Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

THEIR uniform confers authority on them. It portrays them as agents of the state with the mandate to deal with unscrupulous elements and also maintain law and order. Unfortunately, our uniform men, in most cases, break the law rather than keep it. And they do so with impunity. These uniform men have no regard for others, whether on the road, in a banking hall or at any other gathering.

It is mostly on the road that they show the stuff they are made of. When you see them in traffic, you will be shocked by their behaviour. When traffic is so bad that motorists are sweating, groaning and swearing under their breathe, they will come from nowhere with blaring siren, kicking up dust all over the place. Woe betide the motorist who does not move out of their way fast. They will hit your car, beat you to a pulp and drag you along with them, if you are unlucky.

The uniform men have grade, with soldiers comprising the army, air force and navy at the top. When the soldiers sneeze, the other uniform men consisting of the police, Department of State Service (DSS), customs, immigration, prison, civil defence, road safety and traffic managers, such as the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) catch cold. Times without number, soldiers and the police have clashed over issues that do not matter. Mercifully, they have stopped fighting; but they have now found a ‘common enemy’ in LASTMA.

LASTMA ensures the free flow of traffic in Lagos and beyond. Though there are some bad eggs in LASTMA that does not in any way detract from the good job the authority is doing. We all know how many motorists behave on the road when there are no traffic wardens around. Even our uniform men join in causing chaos on the road and anybody who calls them to order is done for. On many occasions, some LASTMA officials have paid the price for doing their job. Some even paid the ultimate price.

Rather than stop, these deadly attacks are rising by the day because soldiers and policemen see themselves to be above the law. On November 28, LASTMA officer Rotimi Adeyemo was killed by a police officer in the line of duty. What was Adeyemo’s offence? He stopped the police officer for committing a traffic offence and before onlookers could say IG, the offender had pulled out his gun and shot the LASTMA official in full public glare at Iyana Ipaja.

On Tuesday at the popular Jesu Oyingbo axis near Maryland, a LASTMA official, Afeez Badru, was forcefully whisked away by soldiers, who took the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane. Our soldiers and policemen should set example for others in public. They should not engage in conduct that will ridicule the institution they represent. They should be officers and gentlemen. They should not be seen brutalising LASTMA officials. Rather, they should be working with them to ensure sanity on the road.

Most importantly, they should come to the aid of LASTMA officials whenever street urchins try to descend on them. Unfortunately these days, we can hardly distinguish between soldiers and street urchins.

The randy don 

A former teacher at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Prof Richard Akindele, will curse the day he first set eyes on a student, Miss Monica Osagie. At that their first meeting, Monica seemed irresistible to the Prof and he resolved to eat the ‘forbidden fruit’. He must have fixed his gaze on the girl and vowed within him that omo yi oni lobe. What to do? Since he holds the the yam and the knife, he quickly put two and two together and hatched a plan. He won’t pass the girl until she plays ball. He told her his mind and the girl played along, so he thought. But the girl had a different plan. She recorded all their meetings unknown to Mr Teacher whose lust got the better of him. When the scandal blew open, OAU fired him after an investigation. Then, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) moved in for the kill. Akindele was arraigned before an Osogbo High Court, which on Monday sentenced him to a six-year imprisonment for demanding sex to pass Monica. Rejecting the convict’s counsel’s plea for a suspended sentence, Justice Maureen Onyetenu said :

‘’Telling me to suspend the sentence does not arise. Plea bargain does not arise. May be the case continues to occur and reoccur because someone has not been used as a scapegoat. It is time for the court to start upholding the right of children, especially female students. The case is endemic…The rampant cases of students’ harassment by lecturers should be stopped’’. On the institution’s plan to make lecturers’ offices open by building the front side with glass in order to stop such amorous act, Her Ladyship said : ‘’Do you think they do it in the office? They go to hotels”. As the court pleases.

60, still counting

IT was a few minutes past midnight on December 12 when the message came in. When I checked my phone, it turned out to be a birthday notice from no other person than my street Coordinator, the irrepressible Mr Abiodun Foluso, who turns 60 on December 24. For those of us who live in Journalists’ Estate Phase 1, Arepo in Ogun State,  Foluso is a well known face at our monthly meetings. He is also active, very, very active on our WhatsApp platform. His is a voice that cannot be stilled at any of our forum. As a political scientist, he likes to discuss politics and hardly can you find him not taking a stand on issues, especially those he feels strongly about. Foluso is one of those who make our estate tick and we are richer (not materially o!) and better for it. It is in recognition of his innate qualities that we chose him as our street Coordinator and this retired insurance chief turned school proprietor has been coordinating well. As he joins the elite Senior Citizens’ Club on Monday, I wish him a happy birthday, long life and prosperity.  As your days, so shall your strength be.

AMERICAN visa, though sought by many, is hard to get. In some cases, it will be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for an applicant to obtain the American visa. So, applicants do their homework well before applying for the visa. They leave nothing to chance in their desperation to get to God’s own country. Many seek the face of God over the project, turning it to a prayer point.

The craze for the American visa is informed by the belief that it is a land flowing with milk and honey; a country which you get to and pronto,  things will turn around for you. This is why the young and the old keep vigil at the American Embassy and endure whatever insult is hurled at them by the staff. For them, it is America or nothing. Those whose applications are turned down try and try and try again to see if they will be lucky the second, third or fourth time.

The American visa is a matter of life and death for many of our people, but that cannot be said of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. As a former vice president, who I believe must enjoy some privileges even if he is no longer holding a Diplomatic Passport, obtaining the American visa should not be a big deal. But there is this belief that Atiku cannot visit the United States of America (USA) because of the yoke of corruption that is hanging around his neck. Ever before Atiku and his boss former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007, all sorts of claims were flying around about how he made his money.

Some claimed that he made his money as a customs officer, but not through his legitimate earnings, an euphemism for shady deals. Others said he cornered all the enterprises that were privatised under his watch as chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) by virtue of his position as vice president between 1999 and 2007.

Since he joined the presidential race after picking the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), those in the opposing camp have stepped up their campaign that he is not fit for the nation’s highest office because he is corrupt. Ask them for proof. They will refer you to the Jefferson case in the US in which he was mentioned. William Jefferson, who was a Congressman, was jailed in 2009 for corruption. He has since been released

What nailed him was the $90,000 found in his freezer. He also reportedly told an investor that he must give Atiku $500,000 as a ‘’motivating factor’’ to get a contract for the investor’s firm in Nigeria. Atiku was expected to appear in court in the US for the case, but he did not go. The court was said to have ordered that he be arrested if he comes to the US. Nine years after the case, its fall out is still reverberating. The issue is back on the front burner because of Atiku’s interest in the Presidency. What has the American visa got to do with the 2019 presidential election?

You apply for a visa if you have the resources to travel to the country of your choice. Our people prefer the US, the United Kingdom despite its BREXIT brouhaha, Canada and those countries commonly referred to as Schegen nations. Applying for a visa is a matter of choice and it is treated in strict confidence by the country you are proposing to visit. Hints about Atiku’s visa were first dropped by his campaign chief, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who said on a television programme that his principal has asked him to apply for the American visa on his (Atiku’s) behalf. I do not know if people can apply for visa by proxy.

The Federal Government may have taken note of Daniel’s disclosure. On November 29, Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed implored the American Embassy not to grant Atiku a visa so as not to be seen as taking sides in the forthcoming presidential election. ‘’Our position is that if the former vice president already has a US visa, we have no problem about it. What we warn the US Government against is not to give the impression that it is endorsing one particular candidate over the other. That is what is going to happen if, for instance the former vice president is granted a visa’’.

Elections have a way of getting at people. Remember that former President Goodluck Jonathan, in his memoir, claimed he lost the 2015 election to President Muhammadu Buhari because of the interference of the US and UK, among other countries. Isn’t that the same path the present administration is treading even before the outcome of next year’s election is known?  Whether Atiku gets an American visa or not should not be something for the government to lose sleep over. It should concentrate on governance and allow its work to speak for it at the poll.

Trying to stop Atiku from getting an American visa or calling him all sorts of names will not do the trick. Can the corruption allegations against him stand when he has not been convicted of them? The government has since said it has no evidence yet with which to try him for graft. Despite that, it still maintains that the poll will be a battle between a man with integrity and another who it claims is not clean. The man with the chances of winning the election, it says, “is a man who has integrity, a man who does not have a single stain on his name, the man the world respects… not those who cannot travel to ordinary America that we all travel to now and then. Anybody who has a baggage, particularly when it involves corruption and lack of integrity cannot win. Nigerians know’’.

Yes, they know. That is why no matter what we say or do, the fate of all the contestants lies in the people’s hands.

WHEN men of God speak, we, their sheep, pay attention. We cling to every word that comes from their mouths because we believe they are led by the Spirit. To be led by the Spirit means that someone is hearing directly from God.  There is nothing bad to be so gifted, so far it is used to edify the society

Paul, the Apostle, acknowledges the place of such gifts when he said in the Good Book that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.  The key words here are every man, but today, many of us have yielded ground to men of God to rule the roost, as it were, as we rely solely on them for spiritual and temporal matters.

According to Paul,  spiritual gifts are as diverse as they come. They include word of wisdom, word of knowledge, the power of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues  and the interpretation of tongues. Some are favoured to have all these gifts; others have one or two. But many of us, whether men of God or not, like to show off. In our desire to be seen as gifted, we like to give what we do not have.

Whether in the church, office or at home, some people take pride in assailing others with their God given attributes in order to impress. The bottom line is to get the not too discerning to say to their face and behind them that “God is really using that man” forgetting that the Good Book warns that we should not boast of such gifts. “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ… For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of  Christ.

But why am I going spiritual today? It all has to do with the tale of the “Buhari double” on which the President cleared the air in Krakow, Poland on Sunday. The President told a town hall meeting : “It’s real me, I assure you’’. With those words, he doused the raging fire over whether we have been cohabiting with a clone since last year. A satirical piece by renowned journalism teacher and master of the trade, Prof Olatunji Dare, titled: “Buhari’s double’’ set the tone for the blistering comments on the state of the nation from the pulpit. In a sermon which has since gone viral, the renowned pastor quoted copiously from Dare’s November 27 article, forgetting that the writer dubbed it a tale reportedly originated by Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu.

It was an imaginary write up in which the erudite essayist, in his inimitable style painted the cost of the “Buhari double” to the nation. It was not a news story, which was expected to be laden with all the facts of the matter, but some people lapped it up, taking it as a confirmation of a “Buhari double” at the Villa. Referring to what he called “disturbing information” which came from The Nation newspaper of  November 27, 2018, written by Olatunji Dare, the pastor said the article “exploded with authoritative assertions, claiming among others that President Muhammadu Buhari had died in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017, where he was undergoing treatment. How?

“That the entrenched cabal in Aso Rock has procured a Buhari double in Sudan and pressed him into service as Nigeria’s president. What? That the representatives of the Jubril family, that is his impostor, having discovered the gigantic swindle, suddenly showed up in Abuja the other day and demanded to be compensated with a power sharing arrangement at the federal level in perpetuity, with 50 percent of Nigeria’s oil revenues for 10 years in the first instance and that was on the back page of The Nation newspaper of Tuesday, November 27, 2018. That and I quote, failing this, they will tell their story to the whole world.

“He further stated that the Nigerian authorities have entered into frantic negotiations with Jubril’s family to head off what is sure to be the world’s dirtiest and worst kept secret. And he concluded by saying that Britain is mediating”. Drawing his own conclusions from the article, the pastor said : ‘’So far to my knowledge, no official statement has refuted this claim, which simply means  Nigeria may truly be up for sale. The question is has Nigeria suddenly become a nation of fools? I believe it is time to come away from our slumber and salvage this nation from slavery. If this evil tide is not dealt with quickly and decisively Nigeria may be recolonised the second time and this time by another African country. What a shame and what a misfortune that would be. God forbid…If this is true, I wish it is not, but the word authoritative the writer wrote was what caught my attention.

“If everything going on today, particularly this outburst on the back page of The Nation of November 27 is mere speculation then let our president address the nation right away to clear the air… but if the President will not address the nation on a subject as sensitive as this, it must have been proved beyond any iota of doubt that may be he is not our president”.

As if taking a cue from the pastor, President Buhari dispelled the clone rumour on Sunday, saying many had wished him dead while he was ill. He did not die and the rumour mill started buzzing, with former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose spearheading the attacks, with his wild claim that the President was brain dead. Didn’t the scripture admonish us, both sheep and shepherd, to be “swift to hear and slow to talk”? May we be doers of His word.

SECURITY operatives everywhere are the same. They act alike. A security agent in Nigeria is not different from his counterpart either in the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States (US). Some people may argue  that Nigerian security operatives cannot be compared with their counterparts elsewhere because of their brashness and other uncivil conduct.

The Nigerian policeman, soldier and other security operatives may operate on a short fuse, but that is not peculiar to them. It is a trait they share with their counterparts worldwide. Yes, the Nigerian policeman shoots at people at will; slams you with frivolous allegations and does not allow you to defend yourself before dumping you in the slammer, with the clincher: na there you go die.

That is their stock-in-trade, be the policeman a Nigerian, Briton, American or French. As the Nigerian policeman guns people down in the street so does his American or French or German counterpart in their own countries. If you have seen one policeman in action, whether here or yonder, you have seen them all. As bad as they are, it is painful that we cannot do without them. If we are attacked by hoodlums, we run to the police for protection. If there is external aggression, we rely on the army to defend us.

We need the police, the army, the air force, the navy, the secret service agencies and related outfits as much as they need us. For them to carry out their duties, they must rely on, and relate with, the civilian populace for information. But over the years, the civilians have come to see the security operatives as enemies. It is a sad development which we must collectively address. Today, many Nigerians do not believe in their police and military.

Where possible, communities keep the police and the army at bay. They do not want them in their communities no matter the challenges they may be facing. I remember what happened a few years ago when troops were deployed in a community in Ogun State where pipeline vandals were holding sway. Rather than rejoice at the deployment of the soldiers, the community populated by well educated people kicked at their coming. The residents did not want the soldiers to live in their midst for fear of  harassment.

The relationship between security operatives and civilians was smooth until things suddenly went awry. The immediate and remote cause of this strain in relationship can be found in the incessant communal crises, which have become the order of the day in some parts of the country. Add to these, the wave of insurgency attacks across the Northeast. Those hard hit have come to see the security agencies, which should stem these crises, as part of the problem. In the North, the other ethnic groups have come to perceive the Fulani as their enemies.

With herdsmen accused of destroying farms and other properties in many cities, the hitherto monolithic north had never been this divided. The region no longer speaks with one voice because its people now view one another with suspicion. The security agencies are suspected by the Berom, Idoma, Sayawa and Hausa ethnic groups, among others, as taking sides with the Fulani. They believe that the security agencies will never call the Fulani to order because the ethnic group is well connected in high places.

What we are witnessing today is dangerous to our continued co-existence as a nation. We cannot afford to keep quiet in the face of what is going on. The security agencies may have time and again opened fire on civilians in the line of duty, but that is not enough reason to make the police and the army our enemies. As a people we cannot afford to turn on our soldiers and policemen because of the belief that they are biased in the handling of some security matters. There are ways of dealing with soldiers and policemen involved in extra judicial killing. We should allow the law to deal with them as appropriate.

Ambushing soldiers and policemen and killing and dumping their bodies in ponds will not solve the problem, it will only aggravate it. No matter how aggrieved we may be with ourselves, the solution is not in taking out our anger on soldiers and policemen from the ethnic groups that we believe are behind our woes. This is why we should condemn the killing of Maj.-Gen Idris Alkali, former Chief of Administration at the Army Headquarters in Abuja in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on September 3. He was killed in a gruesome manner, buried in a shallow grave and his car dumped in a disused mining pond.

It did not end there. After the search for him started, his body was exhumed, packed in a sack filled with stones and dumped in another disused mining pond. This is a callous act. This is not the way to treat our soldiers and policemen no matter how bad some of them may be. If I may ask, are the civilians engaging in these barbaric acts better than those they are condemning? Our people should not exacerbate matters with such despicable acts. Thank God that the military did not react rashly, otherwise we would have had another Odi and Zaki Biam on our hands.

Before that incident, some people had killed three police officers and two members of a vigilance group in August in Taraba State, again for no just cause. As civilians, we should not push our luck too far with this kind of attacks on soldiers and policemen because the end result may not be palatable.

OF the many presidential candidates that emerged last weekend after their parties’ conventions, two names stick out. President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hold the ace against the other candidates. The reason for this is obvious. Buhari and Atiku have a lot going for them politically. They have the name, the clout and the reach to swing any political contest in their favour.

In a society where everything boils down to who you know and how deep your pocket is, both men have successfully reduced the election to a two-horse race even before it begins. The way bookmakers have been reacting since Buhari and Atiku picked their parties’ tickets show that either of them will win the February 16, 2019 election. The other contestants have been sidelined, so to say, in the analysis of who becomes the next president.

What the pundits did not say speaks volume about the chances of the other candidates than what they have said. They have mainly focused on Buhari and Atiku as if they are the only ones in the race. Indeed, the race is not for small fries nor is it for idealists. We need men and women who will rise to the challenges of our time. Those who can do and and who would not engage in platitude.

The office of president  calls for serious work. It is not a position for the unprepared; a president who does not know what to do or what the duties of the office entail. Since Sunday, we have been hearing of, and  from, only Buharii and Atiku, which shows that they are set for the arduous task of leading the country. Though, pundits do not reckon with the other candidates, what I do not understand is why they have not been talking since they became their parties’ standard bearers. Is it that they have conceded the race to Buhari and Atiku already?

I doubt that, but their silence is ominous. They should show Nigerians the stuff they are made of. They should let the world know that they are not in the race for the fun of it, but because they have something to offer. So far, Buhari and Atiku have reduced it to a two-man show, as they take pot shot at each other. Interestingly, they have not told us what they will do for the country. They are more interested in shooting themselves down. But, we, the people, are more interested in knowing about their plans and programmes for the country

If we cannot get that from them, at least the other candidates, who know what they are up against in both men, should tell us what they have to offer. It is not yet time for campaign, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), that, we submit,  should not preclude them from telling the nation what they have up their sleeves. Talking to the nation is not a campaign; it is showing the people, who do not believe that they can do the job that they have what it takes to run the country, if given the chance.

How can they get such chance when the people do not know what they are capable of doing? We have Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Olusegun Mimiko,  Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Rabia Gengiz, National Action Council (NAC), Isaac Ositelu, Accord Party (AP) and Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), among others, as the other  candidates. Many Nigerians will not take some of them serious but it is their duty to sell their candidature and convince the electorate to vote for them next year.

First, they should do some soul-searching. The first question they should ask themselves is compared to Buhari and  Atiku, what are their chances in next year’s election? They should not try to rake up mud against their fellow contestants. This is not the essence of the contest. Rather, they should be concerned more with what they can offer. They should leave Buhari and Atiku alone to fight their dirty war. Being new in the presidential race, they should not go the way of the veterans, who have been tearing themselves apart on the pages of newspapers.

Buhari and Atiku are coming into the race as the oldest candidates ever featured in a presidential contest in the country’s history. By the time of the election next year, Buhari will be 76 and Atiku, 72. Age is not on their side, but do they have what it takes to deliver if either of them is elected? In this wise, we should be more concerned with their competence and not their age. Will their age be an advantage or an albatross? To them, their age is not an albatross and that may be why they are still seeking to run the country as septuagenarians.

It will be interesting to see them take on each other on how they will govern the country. The issues are clear : the economy, education, security, health and of course, the matter of the moment, restructuring. Ever before his emergence as his party’s candidate, Atiku had engaged in verbal warfare with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the vexed issue of restructuring.

Atiku has consistently maintained that he is for restructuring. Do not forget that the APC also promised us restructuring in 2015. Three-and-a-half-years down the line, it has yet to fulfil that promise. Will Atiku keep his promise to restructure Nigeria if he wins or is it just a campaign gimmick? We are more interested in what they have for us if they win and not the abuses spewing forth from their camps.

The other candidates too should speak out  and not resort to regaling us with tales about how corrupt a candidate is. Our ears are tingling from such stories. We want to know their vision and mission for Nigeria. If they do not have anything for the country, they do not have any business been in the race.

JOS, the Plateau State capital, used to be the place many loved to be because of its serenity. People refer to its weather as cool and soothing. The kind the rich travelled abroad to enjoy. Jos used to be cosmopolitan in nature, with Nigerians from different parts of the country finding a home there. That was the Jos of the sixties, seventies and eighties.

The Jos our fathers grew to know and the Tin City, which some members of my generation grew up in. The Jos where people were their brothers’ keepers. The Jos where the Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw and Hausa cohabited without hard feelings. The Jos that tolerated everybody no matter their tribe and tongue. You went to sleep with your eyes closed, certain that your neighbour will come to your aid in case of trouble.

Now, sadly, neighbours kill neighbours in Jos. That is putting it mildly. Brothers now kill brothers there. Jos has virtually become a killing field. Everyday is like war in this city that was renowned for its peaceful nature. Jos has become a no-go area because there is fire on the Plateau. Death and destruction have become the order of the day on the Plateau. This is sad and painful.

When I hear the sweet old tales about Jos and the sad story of blood now coming out of the place, my heart bleeds. Why do we love to shed blood when there is no need for it? Since these killings started what have they added to our gross domestic product (GDP)? Jos, which was a metaphor for good neighbourliness, is today the city of everything bad under the sun. Those opportune to live there in those glorious days look back and shake their heads at what is happening in their once beloved city.

Many have moved out of Jos for fear of their lives. Living in Jos is no longer a cherished idea. It has become a dangerous place to stay. What is more, it has even become a dangerous place to pass through. Is this the same old Jos of which people sang? What could have happened to the Tin City? Since September 3, a search has been on for Maj.-Gen Idris Alkali, former Chief of Administration at the Army Headquarters in Abuja, who was said to have gone missing while passing through Jos.

The general was not going to the war front; he was just passing by on his way to his farm in Bauchi. As he drove, he was speaking with his wife, Salamatu, who was monitoring his movement to ensure he got to his destination safe and sound. Mrs Alkali, according to reports, did not want him to pass through Jos. She wanted him to go through the Kano route. You know how women are. They can smell danger a long way off and no matter what they do to caution us, we, the men, always tell them not to worry.

We wave their fear aside not because we are careless. No, not at all, we do so because a man must not only be a man, he must be seen to be a man. Shortly after Gen Alkali passed through Jos, his wife lost contact with him. The woman has been agitated since then. She has called on the army to help her look for her husband because ‘’we are in distress, pain and agony”.

The search for him has led the Joint Task Force (JTF) looking for him to Dura Du in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. The search has been narrowed down to the mining pond there from where his car, a Toyota Corolla was fished out last Saturday. How did the general’s car get into the pond? The pond, the people of the community claim, is sacred to them. They say it is sacrilegious to drain the water in the pond as the army intends to do to see if the general is in there.

It is only commonsensical to dig deeper into the pond after finding the general’s car there. If his car could be found there, what other evil do we know is still deep inside its womb? It is in the interest of justice and fair play to allow this search to go. If the pond could harbour the general’s car and other vehicles, there is more to the place than we are being told by its so-called custodians. This is a matter that should concern us all that a general, a whole general,  could just vanish like that without trace. If he had gone to war and had been captured, it would have been a different matter. The army would have known that he has become a Prisoner of War (POW).

The Du community’s complaint against the draining of the pond has become meaningless with the recovery of two more vehicles there on Tuesday. One of the recovered vehicles, a white Toyota Hiace marked RYM 307 XA and its driver reportedly went missing about three months ago. What is really going on around this pond? What kind of mining is being done there? The JTF, which recovered the vehicles, said there were still three more vehicles in the pond. The question again is : How did they get there? Were they pushed in there and by who?

No matter what it takes, everything should be done to get to the root of this case. Who knows the search party may yet find more revealing objects in that pond.

TODAY, willy-nilly, a winner must emerge in the Osun State governorship election. The winner will be determined by just 3,498 votes.  That is a lot of votes in an election, where at times a difference of only one vote is required to win.

Today’s rerun election is holding in seven polling units in four local government areas of the state. They are two units in Orolu with 947 votes, where election was disrupted; Ife South, two units with 1,314 votes, where the electronic card reader malfunctioned, Ife North, one unit with 353 votes, where there was over-voting and Osogbo, one unit with 884 votes, where election did not hold. To win the election, the two leading candidates – Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with 254,698 votes and Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), 254,345 votes – must score the highest number of votes cast, according to Section 179 (2) (a) of the Constitution.

Some of the contestants in the first ballot, who are no longer eligible to run in the rerun,  are a major deciding factor. They will have a say in who becomes governor between Adeleke and Oyetola,

Already, the PDP and APC are wooing the likes of Senator Iyiola Omisore, who contested on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform, Fatai Akinbade of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Moshood Adeoti of the Action Democratic Party (ADP). These three men and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Yussuff Lasun, it is believed, have what it takes to help either party win. Both parties want to win.  These days, popularity and performance are no longer the yardstick for winning elections. Analysts believe that other variables, such as money, security and the media, matter in any election. When they talk about money, they are referring to empowerment of the electorate, which in local parlance is known as stomach infrastructure.

But in a rerun of this nature where the voters are not up to 5,000 will these variables still come to play? The most important factor in this rerun is the human variable. Though money will still exchange hands, we cannot wish away the human touch, the ‘my people feeling’ which is hard to do away with in some situations. Every community wants the good things of life and these things can only come if it is well connected in the corridors of power.

The Omisores and the Lasuns of SDP and APC are being wooed today because the contestants know that these men are crucial to their winning the election. To win in Ife South, the contestants need Omisore whose father is the baale (community head) of Olode which is in that area. Olode has over 800 votes. To win in Orolu where Lasun hails from, they need the lawmaker whose constituency voted en masse for PDP last Saturday. Over 900 votes are up for grabs there.

Lasun voted APC, but his constituents feel that he is not being treated well by his party which suspects that he may defect to PDP. He has repeatedly stated his loyalty to the party. This rerun provides opportunity for these men to strike deals that will benefit them and their communities. Lasun’s loyalty will be put to test in this rerun. He has been stating his loyalty to his party. There is no better time than now for him to match his words with action. His people are on his side; so he should be able to sway them to the side of APC today.

But in politics 1 + 1 is not always two. The Bukola Saraki factor is there. The Senate president may want to use the National Assembly connection to get Lasun to back the PDP candidate. We have already seen how he tried to use that connection to win over Omisore, who was a senator between 2003 and 2007, for the party. Only these men know how their minds are working at present. Will Omisore go with the PDP from which he defected to contest the election last Saturday on SDP’s crest? Or will he back the APC, a party of some of his former associates in the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) on which platform he served as deputy governor of the state between 1999 and 2003? In politics, we all know, there are no permanent friends, but permanent interests.

Omisore and Lasun will be looking out for their interests in deciding who to back in today’s rerun. All eyes will be more on Lasun than Omisore because the former’s party to which he has consistently pledged loyalty is on the ballot. Will he go with APC publicly or will he be unconcerned about the party’s fate in today’s election? The parties will accede to their demands in order to get them to their side. But these men’s fear will be can the parties be trusted to keep their promises. Well, that is a gamble they must take. May the rerun go without hitch.

Nigeria at 58

IT IS time to celebrate our Independence anniversary again. On Monday, Nigeria will be 58. The celebration is coming in the midst of preparations for the 2019 general elections. Since Independence in 1960, our country has been tottering. We started with a lot of promise, especially in the first republic when we ran a regional system of administration. The regions did quite well. Those defunct regions laid the foundation for the present day Nigeria. Unfortunately, rather than build on that foundation, successive administrations have killed the dreams of our founding fathers.

The nationalists will turn in their graves with what is happening in the country today. We are lagging behind virtually in all areas of human development. We keep on churning out graduates from our universities without making jobs available for them. We say they should create jobs. Just like that? If it was that easy, why didn’t many of us create our own jobs after leaving school. I am not saying this is not a good policy. The question is what has the government put in place to make it easy for these graduates to be job creators? We can go on and on lamenting. But this is not a time to lament; it isa time to put our hands to the plough to make our country work. I dread the forecast that by 2050, we will be one of the two poorest countries in the world. We can shame the forecasters by rising now to do things to make this country great. Happy birthday, Nigeria.

AT 15, Leah Sharibu has gone through a lot for someone her age. As I write this on Tuesday night, the girl is still in captivity seven months after she and 109 others were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19. Her story is moving. It is the stuff of epic films. But this is not make believe. It is real. About four months ago, her mates were released, but the abductors held on to her because she refused to renounce her faith.

They wanted her to convert to Islam. She refused and they refused to let her go. Leah showed a strong will even in the face of danger. It may be correct to say that she is still being held because she has stuck to her guns not to renounce Christianity. Are we even sure that she will be released if she agrees to be a Muslim?  Nobody can say for sure that they will let her go if she embraces Islam. Be that as it may, the Leah Sharibu fight is not one to be fought by the girl alone.

This girl has tried. In her own small way, she has put up a good fight. She has done all she can do to resist the intimidation of her abductors. I can hear her tiny voice in my subconscious mind, calling out to us all to come to her rescue. Just imagine the trauma she is going through. Here she was with her friends a while ago and all of a sudden, they allowed them to go except her. That experience alone is killing.

She must be strong, really strong to have held on without friends and family since others were released in May. Those of us enjoying our freedom in the comfort of our homes may not appreciate what this brave girl is going through in the lion’s den. We cannot abandon her to her fate as a nation.  We should be angry with what is happening to this girl. Our anger should move us to act in whatever way possible to bring her back home. What will it cost to free her?

By now, the government should know what it will take to get her out, using the channels of communication between it and Boko Haram. It was through these channels that it got back the other girls. But it seems lethargy has set in. I do not know what the sect’s demands are, but whatever they may be, the government must find a way round them in order to free Leah. Let’s face it, like any other parent, Leah’s parents will not be interested in any story about why their daughter cannot be gotout of captivity. As each day passes, the news they are eagerly waiting to hear is that Leah has been released. Like her parents, Leah too is anxious to return home.

Few weeks ago, she sent the nation a message, asking us not to forget her in captivity. The government has assured the nation that she would not be abandoned to her fate. Leah has become the bone tied to the dog’s neck which nothing must happen to. We cannot afford to be lethargic about Leah’s case. Everyday she spends with her abductors is a sad reminder of our inability as a nation, so far, to spring her from captivity. Again, what will it take to get this girl back? If she were to be the child of one of those in power will the matter be treated like this? We know the length the government will go to bring her out if Leah were to be the child of a powerful man in the society.

Her abductors are emboldened by our attitude to the issue to make all sorts of demands. They are now threatening to kill the girl if the government does not pay them ransom within one month. If that is what it will take to get her back, the government should quietly settle with them and bring this matter to a closure. We should also remember that some Chibok schoolgirls too are still with the Boko Haram insurgents. Over 100 of them are still being held in God knows where.

Since the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) is demanding ransom to free Leah, we can add the Chibok girls into the bargain and get them out along with her. Yes, as some will argue, it is not good to negotiate ransom with abductors. But in a situation like this, what do we do? Abandon the girls with their abductors? Since the alternative is to resort to force, are we ready for that considering the attendant risk? This alternative is not an option in this circumstance. The only choice we have is to negotiate the girls’ way out.

Boko Haram has given us a month to do that. To show that it means business, ISWAP released the video of a slain abducted aid worker, Saifura Ahmed. It threatened to kill the two remaining aid workers and Leah if its ransom demand is not met. “The other nurse and midwife will be executed in similar manner in one month, including Leah Sharibu”, ISWAP said in the video released on Monday. A lot can be achieved in a month. Let us seize this opportunity to bring this saga to an end.

Evans’ way

KIDNAP suspect Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans does things in style. He likes the good life and he lived it to the full before his arrest. He allegedly kidnapped people and demanded ransom in hard currencies. His victims reportedly paid him in pounds, dollars and euros. His trial is showing us many aspects of his life. On Monday, a witness, Edwin Uduji, told Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos High Court how Evans’ men warned him of the consequences of paying ransom for his kidnapped younger brother, James, a businessman, with fake dollars.

According to the witness, the kidnappers told him that for every fake $100 note, he would pay $10,000 fine. What do we call the fine? Second ransom? See how Evans lived and terrorised those unfortunate to fall into his hands! Today, he is shedding crocodile tears in detention. He is weeping for the fate that awaits him. May his tribe continue to shrink.