Category: Gbenga Omotoso

FOR a while I thought Santa wouldn’t come this way this year. The Boko Haram bloodletting, the crass insensitivity of our leaders and the biting poverty in the land.

The Chibok girls, more than 200 of them, remain in captivity, let down by a country that should protect them like the heavenly gifts that they are. But, all over town, the colour red hits you in the eye. Then, the carols. The carnivals. The gifts. And the parties. Oh! Here comes Santa – at last.

Off to the city mall I rushed to get gifts for some of our prominent citizens, including the politicians – never mind their obscurantism and incompetence; after all, it is their season. So, dear reader, here is a list of who gets what from me:

What present for President Goodluck Jonathan? Cash? He already has truck-loads of it. The other day at the Villa, a group of his faceless friends backing his re-election – they seem to be ashamed of their friendship or the sheer obscenity of it all that they refused to be named – dazed him with cash, shelling out N21.7billion to boost his campaign fund.

The thriving rumour mill immediately hit the overdrive. Who are these donors? Where is the cash coming from? Are these anonymous donors not the fuel subsidy thieves who almost bled the treasury to death? If we had such cash, why borrow to fight Boko Haram? Do these donors love Nigeria as they love the President?

The questions were many. Where were these moneybags when we went, bowl in hand, seeking financial succour for flood victims? Isn’t this a sickening self-publicism? If these donors are the testimony to the miracle of the Transformation Agenda (TA), why won’t they show themselves? How will workers, who are yet to get paid for three months, feel at this empty show of affluence?

A cheeky fellow rushed for a calculator when the donation was announced on the television. He started pounding the little machine. “I want to see how much each Nigerian will get, if they decide to share out this money,” he said excitedly. Minutes after, he shook his head and said grudgingly: “And these are people who say they want to fight poverty. These are people who claim corruption is different from stealing o.”

Pardon my digression. What gift for Dr Jonathan? A pack of Vitamin C tablets and some anti-shock drugs and a copy of Stephen R. Covey’s Principle Centered Leadership.

Since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held its primaries, there has been no peace in many states. In Lagos, for instance, the acrimony has been so deep, deeper than the dark waters of the lagoon. On one side are Musiliu Obanikoro; Koro, for short, the former Minister of State (Defence) and his henchmen. On the other are party elder Chief Olabode Ibironke George and businessman Jimi Agbaje. Since he lost the governorship primary to Agbaje, Obanikoro has been all over the place, swearing and screaming, huffing and puffing.

The election was conducted like a war. Guns were fired. Teargas plumes went up into the skyline, choking the delegates. At the end of it all, 863 voted as against the 803 accredited.  Obanikoro, befuddled by a long-time ambition of ruling Lagos and driven by an inexplicable passion for power, has been hurling abuses at George. George, in a show of unsolicited didacticism, told Obanikoro that the bird had flown, adding: “Lagos has moved on, far beyond the primitive wretchedness of little, ill-bred hooligans.” This, being a family newspaper, I will not restate some of those abuses.

I don’t support those who say Koro should dump his ambition and go home – just like that. From me, he gets a copy of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Voice of Courage in which the sage expounds on the principle of sowing and reaping.

In Oyo, former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala took some time off the social circuit to seek the PDP’s ticket. He was beaten to the prize by Senator Lekan Folarin. Ever since, it has been threats of war from both camps, even as Alao-Akala has defected to the Labour Party (LP). “We will cage Akala,” Folarin once declared. The former governor replied: “Nobody can cage me.” Warmongering.

      Oyo, troubled by irascible motor park touts and ragamuffins, bred by some elderly roughnecks, has had its own share of violence. It deserves some tranquility. Enough. Who best to proclaim a new regime of peace than its leading politicians. So, for Alao-Akala and other leaders, I have a dole of doves, which they should release on New Year’s Day. Their supporters and all those who would not let the state be will, hopefully, get the message that a new dawn of peace is here.

You may lash police chief Sulaiman Abba for being cantankerous and unnecessarily pugnacious, but you can’t accuse him of being indolent. He even, occasionally, goes beyond the bounds of his duty above the courts to interpret the law as he did when he withdrew Speaker Aminu Tambuwal’s security. Only recently, he ordered his men to shut the gates of the National Assembly against the lawmakers, forcing the latter to climb the gates to, as the rumour went, stop a desperate plan to remove Tambuwal.

After these two incidents, many Nigerians concluded that Abba was returning policing to the old days. From me, the police chief will get a baton and a brand new bulala (horsewhip) – those good old weapons that used to be part of the police dressing. Now, they should be handy in the new regime.

 Want to guess what Agric Minister Akinwunmi Adesina will get? Bow tie? No. He already has too many of them, I am told. He will get a business directory which, the compilers swear, contain a comprehensive list of outlets that stock that seemingly elusive but over-celebrated stuff, the cassava bread. Besides, I am told, the directory contains a list of the rice farmers who have started exploring the overseas market to avoid the saturation in the local market, a situation that is part of the numerous gains of the much criticised but highly successful TA. I was assured that fertiliser merchants who have been sent out of their roguery do not feature in the directory – another plus for the TA.

By now, the Jonathan Presidency should be winding down. Elections are coming in February. In other words, the cabinet will be dissolved and it will be time for Police Affairs Minister Jelili Adeshiyan to fulfil his vow to beat up former Osun State Governor Isiaka ‘Serubawon’ Adeleke. The honourable minister will get from me a pair of fine leather boxing gloves. For me not to be accused of partiality, I have ordered a crash helmet for Adeleke. He must start wearing this as soon as the news of the cabinet disbandment is broken. What a blow to the head from an in-form Adeshiyan can do is better imagined than experienced, a source close to the minister once told me. So, Serubawon, beware.

Presidential aide Dr Doyin Okupe has come under attack since he compared his boss to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Some said he so spoke out of ignorance; others said he was simply gripped by a strange paroxysm of speech. Former Oil Minister Prof Tam David-West said Jonathan should have rejected such a blasphemous comparison. “He failed in the election the day Okupe compared him with Christ,” the university teacher said, adding: “President Jonathan should be reminded that when the Beatles at the height of their fame compared themselves to Jesus Christ, the band completely collapsed.”

I won’t deny Okupe a present because of this. He gets a copy of The Holy Bible, King James Version.  He is advised to study 1John 1:9, Matthew 12: 31-32 and Mark 3:29, among many others.

Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala seems to have overdrawn her account in the bank of credibility. It is in the red. Her first coming saw Nigeria pay off her debt to the Paris Club – a controversial deal that many, with little or no proof, described as a rip-off. Now, the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy may have lost grip- and direction – of the economy. Sometimes, she tells us the economy is in fine fettle; other times, she speaks of belt–tightening measures.

The other day, she told us that $20b oil money was not missing. The figures, she said, were being reconciled. After weeks of poring over the books, she said $10b was missing. Up till now, we are yet to find the money.

From that nebulous programme with a fanciful name, SURE-P, that has gobbled up billions of naira with nothing to show for it, to the $9b stoves as well as the devaluation of the naira, Dr Okonjo – Iweala has lost it.  Nevertheless, she remains on my mailing list. To her I send a copy of Tom Gorman’s The Complete  Idiot’s Guide to Economics (Penguin, 2003).

  My mailing list remains open all through the Yuletide. Should anybody feel left out, he or she should feel free to contact me. After all, this is the season of goodwill. And to all fans of Editorial Notebook, a wonderfulChristmas and a great 2015.

THERE seems to be nothing they won’t criticise. Nothing. No matter how little. His dress sense, his culinary sense, his mannerism, his peregrinations and – wait for this – his choice of friends.

How unfair they have been to him. Those idle fellows whose only business is minding other people’s business. They see the speck in other people’s eyes and neglect the log in theirs. They go by all manner of dubious names. Activists.  Social critics. Commentators. Opposition. Spokesmen. Observers. Analysts. And more.

Their target? Who else other than President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, GCFR, who seems to have developed a strong chin to take all the blows. He has been impassive to it all, apparently after being counselled by his dutiful minders that such attacks are merely his opponents’ strategy to stop him from the 2015 race, the all-important game for which all other aspects of our national life have been diminished.

Dr Jonathan was in N’djamena, the capital of Chad, the other day to discuss with President Idris Deby how to tackle the madness that has sliced off a chunk of Borno State in the name of an insurgency driven by the Boko Haram sect and fuelled by various factors, including corruption and lack of political will.

A usually reliable source who would not want to be identified for security reasons swore to me that only Dr Jonathan and his host were discussing behind the huge mahogany door of an inner room in the presidential lodge, away from the prying eyes of security boys, press boys and the army of hangers on in starched brocades and oversize suits cleverly addressed as aides.

Just from nowhere the next day, a photograph was splashed all over the newspapers of President Jonathan – bowler hat, long dress with a dangling golden chain, glittering buttons and all – President Deby and former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff ,the one called SAS, the one who for a long time was secretly accused of founding and funding the terror machine that is Boko Haram, an issue that has since been placed in the public domain.

A mere photograph. That was all those fellows, the critics aforementioned, needed to descend on the President again. They said he was travelling in the company of a suspected Boko Haram godfather. If any matter of great security implication is to be discussed, should it be in the presence of such a man? Where is the Villa’s sense of circumspection? In what capacity did Sheriff sit at that meeting?  Who invited him? The questions were many. And those were from the lenient and liberal of the critics. The harsh ones went on to allege and assert – without any proof whatsoever – that Jonathan conspired with Sheriff to unleash the monster that they are now battling to rein in.  In fact, some of them claimed – again, without any proof whatsoever – that the Commander-in-Chief actually went to hold talks with the sect’s leaders after the former governor had cleared the way for him. Haba!

All this because of a mere photograph, a material that could be discarded anyhow without any sense of loss.

Aren’t these idle fellows setting a dangerous precedent? If they are not checked now, they will not only recommend whose company the President should keep, they will want to endorse who should share his table, his bed, his jet, his thoughts and all the paraphernalia of his exalted office.

But the Presidency did not allow the matter to go unnoticed. Thanks to Dr Reuben Abati who issued a statement explaining the circumstances under which the photograph was taken. We now know that the President never travelled with Sheriff , who, according to him, has had a long standing business relationship  with Chad. Sheriff, said the presidential spokesman, was only part of a crowd of Nigerians resident in Chad who came to the airport to welcome Jonathan. The picture, he said, was taken at the airport and not at the presidential lodge.

We all heaved a sigh of relief. We had thought that those heartless hackers and Internet fraudsters were at work again, that they had cranked up the scene, yanking off His Excellency’s picture from somewhere and merging it with Sheriff’s and Deby’s to reinforce the long peddled but yet unproven suspicion that there is an official collusion in Boko Haram and that the Presidency was paying lip service to the anti-terrorism war.

Thankfully, Abati proved that the photograph was genuine; it was no fabrication. If you thought this would keep the attackers at bay, you were wrong, damn wrong. Does Sheriff live in N’djamena? Where in the picture are the other Nigerians who came to show their love for Jonathan? Why should the President allow Sheriff to sit so close to him? Is it normal for the host President and his guest to sit at the airport, taking photographs? Is Jonathan unaware of the grave allegation against Sheriff – that he is the capone of Boko Haram, which has murdered and kidnapped hundreds, including over 200 school girls?

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka joined the fray. He said he believed Australian Stephen Davis’ view on Sheriff – the latter had said some Boko Haram commanders told him that Sheriff was one of their financiers – and that he should return to shed more light on his assertions.

Besides, said the fiery literary giant, Jonathan knows the Central Bank Of Nigeria(CBN) official Davis was referring to as the link between the sect and the financial world. His name is on Jonathan’s table, Soyinka said, adding that he would support rights activist lawyer Femi Falana’s plan to force the authorities to prosecute Sheriff.

But, wait a minute, gentlemen. Does Jonathan not possess the right to choose his friends and associates? Isn’t this a private matter?

A lawyer friend of mine, a Senior Advocate, whose wig’s coffee brown colour shows that he has seen ages in the Bar, after studying Jonathan’s predicament, has confided in me that he intends to take up a writ of mandamus to compel the Attorney-General to seek a legal pronouncement that the president, including Jonathan and whomsoever is so called, named, mentioned, cited, known and addressed, has the right to choose his friends.

The SAN, a meticulous fellow, disclosed to me that he would be relying on such authorities as the legendary Lord Denning to show that a man reserves the right to choose his friends and acquaintances. Besides, says the lawyer gleefully, he will press into his argument the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which is also known as the Banjul Charter. After this, if the critics remain unrepentant, as I suspect they will as their passion is driven by 2015 politics, my lawyer friend will also compel the Attorney-General to file an action at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Sheriff was in Maiduguri on Tuesday with about 200 soldiers guarding his convoy of exotic vehicles. Those critics sprang up to their feet again. They cried that instead of probing the allegations against Sheriff, the government was pampering him. Like a baby? They recall that about two months ago, the government closed the Maiduguri airport, forcing the governor to travel by road to Kano for a flight to Abuja. But when Sheriff was to visit Maiduguri, the airport was opened for his plane to land and closed again as soon as it departed.

The Department of State Security(DSS) has said that it is probing Sheriff; isn’t that enough? Will any responsible government  allow a VIP like Sheriff to go to Maiduguri without the best escort that our military can provide?

The President has also been under attack for encouraging an amorphous group that goes by the duplicitous name, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), which has been going from city to city, campaigning for his re-election in 2015.

Who does not know that Jonathan has not told anybody, living or dead, that he is running. Yet they slander him for the obscenity that is TAN, a group that has diminished his achievements – in security (Boko Haram has been confined to the Northeast), power supply (we shall soon hit 5000 MW), roads (more are being revived to bring down the number of deaths from accidents to at least three digits as against the thousands we have now), education (schools are to run smoothly soon after months of forced break and, as for the mass failure in School Certificate, the government will address that at the appropriate time) and economy ( the gains of rebasing are already being felt by all). Not so?

What will stop these idle fellows? I support Soyinka’s proposal: Let’s bring back Stephen Davis. We need to unravel this blood guzzling monster of a sect.

The seized $9.3m cash

WE may never know why two Nigerians and an Israeli decided to fly to South Africa, carrying $9.3 million in their luggage. Even by Nigeria’s weird standard whereby money has lost its name – the multi-billion oil subsidy fraud, the massive pension fraud and the hazy defence spending, among others – this looks strange.

What kind of arms were they going to buy? Rifles?Bombs? Bullets? Anti-aircraft guns? We may never know. In June, we hauled $3.85 million to Brazil for our protesting Super Eagles. The government, in its befuddled state, may say security matters are not the stuff for public consumption.

But the questions will never end. Who approved this massive cash movement? Was it actually meant for arms as the South Africans were told? Did the arms dealer ask for raw cash? Were the gentlemen going to pick the arms off the shelf like chocolate at Shoprite? What happened to the cashless policy?

We may never know.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign has finally taken off – against all odds.

I salute His Excellency’s courage. Faced with the obvious blackmail by his numerous opponents, not to talk of the army of busybodies and unrepentant slanderers, who have been too mischievous to see his gigantic achievements, many a leader would have shied away from it all. Not so Dr Jonathan. His campaigners have flooded the land with rallies to celebrate their man. Television advertorials portraying him as a great man, just like many other giants whose opponents believe he shouldn’t be ranked with, are relayed all the time.

Can you blame those excited young men and women who have launched a huge road show to drum up support for Jonathan’s re-election? Now, the whole country is on pins and needles for what Dr Jonathan will say about the numerous calls for him to run in 2015. An ever compassionate man, who has refused to be overwhelmed by Nigeria’s daunting problems – corruption, insecurity, poverty, violent crimes and others – Jonathan, I am sure, will not let them down. He will surely throw his hat in the ring.

The campaigners, eminent citizens all, have been called all manner of names by those idle fellows who hide under the nomenclature “social commentator” to hurl abuses at others. Fraudsters. Tricksters. Pranksters. Crooks and cranks. They have been so called.

Unknown to the critics, these are visionary men who saw through it all. They knew that the various irritants and distractions that we all see as problems are what they are – an amateurish attempt to discourage Jonathan from exercising his right to run next year.

Consider the Boko Haram nonsense. The Presidency knew early enough that it was a mere political contrivance by the opponents of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who vowed that what they could not make they must break. The President once said that members of the dreaded sect had infiltrated his administration. Why don’t you flush them out? Some cheeky fellows, who obviously are ignorant of the workings of a modern administration, asked His Excellency. Then, there were some bombings here and there, but not enough to loosen the grip of a government that is bent on damning all the odds to pursue religiously its widely maligned but highly successful transformation agenda, the fruits of which are all over the place now.

Apparently not satisfied with the little attention it got after bombing the UN office in Abuja and the police headquarters, Boko Haram stepped up the game. It went in the dead of the night to abduct over 200 schoolgirls from their hostel in Chibok, Borno State, drawing global attention to what has been described as one of the biggest mass abductions ever.

At first, the government dismissed it all as another political stunt. It was unmoved. It sent a team to validate the claim, challenging the “faceless” parents of the girls to show up or keep quiet. So serious and urgent was the matter that the First Lady joined in finding a solution. She summoned the school’s principal, the WAEC chief and others. Her conclusion, even though not surprising, was highly revealing: some mischievous fellows, most likely politicians who obviously lack the fear of God and do not want to see anything good about the President, had forged the abduction to malign him. She admonished them to fear God, crying: “Dere is God ooo”.

There seems to be no evidence that those fellows have changed, despite Mrs Jonathan ’s admonitory tears. When the President wrote to the National Assembly, seeking permission to borrow $1billion to purchase equipment to fight Boko Haram, he was pilloried like a coach whose team had just lost a game it had under its firm control. Some said the cash was to fund his campaign for 2015, the same campaign that some patriotic Nigerians are now funding with ease. Others said he should first account for all the cash that had been voted for defence since he mounted the saddle. Yet, others simply said the money was too much. Are we talking about cutlasses and axes for political thugs? Bows and arrows for village vigilantes? Haba!.

Now, Boko Haram has seized some key towns. It has declared a caliphate. A few days ago, some leaders of the North issued an ultimatum, saying Jonathan must get the Chibok girls out before October or forget about 2015.

Where have these northern leaders been? Hasn’t the government said several times that it knows where the girls are and will get them out at the appropriate time?

As if all that was not enough, an American – Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, an Ebola patient, flew into Lagos, fell ill and was admitted at a hospital. His desperate attempt to flee the hospital was physically resisted by a remarkable woman of a remarkable character who contracted the disease and died even as she opened our eyes to the big danger Sawyer posed.

A source told me last night that he learnt from a politician whose uncle is close to a fellow who knows a man whose friend used to work at the Presidency that a team of local scientists with deep knowledge of human behavioural patterns analyses have been commissioned to crank out studies into the various distractions the President has been facing. One of the preliminary results of this massive academic exertion is the discovery that an opposition party may have hired the late Sawyer to unleash Ebola on Nigeria.

Trust the President’s men. They have refused to be deterred. The campaigners have stepped up their rallies. Transformation  Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Protectors of Nigeria’s Prosperity and many others are in the new game in town. Surveying the podium the other day, a colleague wondered how people could be chucking their money about, promoting a controversial cause. Now we know why the subsidy fraud probe never really got off the ground, he said, noting that some of those accused of creaming off billions in the fuel subsidy bazaar are the leaders of the campaigns.

They have been talking about President Jonathan’s transformation of the railway, roads, ports and sports. In their excitement, they seem to have forgotten the wonders wrought by the transformation agenda in many other areas. How about the Almajeri schools that are now turning out potential professors, the glittering airports with top range equipment and schools that are set to be designated “centres of excellence” after just about a year of closure and those killer-roads that are now as smooth as airport runways, and the first class hospitals. The rice revolution and the cassava bread that has sent wheat farmers gasping for breath and the roaring textile mills. The steady electricity supply that has sent diesel and generator merchants screaming for help. As they say, the list is endless.

As we pondered these “giant strides” of the administration, Chika Okpala, the one called Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo, alias 4.30, just popped up on the screen, white moustache  and all, saying: “Does anybody need mirror to look at what I have at hand? Nooo!  These are the ingredient of life. Automobile industry, Goodluck.. Petrol yanfu yanfu …Goodluck. Goodluck can do. Goodluck are going to do and Goodluck will be done. Are you seeing what I’m saw?”

My colleague shook his head, gave a harsh, derisive laugh and concluded: “Now I know the whole thing is nothing but a joke.” Is he right?

IT was a moving – and rare – spectacle. Doctors in their white house coats, carrying placards and marching in some cities. Thousands of them have just been “fired” in one moment of presidential fury for going on strike.

Poor guys. Their tough visage betrayed a deep anger against a negligent system in which professionals and their children stand a little chance of living well, even as their trade has become so risky. One of them, Dr Stella Shade Aneyo Adadevoh, has just died after contracting the Ebola virus while trying to save the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who imported the lethal disease to Nigeria.

But not all professionals are that unlucky. Some are just lucky; they work hard and it pays. All is smooth. Others are not just lucky, they are endowed with good luck. From the obscurity and humility of a village life, they get catapulted onto the apogee of their career.

Super Eagles coach – should I say former? – and his would – be employers have been haggling as if the subject at issue is a real estate deal involving a huge Banana Island property. First, he was said to be the target of some countries seeking a good coach to drive their soccer dream. That was just after the World Cup. Then, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) asked him to return. Keshi was offered N5m monthly, which he dismissed as “slavery pay”. Then N8m. No deal. As the officials racked their heads to resolve the matter before a fast approaching Nations Cup qualifier match, the Big Boss announced through his agent – nobody negotiates such a job all by himself; there are agents who are well paid to do so – that he wanted N15 monthly.

Now, we hear the NFF needs the President’s assistance to pay such a gargantuan salary. The Keshi contract haggling has opened a huge debate on professionalism, risks and rewards.

Being a Super Eagles coach is, in fact, no joke. He is expected to develop the game at the grassroots so that the national team will have at any time a pool of stars to draw from. Besides, he must be able to win trophies. Consider the tension on the bench during critical matches, the gesticulations, the sweating, the hollering and, of course, the chewing gum that seems to keep the emotion and the tension in check.

Bagging the job is like hitting the jackpot. A $20,000 match bonus. If the match is drawn, the coach gets $10,000 and World Cup appearance fee of $300,000. Free accommodation, business class travel and a fleet of vehicles, including the exotic Sport Range. The coach was also given $20,000 by one of the biggest supporters of the game, Globacom, for guiding the Eagles to win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. And an unfettered access to the President. Even bank and oil company chiefs must be envious.

Almost two years after he was accused of stealing N21b pension fund – he denied any wrongdoing – Pension Reform Task Force chief Abdulrasheed Maina is back in the news. Maina’s task force, you may wish to recall, was drafted in to clean up the mess in the system. But it ended up muddling up everything. As soon as Maina was accused of having his hand in the till, he announced the discovery of more stolen pension cash, usually in billions. And the game went on and on until we all lost focus of the issue – that pensioners were dying and some villainous civil servants were living like kings and movie stars after stealing much of  the cash.

So bad was the situation that the Senate issued an arrest warrant against Maina, but the then Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Dikko Abubakar claimed Maina’s whereabouts was unknown. Maina had an army of police guards. He rode in long convoys of exotic vehicles and had an air of invincibility around him. But the IG said when his men went to arrest him, he bolted through the back door, never to be seen again. The Senate lashed out at the Presidency for allegedly shielding Maina. In fact, Senate President David Mark asked the executive to choose between the Senate and Maina. At a point, people were hired to protest in his support as he claimed to be suffering from persecution.

The missing billions are yet to be found and the Senate warrant is yet to be discharged. The hell raising is all over. Now there are calls for Maina’s return. Lucky guy. He can even sue for defamation or be magnanimous to just let go, saying: “I’ve forgiven all.” Will Maina be reinstated?

A new helmsman has taken charge at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). I watched the other day as former Group Managing Director Andrew Yakubu handed over to the new man, Joseph Dawha, who was all smiles.

As he took the reins, observers were wondering how long Dawha, who looks so simple and naïve, would last on the job. As of the last count, the corporation has had five managing directors in less than five years. It was not clear why Yakubu had to go. Sources said he was fired for irreconcilable differences – whatever that means – with the minister, Mrs Diezani Alison- Madueke, who is yet to clear herself of the allegation that she spent N10b on chartered flights. Instead of laying the facts bare, the woman rushed to the court to stop a plan to probe her. The NNPC is also accused of holding back some $10b oil revenue from the federation account, an allegation many seem to have forgotten after its champion, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, mounted the throne as Emir of Kano – against all odds.

Many have called for Mrs Alison-Madueke’s sack, but the more they cry the stronger she gets. Researchers may be lucky one day to stumble on her staying power so that top managers will learn a lesson or two on how to remain unfazed, unruffled in a most hostile situation as she has been in.

The police chief’s job is as risky as it is exciting. How does he convince the average policeman that corruption should not be a way of life? Doesn’t the policeman on the street think that the boss is even more corrupt?  How should the police react to the strange crimes that are fast becoming part of our lives. A man was arrested last week in Edo for sleeping with a dog. With what offence will he be charged? Assault? Indecency? Will  witnesses come up to testify against the suspect? The owner of the dog has disowned the animal. If he had not, wouldn’t the police have charged him with negligence? Or for being an accessory to indecent conduct?

Inspector-General Suleiman Abba was laughing hysterically as he visited the Villa after his appointment, just like Adamawa Acting Governor Umar Fintiri, who showed up at the PDP secretariat in Abuja after former Governor Murtala Nyako’s impeachment to announce: “I have delivered!”.

Abba spoke about his men’s preparation for the Osun election, saying: “ In fact, my advice is this, if you don’t have any business with Osun elections, just don’t go there because the law will catch up with you.” Was the IG preparing the ground for the massive rights abuses that characterised that exercise that was no election but a war against the peaceful but definitely not timid people of Osun?

Abba promised to roll out in one week a strategy against Boko Haram and other violent crimes. We are still waiting?

When will professionals begin to get their dues? Teachers. Doctors. Engineers. Reporters. Lawyers. Drivers. Printers. When will they have that satisfaction that will keep them at work without thinking of dumping their careers for politics?

BAD SIGN FROM THE MILITARY

RE we still fighting Boko Haram? A soldier has just told the BBC that, at least, 40 of his colleagues would refuse order to deploy. “Soldiers are dying like fowls,” he said, adding that “the army is not ready to fight Boko Haram”. The anonymous soldier complained about not having enough weapons and ammunition. Armoured cars are old, he alleged. Defence spokesman Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade believes the soldier must be a deserter.

The other day, there was mutiny in Borno State. The soldiers involved were court-martialled. Women have been reported to have cried out that their men were being sent to battle with obsolete equipment. And now this. The Chief of Army Staff has, however, warned against murmuring, reminding all that the penalty for mutiny – the refusal to obey orders by a superior or someone in authority – is death.

Nobody knew that Boko Haram would last this long. In many states, the military are pursuing armed robbers. President Goodluck Jonathan insists, against counsel of elders and experts, on drafting soldiers for elections. Many believe this is to give his party, PDP, the cover to overwhelm its opponents and manipulate the process.

Fatigue seems to be setting in. When the military are overstretched, ill-equipped, ill-motivated and demystified, they may some day refuse to fight. Let’s pray it doesn’t get to that level. If it does –God forbid – we all know where to lay the blame. Don’t we?