’ as the suspects want us to believe would probably have meant that their other victims were paragons of beauty too, whose shoe laces Cynthia would not have been qualified to untie. They did not mean to kill her, yet, they tied her mouth and hands; they also chained her legs! What bunkum? These beastly cousins should go tell all these to the marines! They did not mean to kill her, yet they referred to her as ’bastard’ after they were through with her.

If we take into cognisance the items allegedly recovered from the suspects: seven driving licences (three belonging to Ezekiel, four belonging to Okumo with different names); the deceased’s belongings, including her shoes (found in Okumo’s house); 17 mobile phones, two Diamond Bank rubber stamps, two syringes, a pack of Ribena, 22 SIM cards, a chain, 12 debit and credit cards, we will know that they are big time suspects.

In conclusion, it was a lawyer friend of mine who led me into the temptation of wanting to see some sense in what Admiral Aikhomu said: that we don’t have to take the luxury of the rule of law in cases that seem to have decided themselves; we should just ‘arrest and jail’ the suspects, when she said that if the suspects in Cynthia’s matter get a good lawyer, they might escape being charged with murder, or even receive a mere slap on the wrist for whatever the court eventually finds them guilty of. However, we should wait to get to that bridge before crossing it.

September 20, 2012