The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • A register of ghosts

    It is the document on which candidates’ fate hangs. Known as the voter’s register, it contains the names of all eligible voters in the land. Eligibility is determined by age, which the constitution fixes at 18. Anyone under 18 cannot register as a voter. Where an underage registers, he is deemed to have committed an offence and he is liable to prosecution. Over the years, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the register’s custodian, has come under fire for filling it with fictitious names and ineligible voters.

    We have seen voter’s list with names like Nelson Mandela, Mike Tyson, Kofi Annan, who are not Nigerians. While those who registered in one part of the country found their names in other states; yet others did not find their names on the register at all. Our voter’s list is just that in name. It is nothing more than a sheet of paper stitched together by some people to fool us. INEC or whatever name it was called in the past, never got the voter’s list right. The electoral umpire seemed to take delight in filling the document with names of people supplied to it by those in power, who are bent on winning elections.

    If this was not the case, many who trooped out to register under the scorching sun or cold weather will not end up not finding their names on the list during its display. As much as the electoral commission tries to vouch for the voter’s list, evidence has time and again shown that there is something untidy about it. It is either the commission is colluding with some people to mess up the register or it is outright incapable of discharging a simple task. By this submission, I am not indicting the Prof Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC, but a general castigation of the commission over the years.  The problem with our voter’s list did not start today, so the prof and his men should not take the whole blame for it.

    But, can we trust him to restore our faith in the voter’s list? The register is crucial in the discharge of INEC’s job. Without a clean register, the commission may have failed in its first task of ensuring free and fair elections in 2019, which is just two years away. Painfully, the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) does not give cause for cheer giving what we are hearing about what transpired in Government House, Lokoja, the Kogi State capital. INEC is accusing Governor Yahaya Bello of double registration. The governor is denying the claim. He added for good measure that perhaps it was  his  ghost that was registered since he was out of the country last May 23.

    Ghosts have always found their way into the register long before Bello made that allusion and it is all the commission’s fault. The voter’s list will continue to be filled with ghosts as long as the commission is peopled by greedy officials. Registration for an election, which is a civic duty to be performed by a citizen, has been turned to a money making venture. It is where the big money is that INEC officials will go to register and re-register people, if need be,  under fictitious names. Little wonder some people today have as many as 100 or more voter’s cards, which become their meal tickets during elections.

    But, INEC can change things with the Yahaya Bello case. The governor, who registered in Abuja on January 30, 2011, was said to have re-registered in Lokoja on May 23, 2017, contrary to the electoral law. The law frowns at double registration, but allows a voter to transfer his registration from one state to another to ensure a sane process. Since the governor has denied the allegation, it behoves INEC to come out with its proof. But isn’t there a contradiction in Bello’s claim and his spokesman’s statement that “the governor’s effort to transfer his card from Abuja to Kogi State has not been successful, hence the need to get registered in Kogi State”?

    The likes of Fanwo should know that there is no excuse for breaking the law, no matter how highly-placed a person may be. The question is how could the governor be in Dubai on May 23 as he told reporters in Abuja last Friday and at the same time be in Lokoja ‘’to get registered in Kogi State’’, as contained in Fanwo’s statement. The onus is on INEC to clear the fog. Can it do that? Yes, it can if it has the photograph of the governor’s registration. How then did his name disappear from the list? That is a question for the registration officials to answer.

     

    Haba, NJC! 

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) is at it again. After its 82nd meeting which ended on June 1, it recalled six judges who were suspended in the wake of allegations against them. It noted that since their suspension, there has been a backlog of cases in their courts. Those recalled are Justices Inyang Okoro (Supreme Court), Uwani Aba Ali (Appeal Court), Adeniyi Ademola, Hydiazara Nganyiwa, Musa Kurya, all of the Federal High Court and Agbadu James Fishim (National Industrial Court). Of all the judges, only Justice Ademola has been discharged and acquitted by Justice Jude Okeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has appealed the verdict. The others are yet to be charged to court. So, many are wondering what informed NJC’s recall of these judges. Is it proper to recall a judge whose case is yet to be determined by the appeal court? A case that may even get to the Supreme Court. On what basis did it recall the others who have not even faced trial? Since it is an eminent body of judges, has the NJC tried and found them not guilty? Well, it should remember that it cannot sit as a court in that capacity.  The judges’ recall is hasty. It would have been better for the council to  await the appellate courts’ decisions on Justice Ademola’s case and also allow time for the others’ trial.  

  • The evil creeks

    The  SEASHORE. Cool, breezy, breathtaking and picturesque. It is a sight to behold, with grains of sand stretching as far as the eyes can see. It is the ideal place to work, play, live and school. But not all can afford it. It is only for the affluent. But none can appreciate the real value of the seashore than a sailor, who virtually lives on water. Among the rich, there is a rush for a slice of the seashore because it confers class and prestige on them. You hardly find the poor there.

    But the world is an interdependent place, where the rich and the poor live together. As much as the rich wish to hide in their cocoon, nature still finds a way of bringing them together with the poor. The rich man cannot do away with the poor no matter his disdain for them. Though he lives in  a mansion, he relies on the services of the poor to keep his environment clean. This is why you find the poor among the rich in those upscale areas such as Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ahmadu Bello Way, Broad Street, Osborne Road, Bourdillon and so on and so forth.

    The seashore extends to hitherto remote areas, which are now developing into big cities because of the vastness of the lagoon. These days not only those who are stupendously rich own property around the seashore. Some upwardly mobile youngsters and greying men, who have been toiling for years count among those with property there. Schools, both public and private, are also springing up there. From the coastline of Arepo to Ikorodu, Epe and Lekki, these schools dot the landscape, with mostly the rich having the means to send their children there. Some indigent pupils also attend these schools, but they are few and far between.

    Because of the remoteness of these schools, they have become easy targets of those the police labelled as  ‘’kidnappers/pirates’’. In recent time, they have been invading some of these schools to kidnap pupils, teachers and principals. Last Thursday, they stormed the Lagos State Model College at Igbonla, Epe, and kidnapped six pupils. They would have gone with more if their boat had the capacity to contain their victims. For the impressionable young pupils, it looked surreal, but it was for real. Three days before they struck, the hoodlums had written the school that they were coming.

    True to their words, they struck and there was nobody to stop them. For those of us who went to boarding school, incidents like this sear our hearts. The boarding school is supposed to be a safe place for pupils, who live together as one family, no matter where they came from. Parents send their children to boarding schools to be trained to become better persons and to develop into men or women of their own. They do not do this because they cannot take care of their children at home. Their action may have been informed by what in local parlance is referred to as  the benefits of external training. As it is said, it takes a village to raise a child.

    There can be no better place to train a child among his peers than in a boarding school. For many parents, taking the decision to send their children to boarding schools is not easy. Perhaps, this is why many prefer the Unity schools to other schools. By committing their children to the hands of the school authorities, parents are unequivocally expressing their confidence in the system to guarantee the safety of those kids as long as they do not play truancy. If these kids had been kidnapped while on a frolic of their own outside the school, we would have thumped our noses at them and said serves them right. But six of them were plucked away from their dormitories at dawn with little or no security presence.

    The kidnappers had written that they were coming. What steps did the school take to stop them? Did they report to the police? What action did the police take on the letter? Was security beefed up at the school? Were policemen around on the day the kidnappers struck? As a government owned school, securing it should not be a problem, but it seemed it was from all indications. By now, the police and other security agencies should have become conversant with the mode of operation of these kidnappers, who have turned the creeks around the lagoon to their hideout. With all the facilities at their disposal, the security agencies should have by now cut the wind from these hoodlums’ sail.

    We cannot afford to continue to expose our pupils to the danger posed by these kidnappers along the Lagos/Ogun coastline. These kidnappers have become emboldened because our security agents do not appear to be a match for them. They come in with ease and leave with their victims with ease. They also collect ransom with ease. This is why some people are imputing that the kidnappers are in cahoots with the security agencies. That is hard to believe, but we are left with no choice as our security agencies are always caught flatfooted whenever these people strike. Are the security agencies and the kidnappers working together?

    If they are, what will the security agencies gain from such unholy alliance? Are we saying that it is impossible to secure schools around the seashore? If that is the case, it will be better the schools are shut until a solution is found to the problem rather than continue to expose the lives of these leaders of tomorrow to danger. May the Lord touch the kidnappers’ hearts to release the pupils unhurt.

     

     

    Where did you wed?

    When marriages take place at local governments’ registries, the couples believe that they are doing so at the right forum. Nothing can be farther from the truth going by the May 15 judgement of a Lagos High Court that local governments cannot conduct marriages, which fall under item 61 of the exclusive list of the Constitution. What this means is that only  the Federal Government or its agencies can conduct marriages. The exception are marriages under Islamic and Customary laws. By virtue of that verdict, all marriages conducted at local governments now stand on shaky grounds (you may describe them as sham if you like) except the couples move fast to do the right thing. And this, according to the court, is to return their marriage certificates to the local governments where they got married for the ‘’reissuance of the appropriate certificates’’ in line with Section 24 of the Marriage Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), 1990. Ha! So, many of us have been keeping ‘’inappropriate certificates’’ all these years. Na wa o!

  • Coup, in this age?

    In the past, the public got to know of any problem within the military when the offenders were being executed. In the military, the punishment for any crime against the state was death. The military does not joke with its stability. This is why any rumbling is quickly put down before it snowballs into something else.  Officers and soldiers know that their loyalty to the state, especially the Commander-in-Chief (C-i-C), must not be called to question. Once a soldier’s loyalty is in doubt, he is a goner. Loyalty must be total; there is nothing like partial loyalty, which is the same as being disloyal.

    There is no room for warning once a soldier crosses the line. The rules are rigid and clear. Discipline is the keyword. A soldier must be disciplined through and through and this must show in his conduct. Whether in and out of the barracks, he must reflect the military discipline. This is why soldiers are one of a kind. They are not like civilians because they live a regimented life. Soldiers are the soul of a country because they stand as its bulwark against external aggression. But some of them have sold their souls to the devil because of a mess of porridge.

    Those are the ones who connive with all sorts of character to do the unthinkable – the takeover of government. Soldiers are not trained to be coup plotters. But at a time, it was the in-thing in Nigeria for soldiers to stage a coup. They carry out the illicit act at times with the help of outsiders, that is non-soldiers. But, most times, it is a plot by soldiers working with some of their superiors. Nigeria has had its fair share of coups beginning with the first military putsch of January 15, 1966. Six months later, there was another coup, which brought in then Lt Col Yakubu Gowon as head of state.

    By now, we should have outgrown coups. Our military should not at this age and time be talking of any plot to take over government by any other means except the ballot box. By Monday, the Buhari administration will be two. Although President Muhammadu Buhari does not enjoy good health, that should not be enough reason for some people to want to use the military to force him out. Why are those people in a hurry to shoo Buhari out? Is it a constitutional offence for the president to fall ill? The Constitution does not say that the president is a super human being that he cannot fall ill. What it frowns at is where the president is incapacitated by his illness that he cannot do his job. To avoid having a lame duck president,  it makes provision for the vice president to take charge in acting capacity and not as “coordinator of government affairs”.

    Those thinking of removing Buhari through coup do not love this country. They must have something to hide; if not they will not be talking of a coup when we have a president who is on a mission to rescue the country, his health permitting. If they are not satisfied with the president’s performance, all they need do is wait for another two years to exercise their franchise to vote him out. Anything short of that will be breaching the Constitution, which allows the president to hold office for four years at the first instance. Assuming that the president is not performing, which is even not the case in this instance, is it the covert plot to remove him the way to go?

    Many of our politicians will never learn. They are always looking for the easy way out of any challenge without giving a second thought to its fall-out. We were in this country when some politicians invited the late Gen Sani Abacha to take over from the contraption called the Interim National Government (ING) and hand over to the late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, who won the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The late Abacha took over power and held on to it until he died. Unlike 1993, we are not in any crisis now. So, why are “some individuals approaching some officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons” as stated by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai last week.

    The “undisclosed political reasons” is euphemism for a coup. The army chief knew what he was saying when he raised that alarm. We are lucky that we are no longer in the era of the military where anything goes, otherwise, some people may since have been arbitrarily arrested and court-martialled for treason. Coup, pustch, forceful take over of government or whatever name it may be called, is no longer fashionable. At least, not in this era of advanced technology. If soldiers gather anyhow these days in beer parlours to drink and take pepper soup, ala the coup theory propounded by that fine police officer, Alex Ogugbuaja, before they know it, they will find themselves on social media with details of what they are doing.

    How can any sane person even think of holding talks with soldiers for ‘’undisclosed political reasons’’ in this age when nothing is no longer secret. Gone are the days that Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) facilities can be shut down by a bunch of soldiers to facilitate the forceful take over of government. Before they strike now, they would have been caught and made to face the consequences of their action. But this matter should not be allowed to end like this. The military should ferret out those trying to compromise its men and bring them to book. It should however not be a witch-hunt of opponents of the government.

    If we allow this matter to die without investigating it to logical conclusion, we may be leaving fire on our roof to go to sleep. How are we sure that these people will not make another move? We should not fear their gathering, though, because it will be in vain. Whenever they gather to plot against the people’s will, they will fall for the simple fact that coup is an idea whose time is gone.

  • $43.4m: Before the forfeiture

    T WAS ONE recovery that exposed the true character of some of our politicians. It was not the first time the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be making such a recovery, but it was the first time its recovery was threatening to bring the country down, as it were, on every one of us. The recovery was made in an highbrow apartment in Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos. The cash haul caused mouths to water – $43.4million, N23, 218, 000 and 27,800 pounds. It was found in Apartment 7B House 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

    How did the money get to the apartment? Who owns it? Why was it kept in that apartment? These were some of the questions the public asked as soon as news of the recovered cash broke. From reports, it was gathered that Folashade, wife of the suspended Director-General‘of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ambassador Ayodele Oke, bought the flat where the money was found. She was said to have bought the house from Fine and Country Limited for $1.658million between August 25 and September 3, 2015, in the name of Chobe Ventures Limited.

    Mrs Oke and her son, Ayodele junior, according to papers filed in court by EFCC, are the directors of Chobe Ventures. What does Chobe Ventures do? The EFCC did not state in its affidavit. So, does the money belong to NIA? If it does not, whose money is it?

    This is the knot Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos is expected to untie when he rules on June 6 on EFCC’s application for permanent forfeiture of the cash to the Federal Government. Before the matter went to court, many people had laid claim to the money, with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike threatening heaven and earth, if the cash was not returned to its ‘’rightful owner, Rivers State’’. Wike claimed that the money was part of the proceeds of the state’s gas turbines sold by his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. He gave the government two weeks to return the money  or he will go to court. Since that outburst, the governor has been unusually silent because emerging facts do not support his claim. Does that mean he has dropped his state’s claim to the money? We will return to that shortly.

    The NIA is not a run-of-the-mill agency. It works to protect the country from external threat and its job is shrouded in secrecy in order not to jeopardise the lives of its agents, who work incognito. Those who should know are concerned with the dimension that the case is taking, especially reports that NIA is laying claim to the money. Former External Affairs Minister Prof Bolaji Akinyemi and erstwhile Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku are worried that the activities of NIA, which should not be in the open, are being exposed unduly.  Anyaoku, who rarely grants interviews, said in a statement issued from London that he aligned with Akinyemi’s position that everything concerning NIA in respect of the money should be handled secretly in line with global practice.

    Unfortunately, it is the NIA that should be blamed for whatever is happening to it today. I do not support exposing our security agents in whatever form but they too should not do anything to compromise their integrity. Their lives are always at stake because of the job they do. This is why we owe them the duty of protecting them by not blowing their cover. But, what if they blow their own cover, as we have seen in this case? If truly the money belongs to NIA, then it is its fault that the recovery of the cash has generated this huge row. All the NIA needed to do when EFCC stumbled on the money was to have called higher authorities, which would have directed the anti-graft agency to back off.

    But, it seems something was fishy, which made EFCC to blow the matter open. Having said that, what do we make of Wike’s claim to the money? Barely 24 hours after the money was found, Wike called a press conference, where he alleged that  Amaechi took the cash, which belongs to Rivers for the purpose of campaigning for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last election. He did not stop at that. He invited clergymen to the government house in Port Harcourt to pray to God to touch the heart of the Federal Government to release the money to its ‘’rightful owner’’. Who is this ‘’rightful owner’’? Wike and others laying claim to the money were given ample time by Justice Hassan to prove their claims.

    On April 13 while ordering the temporary forfeiture of the money to the government, the judge gave claimants up till May 5 to bring their proof. Neither Wike nor NIA nor any other person laying claim to the money did so. How can that be? Is Wike now saying the money no longer belongs to Rivers? The money is Rivers and it must be returned to the state with interest. With that kind of money, Wike will do more projects for the state and also extend the gesture to other states, if need be.

    There is a lesson to learn from all this by our politicians. We should not play politics with every issue. What was the need in Wike inveighing Amaechi and inviting clerics to pray and fast for money that does not belong to his state? Wike misfired and abused the privilege of his office in maligning his predecessor. The court gave him opportunity to prove ownership of the money, but he did not do so.

    By his silence, he has eaten his words and vindicated Amaechi over this matter. But must politicians descend to this level in order to settle scores? Anyway, the court is waiting for Wike to come for his state’s money.

  • The Chibok saga

    THE night they were kidnapped, the girls never expected such fate to befall them. Their plan was to go to bed peacefully after reading in order to get up fresh the following day for their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). It was the night the peace of not only Chibok, the community which hosts the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Borno State, was shattered but also that of the country. Since the April 14, 2014 abduction of these girls – 219 in all – from their dormitories, the nation has known no peace.

    How can they be in captivity and the nation will be at rest? Their parents wailed, demanding the rescue of their children from the kidnappers. Boko Haram, which carried out the operation, cared less about the parents’ feelings. What mattered to the insurgent group was that it had struck where it would pain the nation most.

    Since 2009 Boko Haram has been a thorn in our flesh and nobody seems to know what it wants. The much we know is that it is against western culture. This supposition may not be entirely true.

    With the help of a western tool-video-it mocked us to no end about its kidnap of the Chibok girls. Its leader was on one or two video recordings, telling the world what the group would do to the girls. ‘’We will marry them off’’, the elusive Abubakar Shekau boasted. He claimed that he had a mandate from Allah to do so. As mothers held their bosom, weeping their hearts out, he was busy celebrating what he considered a “big catch”.

    The snag was Boko Haram could not be tackled frontally with the girls still in its grip. There was no way the Chibok girls could be freed by force as long as they were held captive. The group had an advantage, which it has since held on to. It took the Jonathan administration weeks to wake up to the reality of the girls’ kidnap. So, for the two weeks or so that the government chose to believe that the kidnap did not happen, Boko Haram held on to this advantage. It took the girls deep into the Sambisa Forest and from there distributed them to some neighbouring countries. Thus, it became difficult getting back the girls together just the way they were abducted.

    To get back all the girls requires grace. The Bringbackourgirls (BBOG) movement was born to actualise this aim. The BBOG, with Aishat Yusuf and Oby Ezekwesili as arrowheads, started a daily sit-out at the Eagle Square to create awareness about the girls’ fate. The group has been unrelenting in its campaign to get the girls back. It piled pressure on the Jonathan administration. It may be safe to say that if not for BBOG, the Jonathan administration may not have lifted a finger in respect of the girls’ case. The group went beyond its sit-out to march on Aso Rock severally, but our security men, in their characteristic manner, always stopped them.

    No matter what it went through, the BBOG kept the campaign alive. Because of the group, the nation, nay the world, did not forget the Chibok girls. In the morning, afternoon and night, Yusuf, Ezekwesili and others were at the barricades, rallying us all to stand up for the Chibok girls. ‘’We should never forget the Chibok girls’’, the group charged the world. Despite the group’s  pressure, the Jonathan administration was unable to rescue them before it left office.

    The nation expected a change in the temperature of the campaign to free the girls following the change in government in May 2015. Again, the BBOG stepped forward to mount pressure on the Buhari administration as it did to its predecessor. On many occasions, it nudged the Buhari administration into action. It maintained its Aso Rock protest, but again, it was not allowed to get to the seat of power. But the government responded to its protest. The government promised that it would never allow the Chibok girls to rot in captivity, adding that everything is being done to bring them back without a fuss.

    T he government has indeed taken some commendable steps about the case. In October, last year, 21 of the girls were freed following negotiations with the kidnappers. The exercise was supposed to be done in secrecy, but it leaked to the press. After the girls’ release, the government promised that 80 others will also soon regain their freedom. The release of the 21 and the earlier escape of two others were cheery news. It gave the girls’ families hope that they may still see their daughters. And on the night of Saturday,  May 5, it happened. That night, 82 of the girls were freed after being swapped with some Boko Haram detainees. The release of the girls has brought joy to our faces. The people are happy because the government has acted in their interest. The government is supposed to be there for us in both peace and difficult times. It should not abandon us at anytime no matter our status in life. The government is not for the rich and mighty alone; it is for all – the rich and the poor.

    As we rejoice over the freedom of these 82 girls, we should not forget those still in captivity. It is when they are all free that our joy will be full. I know that soon, very soon, they shall be free also. As President Muhammadu Buhari observed when he received the girls in Abuja on Sunday before leaving for London for medical follow up, ‘’no human being should go through this kind of ordeal’’. The grim task now is reintegrating the girls back into society. It will not be easy, but it is our collective responsibility to ensure that they fit back into the society from which they were forcibly taken away over three years ago.

  • Moment of truth

    On his return from London on March 10, about 54 days after he went there on vacation, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke extensively on his health, which many of his aides had shied away from. The president left home on January 19 for a 10-day vacation. As days turned to weeks, Nigerians started asking questions on why their president had not returned as scheduled.

    When some people began to suggest that he was critically ill, the Presidency responded that it was not so. All, it said, was well with the president, ‘’who is just resting based on his doctor’s advice’’. The issue of the health of the president of any country should not be something to hide from his compatriots. The president as Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka said last weekend is public property.

    It was a bewildered nation that heard the president speak the way he did on March 10 because many did not know he was that seriously ill. Frank, candid and forthright as ever, the president told some governors and ministers, at a reception held for him at the Villa : ‘’I could not recall being this sick since I was a young man, including the military, with its ups and downs. I have received I think the best of treatment I could receive. Blood transfusion, going to the laboratories, and so on and so forth. But, I am very pleased that we, when I say we, I mean the government and the people all over…I could not recall when last I had transfusion; I could not recall,  honestly I can say in my 70 years’’.

    He thanked Nigerians for their prayers, adding that he is billed to return “within some weeks” for further follow up. Some 48 hours after his return, he went back to work, but things have not been the same since then. We hardly see our president in public these days except on Fridays. But, last Friday, we did not see him at his usual haunt, the mosque at the Villa, where he joins the faithful to observe Jumat. The reason for this is obvious. Before last Friday, his major critics, particularly Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, had taken swipes at him for not coming to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings, but always going for Jumat service.

    There is nothing bad in a public officer, especially the president going for prayers, but it sends a wrong signal if it does not complement his job. The question the public is asking is should the president be absent at FEC meetings and be present at Jumat services? Nobody is saying that the president should not go and pray, but can we reconcile that with his absence at the meetings of the nation’s highest ruling organ? The president is the state; so whatever happens to him or whatever he does reflects on the state. There is no way the FEC would have done any meaningful thing during the period it met without its presiding officer. Though the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors now want us to believe that it is not compulsory for him to chair FEC meetings.

    Will the governors, in all honesty,  concede the chairmanship of their state executive councils’ meetings to their deputies when they are around, but recuperating? We should stop playing politics with this issue because of its grave implications for us as a nation. This is why I find former interim National Chairman of APC Chief Bisi Akande’s intervention as a good development. In a statement issued on Monday, he discussed the president’s health vis-a-vis developments in the polity. ‘’There are two challenges facing the country today. The first is the health of the president, which unfortunately, is a development beyond his control and for which we did not prepare. The second is the disorder and lack of cohesion between the National Assembly and the Presidency. These are two great red flag dangers that have the potential of plunging the country into unprecedented chaos and of destabilising the gains of democracy since 1999.

    “The greatest danger, however, is for political interests at the corridor of power attempting to feast on the health of Mr President in a dangerous manner that may aggravate the problems between the executive and the National Assembly without realising it. In the end, it could drag the country into avoidable doom. As delicately fragile as the union of nations making up Nigeria, so delicately fragile is the democracy and the rule of law governing the polity of the union called Nigerian federation…To avoid the ugly consequences of letting President Buhari’s ailment throw Nigeria into confusion, I am urging all Nigerians to begin to pray for his divine healing and perfect recovery.”

    Indeed, can we say there is improvement in the president’s health since his return from London 54 days ago? This may be why he has not been attending FEC meetings. The job of a president is quite demanding; it is full of rigour and it is not an office to be held by the feeble in health. The president must be sound in mind and body. If he is not, according to the 1999 Constitution, he is expected to yield place to the vice president and go take care of himself  after writing the National Assembly. From what we have seen so far, is the president still fit to hold office? Only the president and his doctors can tell. But for now, it will be better for him to return to London to keep his appointment with his doctors. He told us that he was expected back ‘’within some weeks’’. It is close to eight weeks now since his return home. How much longer does he have to wait before going to keep the appointment?

    It is high time he kept that appointment for the sake of himself, his family and the country, which he loves with his whole being. We pray that what we experienced not too long ago will not repeat itself so soon.

  • The cop who loves power

    Their relationship has never been cordial and it is all the fault of the police. Despite the press doing everything to make things work between them, the police have never returned the gesture. Because of their phobia for the press, the police hate to see reporters’ faces. At public functions, they shoo reporters and photographers away like hen. On some occasions, they beat them black and blue for allegedly breaking protocol.

    It seems it is a global phenomenon, but that of Nigeria surpasses all. It appears that playing God is part of police job. Their job is to prevent crime, but they take delight in preventing reporters from doing their job. But when did reporting become a crime? Whether under military or democratic rule, the press has always been at the mercy of the police and other security agencies. It was so bad under the military which came up with decrees to cripple the press. There was Decree 4 under the Buhari junta under which Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson were jailed for reporting the truth in 1984.

    Eleven years earlier, a reporter, Minere Amakiri, was giving 24 strokes of the cane and his head shaved by then Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff, then governor of Rivers State, for his report on a teachers’ strike, which fell on the governor’s birthday. You can see how the press has been treated over the years. It has not fared better under democratic government. Under the Jonathan administration, Ubale Musa of Radio Deutsche Welle, was expelled from the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for asking visiting Chadian President Idris Deby a question on the Boko Haram menace. Tell me, what is a reporter’s job if not to ask questions? We thought we had seen the last of such irrational actions until what happened again at the Villa on Monday.

    What his predecessor, the late Gordon Obua, Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former President Goodluck Jonathan,  did to Musa, President Muhammadu Buhari’s CSO, Bashir Abubakar, has done to Olalekan Adetayo of The PUNCH. Abubakar asked that Adetayo be marched out of the Villa and never to return. He took the action without recourse to his principal or the president’s media aides. That is the way they treat the press. He did not even consider it appropriate to sound out his colleagues before taking his ill-advised decision. He was simply power sottish and decided to show off. Abubakar has stirred up the hornet’s nest and he will surely be bitten. He has started what he cannot finish. He should ask those before him how they ended up after such rash decisions.

    What did Adetayo do to warrant his expulsion? According to reports, the CSO was aggrieved by the Sunday PUNCH, April 23 lead story which touched on the president’s health. He was also not happy with the reporter’s Saturday, April 22 article titled : ‘’Seat of power’s event centres going into extinction’’. I do not know how our security agents think. They see themselves as more patriotic than other Nigerians because they serve in the security agencies. They forget that patriotism is not defined by the job you do but by what you do to lift your country. A policeman is not patriotic because he has the power to stop a reporter who he considers a ‘security threat’ from doing his job at the Villa or any other place for that matter.

    Who defines what is national security where there is an apparent threat? Is it the police officer who is in charge of security in the Presidency? Or should it be the court? National security is a nebulous term which could be used and is used by overzealous security operatives to deprive people of their rights and freedom. Though Abubakar did not say so, his action spoke louder than words. By his action, he implied that Adetayo had breached national security with his reports. According to Adetayo’s account of his meeting with the CSO, Abubakar said the reports portrayed the president as incapacitated. He then reportedly added the clincher : the reports had to do with the politics of 2019. Oh, my God, what is the business of a cop with power politics?

    By that statement, the public should know where Abubakar is coming from. He did not do what he did because Adetayo committed any offence, he did it because he thought he was protecting the political interest of his principal. He was afraid that the reports could convey the impression that the president may not be fit to seek reelection in 2019. What is his business with that? His is to protect the president and not to be interested in his eligibility or otherwise of seeking reelection. If the president decides not to run in 2019, will that stop Abubakar from being a policeman? His excessive show of power does not portray him as a good officer. Officers do not behave like that. Abubakar did not think deeply before he expelled Adetayo from the Villa. It seemed he had been waiting for an opportunity to do just that.

    But, he would not get away with it. Adetayo will see his back at the Villa eventually and that is not a curse. Did the late Obua not expel Musa from the Villa? Is Musa not back at the Villa today? So shall Adetayo return. It is heartening to see the president’s media aides  weighing into the matter and promising an amicable resolution of the case. ‘’We were not consulted in the media office by the CSO before he expelled The PUNCH reporter. President Buhari is committed to press freedom. An amicable solution would be found to The PUNCH reporter’s matter. President Buhari does not intend to muzzle the media in anyway’’, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina wrote on his Twitter handle. The earlier the matter is resolved the better so that these security men can be put in their place.

     

    Se-ru-ba-won

    The name conjures fear. It is the Yoruba word for creating fear in people. This was the nickname of former Osun State Governor Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, who died on Sunday. Since his death, Ede, his hometown, has known no peace because of his supporters’ belief that he was poisoned. The late Adeleke was a charismatic politician; a grassroots person, who felt at home with the mighty and the low. The hoi polloi loved him because he was close to them. He did not consider it beneath him to wine and dine with them. He always touched base with them. At the naming of their children, he was there; at their freedom, he was there; at their graduation, he was there; at their housewarming, he was there. You name the event, he was always there to tell his people that he was for them and they for him. His death has shown how popular he was with the people. His death sparked violence because his people found it hard to believe that Serubawon could die just like that hours  after some of them interacted with him at a party on Saturday. What killed Adeleke? Did he die of natural cause? Or was he poisoned as alleged by his supporters? To lay the matter to rest, the Osun State Government and the Adeleke family should make public his autopsy report. My heart goes out to his family. May he find rest in the Lord’s bosom.

  • Loose cannons

    OSBORNE, the highbrow seaside abode of the rich in Ikoyi, Lagos, is a child of controversy. What is today known as Osborne Foreshore Estate was born in crisis following the forceful acquisition of the land from the state by the military government.

    You can never miss Osborne on your way to Ikoyi through Kingsway Road. It sits in all majesty by the roadside, with its exotic mansions jutting out into the sky through high wire fences. Until last week, we thought all that makes Osborne tick were houses, houses and houses. We never knew that there was a vault sort of inside the belly of this billionaires’ playground in which a fortune was hidden.

    In one of the apartments there, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found $43.4 million, 27,000 pounds and N23 million. The shocking find came on the heels of the recovery of money in other parts of Lagos a week earlier. The Osborne cash haul is, however, generating more heat than the other recoveries. The drama surrounding the recovered money is becoming more interesting by the day. But, it is a disturbing drama. Disturbing because a serious national issue is being politicised by those who should know better.

    Rather than allow EFCC to do its job, Governors Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) as well as former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode have jumped into the fray and declared that Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi owns the money and Apartment 7B in House 16 where it was found. How do they know? Were they aware that the money was being kept there before it was found? If they knew, why did they not inform EFCC or the other anti-graft agencies? Their silence over the money until it was found makes them accessory after the fact. So, if the EFCC had not found the money, Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode would have remained silent forever knowing full well that a crime is being committed!

    I find Wike’s outburst over the recovered cash most annoying of all. This is a man who has been battling Amaechi, his predecessor, since he took office on May 29, 2015. He has fought Amaechi with all he has. He set up a panel, which indicted Amaechi for alleged wrongdoing while in office. The panel claimed that he sold the state’s gas turbines and did not account for part of the proceeds. According to Wike, it was part of the proceeds that EFCC recovered in Osborne. At a late night briefing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, last Friday, Wike demanded the return of the money to his state within one week.

    Of course, the money must be returned to its true owner whenever that is confirmed. For now, we cannot take Wike’s word for it until the outcome of EFCC’s investigation into how the cash got into that Osborne apartment and who owns the place.

    Ever the rabble-rouser, Fani-Kayode declared that Amaechi owns the money and pooh-poohed the claim that it belongs to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Joining the fray on his master’s side Lere Olayinka, an aide to Fayose, said : ‘’Just hearing with one ear that Amaechi may have link to the House. Cover up game has started! Rotimi Amaechi owns the house… Abudu lives in Flat 7A, money found in Flat 7B. I still dey come’’. All these exchanges  were on Tweeter to which Amaechi’s media aide David Iyofor has since responded.

    Beyond these exchanges is getting to the bottom of the matter. How did this cash haul get to Osborne? Who took it there? Was it taken there by NIA? Is that where NIA keeps money and other exhibits? Where did NIA get the money from? Did it seize the cash or is the money part of its running cost? Are security agencies permitted to keep money in ‘safe houses’ without the knowledge of higher authority? Are there no authorised places for the keeping of such money? Wike or any other person with a rightful claim to the money can come forward to do so, but with proof. The law says he who alleges must prove. For now, Wike is the only one laying claim to the money.

    Where is his proof? There is no need for any noise over this money because the matter is now in public domain. Whether the cash belongs to Rivers or not, we will soon know. In matters like this, our politicians should exercise restraint and exhibit the highest sense of decorum before they talk to avoid overheating the polity. They should not jump into this case just to make political capital out of it. This is a serious national issue which must be dealt with seriously. If Wike, Fayose and Fani-Kayode are true patriots, they should be concerned with assisting investigators to unravel the case instead of whipping up sentiment. Rather than call on  the clergy to pray for Rivers to get back money, which may not even belong to it, Wike should come out with hard evidence to show that the cash is truly the state’s. If he cannot do that, he should keep quiet and await the investigation report. There is no point playing to the gallery.

    The Buhari administration has a serious case on its hands. If it  resolves this matter transparently, it will win more converts to its anti-graft war. But if it does not, the government would have proved its detractors right that the anti-corruption crusade is a sham.

  • Ranting of a general

    Ranting of a general

    Former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi has opened a Pandora’s box with his memoir titled :’’ Vindication of  a general’’. How he arrived at that title I do not know. What I know is that Nigerians will never forget how he dealt with them as army chief between 1996 and 1999. Bamaiyi was a disaster of an army chief. He held an office which he did not have the temperament for. Though I have not been privileged to read his book, what I have gleaned from newspapers so far is enough for me to talk about the man Bamaiyi because I was in this country when he was army chief.

    Bamaiyi served as the late Gen Sani Abacha’s army chief. If Abacha was evil, Bamaiyi was devilish. He was the power behind the throne who goaded the late head of state to do most of the things he did. As army chief, Bamaiyi was the eyes and ears of the late Abacha, who took all he told him as the gospel truth. Since the late Abacha was ensconced in the Villa for the fear of God knows what, the likes of Bamaiyi had a field day feeding him with titillating stories of how some people were always plotting to overthrow him. As army chief, Bamaiyi took delight in framing people up for phantom coups. Today, he wants us to see him as the best army chief this country has ever had. But no so fast, general.

    An army chief worth that name would have taken many things into consideration, particularly the period he served, before taking certain actions. Bamaiyi came into office at a most inauspicious time in the political annals of the country. It was the time the country was split along the north-south divide – a situation brought upon the country by the same army which he then headed. The annulment of the June 12, 1993 election by the Babangida junta set the country on edge. The annulment was a fatal error and in his sober moments, Gen Ibrahim Babangida will always regret his action.

    Many military officers  supported their then commander-in-chief. They felt that within a few weeks things would return to normal. They never thought that the late Chief M.K.O Abiola would put up a spirited fight for the restoration of his mandate “freely given to him by the Nigerian people on June 12, 1993”. In the heat of the June 12 crisis, Babangida was forced to ‘’step aside’’. He handed over to the dark-goggled Abacha. In no time, Abacha detained Abiola for declaring himself president at Epetedo on June 11, 1994. This was the setting when Bamaiyi became army chief in 1996. “As chief of army staff”, he said in his book, ‘’I experienced the most turbulent tenure and challenges in the history of the Nigerian Army”. He was right, but it was a problem the military brought upon itself.

    What did he do to rectify things? Rather than break the ice, he exacerbated things. But in his book, he tried to portray himself as a saint who was made to suffer for nothing. “The most challenging of my challenges is my unfair incarceration for eight years”, he claimed. If he alleges that he was “unfairly incarcerated”, what will the late Abiola family say of the treatment meted out to its patriarch. Bamaiyi was not “unfairly incarcerated”. Some of those he claimed to have treated him unjustly like former President Olusegun Obasanjo have replied him. One of those he framed up over the 1995 phantom coup, Col Gabriel Ajayi, who found some of the claims in his book horrible, also took him to the cleaners. According to Bamaiyi, former head of state Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, Babangida and others installed Obasanjo as president in 1999. He also claimed that the Obasanjo administration planned to kill him, while Abiola died mysteriously in detention under Abdulsalami’s regime.

    Trust Obasanjo not to allow any attack to go unreplied. ‘’Who the hell is he that I would want to kill him? Kill him, for what? To achieve what? What of the people he killed? My government did not plot to kill him. My government asked him to answer to those that were alleged to have been killed by him, and that is legitimate. That if there is an allegation that you have done something, that you have committed a crime and you are arrested, you should answer. There were allegations. The police and other law enforcement agencies decided to look into the allegations. They invited him and they asked him to answer as a result of what was found. So, they charged him to court’’. It is the outcome of the court case that has emboldened Bamaiyi to write the ‘’Vindication of a general’’. He may have been acquitted by the law court, but he will never be acquitted in the people’s court.

    Describing him as a liar for his claim that Abiola died mysteriously under Abdulsalami’s watch, Col Ajayi said : ‘’It is not in my character to impugn the sanctity of senior military officers because we worship  people like that in the military. Unfortunately, when a senior officer descends into the sewage tank, the officer cannot expect to smell of perfume. Bamaiyi is a devious person. He is a fraud. The book is a comedy of errors and a fictional thriller. It should be titled: The platform of Mallam Bamaiyi (reminds me of the late Cyprian Ekwensi’s great novel: The passport of Mallam Ilia). Do not mind him. At the Oputa panel, Gen Ibrahim Sabo alleged that when Abacha died, Bamaiyi said the military should equal the equation. How could he claim that Gen Abdulsalami should be held accountable for Abiola’s death when he was among those who tortured Abiola before he died’’.

    I do not know what prompted Bamaiyi to write this book than his hunger for vindication. His acquittal for the attempted murder of Mr Alex Ibru, the late Guardian publisher, will never wash him clean of all the atrocities he committed under the late Abacha. ‘’History’’, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe said, ‘’will vindicate the just’’. But the posterity, which Bamaiyi claimed to have written his book for, will never vindicate him because he was not just, fair and equitable while in office.

  •  Democracy blues

    THE foundation of the executive-legislature rift which we are witnessing today was laid about two years ago.  The proclamation and dissolution  of the National Assembly are a presidential prerogative, according to Section 64 (3) of the 1999 Constitution. In exercising this power, President Muhammadu Buhari about two weeks after he assumed office on May 29, 2015, issued an order for the proclamation of the National Assembly on June 9.

    On the day of the Senate’s inauguration, only Dr. Bukola Saraki and his loyalists were in the Red Chamber, Ahmad Lawan and his supporters were at the International Conference Centre (ICC)  waiting for a meeting with the president that never held. The All Progressives Congress (APC) was lucky that the opposing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not contest the Senate presidency with Saraki. If the party had, Saraki’s chances of getting the plum job would have been slim because it had the number that day to do havoc to his ambition.

    The PDP showed its strength in the election of deputy Senate president in which Ike Ekweremadu floored Ali Ndume. This was the faulty premise on which the Senate took off. Rather than put that episode behind it, APC keeps returning to it and dragging the country backward. Being the upper chamber in the bicameral legislature, anything that happens in the Senate affects the National Assembly. If all is well with the Senate, it will be well with the National Assembly. And if anything is wrong with the Senate, it will rub off on the National Assembly.

    I believe strongly that we should look beyond Saraki in our relationship with the Senate. Saraki is an individual, who is fortunate to be Senate president today. Certainly, he cannot hold that office forever, but the Senate will long remain after he is gone.

    Our respect for the Senate should not be misconstrued as respect for Saraki. But, this is not to say that we should not respect him as Senate president. In a democracy, the legislature stands out. Without it, governance may get stuck. There is no way the executive can perform without the support of the legislature and vice versa. Like hands, they must wash each other to be clean.

    What will the people gain from the executive-legislature rift?  Nothing, because when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. The executive and legislature should complement each other instead of antagonising themselves. Their rift does not bode well for the country. The way to get them to work together is to ensure that each knows its place in the scheme of things. The Senate should not bite more than it can chew, while the executive should not try to lord it over the upper chamber.

    In the past few months, we have witnessed an unnecessary power show between the Senate and some individuals. We have seen the Senate battle the Presidency to no end over the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman. The senators are bent on taking on Comptroller-General of Customs Col Hameed Ali (rtd) over whether or not he should appear before them in uniform. They are not keeping quiet over Secretary to the Government of the Federation David Babachir Lawal who they accused of corruption. There is also the face off with eminent lawyer Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) over whether or not he should appear before the Senate. What about the threat not to screen resident electoral commissioners (RECs) because of the executive’s refusal to comply with its resolutions? These are issues which should not generate heat, if there is an understanding between the executive and the legislature. But, the chemistry,  which could get them to work together, is missing because some people have not forgotten how the Senate leadership emerged.

    Unfortunately, if things remain as they are, the people will continue to pay the price. As a sage once said, it is good to know how to fight, but it is better to know when to retreat. I think both arms are at war because they are not conversant with their powers under the Constitution. By virtue of Section 171 (1)  of the Constitution, the president can appoint persons to hold or act in certain offices without recourse to the Senate. Some of these offices are : Secretary to the Government of the Federation;  Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; Permanent Secretary in any Ministry or Head of any extra-ministerial department of the government of the federation howsoever designated; and Any office on the personal staff of the president.

    Such appointments, according to Section 171 (6) shall be at the pleasure of the president and shall cease when the president ceases to hold office. The Senate should stop fighting over Magu’s nomination because constitutionally, it has no power whatsoever to screen him since he is to head an extra-ministerial department of government. It may have a point in insisting on Ali appearing before it in uniform because he heads a uniformed para-military outfit. If Ali had been appointed from within the service, he would today be donning the customs uniform. So, why is he shying away from wearing  uniform? Whether he wears uniform or not will have no bearing on his performance because the hood does not make the monk. But as head of a disciplined organisation, he should show discipline by wearing uniform.

    Who can the Senate summon? Section 89 (1) (c) states unambiguously that the Senate can summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control… So, by virtue of this provision, the Senate can summon anybody that it feels can help it in the discharge of its duty and also examine him or her,  if need be. The Constitution also empowers it to compel the attendance of such person, if he or she refuses to answer the summon. Our democracy is on trial today because we are still learning. But in the process, we should be careful not to destroy the institutions of democracy.

    We may not like the faces of many of our senators today, but we should refrain from disrespecting the Senate as an institution because of what it stands for as the highest lawmaking organ in the country. Hopefully after last Tuesday’s peace meeting convened by APC, things will begin to move the way they should between the executive and legislature. How I wished the reconciliation came earlier.