Category: Jide Oluwajuyitan

Because of his heroic exploits as military head of state back in 1984/1985, Nigerians made huge investments in Buhari’s current government. No one can blame those who as rational investors expect high dividends on their investments.  That those who voted Buhari to power expected him to perform miracles is not an unreasonable expectation. Like all politicians, he promised miracles and the electorate like their counterparts elsewhere believed him. It is for this reason those who think Buhari has not met their aspirations are not holding anyone, including those benefiting from our current chaos, responsible for their plight but President Buhari. For many Nigerians, the enemy of Buhari is Buhari for refusing to listen to the people – insisting he knows what they want without asking them.

Buhari who the late respected  Nigerian statesman, Maitama Sule once said has the potential of becoming the best Nigerian leader ever, unfortunately suffers from a sense of self-righteousness – a form of fundamentalism that has no place in a democracy. Buhari, many believe, listens only to Buhari. This serious human failing contributed to his failure in 1985 as military head of state, contributed to his failure during his first three attempts for the presidency and accounts for his current challenges. And this is exactly what his political enemies who are responsible for the nation’s current nightmare are now seeking to exploit. Had President Buhari listened to the people, one term of four years is more than enough to set Nigeria on the path of freedom and prosperity. It is an irony the demands of those who voted him to power that he rejected have now become the manifesto of Peoples Democratic Party, the Reformed-All Progressives Congress, Social Democratic Party and 36 others who last Monday in Abuja signed an MOU which states “parties shall promote a positive reaction to the above failures of the present regime and give hope to all our people.”

They have promised  “to promote acceptable core values for the restructuring of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by ensuring should they be voted in to power in 2018, an ‘emergent president under the grand alliance shall treat the presentation of an executive bill on restructuring and devolution of powers to the National Assembly a major priority”.

Those leading the new self-proclaiming messiahs and warriors of democracy include PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who complained of “of intimidation aimed at suffocating democracy in our land, frame ups, arrests and total break-down of law and order in some areas”. His other anguish is the president’s executive order targeting proceeds of corruption and properties of about 350 Nigerians living like kings and feeding on the blood of Nigerians by refusing their debt of about N5.4 trillion We also have the national chairman of the R-APC, Alhaji Buba Galadima, who claims President Buhari “is destined to lose the 2019 election and lose his deposit.” There is also a former acting National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Ben Obi, who said that ‘concerned parties and associations chose to come together to salvage the nation’. Others include the former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who describes their coalition as “an assignment from God”; Ayo Fayose, the Ekiti State governor who said he was happy that the process that would send “Buhari away ahead of his time has commenced”; Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Minister of Finance, whose worry is about what he referred to as “gross incompetence” of the APC-led government. In the group  also is three-term deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, who has predicted that all ‘fleeing investors and those factories that were closed are going to come back alive by this time next year”.

He did not forget to assure Nigerians that his fellow Igbo compatriots who have been having “a rethink on their membership of this country, on account of Buhari’s programmes “will rejoice and be happy that a new country that will be fair to all and a country that they will be proud to be part of and continue to contribute to her development – is coming”. For former vice president Atiku Abubakar, “The journey to get Nigeria working again has gotten further boost with the coalition of like-minded democratic leaders and parties.” “It is great to be reunited as one big and better @OfficialPDPNig family, he says. We also have Dino Melaye, who has predicted “APC will lose power in 2019” claiming to be speaking as an oracle of the Most High

The new messiahs and soldiers of democracy also include Senator Liyel Imoke, Gbenga Daniel, Ibrahim Mantu, Tom Ikimi, Zainab Maina, and Chief Bode George and David Mark.

The battle ahead, “if democracy must survive in our country”, they insist, is about “defeating President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019”. Unfortunately these are not men known for strong credentials in democratic struggle. The only battle they are associated with is intra-party war over the sharing of looted resources. It was what led to the collapse of once an invisible PDP that boasted to rule for an uninterrupted 60 years after laying to waste  opposition parties such as the defunct  AD and ANPP.Their current battle as it was in PDP back in 2013 is over sharing. nPDP led by Saraki, Dogara and Tambuwal, started the battle by alleging under-representation at federal executive council, in government agencies and parastatals. They claim what they got was not commensurate with contributions of five former PDP key states to the success of APC in 2015. Of course last Monday, their decision to rejoin PDP was predicated on sharing.

nPDP as new Reformed All Progressives Congress(R-APC) also first tabled tough demands before the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during their negotiation with ex-Governor Liyel Imoke Contact and Mobilization Committee who represented PDP the National Working Committee (NWC). They allegedly demanded for the control of  party structures in the states by R-APC on 60 to 40 per cent basis; automatic ticket; change of PDP’s name and governorship ticket in some states.

Even Galadima who advertises his  impeccable credentials on the basis of being “a former  youth leader of the NPN, (a party that destroyed the second republic through corruption and election rigging they described as ‘landslide and sea-slide” victories in opposition strongholds), the financial secretary of the defunct NRC, (a party that destroyed the third republic by refusing to concede defeat with Tom Ikimi its chairman opting to become a foreign minister under Abacha dictatorship) and member of Board  of Trustees of the APC, indirectly confirmed their current battle is over sharing. Lamenting about President Buhari’s non recognition of his contribution to his success, he had said “I have made more contributions than even himself in becoming the President of Nigeria. Maybe, I should tell the world that because of him, I have suffered intimidation, arrests, questioning about 38 times”. He then went on to comment on Buhari’s failure to address nPDP’s claim of marginalization  and his CPC which he said “brought in 12.5 million votes into this merger yet (we) get three cabinet ministers.”

As it is today, so it was back in 2013 when Baraje, while announcing the birth of nPDP, accused ex-President Jonathan of presiding over “massive scale of officially-induced oil theft, the dwindling returns from oil and massive looting which has put the nation on the brink of economic collapse despite claim to the contrary by his administration, in futile bid to deceive Nigerians”.

Galadima’ and Secondus claim that their current battle is about democracy. They pretend not to know that  democracy cannot thrive where norms, honour and character – ethos that are critical to the democratization process are in short supply as obtains among some of his current self-proclaiming messiahs and soldiers of democracy.

President  Buhari, on account of his recurring condolence calls and endless appeals for peaceful coexistence between suspected terrorists he had claimed are not Nigerians and their victims, has in recent times been irreverently referred to as ‘Nigeria’s mourner-in-chief’ instead of commander-in-chief. This notwithstanding, he wants Nigerians to believe he is doing his best to end the mindless killing going on in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. He re-echoed this once again, during his latest condolence call on the governor of Plateau State over the gruesome killings of between 80 and 200 helpless farmers and their family members. He also used the occasion to tell those who harbour the thought that he was taking sides with his Fulani compatriots in their deadly war against their host communities across the country to bury the thought. Unfortunately, those who believe the president has not matched his words with action think he has probably lost touch with reality.

Indeed, those who had earlier alleged the president was fighting corruption among his political opponents with insecticide and with deodorant among his close associates have now also said that by refusing to use the same Operation Python Dance template used for the pacification of IPOB on Fulani herders already regarded by the international community as the fourth world deadliest terrorist group is sufficient proof he is waging selective war on terrorism. As a further proof, they ask: if Bukola Saraki as senate president can be invited by the police for questioning because some of his political thugs were involved in armed robbery, how come those who openly claimed to be speaking for terrorists have not been invited for questioning?

And precisely because the president suffers from a sense of self-righteousness which in itself is form of extremism, he is unable to understand that Nigerians are not only disillusioned over what they see as his unwillingness to end the ongoing human carnage but also over the ineptitude of his trusted security chiefs. Nigerians are disappointed the president still harbours in his cabinet, Defence Minister Mansur Dan-Ali, who in response to the killings of 17 people in Benue, without restraint arrogantly asked: “If those (grazing) routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen”? His Inspector General of Police (IGP) who with thousands of farmers killed, territories and farm lands confiscated with survivors marooned in IDP camps, was speaking of “communal clashes between herders and farmers”; and of course an Internal Affairs Minister who for over three years supervised daily harvest of death without identifying, apprehending or prosecuting any of the marauders who, we are told, disappear with their cattle after each grisly killings.

But stakeholders who want Buhari to free himself and his presidency from those who cage him have now started to talk to a president who seems to listen only to himself, his loyal appointees who many believe do not share his pan-Nigeria vision and probably Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, whose herdsmen including foreigners, its secretary- general, Saleh Al- Hassan haughtily insists can graze in Nigeria since herders ‘do not recognize international boundaries”.

First, the lawmaker representing Barkin Ladi Riyon Constituency at the National Assembly,  Honorable Istifanus Gyang has claimed attack on his community like others in Plateau State is an attempt by killer herdsmen to take over communities. As proof he said “Over four villages have been added to the 45 that have already been over-run and are under forceful occupation”.

And reacting to the Plateau killings last week, Ghali N’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, faulted the president’s handling of the crisis: “I don’t think it has been handled in the most appropriate manner. I don’t think Buhari can handle this problem alone and the impression he has given most people is that he is working alone”.

Prof. Wole Soyinka has also said President Muhammadu Buhari is not doing enough to stop killings by herdsmen amid the general insecurity in the country. His message to Buhari: “Crimes against our humanity have been committed, and restitution must be made. Nothing less will restore confidence in a government, and reassure the people of its integrity, its commitment to equity in internal relationships and the rightful custodianship of ancient resources.’’

The United Nations Secretary-General who has expressed deep concern “about the increasing frequency, intensity, complexity and geographic scope of violent conflict between farmers and herders…” has declared that “all attacks targeting civilians violate international humanitarian law”.

The British House of Lords also disagrees with “government’s characterization and narrative of the violence as farmer-herder clashes” whilst advising “it is not sufficient for government to merely urge all sides to seek dialogue and avoid violence”. It says: “Given the escalation, frequency, organisation and asymmetry of Fulani attacks, it is hard to disagree with those who speak of ethnic cleansing and land grabbing.

And with over 500 churches destroyed in Benue alone since 2011, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says Fulani islamisation agenda cannot be ruled out. The Catholics Bishop Conference of Nigeria which also believes “a campaign of ethno-religious cleansing is going on in Nigeria”, has also accused the president “who appoints the head of the nation’s security agencies of refusing to call them to order, even in the face of chaos and barbarity into which the country has been plunged.” The body says the president ‘should not continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become”.

Amnesty International (AI) which stated that it’s independently verified estimated figures indicated that since January “at least 1,813 people had been murdered in 17 states, which is double the 894 people killed in 2017” has said that “by failing to hold murderers to account, the federal government is encouraging impunity that is fuelling rising insecurity across the country”.

Adding his own voice, president of the senate, Bukola Saraki last week also told the president: “We have to immediately device a plan through which the criminals behind the killings and their sponsors can be nabbed and made to face the wrath of the law”.

All the above voices of reason cannot be wrong.

The political class including President Buhari who rode to power on the promise of restructuring the country knows ‘the path to Nigeria freedom’. But because they are all beneficiaries of the ongoing chaos, they have for 50 years experimented with failed military social engineering strategies which celebrates indolence,   and promotes injustice as solution to our crisis of nationality.  Today as it was in the past, they mouth unity while our youths who lack a sense of history sing unity as if unity can be decreed.

Since we like playing the ostrich, the colonial masters reminded us that the ‘Hausas of Zaria are different from the Bantu tribesmen of the valley of the Benue’ just as the Scandinavians in the Baltic are different from the Slavs of Bulgaria”. Hugh Clifford, the then Nigerian Governor-General in an address to the Nigerian Council in December 1920 clearly articulated a British policy designed to produce a ‘regional government that secures for each separate people, the right to maintain its identity, its individuality and its nationality and its own chosen form of government which have been evolved for it by the wisdom and by the accumulated experiences of generation of its forbearers’.

Really who is afraid of a restructured Nigeria with constituents power over law and order, education and public information; a restructured Nigeria where there is freedom and justice for all; a restructured Nigeria that protects the right of indigenes as enshrined in the UN charter; a restructured Nigeria that puts an end to an orgy of killing of hundreds of helpless women and children at night in the Middle Belt region by unidentified ‘herdsmen’ who like Ahmadu Bello probably still regard the area as their “ancestors properties”?

The difference between PDP and nPDP which recently issued a seven day ultimatum to APC is that of 12 and half a dozen. It will therefore not be out of place to argue that the nPDP led senate and the Lower house have spent the past three years trying to undermine Buhari’s administration precisely because they share the same world view. A brief journey through memory will clearly show both suffer from the same affliction-greed

Unlike modernizing political parties with a set of common values and principles, what defines PDP, a creation of retired military war lords is its vicious battle for spoils of  victory in elections which had by 2007 under Obasanjo become “a do or die affair”, a euphemism for war. It is on record that President Obasanjo and vice president Atiku Abubakar, the then leading lights of the party between 1999 and 2003, often engaged in public duel as to who among the duo was more corrupt. The same endless battle over the sharing of spoils of office by other PDP leading lights led to a game of musical chairs as Ahmadu Alli, Ogbuluafor, Nwodo  and Mu’azu.it replaced each other in quick succession as PDP chairman. It was warring and disgruntled PDP members that revealed to Nigerians the story of how children of PDP leading lights such as Bamangar Tukur, Amadu Alli, Arisekola and others allegedly defrauded Nigeria to the tune of N1.6trilion by forging documents to collect money without supplying a pint of fuel. It was what turned Bukola Saraki to a fuel subsidy scam whistle blower and an anti-corruption hero until his PDP family members who alleged one of the companies in which he had an interest was also a beneficiary, insisted a part cannot be holier than the whole. It was PDP’s War over who gets what and when that turned  Farouk Lawal the chairman of the House committee that uncovered the  fuel subsidy scan to a villain following Femi Otedola’s release of his video tape receiving part of agreed bribe in dollars. It was PDP family squabbles over the sharing of our common patrimony that led to the setting up of a House probe to examine the handling of the privatization programme by BPE which went on to inform Nigerians of how 51% of NITEL that posted N53bn profit in 2002 was sold for $1.317b,  Daily Times whose NSE building at custom street besides others in Ikoyi and London was worth several billions was sold for N1,2b, and how ALSCON, built with $3.2b dollars was sold off for a paltry $250m, out of which the buyer paid only $130m.

To the above, we can add the fall-out of other PDP family squabbles over the sharing of our resources. The Ribadu Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force’s discovery of  a yearly loss of N1 trillion  and N178 billion worth of refined petroleum products stolen from the pipelines; the loss of $7b to oil theft in  2011, which forced Mutiu Sunmonu, Shell Nigeria’s Managing Director at the time to appeal  to government ‘to confront the big men behind oil theft’;  President Umaru Yar Adua’s claim that  “Obasanjo spent $10b on energy sector without anything to show for it” and the 300b aviation intervention fund that PDP beneficiaries diverted into other businesses.

Although leaders of nPDP were active participants in the rape of our econmy, this did not stop Baraje from shifting all the blame on President Jonathan whom he had accused while announcing the birth of nPDP in 2013 of presiding over “massive scale of officially-induced oil theft, the dwindling returns from oil and massive looting which has put the nation on the brink of economic collapse despite claim to the contrary by his administration, in futile bid to deceive Nigerians”.

But nPDP’s outing in the last three years has shown the party was driven by anything but altruism. First, its leading light, Saraki and Dogara, hijacked leadership of the two houses, traded off the victory of their party by selling  the vice senate president position as well as chairmanship of juicy committees  to PDP with whom they share a common affliction-greed. As it was under PDP, budget padding and diversion of budgetary allocations from critical projects designed to serve overall public interest to their controversial constituency projects even under “APC government of Change”. Of course we can add their illegal monthly collection of N13, 5m in addition to their monthly N700, 000 salaries,

Since a leopard hardly changes its skin, it can easily be inferred that a letter signed on behalf of nPDP by Abubakar Kawu Baraje and Olagunsoye Oyinlola (former nPDP chairman and national secretary respectively), major actors during PDP years of the locust, has more to do with greed and a nostalgic craving for the return of the years of the locust. A critical examination of their demands supports this thesis. They alleged underrepresentation at federal Executive Council, a body which under Jonathan did more of contract awarding; they demand more representatives in government agencies and parastatals, probably with Nigerian Ports Authority, Customs, and FIRS.  NNPC and 11 other revenue-generating agencies of the federal government which an auditing firm, KPMG  recently indicted for failing to remit N8.1 trillion to the Federation Account between 2010 and 2015 in mind. And finally they alleged that some nPDP leaders are denied the security cover necessary to visit their constituencies and they bellyache over a few others facing harassment from security agencies for their roles in the economic sabotage of the country. Those who accuse President Buhari of selective anti-corruption war have no problem laying claim to being  members of APC but immediately become members of nPDP when called upon to account for their past.

Finally they alleged five former PDP key states that contributed to the success of APC in 2015 are marginalized. But with the exception of Rivers state, four of the five states are controlled by APC governors, their state houses of assembly by APC, their representatives at the senate and House of representative by APC and like the rest of 31 states got one ministerial slot each. In view of the fact that the states also get their monthly allocation like others, Baraje and Oyinlola could only have been craving for the return of PDP years of the locust when President Jonathan followed Governor Daniel around Ogun state commissioning empty swamps as projects, when Oyinlola as Oshun PDP governors secured bank loans and paid in advance contractors chosen for construction of five stadia even before the sights were identified or when Musliu Obanikoro, a PDP serving minister chartered two air crafts to ferry N3b cash to Ayo Fayose of Ekiti for the purpose of rigging a gubernatorial election with the bulk of the money, according to EFCC traced to his accounts or traced to properties located in high-brow area of Lagos and Abuja.

The now expired nPDP seven day ultimatum has finally exposed senate president Saraki and Speaker Dogara who have made the country ungovernable in the last three years. Swearing by the name of their own strange variant of democracy, those elected on the ticket of the ruling APC party have turned both houses to houses of opposition where nothing gets down. They defied party directives and on three different occasions failed to confirm Magu, as substantive chairman of EFCC; they squandered voter’s goodwill by wasting tax payer’s money on frivolities and are at war with government agencies such as Nigeria Ports Authority, the Customs, and FIRS that are now making a difference in terms of revenue generation. To spite the president, the two houses passed an electoral law now invalidated by the courts without any of them forming a quorum.

Our consolation amidst the ongoing disinformation war between Ibrahim Idris whose lot it is to helplessly standby as unidentified criminals kill his fellow compatriots in their thousands and Saraki’s 8th senate which according to Itse sagay is “probably the worst we’ve ever had since the return to civilian rule” in 1999, to divert attention from the pains both have continued to inflict on Nigerians, is that they will not be the ones to write their own history. We should take solace in the fact that Nigeria that has survived the intrigues of some more devious past leaders will outlive both men who by the letter and spirit of our constitution are supposed to be part of President Buhari’s administration but have  become a metaphor for all that is wrong with the administration.

Idris and Saraki are the same side of a coin. Saraki’s 8th Senate has done everything except the promotion of democratic values and ethos. Following the hijacking of the senate through an inelegant way including disenfranchising 51 of the 104 senators, it has become notorious for undermining principles of check and balances with bizarre resolutions that make them judges in their own cases. It abridges free speech. It is intolerant of dissent among its own members. They have no apologies for smiling to their banks with an illegal N13.5m monthly windfall in addition to their official salaries. Yet the 8th Senate, as an institution of state, wants us to accept it is serving Nigerians better than IG Idris’ Nigeria Police Force.

Although no one expects our ill- equipped and underfunded police force to perform miracles, the problem however is that there has never been a period in our nation’s history when criminal’s elements exploiting the incompetence of an IG, moved around killing and confiscating land without challenge. IG Ibrahim Idris appears unmanageable. He flouted the president’s order to relocate to the troubled north-central just as he has for three years failed to implement an order that police men attached to some category of politicians be withdrawn. Today, criminals undergoing police investigation or those fresh from EFCC detention routinely move around with police escorts. People’s sensibilities are daily assaulted by sights of AK-47 wielding police men carrying shopping bags for some Chinese boys in local fish markets.

Idris and Saraki who are technically part of Buhari’s government have spent the past two weeks on disinformation war with both trying to outdo each other in their expression of love for Nigeria. It all started with the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh’s letter entitled; “Invitation to brief the Senate on the poor treatment of Senator Dino Melaye over case that is in a competent law court, and other killings across Nigeria.” The Police immediately advised the senate president to stop hiding behind one finger, insisting “The emphasis on security matters in the invitation letters was diversionary to attract undeserved public sympathy in the Senate’s desperate bid to trivialize and water down the crime and criminal liabilities for which Senator Dino Melaye is standing trial”. The IGP swore not to be intimidated by a senate notorious for its hard tackling and hitting its victims even when they are down.

Saraki’s 8th Senate which is never afraid to fight rough, tactically dropped the Melaye’s case claiming it had been overtaken by events while the Senate President assistant went on to release facts about  when and where about 900 Nigerians lost their lives to the rampaging herdsmen between January and April this year. The IG’s claim that the list was unverified was dismissed by the senate as an attempt to hold on to a straw. They challenged the IGP to inform the public measures put in place to end mindless killings of Nigerians. The senate followed up with a resolution declaring the police IG an enemy of democracy who is not fit to hold public office in Nigeria or anywhere in the world.

Now the Idris and Saraki disinformation war has taken a new turn with a number of warriors lining up behind each. Yinka Odumakin,  Afenifere scribe and  Aisha Yusuf the co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls campaign as well as many victims of ongoing mindless killings have criticized the IG for his incompetence, disdain for rule of law and arrogance.

On Idris side, we have Femi Falana, (SAN) a human right activists and Itse Sagay, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC). They have both come down heavily on Saraki’s 8th Senate. For Femi Falana, if the senate is interested in the ongoing bloodletting, the right persons the senators ought to have invited were the Interior Minister Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau and Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami. Refusing to deal with police DIG and insistence on the physical presence of the IG Sagay argued, was because the senate “just want their vanity to be assuaged, and for people to know they have power and are big”. And for him, a senate that “refused to confirm any nominee, regardless of how urgent and important the assignment is for this nation because they were angry with the executive for not sacking Ibrahim Magu”, a senate that suspends a work of legislation and “would adjourn sitting and go to the Code of Conduct Tribunal in solidarity with their President, should not be calling anybody unfit for anything”

Others have tried to make a distinction between the constitutional duties of the police which is maintenance of law and order and the senate which is one of the major institutions of democracy. If there is any threat to the survival of democracy in Nigeria at all, they believe it can only be coming from the senate that emerged through disenfranchisement of 51 of 104 members, routinely undermines check and balance principle and abridges dissension even within its own ranks.

Unfortunately, the loser in the ongoing Idris and Saraki’s tragic proxy war is our nation. While the incompetence of the former has led to accusation of ethinic cleansing and religious war by victims, charges that threaten the very survival of our nation, the later haunted by long history of intrigue and betrayal has continued to demonstrate his mission was to undermine Buhari’s government. And here is an elected president who has refused to use the power imbued in the presidency to deal decisively with his very vulnerable political enemies who have abundantly demonstrated they are out to serve none but themselves. Nigeria is perhaps the only known democracy where an unrepentant legislature  smiling to banks with N13.5m illegal windfall and where many who are yet to defend their honour over EFCC allegation of financial malfeasance either as former governors or as supervisors of ill implemented constituency projects  will hold the sovereign and the nation to ransom.

In America whose constitution we copied and where the legislature, like Caesar’s wife is often above board, no law maker dares the elected president. The two houses controlled by the Republican have tried to find accommodation with Donald Trump, their unpredictable elected sovereign, who does not even share the values of the Republican Party. Rather than undermine his leadership or work for the failure of his administration as Saraki has done in the last three years, the leaders of the two houses chose their party and their country above self by offering to resign.