The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • The Jonathan circle

    They had everything cut out long before they left office last May 29. At a secret meeting in Abuja, former President Goodluck Jonathan and his ministers mapped out strategies on how to react to criticisms after their exit. They knew that they were leaving the country in a mess, which will become so glaring after their exit that the people will call for their heads. How to avoid the people’s wrath became their headache. The meeting decided that the only way out is for them to continue to bond together after their exit.

    Truly, since May 29, these men of yesterday have remained together. They and their principal have held series of meetings in the last three months amid the clamour for a probe of their tenure. In one of its sessions, the meeting advised Jonathan to seek the help of the Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar-led peace committee to reach out to his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari. The meeting felt that the president is breaching the understanding he reached with Jonathan and that only the peace panel could intervene to remedy the situation.

    What is this understanding they are talking about? It all has to do with the agreement signed by Buhari and Jonathan to accept the outcome of the March 28 presidential election. The essence of the pact is to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order over the election result.The parties complied with the terms of the agreement because the election came and went without violence. But does this imply that Buhari would not call Jonathan to question for his deeds in office? Of course, it does not. But those who want the immediate past administration to get away with all its atrocities want to tie Buhari’s hands with that pact, which centred mainly on a peaceful, free and fair election. With the elections over, the peace panel should automatically close shop and allow Buhari  to do his job. But, Jonathan, his ministers and others who want to use it to achieve their aims will have none of that.

    The former ministers’ thinking is that if things continued like this, Jonathan may end up being a villain in the people’s eyes. So, to avoid that, they felt it was expedient for the peace panel to do something before it is too late. That informed the meeting the panel had with the president last month. But the panel met its match in Buhari, who insisted on probing the Jonathan administration for leaving the country in a mess. The panel’s argument that a probe may rubbish Jonathan’s good deed of of conceding defeat to Buhari in the last election did not cut ice with the president. He was said to have told the panel that all those who abused their office must pay the price for their actions.

    Jonathan also met with Buhari, who stood his ground on probe. As if he knew things would turn out this way, Jonathan had at the valedictory Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on May 27 said he was not afraid of probe but that it should be extended to the administrations before his. ”Anyone calling for probes must ensure that probes are extended beyond the Jonathan administration otherwise it will amount to a witch hunt”. This has been the line of the former ministers, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its senators that have been accusing Buhari of being selective in his anti-corruption war.

    But is that the case? No, says the All Progressives Congress (APC), which points out that some of its members have also been caught in the anti-graft war web. But Jonathan and his ministers believe that they are the target. This is why they have resolved to fight back with all they have. After their last meeting in Abuja, one of them, the former National Planning Minister, Dr Abubakar Suleiman, was appointed the group’s spokesman. It is part of their larger plan to ensure that none of them goes down alone. They want to fight as a group. But there is danger in that because each person must answer for his own deed. Was the treasury looted as a group? No. The ministers might have worked together in Council, but every individual must give an  account of his stewardship, given as we all know that they did not all hold the same portfolio.

    Could it be that they are afraid and so, are seeking solace in a group? The failure of the peace panel to secure a soft landing for them may have heightened their fear that eh, this is prison! If they have no skeletons in their cupboards, they need not fear, but if they do, they should be prepared to face the consequences of their actions. Performing his first duty as the group’s spokesman, Suleiman, in a statement, claimed that lies were being peddled about the Jonathan administration, submitting : ”But such sensationalism may achieve the unintended effect of de-marketing our country within the international community”. How can?

    Suleiman is wide of the mark. Rather, Nigeria is enjoying its best time ever in the comity of nations. The president has been to the United States, where he stayed in President Barack Obama’s guest house; he has attended the G7 summit as an observer and last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was in Nigeria. I don’t know what Suleiman is driving at with such a claim. Is he saying that Nigeria will be de-marketed because we want to ask our past leaders questions? Has he ever heard of any country being de-marketed for looking at its past in order to shape its future? Were countries that jailed their leaders for corruption and other misdemeanours de-marketed?

    Jonathan and his men need not fear since they say they served the nation with all their hearts. ”We are proud to have served Nigeria and we boldly affirm that we did so diligently and to the best of our abilities. The improvements that have been noticed today in the power sector, in national security and in social services and other sectors did not occur overnight. They are products of solid foundations laid by the Jonathan administration…the Jonathan administration did not encourage corruption, rather it fought corruption vigorously…for the benefit of those who may have forgotten so soon, it was the Jonathan administration that got rid of the fraud in fertiliser subsidies, which had plagued the country for decades…”

    Huh! This will be sweet music in the ears of the probe panels. Suleiman and his colleagues should go and sing it there. But will they have the courage of their conviction to appear before such panels when the time comes?

  • The Buhari magic

    He and his party promised change and little by little, the country is experiencing change. Even without him saying it, we are all acting correctly, especially the anti-graft agencies and government workers. Yet President Muhammadu Buhari has not spent 100 days in office. So far, he has done 90 days, but see what is happening in the country. His predecessor spent over six years in office and never made half of the impact Buhari has made in three months.

    What is it that has made Nigerians change overnight with the coming of Buhari? It is the Buhari persona, say analysts. Buhari came into office with the reputation of a no nonsense man and with his integrity intact. Nigerians know him too well having been military Head of State  between December 1983 and August 1985.

    For the 18 months he was head of state, he did not allow power to get into his head; he maintained his major general rank unlike others who rushed to promote themselves as soon as they got into office.

    They succeeded because by then, Buhari’s cup had become full in the eyes of the people.  Yes, his administration had alienated itself from the people because of what they perceived as some of his harsh policies, which led to the execution of three drug traffickers through a retroactive law; the execution of a woman trafficker, who had a handicapped child, and the imprisonment of two journalists under Decree 4. Buhari had a mission and he was in a hurry to execute it, but we were not on the same page with him. He knew what he wanted for the country, but we  misunderstood him.

    Thirty years after, we have come to appreciate the worth of Buhari. We virtually begged him to come and lead us now and bail the country out of  the mess it has been thrown into by successive governments. It has been so far , so good under his watch even without his full complement of aides. It is as if we are no longer in Nigeria going by what we have been witnessing since his return to power as elected president. Just imagine what Nigeria would have been like today  if Buhari had been allowed to sanitise the country the way he wanted in his first coming as military head of state.

    But, we were not patient enough with him. We wanted the easy way out and see where that has led us. Our leaders – the happy going and smiling leaders – whom we preferred to Buhari, who we accused of not smiling, stole the country blind. Our country is still bleeding from their atrocities. Buhari may not be a smiling leader, but he knows what he is doing and what he wants for the country.  He wants a Nigeria where things work; not a country where few people corral the wealth. This was what happened under past administrations and this was what he wanted to prevent back then; unfortunately, the corrupt, but wealthy minority had their way over the poor and gullible majority.

    The scales have now fallen off our eyes. We have come to appreciate that Buhari meant well for the country then having weighed him on the same scale with those who sacked him from power. Has Buhari not been vindicated? He has. Our prayer is that God see him through during his second missionary journey.

    He has yet to lift a finger, so to say, and things have started to fall in place. Before he took office on May 29, it was hard getting fuel to buy. It was queue, queue everywhere and filling stations were selling at over N150 per litre where the product was available. There is now orderliness at filling stations and petrol is selling for N87 per litre in many parts of the country. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)  like other agencies has suddenly become proactive,, working as if it has just been created to regulate the operations of these Shylock dealers.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have also woken up from slumber. They have become so busy of late, inviting one person or the other and seizing one property or the other. It shows that where the leader does not condone corruption, the anti-corruption agencies will also not be afraid to do their work. The people at EFCC and ICPC  know what Buhari can do if they do not do their job the way it should be done. But can they be trusted to truly prosecute the anti-graft war having kept criminally quiet under the immediate past administration.

    They may have been hamstrung in the discharge of their duty by the body language of our leader then, but that is no excuse for them to shirk their duty.  Why did they hold on tenaciously to their job under such circumstance? It would have been more honourable to quit than to work in an environment where corruption thrives. Can they now, in all honesty, pull in those they hobnobbed with just in the recent past for dipping their hands in the till? This is why the Senate is threatening to probe EFCC chair Ibrahim Lamorde over a matter it should have since exercised its oversight power. Is it now that Lamorde is beaming searchlight on some former governors, who are now in the Senate, and/or their spouses, that the Upper Chamber should be talking of probing him over the weighty allegations of diverting funds seized from some past government functionaries totalling N1billion?

    The wind of change is blowing in all directions. Even the National Assembly is not left out. It has cut its yearly budget of N150billion to N120billion. The lawmakers are also contemplating cutting their N42, 000 monthly wardrobe allowance in line with the prevailing mood in the country. Their salary may soon be slashed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which Buhari carpeted on Tuesday for the lawmakers’ jumbo pay. Buhari has shown that leadership matters in the life of a nation. A good leader will grow his country; an inept leader will kill it. We saw that happen under Jonathan. May God forgive him and his bedfellows.  Buhari’s distaste for corruption is legendary.  And without being told, all those in his administration know that they must live above board because it is no longer business as usual.

    Whether in or out of government, the people are feeling what is going on and we are all wondering is this not Nigeria? Of course, it is. The only difference is that things are now being done the right way. Buhari is a breath of fresh air. Our prayer is that may this romance endure

     

     Chibok girls: 500 days on

    It is 500 days today that the Chibok school girls were abducted. 500 days! It sounds incredible, but unfortunately it is true. These girls have been separated from their loved ones for this long because of the immediate past administration’s failure to act when it should. Rather, it chose to play politics with a matter of life and death.  If only the Jonathan administration had acted swiftly and responsibly, perhaps, things may have been different today. At least, if not all the girls, many would have been rescued. But for two weeks, nothing was done to get back the girls because the government felt that it was impossible to abduct such number of girls in one fell swoop. When it dawned on it that this was for real, it was too late in the day. All hope is not lost with the present administration’s determination to rescue them no matter what.  We may not get back the over 200 girls intact, as some of them may have been used as suicide bombers, but let’s get back those who are still alive, no matter the cost. That is how governments worldwide show that they care for their nationals in distress. We cannot afford to be different.

  • Centenary City, centenary cut

    They touted it as a city to be built on virgin land; a city on the hill, so to say. But not comparable to the holy city of Jerusalem, which the Bible talks about. However, the promoters of the Centenary City had a similar city in mind; a city that will blow our minds and punch a hole in our pockets. In the pockets of those that can afford it, that is.

    The Centenary City was conceived as a monument to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates from which present day Nigeria emerged. It was a lavish celebration on which billions of naira were spent. Then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, was at the helm of the planning committee.

    Abuja was virtually locked down for this once in a lifetime ceremony, which started in February, 2014 and ended  in February, 2015. The idea behind the city’s conception may not be bad, but was it done with the purest of motives? This is the question now being asked amid the controversy over the city’s status. The Centenary City is not just a city, but a city within a city carved out of the capital city of Abuja. Some villages were sacked for the city. These are the villages of  Baruwa, Kpaikpai, Gosa, Daiynna, Toge and Ruga.

    Eventhough these communities initially kicked against the acquisition of their land for the project, they later acquiesced after being compensated.  Then Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Bala Mohammed,  also initially reportedly refused to buy into the project, claiming that the city is not captured in the Abuja masterplan. He also later changed his mind and signed the certificate of occupancy (C of O) following orders from above. Whether it was done on orders from above or not, the time for asking questions is here. And those behind the project are afraid that they may be called upon to give account.

    Questions could not be asked in the past because we were under a government of anything goes. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was and still is a happy, jolly fellow, who did not want anything to disrupt the good life he was having in government.  He allowed his lieutenants a free hand to do whatever they liked as long as his own interest was not affected. And some of these lieutenants used his name to perpetrate evil under the guise of working in the national interest.  To rebuild the nation, we must probe the sordid deeds of the past to deter our future leaders. Otherwise, we will continue to move around in circles – all movement and motion.  But they would have none of such probe; they want us as a people to pretend as if nothing went amiss under their watch. We know that a lot went wrong under Jonathan. The former president also know that many things went wrong under him, but he did not have, as they say, the liver to act.

    With the Buhari administration determined to clean the Augean stable, these yesterday men have been running to the Abdulsalami Abubakar-led peace committee to help save their necks. The panel’s brief, I beg to say, does not include interfering in the due process of getting past public officers to account for their stewardship. The panel has done its best by getting President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Jonathan to accept the outcome of the March 28 election. It should not see this selfless service as a licence to dictate to the Buhari administration how to run the country. The panel has no hold over Buhari because it brokered peace between him Jonathan before the poll. If the government has decided to probe Jonathan, so be it.

    Didn’t Jonathan tell the world before leaving office that he was not afraid of being probed? His plea, however, was that the probe should be extended to the governments before his. That was only a suggestion, which the present government can either accept or reject. His suggestion is not binding on Buhari. If Jonathan is so much interested in the probe of the governments before his, why didn’t he initiate it? He should not use this as a ploy to accuse the Buhari administration of witch hunting him. Why should the government do that? He needs not be afraid if his hands are clean.

    The truth is there was nothing clean about the Jonathan administration and this is why those who served in it are jittery about being probed. No amount of blackmail should stop the Buhari administration from going ahead with the exercise. One of the projects that should be looked into is the Centenary City. Was due process followed in the acquisition of the vast land for the project? Were the displaced villagers duly compensated? How did it acquire its free zone status when it is not purely a commercial venture? Are such projects worldwide given such status? How do they acquire it? The project looks good on paper, but deep down it smells of a scam. Like everything Nigerian, some people have used it to con us. They have made a cut from the project and will still make more, if the government does not act fast to stop them.

    There is something fishy about the Centenary City. If not, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Vice Chairman, Southsouth Cairo Ojougboh will not be crying foul. To Ojougboh,  the Centenary City, which is expected to be completed in 10 years, is a scam. Why? He submits : “It is an elaborate scheme cunningly conceived to defraud the government and the good people of Nigeria”. Ojougboh should know because he was Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) Chairman when the city acquired its free zone status. Could the Centenary City have got that status without the NEPZA chairman’s knowledge? That is impossible except if it was done behind his back. If this is so, those who did it should answer for their actions.

    Ojougboh, who is enraged that Anyim has taken him to court over the  matter and also organised a protest, which he calls ‘’a show of shame’’ against him,  insists that the project is “crime personified” because its C of O was obtained under false pretence. He adds that it was cunningly contrived to look like a public private partnership (PPP) management. The city, he maintains, was also “cunningly incorporated as a free zone without any authority whatsoever to do so. It is public knowledge that the only agency with the authority to designate any area as a free trade zone is NEPZA, where I served the nation as chairman. It is, therefore, inevitable that being a man of conscience, who would have no traffic with impunity or corruption, I would reveal this scam to the authorities and the general public.

    “The Centenary City is indeed a project devised to trick the authorities into giving a huge chunk of land to one man under the guise of PPP”. What do those asking the present government to let sleeping dogs lie say of these allegations? Swept under the carpet? Is that what will ensure that the peace we now enjoy endure? No, it will rather shatter it because where there is no justice, there can be no peace. If we want peace, we should embrace justice first. Otherwise, what we will have, will be peace of the graveyard.

    As for me, I cannot wait for Ojougboh to make good his promise to initiate “legal proceedings by way of sending petitions to the appropriate authorities as regards this issue”. It is only those whose hands are not clean that will be afraid of the impending probe of the past government, an exercise which many Nigerians are eagerly waiting for. Heavens will not fall over this probe whether some people like it or not.

  • The artful forgers

    If things had gone well, the process should not have generated acrimony. But long before the June 9 inauguration of the Senate, its members were already divided. The division was and still is over the filling of its top  positions, especially the Senate presidency. As the majority party, which is expected, to produce the presiding officers, the All Progressives Congress (APC) settled for Senators Ahmed Lawan and George Akume as Senate president and deputy Senate president (DSP).

    The party’s choice did not go down well with a group of senators rooting for Senator Bukola Saraki. The battle line was thus drawn between the Like Minds comprising Saraki’s loyalists and the Unity Forum, to which Lawan and Akume belong. It became a game of wheeler dealing and the sort ahead of the June 9 inauguration. On the inauguration day, the Unity Forum members were not in the Senate chamber, making it easy for Saraki to emerge Senate president unopposed with the support of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) whose senators were there in full force. PDP through Senator Ike Ekweremadu got the DSP to the bargain.

    Since then, the Senate has not known peace. The Lawan group has refused to recognise Saraki’s leadership, insisting that  he came to office through a ‘’forged Senate Rules’’, which stipulate how the Senate president should be elected. The Saraki group counters that the Rules were not forged. According to the Like Minds, the Rules were amended by the last Senate before it wound up last June 4. The question that arises from the group’s submission is : can outgoing senators set rules for incoming senators, many of who will be coming to the Senate for the first time?

    Assuming that all the old senators will be returning to the Senate does it make sense for them to set rules for a Senate, which life had not yet begun? The matter eventually landed in court. Rather than address the matter, the court resolved to play the ostrich by burying its head in the sand. The court said it could not look into the matter because it is an internal affair of the Senate, which could be addressed by its Ethic and Privileges Committee.

    It is not debatable that the Senate is an arm of government which has its own regulations. But under the doctrine of  Separation of Power, the judiciary can look into whatever the executive and legislature do to ensure that it is within the purview of the law.  The judiciary cannot shirk this responsibility under the guise that it would amount to ‘’undue interference” in either the executive’s or legislature’s ‘’internal affairs’’. What the court cannot do, in my lay man understanding, is to undo what has been properly done by these institutions. But where they appear to have done  wrong, it is the judiciary’s duty to whip them back  into line.

    Not to do so will amount to condoning illegality and enthroning lawlessness. If the court cannot look into an allegation of forgery because it happened on the floor of the Senate isn’t that saying any offence can be committed there and the suspect will go scot free because he is a lawmaker? As powerful as the Senate is, it cannot try criminal cases; only the courts can. The question then arises, is forgery a crime?

    According to the ninth edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, forgery is a crime. It states : In essence, the crime of forgery involves the making, altering, or completing of an instrument by someone other than the ostensible maker or drawer or an agent of the ostensible maker or drawer. It added: Though forgery was a misdemeanour at common law, modern statutes typically make it a felony.

    Thus, the courts cannot and should not close their eyes to certain developments in the legislature under the pretence of non-interference. If they do, they will be paving the way for our lawmakers to get away with anything, including murder.  What did the court make of the police report that the Senate Rules were forged? Nothing, it dismissed offhand the  report, which should have aided it in reaching a considered decision on the matter.

    The court missed the opportunity to pronounce on the matter judiciously and judicially when it threw away the baby with the bath water. But the police are not keeping quiet; they are fighting back. In a preliminary objection to a case filed by Senator Gilbert Nnaji, they are insisting on their right to investigate the forgery allegation and bring the perpetrators to justice. The police, in a counter affidavit, notes that the forgery allegation borders on ‘’issue of criminality, and not simply an issue on the floor of the Senate”. Investigating the allegation, the police claim, cannot be undue interference in the Senate’s affair. To the police, every Nigerian can be investigated for crime. How true and one only hopes that the police will live up to this averment always.

    The police made valid claims in their deposition. This case is of public interest because it involves the second arm of government, which is charged with making laws for the country. But when lawmakers become lawbreakers,  the law should be applied against them like any other person caught in a compromised position.

    Since senators occupy an exalted position, they should not do anything unbecoming of their office, which could bring them to public ridicule. But if they do, they should be ready to pay the price. The law, they say, is no respecter of persons. So. these artful forgers should be brought to book.

     Their leaders’ sins

    On Monday, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the May/June 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results. Those who passed have been rejoicing, but not so those with poor results. But what do you say of those whose fate is hanging in the balance?  They do not know whether they passed or failed because their results were not released. Their results were withheld for no fault of theirs. They were not involved in examination malpractice; no they were not.  Their results were withheld because their states are owing WAEC.

    To avoid this kind of embarrassment, WAEC warned before it released the results that it would withhold those of candidates from the 13 debtor-states if the debts were not defrayed. The states probably thought that WAEC was joking as they pretended not to hear the warning,  even after they had been written to pay up. Must these pupils be made to suffer for the sins of their leaders whose children may not be schooling in the country. How much is the WAEC fee compared to the millions of dollars they pay on their own children abroad? It will be unfortunate if these pupils miss entering the university this year because of this problem. If these pupils were their children, will they abandon them like this? May God touch the hearts of the chief executives of these debtor-states to do what is necessary and needful before it is too late.

  • Badeh’s swan song

    It was just a matter of time before they were sacked. The public had expected that they would be shown the way out immediately after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office on May 29. But the president chose to bide his time and for this Nigerians tagged him Baba go slow. It is good to know what one is doing. If the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu  Badeh, and others had been sacked before July 13, we may have missed out in the theatrical tantrums now being thrown up by Badeh.

    The president has shown that he knows what he is doing. While we were accusing him of being too slow, he would have been having a good laugh at us because only he knows what he wants to do – remember “I am for nobody and I am for everybody”.  He warned us in his inauguration speech with that statement, but we chose to make light of what he said.

    It was a long wait as we waited on him to fire the Defence and Service chiefs. It is the practice for a new leader to  pick those he will work with to ensure their loyalty to him. A leader who does not make a wise choice in this regard will suffer the consequences of his action. Besides, Buhari knows the military inside out having served in the institution and rising to become its Commander-in-Chief in 1983.

    That was buhari’s first coming as head of state and for 18 months before his ouster by his army chief, then Maj Gen Ibrahim Babanginda, Nigerians saw what he could do. His 18-month tenure as military  head of state was his defining moment and it marked the beginning of his lasting romance with the people. As head of state, he provided purposeful leadership even though he was dictatorial. What I still don’t understand is why will a former military leader command such large political followership some 30 years after leaving office.

    What this says is whether a military or civilian leader, the people are less concerned as long as their expectations are met. Beyond being tired of the immediate past government, Buhari’s clean record also accounted majorly for the people’s choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last elections. So, they were expecting him to move at the speed of light just as he did as military leader. He has chosen to be slow and steady.

    It’s been about a month since he fired Badeh, the Service chiefs – Lt Gen Kenneth Mininah (army),  Admiral Usman Jibrin (navy), Air Vice Marshal SolBadeh does not cut the image of the straight ram rod soldier that we know of. You cannot see hm in mufti and ever think that he is a soldier, but he ended up being our CDS, courtesy of former Presdent Goodluck Jonathan. We cannot blame Jonathan for making him CDS, we should blame Badeh for not rising to his office. Following his appointment in January 2014, he vowed that by April, Boko Haram would have been history. He did not deliver on his promise until he left office.

    When he was making that promise did he  not take stock of his weapons? Or did he speak without knowing what he had in his armoury? You do not fight a war with mouth, you do so with arms and ammunition. Now he is telling us that he vowed to rout Boko Haram with bare hands. Is that a serious CDS? Badeh was a disaster of a CDS. He was just talk, talk and talk; no action. I am not surprised that he still does that in retirement. The man simply enjoys listening to his voice. The problem is that he does not know when to stop.

    This is why today he is indicting himself with his own mouth. That shows you how brilliant an officer he is. Is it not the same Badeh who is today lamenting the state of the military that was praising Jonathan for equipping the military? Where are the equipment today? If the military had no equipment, as he said, with what did he want his troops to fight Boko Haram?  We now know why some soldiers refused to face the insurgents.  Do you fight a well equipped group like Boko Haram with your hands? Why was Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima crucified by Badeh and other officers when he said Boko Haram is better equipped than the military?

    Has Badeh not today confirmed Shettima’s statement? Why didn’t he speak up then? Why is he doing so now? Is it because he was fired? Did he expect that he would be CDS for life? Our leaders don’t have the fear of God. If they do, some of them will not behave the way they do as if there is no tomorrow. Badeh who yesterday was court martialling some officers and soldiers for fleeing from fighting Boko Haram  is today unwittingly justifying those men’s action with his statement. What allocutus (mitigation of sentence plea) could be better than this? Even going by what he said should the men have been tried in the first place?

    Badeh was CDS of a kind? When the Chibok school girls were abducted in April last year, he felt unconcerned. When his Vintim hometown in Adamawa State was overrun by Boko Haram, he saw nothing bad in that. To him, it could have, as well, been an attack on the village of any other Nigerian. The insurgents’ action was lost on him – that the attack was a message to Nigerians that even their highest security chief can be got. Yet, Badeh treated the matter lightly. His offhanded dismissal of the attack gave Boko Haram the fillip to overrun many places in the Northeast then and hoist its flag in these ‘conquered’ territories.

    If that is not an offence, I wonder what is. Shouldn’t Badeh be court martialled for this and related issues?

  • In gay they trust

    AMERICA is a country of contradictions. It is a country that you cannot really place when it comes to certain issues. The United States (U.S) means well for the world, speaking in terms of peace and defence of human rights. These are issue that are dear to this global cop. It watches over the world to ensure that countries follow the straight path, while it does not always take that path. When it pleases America, it throws the rule book away and bares its fangs to show its might.

    America is the global cop because it answers to no other country; it plays by its own rules, whether the world likes it or not. When America wants to show that it is America, it does the unthinkable, leaving the world wondering what the Yankees are up to. It does not do that because it wants to dare the world; it does it because it believes that it is all for the expansion of the people’s right to exercise their God given freedom to be what they want to be.

    But truth be told, it crosses the limit of human freedom in its quest to expand the people’s freedom to belong; to do whatever catches their fancy, no matter how weird or immoral. America does not condone immorality. It holds the marriage institution sacrosanct. This is why it does not look kindly at its philandering leaders. They are made to stew in their own juice – a philanderer can never last in American politics. He is sooner shown the way out of office before he knows it.

    If America is so concerned about family life, does it not follow that it will uphold the God ordained way of building a family, which is  through marriage between man and woman? There are no two ways to building a family and there will never be. God, according to scripture knew us before He created us. He knew our needs; he knew that man cannot exist without a woman and vice versa. So, He created woman to complement man. And the amazing thing is that He created woman from the rib of man.  ”He who finds a wife finds a good thing”, says the Bible. A wife as we all know is a woman. A man, no matter how much he disguises himself as a woman as former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha did in order to escape from London about 10 years ago, cannot assume that role.

    If this is the case, can a man morally, socially and legally speaking marry a man? God frowns at the act and so it is a taboo for a man to take a man as wife. We cannot rewrite the law of nature by legislating on an abominable act like this. There is no law that can confer legality on an act for which  the Creator destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was for this indecent act that He  wiped out a generation. If today humanity cannot learn from that then it will never learn from anything.

    Man cannot under the guise of civilisation go against God’s will. Any one that does that will end up destroying himself – and with his own hands too. Why will a man marry man? Is it for the want of women? Women abound everywhere. All a man needs do is to search well and he will get the flesh of his flesh. This is the path laid down by the almighty for man. If man decides to deviate from that path then he should be ready to pay the price. The U.S. has chosen the way it wishes to go on this matter. Its Supreme Court has approved what the world now refers to as same sex marriage.

    What the U.S. judges, in their wisdom, have done is to overrule God’s decision that a man cannot marry a man. Now in the U.S a man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman if the parties so wish. Homosexuality is everywhere in the world, but those who practice it do so in hiding. In many parts of the world, gays and lesbians do not come out in public to profess their homosexuality because it is a thing of shame. Families with homosexuals keep the secret to themselves. They hide it from outsiders because it is not something to be proud of that either our son or daughter is an homosexual.

    The U.S can do whatever it likes with itself on this and other issues. If it feels that homosexuality is something to be proud of, that is its choice. But is there no contradiction in what it is doing considering that it refers to itself as God’s own country? Its motto is : ”In God we trust”. Can the U.S trust in God and be doing what is contrary to the will of God? That is food for thought for America. We are concerned here that it tried to sell the same sex marriage deal to President Muhammadu Buhari during his visit there a few days ago.

    As powerful as the U.S is there is a limit to how it can impose its will on other countries on certain matters. On the same sex marriage issue, the U.S knows too well that there is nothing it can do if other countries do not wish to go that way. In Nigeria, it is a sin for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman. Our civilisation has not reached that stage. We are a civilised people but there are certain things which our civilisation cannot undo and same sex marriage is one of such things. This is why homosexuals ply their trade under cover here. That homosexual has not been born that will come out in public and parade himself as such.

    If he does that his family tree
    will be traced in order to as
    certain if madness runs there. People will simply look at such person as mad and dismiss him with a wave of the hand. The question that has been agitating my mind is are homosexuals born or do they become homosexuals by choice? Whatever it may be, it is a ‘detestable” practice as the Bible says. So, every sane man must refrain from it the same way as our president declared to his American counterpart, President Barrack Obama, that there is no room for the legalisation of same sex marriage here. Why will Nigeria legalise the practice when the Bible warns :

    ”Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. Do not defile yourselves in this way, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. For all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if  you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited the nations that were before you”.  With this biblical injunction, need we say more on this matter? America should live with the choice it has made and let us live with our own choice too.

  • Wike’s tricky visits

    By virtue of their office,  governors do not move anyhow. Their schedule is planned in detail and everything is done according to protocol. Without the protocol say so, a governor would not move out of his home or office. So, whenever a governor moves, it means all loose ends have been tied. The all-clear  to go is critical because of the governor’s safety and security.

    A governor is not supposed to visit any place on the spur of the moment. To do so will amount to disrupting  the security arrangements for his movement. In an impromptu change in a governor’s itinerary, his security aides may be stretched in order to ensure his safety. A governor is a charge of the state, which is responsible for his welfare and security. But some governors, out of mischief,  dump protocol and insist on doing things their own way.

    And when the bubble bursts, they try to defend the indefensible. They make up stories to cover their self-serving action, forgetting that the people are wiser than they think. I have not ceased wondering since the story broke why a governor with a case at the tribunal would go to the Supreme Court to see the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mahmud Mohammed. Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike called at the CJN’s office not once, but twice. With a petition challenging his election before a tribunal sitting in Abuja, where the CJN has his office, there is more to that visit than meets the eye.

    If The Punch had not broken the story of the inexplicable visits, chances are that Wike and his aides would have pretended as if nothing happened. As a lawyer whose wife is also a judge, Wike is expected to know that you do not visit a judge, whether in your private or official capacity, when you have a matter in his court. Even if he has a matter before his wife, she is not expected to discuss the case with him at home because like her fellow judges, she is expected to dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill will to all manner of men.

    Wike may argue that his case is not before the CJN, but he should not forget that the tribunals were set up by the CJN, who while inaugurating them warned that they should shun corruption. By trying to see the CJN, Wike’s intention was to go right to the top to pull strings in respect of his case.

    Wike knew what he was doing by embarking on those two visits in three days – between July 6 and 8. He knows that the CJN wields enormous influence over the tribunals. So, he thought by sweet talking the CJN, his lordship could be made to get the tribunal to play ball.

    The governor will never admit that he had ulterior motive in going to the CJN’s office without appointment; no he will never. He will defend his visits with the last drop of his blood, if need be,  because what he went there for is not for public consumption – it is not something the ears should hear. His reasons for the visits are puerile. He said he went to see the CJN to thank him for sending Bayelsa State Chief Judge Justice Kate Abiri to swear him in on May 29 and over the vexed issue of a chief judge for Rivers.

    ‘’I didn’t go there to lobby for anything cynical. If I was going to lobby for anything like that, would I go in the afternoon? You may wish to know that we have an acting chief judge in my state, and the judiciary is already on vacation and that the National Judicial Council (NJC) may also be on vacation. So, I needed to do a letter to the NJC on the need to extend or approve the appointment of the acting chief judge in my state. I went there on the two days in daytime; and see Nigerians, they are already imputing another meaning to the visits’’, Wike said.

    Yes, we are already talking because he did not exhibit utmost good faith. The governor did not act honestly under the circumstance. Who were those who followed him to the CJN’s office? If he had met the CJN would he have limited himself to issues of his inauguration and the renewal of the appointment of his state’s acting chief judge (ACJ)? Would he? Nigerians are no fools; they can see through Wike’s visits, whether or not he comes out with the truth.

    With due respect to him, the issues he listed for his visits are what the governor should not have broken sweat over  because they have been constitutionally settled. The CJN was not doing Wike any favour by asking Justice Abiri to swear him in. The CJN was only interpreting Section 185 (2) of the Constitution, which stipulates that the chief judge; or grand kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal; or president of the Customary Court of Appeal of any state can swear in a governor, where nobody holds those offices in the elected governor’s state. Moreover, immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had asked Justice Abiri to take up that job last May 29, a directive, which the CJN later confirmed. Has he visited Adoke too to thank him? Must Wike visit the CJN personally to show his appreciation? Couldn’t he have written to thank the CJN?

    Must he also go to Abuja over the renewal of the appointment of his state’s ACJ? All he needs do is to write the NJC, seeking its approval to renew the ACJ’s appointment as contained in Section 271 (5) of the Constitution. Did Wike visit the CJN before he appointed the ACJ shortly after he assumed office in May? His wife is a judge; so if he is confused about these matters, why didn’t he seek her opinion instead of embarking on a mission that could have destroyed the judiciary.  Thank God that he didn’t meet the CJN during those visits. The governor would have ended up tarring a man, who is doing all he could to uphold the integrity of the judiciary.

    This shows that our judges must be extra careful with politicians who will stop at nothing to ensure that they have their way. If Wike had met the CJN during those visits, the public would today have been calling for the nation’s foremost justice’s head because of fear that his lordship may compromise his office. Milord, there are many Wikes still out there looking for men of honour like you to destroy; so, be careful.  To remain safe, the catchword  for the CJN and his men is beware of politicians and their tricky visits.

  • Can Senate screen Service Chiefs?

    It was one of the things many Nigerians expected President Muhammadu Buhari to do immediately he assumed office on May 29. By the evening of his inauguration, they were waiting to hear that he has sacked the Service Chiefs. There was no such news until last Monday when Buhari gave the Service Chiefs the boot. Also sacked were the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and National Security Adviser (NSA) Sabo Dasuki. The public was so much interested in the military chiefs’ fate because it believes that they were partisan under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Indeed, Dasuki and Badeh, who were sacked along with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt Gen Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Admiral Usman Jubrin and Chief  of Air Staff Air Marshal Adesola Amosu had unwittingly played into politicians’ hands with the way they discharged their duties. The military is known to be a non-political institution, which primary duty is to protect the nation’s territorial integrity. It has to be above political fray to discharge its constitutional responsibility.

    It can only be above the fray by not straying into political matters, which are better left in the hands of politicians. But at a stage, the military or better still its leadership, allowed itself to be used by politicians. The military leadership kowtowed to the immediate past Jonathan administration in everything for what many believe to be filthy lucre. But, why it did what it did is best known to it. Without any qualms, the military took sides with the ruling party in elections without regard for its operational rules, which state that it should distance itself from such matters. At best, it could only help the police in maintaining law and order.

    It was under the guise of maintaining security during elections that the military helped then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the Ekiti State Governorship Election on June 21, last year. Till today, some military personnel are still aggrieved with what happened in Ekiti. One of such officers is Captain Sagir Koli, who spilled the beans on how the military rigged the Ekiti poll for PDP. To save his life, Koli fled the country.

    There is a lesson to be learnt in all this by the new security topshots – Maj Gen Babagana Monguno, NSA,  Maj Gen Abayomi Olonishakin, CDS, Maj Gen T.Y.Buratai, COAS, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, CNS and Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, CAS. They should strive to ensure that they are not used to fight political fights that do not concern them. They should leave politicians to their wily ways and concentrate on how to save the nation from Boko Haram’s stranglehold. If they cannot defeat Boko Haram and rescue the Chibok girls the change of guards would have been in vain. The sack of their predecessors will only have meaning if, in the discharge of their duties, they meet the people’s expectations.

    But the billion naira question is, is their appointment subject to the Senate’s approval? The answer is capital NO. The Constitution does not confer such power on the Senate. Although, Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 1, 2013, in his verdict in a suit filed by activist lawyer Festus Keyamo, held that the appointment of Service Chiefs is subject to the Senate’s approval, he may not have attuned his mind to the provision of the Constitution in arriving at that decision. His verdict was based on Section 18 (1) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap A20, Laws of the Federation, which states :

    The president, may, upon consultation with the Chief of Defence Staff and subject to confirmation by the National Assembly, appoint such officers (in this Act referred to as ‘’Service Chiefs’’) as he thinks fit in whom the command of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as the case may be, and their Reserves shall be vested. Was the judge right to have used this provision without recourse to the constitutional provision, which grants the president power to appoint his Service Chiefs without seeking the National Assembly’s approval? Again, in my layman’s view, the answer is no and in support of my submission, I cite Section 218 (2) of the Constitution, which reads :

    The powers conferred on the president by subsection (1) of this section shall include power to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and heads of any other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly. From the foregoing, we can see that there is a conflict in both provisions. The Armed Forces Act says that the president may consult the CDS and subject to the National Assembly’s confirmation, appoint the Service Chiefs.

    But the Constitution states that the president will appoint the CDS and the Service Chiefs without recourse to any other authority. Service Chiefs are not ministers, who the Constitution, in Section 147 (2) says can only be appointed by the president subject to the Senate’s confirmation. Being the nation’s supreme law, what lawyers call the grundnorm, the Constitution supersedes any other legislation. Where there is a conflict, the constitutional provision prevails. And in this instance, it cannot be different. The Senate is not constitutionally empowered to confirm Service Chiefs.

    We cannot blame former President Jonathan for sending the names of the immediate past Service Chiefs to the Senate for confirmation based on Justice Adamu’s verdict. He acted in accordance with the exigency of that time. But we can save Buhari from making the same mistake two years after that verdict or we will continue to live a lie – that the Senate is empowered to confirm Service Chiefs, while the president is duty bound to send the names of Service Chiefs to the National Assembly.

    It is in our collective interest for the Attorney-General of the Federation, whenever he is appointed, to challenge Justice Bello’s contentious judgement at the Court of Appeal and if need be, the Supreme Court. We will be expanding the law, rather than allowing this contentious verdict to remain the law, if the attorney-general, who was a party in the Keyamo suit, takes this matter ‘’upstairs’’ as lawyers would say. Otherwise, the Senate will continue to exercise the power it does not have, while the president will continue to act contrary to the Constitution.

  • Worthy of his hire

    WORKERS in the country are an endangered specie. They work themselves to the bones only for a few people to reap from their sweat. They work like elephants but eat like ants. The lot of the worker is nothing to write home about. Virtually all employers treat workers with disdain. They pay them peanuts and in most cases, this pay is delayed. Where it is not delayed, the workers are owed for months. At times, the salary arrears may be in years.

    Though they work for the good of their organisations, workers do not know good times. Things are always tough for them. They anxiously look forward to  the end of the month, but when it comes, there is nothing to take home. The take home pay, which cannot take them home, is simply not there for their collection, yet it is month end. Workers are  the butt of jokes at home and in many other circles. People look at them and take pity on them –  a hardworking man, which has been rendered redundant by the system.

    The system is not helping matters; it is also guilty of the offence that it should do something about. In the past, it was unheard of for government to owe workers. This was why many scrambled for job in the civil service. They knew that once they are employed, their future is guaranteed. No matter what, they are assured of their salary and promptly too. And they had job security. Again, chances of rising to the top were also there. We have heard of messengers rising to the directorate cadre and even becoming permanent secretary after obtaining the requisite qualification. That was the beauty then of working in the civil service.

    Painfully, this beauty has been replaced with ashes. Today, some workers are cursing the day they joined the civil service. They are wondering whether it is the same service they joined years ago where they were paid promptly and had all the facilities to discharge their duty. In their subconscious minds, they compare what things were then with what they are now. They yearn for the good old days; but will the old order return? The emerging new order of owing workers’ salary should not be encouraged at all because of its inherent dangers.

    As the citadel of bureaucracy, the civil service should be employer of example. It should be the compass for other employers to find their way. But if it owes salary as is the case in some states today, it will have no moral justification to talk if those in the private and other sectors do not pay their workers as when due. Or maltreat their workers as some Chinese, Lebanese and Indian firms do. These employers can so behave because those who should call them to order are no better. Can a governor who has failed in his obligations to civil servants summon an Indian or Chinese or a Lebanese firm’s chief executive for maltreating his Nigerian worker? The answer is no.

    These Indian, Lebanese and Chinese firms are killing our compatriots in installment and the government does not give a care in the world. The workers are mostly categorised as casual – that is they are not permanent staff with rights and privileges. They are only entitled to their meagre salary. The salary cannot meet their own personal expenses not to talk of taking care of family needs. To keep these workers permanently under, these firms put some Nigerians in top positions to do the dirty job of defending the indefensible for them. Whenever things go wrong as they often do in these companies, these Nigerian executives are the ones to clear the mess.

    They do the job without shame. Where the company is at fault, they blame it on the workers, describing them as a bunch of illiterates who ran into problem because they could not interpret simple instructions. To them, their companies are always right even when they are wrong. So, when a worker is electrocuted, he is at fault; when a machine severs his limb, he is to blame; when a heavy object falls on his head and he dies, he is careless and when there is a fire and he suffers first degree burns, he was not vigilant enough. This is the sad story of the worker, who toils, but gets no just reward. He toils for his bosses to be better off.

    Can we blame these foreigners for taking us for granted in our own country, where they are making a killing? But all this wealth does not reflect in their workers’ lives. What is galling is that they dare not do the things they do here in their home countries. They fear the laws of their countries and their leaders. Over there, workers are treated as kings. So, why can’t they replicate that here? They will only start doing that if our leaders change their way by treating workers with respect. You respect a worker when you pay his salary promptly; you respect a worker when you provide a conducive working environment for him. A worker should not only be good enough to bake the cake, he should also be good enough to eat in the cake.

    Thank God that President Muhammadu Buhari has come to the aid of states owing salaries with a N713 million bailout. This portrays him as a caring father. The president does not want the workers, who are his children to suffer through no fault of theirs. The money has come as a respite for the states. We only hope that they will use it strictly for paying workers’ salaries. As the labour movement said on Tuesday ‘’…Mr President should please prevail on the governors to ensure that when they get the money they should not blow it on other things’’.

    To do that will show the governors for who they truly are – callous, inhuman and without feeling for the suffering of others. And they should start thinking of how to generate funds to pay their workers without fail because it is not every time they are in crisis that they will run to the president for a bailout.

  • The sands of time

    Shortly after former President Goodluck Jonathan stepped into office in 2010, following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, his most pressing challenge was appointing an electoral umpire. With the nation’s experience in the hands of Prof Maurice Iwu, Nigerians were praying that Jonathan should not make a wrong choice. They wanted an electoral umpire with integrity and sagacity. Riding on the crest of public goodwill, Jonathan, at every opportunity, promised to give us a man of honour; a man who will not sell his conscience for a mess of porridge.

    When he finally named Prof Attahiru Jega as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman in June 2010, many agreed that he made a right choice.  But will Jega do the right thing? Or will he follow the footsteps of many of his predecessors, who saw their position as an opportunity to enrich themselves? These were some of the worries of the public, who reasoned that our electoral fortunes lie in the hands of the INEC chief.

    For a free and fair election, the INEC chief must, like Caesar’s wife, be above board. Where the umpire is of questionable character, the electoral process is at risk. He will destroy a process, which, by virtue of his position, he is expected to protect.  In the discharge of his duty, the INEC chairman must be purpose driven; he must be ready to make sacrifices and to step on toes.

    It goes without saying that he must be uncompromising. Herein lies the enormous responsibility thrust upon the INEC chief and this is why many are against the appointment of such a person by the sitting president. But no matter how we all feel about the issue, it is a constitutional duty, which only the president can discharge. They prefer that the INEC chief be appointed by persons that will not contest election to ensure transparency of the process. Their fear is that where the president, who is the appointing authority stands for election,  the INEC chief may be favourably disposed to him.  Simply put, he may rig for the president?

    Such fears are not unfounded. We run a system where he who pays the piper calls the tune. We have seen how in the past electoral umpires openly showed bias for the government in power because of the belief that they owe allegiance to the administration whose head appointed them and not the country. The way Iwu conducted the 2007 general elections remain a reference point. Those were no elections. Iwu did everything to ensure that the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) returned to power all because he was appointed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo whose body language indicated that he wanted the late President Yar’Adua to succeed him.

    What Iwu did not know is that he did not have to kowtow to the government of the day in the discharge of his duty. The INEC chair is constitutionally protected as long as he does his job conscientiously.

    Where an electoral umpire is open and transparent the people will know; where he is corrupt and inept they will also know. The people are no fools; they can see what is happening, no matter what the INEC chair or those in power may say. The INEC job is delicate; it is also a thankless job and a grave yard of reputations.

    Many have gone in there and come out with their reputations rubbished. This is why those lucky to get the job must do it honourably. Jega, Iwu’s successor, has shown that one can hold that delicate job and still come out with his head held high. We cannot call Jega a saint because saints do not walk the face of the earth, but he proved that you can be an electoral umpire without bringing opprobrium unto yourself. He acquitted himself well  in the two elections he conducted in 2011 and a few months ago.

    His conduct of the last general elections is especially commendable. It was his calmness in the face of extreme provocation on March 31 that saved a smooth electoral process from being truncated by forces of darkness led by  a so-called Elder Godsday Orubebe. Jega navigated the landmines planted by Orubebe and his comrade-in-arm Col Bello Fadile and ensured the successful conclusion of the March 28 presidential election. If those landmines had exploded, we would have had another June 12 on our hands and another long, dark night. Thank God for Jega and his superb handling of the situation.

    No good thing lasts forever. Last Tuesday, Jega bowed out after a successful five-year tenure. He has left a worthy legacy, which his successor must not only build on, but also strive to surpass.

    Black Friday

    As they sat inside the bus, their minds would have travelled far. They would have thought of the things they would do once they get home. After a tedious first semester, they needed time to cool off and prepare for the second semester. Their first semester examination would have occupied their minds and their discussions during the trip. In their subconscious minds, they would have reflected on how they answered some questions and attempted to award themselves marks. That is the way of students. After examinations, they sit back and assess their performance and play the examiner by grading themselves. You could imagine the fun the students were having as the 18-seater bus left the garage for Lagos. It is a journey usually done under one hour, if the traffic permits. But on this day, the trip ended even before it began.

    Inside the bus were nine students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. There were three other passengers with them, including the driver. The journey had started well until they got to Ilishan. Since the bus was Lagos bound, the driver never expected that any vehicle going towards the Benin end of the expressway would share the same lane with him. So, before he knew what was happening a container-laden truck driving against traffic had run into him. The unlatched container fell on the bus, killing eight of the nine students and the remaining passengers. It was a monumental tragedy in which some promising young Nigerians were killed in their prime. How can we console the bereaved families? What do we say to the parents of these students? It is sad to have lost these students in such a way. My heart goes out to their parents.

    May the late students – Eunice Odubanjo Oluwadamilola (200-Level Political Science), Mariam Omolade Ogunnoiki (100-Level Education), Yetunde Aribiola Elizabeth (100-Level Biochemistry), Suliat Adams Oluwatobi (100-Level Accounting), Funmilayo Pampam Latifat (100-Level Chemical Science), Christiana Asade Ibukun (200-Level Law), Ayoola Sheriff Gbolahan (100-Level Agricultural Engineering) and Olatunji Dairo Michael (400-Level Physics) rest in the bosom of the Lord. We wish the accident’s lone survivor, Akinbo Laughter Ibukunoluwa (300-Level Chemical Science), speedy recovery. May this ginger the government to move against these killer truck drivers. They have done enough havoc on our roads.