The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

Can we still trust the military?

MY heart aches over what is happening in the military today. Our armed forces, which used to be the envy of their counterparts in sub-Sahara Africa, have turned to something else. Our military, sorry to say, has become one of anything goes not because it does not still have thoroughbred professionals in its rank, but because of its top echelon’s new found romance with the nation’s leaders. I write with a heavy heart because I never thought that a day like this would come in the life of our military.

What is happening in the military calls for concern. As stakeholders in the Nigerian project, we cannot afford to keep quiet while a few people are toying with one of the institutional fabrics that holds the nation together. We agree that for the military to function well, it must not distance itself from the corridors of power, but such relationship should not turn to that of master-servant. Its top brass must know where to draw the line so that the military does not become the foot soldier of the government of the day. Many believe that this is what is happening today.

As an institution, the military is bigger than its leaders. It is even bigger than the sovereign leader, the president, who is its Commander-in-Chief (C-i-C) because presidents come and go, but the military will remain forever. This is what our military leaders should bear in mind at this critical juncture of the nation’s life. Should we destroy the military in order to help some people to realise their inordinate ambition of retaining power? The military is there to protect democracy. At least, this is what the armed forces of nations, which appreciate democracy, do. Our military cannot afford to be different in this age and time.

Despite its claim of impartiality, the truth is the military has not been neutral in the countdown to the forthcoming general elections. It has been working hand in glove with the government, which fished for excuses in order to postpone the elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11. If the military does not know, I think we should let it know that the Jonathan administration used it to get the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the elections. INEC was set for the elections despite its challenges with the ongoing distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

Those seeking polls postponement were initially asking that the elections be shifted because of INEC’s inability to ensure 100% distribution of the cards as if there is anywhere in the world where 100% distribution of voter’s card is achieved before elections. National Security Adviser (NSA) Sabo Dasuki was among those seeking postponement on that ground. Having lost that argument, he came up with the issue of insecurity in the Northeast. Insurgency has been part of Northeast since 1999, yet elections were held there in 2011 as noted by President Goodluck Jonathan during his media chat last week. If elections were held as scheduled in the Northeast in 2011, why can’t they hold as scheduled in 2015?

The NSA does not have an answer to that, but to satisfy his masters, who do not want the elections to hold as scheduled for reasons best known to them, he came up with the insecurity gambit and the military brass fell for it.

If the military had stood its ground the first in the series of elections would have been held last Saturday. The six-week postponement they got would soon run out and the elections will come and go, but the military’s role will long be remembered and it may in future become a research topic. Although the military denies its involvement in politics, there is ample evidence that it is neck deep in it. It was used to malign its former C-i-C, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate during the orchestrated noise over his school certificate. Now, it is being used to also abuse another former C-i-C, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

What is Obasanjo’s offence? He accused the military of plotting tenure elongation for Jonathan by using the insecurity ploy to get INEC to postpone the polls. In an unsigned statement posted on its website, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said Obasanjo’s unguarded utterances were becoming an embarrassment to the military. The DHQ took Obasanjo to the cleaners, saying : ‘’Much as the military desires to respect the old General and his views, it has become necessary to point out that his conduct…of late has fallen short of the standard of discipline expected of an individual who has had the privilege of service in the military and risen to the status of a general. The behaviour of General (Chief) Obasanjo has been so unbecoming and continues to constitute a serious embarrassment to the military…we feel constrained to remind the old General that the world has moved beyond that parochial and self adulating reasoning and mindset, which he seems stuck to.

‘’Indeed, he needs to be told that by virtue of their better training , exposure, education, assessment and environment the military personnel of today are already far beyond his level in their appreciation of democracy and its indispensability for the stable and prosperous society which Nigerians cherish’’. It is, however, curious that nobody signed the statement. It was like the June 23, 1993 statement annulling the June 12 election, which was not signed by the Babangida administration because it knew it was embarking on a wrong course of action. If the military knew that it had a strong case it would have signed that statement to prove that its heart is in what it is doing. How are we sure that it was not handed that statement by superior authority and asked to issue the release?

The military has a lot of self cleansing to do. What does it make of the revelations of Army Captain Sagir Koli, an Intelligence officer, who was lately of the 32 Artillery Brigade in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on how the military was used to rig the Ekiti State governorship election last June 21? To borrow DHQ’s words, does that show a military that appreciates democracy and its indispensability for the stable and prosperous society which Nigerians cherish? Is that a military which conduct has not fallen short of expected standard and discipline? Is that a military which behaviour is not unbecoming? Koli was an insider, who knew all that transpired during the Ekiti poll. Because he cannot in good conscience continue to live a lie, he spilled the beans.

As the captain rightly noted the military has a role to play in the sustenance of democracy. We agree with him totally. This is why the military should not be a party to the killing of democracy with the kind of rigging it purportedly lent support to during the Ekiti election. There is no gainsaying the fact that our democracy is in the military’s hands. If it thrives, it will be to its glory, but if it fails, it will be to its eternal shame.

February 19, 2015
Hiding behind a finger

It was a long day not only for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega and his team, but also for Nigerians. Throughout Saturday, the nation waited on Jega as he held series of meetings on whether the February 14 and 28 general elections should hold as scheduled. Even before he came out around 11pm to address reporters, who had waited all day in INEC’s press centre, the grapevine had been abuzz with what he wanted to say.

Since information travels at the speed of light these days, many were already talking about the postponement on social media. So, Jega only came to confirm what people already knew – the shift of the elections to March 28 and April 11. Watching Jega that night as he spoke, I felt for him. Here was a man of principle faced with a dire situation. He and his commission had done everything in readiness for the elections. They were set to go despite the hiccups in the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), which some initially wanted to use to force its hands to postpone the elections.

Mind you, it is not that INEC has not been distributing the cards; it has been doing so even though it could still improve on its system to make things less cumbersome. It could ensure that its personnel are at the collection centres, such as polling units (PUs), wards and local government areas, as scheduled so that eligible voters will not be left stranded. Because really, many went to their PUs, wards and local governments severally without meeting INEC personnel on ground.

But in many places where INEC officials turned up early for the exercise, the owners were not there to collect their cards. What do we make of that? Do we blame INEC if the owners decide not to collect the cards? With the extension of the exercise to March 8, the collection of PVC would, hopefully, have long been dealt with before the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections. Those who had other agenda wanted to hide under the collection of PVCs to scuttle the ongoing transition programme.

It all started as a huge joke when some people began to fly the kite for either the postponement of the elections or an interim government. The reason, according to them, being INEC’s unpreparedness. The commission has said it repeatedly that it is ready for the elections. Jega has been unequivocal on his stand that INEC is prepared for the polls notwithstanding the PVC challenge. His assurances seem not to cut ice with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has a different motive.

Although the party is openly saying that it is prepared for the elections, it is acting otherwise behind the scene. It is in cahoots with some parties, which only exist on paper, some politicians, priests and former militants to stop the elections. The question then is why is PDP working covertly against holding the elections? Political pundits argue that it is against the holding of the elections because it has no answer to the Buhari challenge. In the political market today, the stock of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhar, is soaring.

The pundits believe that if the elections hold today, Buhari will carry the day. It is to avoid its ignominious defeat at the polls that PDP is buying time through the postponement of the elections. “Why will you postpone the elections at the 11th hour despite all the assurances given by the electoral body that it is ready for the exercise?” they wonder, adding : ‘’There is more to it than meets the eye’’. Elsewhere, governments move elections forward and not backward once they are sure of sweeping the polls. Indeed, it is curious that the elections are being postponed now. Left to Jega, the exercise would have gone on until the military threw the issue of security into the mix.

Insecurity was the latter day excuse, which the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sabo Dasuki, and the military chiefs gave for seeking the postponement of the elections for six weeks. But before looking at the genuineness or otherwise of this excuse, let us examine what Dasuki said at Chatham House in London last January 22, while campaigning for postponement : ‘’They still have about 30 million cards to distribute. We look at the possibility of shifting this thing (election) and doing it when everybody has the card because it doesn’t cost you anything.

‘’It is still within the law and it is safer for all of us. So, that is what we are encouraging. INEC keeps assuring us that everybody will have his card but I doubt it…there is nothing wrong in delaying it to ensure that everybody who ought to vote gets that card to vote…if you can’t vote without your PVC, what sense does it make to vote three months early when 30 million cards are still with INEC? That is my position’’. As we said in this space two weeks ago, in such a situation, the government should have come to INEC’s aid to ensure a quicker distribution of the PVCs in such a way that it would not affect the election dates. It could have declared public holidays to hasten the process, if it actually wanted the elections to hold as scheduled.

Since it had its own agenda, it
was better to hide under in
security to force INEC to postpone the elections. When did it dawn on the NSA that the prevailing insecurity in the Northeast could affect the holding of the elections? Was it after his alleged shoddy distribution of PVCs by INEC failed to fly? Now that they have had their way, we wait to see how they will conquer Boko Haram within six weeks as they have boasted. If it is that easy to finish off Boko Haram, why hasn’t the military done so since? What have they been waiting for these past six years? Boko Haram became a thorn in the nation’s flesh in 2009 shortly after the killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, and since then the military has not found an answer to this problem.

Painfully, the Boko Haram insurgency has spread from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe states, without the security agencies rising to the occasion. Now, the NSA, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Olusola Amosun and Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba want us to believe that, at last, they have found the antidote to the Boko Haram insurgency and that it comes at a price – postponement of the much awaited general elections.

That, with due apologies to Zebrudaya, is ‘’fa…faa… faaa…foul’’. In 61 days, it will be one year since Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped over 200 Chibok schoolgirls. What have our security chiefs done in this past year to bring back our girls? Nothing, but they are quick to use the ploy of insecurity to get the general elections postponed. Tell me, if in six years, they cannot flush out Boko Haram, is it in six weeks they will perform that magic?

February 12, 2015
The fear of Buhari…

Their wish was that he would not emerge as his party’s candidate in the February 14 presidential election. But when the All Progressives Congress (APC) picked Gen Muhammadu Buhari as its standard bearer, the bottom fell off the plan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its supporters. Since Buhari picked his party’s ticket in a keenly contested primary in Lagos last December 10, they have been running from pillar to post to run him down.

Rather than the trouble envisaged by PDP, APC has been waxing stronger and stronger since the primary. The image of its candidate has also been soaring.

What is the magic that has made Buhari a phenomenon all over the country today? Where two or more are gathered the topic is usually the forthcoming election. And the discussions normally end with this poser: ‘’who will you vote for?’’. Even though Buhari and PDP’s President Goodluck Jonathan are not the only ones contesting the February 14 election, Nigerians have reduced it to a contest between the duo. Surely, to all intents and purposes, it is going to be a two-man race.

So, when people ask: ‘’who will you vote for?’’ they accompany the question with: ‘’Buhari or Jonathan?’’ In most instances, you find people answering: ‘’Buhari”. The APC candidate has become larger than life. Even little children, who are not eligible to vote, have joined in asking eligible voters to ‘’vote for Buhari’’.

What do you make of the frontpage photograph in the Sun of Tuesday, where Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola carried a small boy to his bosom for shouting ‘’APC, Sai Buhari’’ during a rally in the town of Apomu? Such little boys can be seen in rallies across the country, whether held by APC or PDP, singing the praise of Buhari. If children, men and women are this crazy about Buhari doesn’t that say something about the presidential election, holding nine days from today?

I have heard some people say unequivocally that Buhari will win, if the election is free and fair. Our people are afraid that their votes may not count, that is why they add the caveat, if the election is free and fair. They believe that the government is desperate to remain in power and would do anything to win the forthcoming elections, beginning with that of the president on February 14. Though the president has given us his word that the elections will be free and fair, many do not believe him. To them, it is dangerous to take the president’s statement at face value; so, they are asking Nigerians to remain vigilant so that their votes will count at the end of the day.

If the elections are going to be free and fair, they posit, this must be seen in the way the president’s supporters are going about campaigning for him. You do not drum support for your candidate by beating the drums of war. You do not root for your candidate by maligning his arch opponent. You do not campaign for your candidate by tearing down some of the institutions of state as the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation tried to do over Buhari’s School Certificate result. Of course, back then, Buhari could not have joined the army in 1961 without the prerequisite qualification, which is the school certificate.

The army admitted that Buhari had the certificate, but added rather shamefully that it could not be traced in its records. Does that mean that Buhari’s school certificate which he tendered along with other documents on joining the army is missing? According to former Director of Army Public Relations Brig Gen Olajide Laleye, ‘’records available indicate that Major General Muhammadu Buhari applied to join the military as a Form Six student of the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, on October 18, 1961…the entry made on NA Form 199A at the point of documentation after commission as an officer indicated that the former Head of State obtained the West African School Certificate in 1961 with credits in relevant subjects.’’

If this entry was made in Buhari’s form, it follows that he must have submitted his school certificate to authenticate his claim. Moreover, the Selection Board would have asked for the original, at least, for what we today call ‘’sighting’’ and copies kept in his file. Those copies are what the army is today telling us are missing. We do not want to join issues with the military over this matter, especially regarding the aspect of its record keeping, which has given some people in PDP the munition with which to attack Buhari, its former Commander-in-Chief.

These PDP soldiers went haywire in their bid to paint Buhari black. They claimed that Buhari is not qualified to stand for election because the army could not produce his result. How could the army produce his result when it was not the examining body? From the outset, these henchmen made it known that they won’t spare Buhari even when their principal, the president, had promised issues-based campaign.

Unfortunately, the presi
dent’s agents are not inter
ested in issues; they are more interested in disparaging Buhari. But the more they do that the more they draw support for the general from the mass of the people. Certificate or not, they say, it is ‘Sai Buhari’. This is what the president’s men want to stop at all cost. Yet, the harder they try, the harder they fall. The controversy over Buhari’s certificate has been laid to rest with the release of his result by his alma mater some two weeks ago. Yet, the PDP is not satisfied.

In a saner society, the certificate issue would have been dead and buried by now. But we are dealing with people with no moral scruples. Rather than bury their heads in shame and apologise to Buhari, they have resolved to feast on a dead issue. To them, the certificate saga remains a live issue; that is why they have the audacity to say it was forged. With its bogus claim, PDP is not calling to question Buhari’s reputation, but is challenging the integrity of the Katsina school and Cambridge University.

PDP and its men do not know the meaning of the word, integrity. This is why they are going about telling barefaced lies. To give their lies a veneer of truth, they tampered with the certificate to meet their ulterior motive. If they could do this, what will they not do to win the election?

They claimed that Buhari forged his certificate. Who is a forger in this case? What do you call those who tampered with a document sent from a school? Artful forgers? Should we still be talking of this certificate or their plans for the country, if they have any? Since they have nothing to offer, they have found it difficult to talk about issues.

February 5, 2015
Not the way to go

In Nigeria, people like to cause confusion where there is none. They get a kick from turning things upside down just to destabilise the polity. Their joy is in heating up the whole place so that they can benefit from the ensuing crisis. These people abound in every segment of society. Their policy is if we cannot have it no other person should. But they are found mostly in political circles.

There are many spoilers in our political firmament. These are political jobbers who ingratiate themselves with those in power for their own selfish end. They do not have our leaders’ interest at heart, but they create the impression that they do. A wise leader will not touch them with a 10-foot pole, but since wisdom is far from many of our leaders, they get easily carried away by such people’s antics and end up in the hall of infamy.

Remember June 12, John Atkins, Arthur Nzeribe, Abimbola Davies, the late Justice Bassey Ikpeme and the Association of Better Nigeria (ABN)? In 1993, the faceless Atkins, Nzeribe, now in his wintry years, Davies, who sprang up from nowhere then, and ABN, among others, did all they could to stop the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The late Justice Ikpeme even granted a late night injunction barely 48 hours to the election, stopping the National Electoral Commission (NEC) from going ahead with the exercise. Of course, the late judge and her order were ignored. In a series of adverts, Atkins argued strongly for the postponement of the election. The Prof Humphrey Nwosu-led NEC, he claimed, was ill-prepared for the poll.

Nzeribe argued along the same line, making it look as if he was the faceless Atkins behind those adverts. Till today, many are not convinced that it was not Nzeribe in Atkins’ skin. What they were doing was against the electoral law, but the security agencies kept quiet. They allowed Nzeribe, Davies and ABN to be because they knew that these people and ABN cannot be dancing without their drummer being at hand. The drummer was the government of the day, which from the look of things was not ready to go after trying several gimmicks in the past to truncate the transition programme.

It banned and unbanned candidates, shifted the hand over date severally before it ran into a cul-de-sac in 1993. June 12 was the proverbial bone that got stuck in their throats – they could neither cough it out nor swallow it. Despite their scheming, the election held and the rest, as they say, is history. But some people have not learnt from that. Today, some people want to take us down that road again. They are demanding postponement of next month’s elections to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) complete the distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC).

The PVC is a must have for eligible voters; without it they cannot vote. Of the 68.8 million registered voters, about 42.7million have received their cards, according to INEC, which spoke on the highly sensitive issue on Tuesday night. The argument of poll postponement proponents is that millions of people will be disenfranchised if the election is allowed to hold as scheduled . Their argument holds no water as INEC has assured all that it can complete the distribution of the remaining 26.1 million cards between now and February 8. ‘’And if push comes to shove, we will distribute the cards till February 13, which is the eve of the presidential election’’, said INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, last week.

The truth is that those calling for poll postponement are being used by some forces to do so. Some are doing it for money; others are doing it on the prompting of the government, which believes that if such people add their voice to it, it would give the clamour some sort of relevance. That is where they miss the point. Nigerians are anxious, very anxious, for the elections to hold because they are tired of the present administration. If many have their way, they would prefer that the elections hold today.

Nothing will make these people happy than to see the Jonathan administration go. The past six years have been hell on earth for many Nigerians despite the government’s claim of having touched their lives. In what way has the government touched people’s lives? Is it through its fiscal policies under which the naira keeps depreciating against the dollar? Is it through the provision of critical infrastructure? Is it through stable power supply? Is it through the creation of jobs? We can go on and on. There is nothing to write home about this administration and this is why discerning Nigerians are anxious for the elections to come so that they can with their own hands determine their fate.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has seen the handwriting on the wall; this is why it is tacitly backing those calling for postponement of the elections, citing many eligible voters’ inability to collect their PVCs for such indefensible demand. With what the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sabo Dasuki, said at Chatham House in London last week, it is clear that the PDP-led government, nay the Presidency, is not averse to a poll shift. But will INEC dance to their tune? This is where the problem lies. Those seeking postponement do not know how to sell the idea to INEC, which is determined to get the elections done with as scheduled.

So far, INEC has maintained its stand that the elections must hold next month come rain, come shine. But you can trust our people to go to any length to get what they want. On Tuesday, they took the fight, so to say, to INEC Headquarter in Abuja even when the issue of poll shift was not on the agenda of their meeting. All the parties except the All Progressives Congress (APC) and United Progressives Party (UPP) insisted on postponement of the poll. Their reason again was the distribution of PVCs to eligible voters before February 14. This is not an issue over which we should break bones. It is a matter that can be resolved without some people hiding under it to cause mischief.

No doubt, INEC is facing challenges in distributing PVCs to all eligible voters. But should this be enough reason to ask for poll shift? The answer is no. What those in power should do is to come to INEC’s aid in getting these cards distributed speedily instead of using delay in their distribution as a ploy for poll shift. Even if the elections are shifted for 90 days as Dasuki suggested in London, what is the guarantee that all eligible voters will collect their PVCs before the rescheduled poll? There is no need to shift the poll because those determined to vote will do all they can to get their PVCs as long as INEC makes good its promise to get them ready before February 8.

Those calling for poll postponement are not reckoning with the resolve of Nigerians to get all-this essential card come what may as long as they are made available for collection. As I write this, I have yet to collect my PVC, but I am determined to get it whenever it is made available between now and February 8, even if I need to sleep at my polling unit or ward to pick it up. It is a sacrifice one must make in order to exercise one’s franchise in next month’s elections. And I know that many Nigerians are ready to make that sacrifice. So, no to poll shift.

January 29, 2015
In bad taste

No wonder many decent people are running away from politics; it is not that they are not interested in the game, what they are afraid of is the mudslinging. Some politicians are crude; so crude that they are not better than motor park touts, to borrow the words of President Goodluck Jonathan. They use intemperate language unmindful of the damage they may cause. These ill-mannered politicians believe that all is fair and foul in politics. But should it be so?

In this age, we should be playing politics without bitterness as espoused by the late Ibrahim Waziri of the defunct Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP), who despite defecting from the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) in 1979 remained friends with his former party members and used no curse words against them.

Decent people will continue to shun politics if our politicians continue to behave the way they do. What is in politics or the contest for power that a politician will wish another dead? There is no way any same person can defend the advertorial placed by Ekiti State Governor Peter Ayodele Fasyose in The Punch and the Daily Sun last Monday, on the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Alhaji Muhaamadu Buhari.

The advert does not show that we have grown politically as a nation. The essence of any campaign is for the contestants to show who is the best among them. It is not a forum for abuse or mudslinging; neither is it one for twisting biblical passages in order to satisfy inordinate desires. Election is not a do or die. You contest and lose to contest again.

You do not contest to die; you contest to live and see where you missed it so as to become a better candidate in future. None should know this better than Fayose, the harbinger of the hate advert. And what is Buhari’s offence? He is contesting the February 14 presidential election against Fayose’s political leader, President Goodluck Jonathan. Fayose wants to remain in Jonathan’s good books and as such he is ready to do anything to satisfy his master.

But the president should know people like Fayose for what they are – they will support you today because it pays them to be on your side and abandon you when the tide turns against you. Fayose knows that his bread will remain buttered as long as he is on the president’s side. Perhaps, he is acting with the benefit of hindsight. A president got him out of office in 2006 because he was found to be cantankerous. Fayose does not want history to repeat itself almost nine years after. To avoid that bitter experience, he has thrown all what he has into supporting Jonathan against Buhari to protect his political future

There is nothing bad in his support for Jonathan, but everything about his hate advert against Buhari is bad. His advert, which I find nauseating to reproduce here was uncalled for. That is not how to campaign for your candidate. Fayose went too far in that advert and it calls to question the sanity of some of those we call our leaders. Is it not a shame that such a figure is a governor in Nigeria? Fayose could have found better ways of campaigning for Jonathan instead of descending so low with such a cheap advert.

It cost money to place that advert but its message was too cheap for such a price. So, has money not been put to shame? What is the point in spending a fortune on an advert only to come up with a message that rankles? Since Monday, Fayose has been under fire for carrying his sacrifice beyond the house of worship. The good he wanted to do Goodluck Jonathan through that advert has turned to bad for him. He is the one to make a choice now – does he want bad luck – as he has brought upon himself with his advert – to remain his portion or will he mend his ways for good luck to locate him?

Fayose went overboard in that advert; no wonder Nigerians have been cutting him to size over it. But then he who the gods want to destroy they first make mad. This is what we are seeing in this case. To the leadership of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the advert was a killjoy. It said : ”You know, sometimes it looks as if life plays a cruel game. The Punch of today has an advert reportedly sponsored by Ayo Fayose. Now going by Facebook (FB) responses alone, the advert has attracted many negative responses…

“From a professional standpoint, it’s not an issue of whether the advert is good or bad. It is simply unconventional, shocking, controversial, and perhaps even embarrassing, and has certainly annoyed a few people. And by the way, the reference to portions of the Bible introduces a curious twist…

“Now I am sure that wherever he is, the president must be wondering about his Ekiti enfant terrible. These are really interesting times!” Indeed, they are. If they were not, Fayose will not be putting his name on such a despicable advert when we are talking of the Abuja Peace Accord.

How can we ensure a hitch free election with such hate spewed forth from the Fayose advert? It is the worst worded advert I have ever read. It was too provocative and did not do the Abuja Peace Accord any good and I daresay the papers should have erred on the side of caution in carrying it. The media should not be too conscious of money; yes we are in business to make money but we must be wary of the antics of politicians who do not mean well for the country. Otherwise we will allow them to blow up the country with their hate mongering under the guise of electioneering. There is no better word to describe Fayose than that of APCON – an effant terrible. What an effant terrible!!

Will the president and PDP call him to order? I doubt if they will because it pays them to pretend as if they did not see this evil which their beloved son has committed. A free, fair and peaceful election as agreed to under the Abuja Accord starts with those close to the corridor of power not doing anything to breach that pact.

Mbu the ‘lion’

MANY are agitated over Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) Joseph Mbu’s deployment to the Zone 2 Police Command comprising Lagos and Ogun states. And they are rightly so. Mbu, the self-styled lion, parades an unenviable record as a police officer. The atrocities he committed as Rivers State Police Commissioner and AIG Zone 7 Abuja are still fresh in the people’s memory. Was he deployed to Zone 2 to intimidate the highly vociferous people in his command as we get set for next month’s elections? Time will tell. Let him have these words of wisdom at the back of his mind : ”If you are sent on a servant’s errand, you deliver it as a freeborn”.

January 22, 2015
The President was here

On December 14, 2006, this paper hosted then Bayelsa State Governor Goodluck Jonathan, who was on his way to Abuja for his party’s national convention, where its presidential candidate would be picked. Jonathan was not among the contenders for the top job. He was going there as a delegate and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa. Moreover, he had picked the party’s governorship ticket for the state.

So, Jonathan was going to Abuja for the fun of it and to vote for the candidate of his choice. Little did we know that he would become a candidate in that election. That is how God works; He does His things in the way He only understands. When Jonathan was here that December 14, it never crossed his mind that he would pair the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to contest the 2007 presidential election.

On what to expect at the December 16 PDP national convention, all he said was may the best candidate win. He, however, spoke of his preference for one of the contesting outgoing governors to emerge as candidate. Truly, one of the governors, the late Yar’Adua, who was then the chief executive of Katsina State, picked the ticket. His choice of Jonathan as running mate, it appears, was preordained. If not, the late Yar’Adua would not have chosen him. Perhaps, his name Goodluck did the magic.

Of course, Jonathan has been a lucky person all his life. His good fortune in recent times shows how far people’s names can carry them. Over eight years after his visit here, Jonathan is on another campaign. His whistle-stop campaign took off in Lagos last Thursday. He chose Lagos for political reasons not that he loves the state and its people that much. If he truly loves Lagos as he wants the people to believe, why then has he not paid the money being owed the state by the Federal Government by now?

Lagos and the 35 other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will not just be there for the picking of the president and his party. For the electorate to vote for him, he has to tell them what he has done in the past six years. What has he done that should make the people vote for him? At his Lagos rally, he said he would address the crowd on three key issues of corruption, security and infrastructure development. He failed to live up to his word; rather he resorted to reacting to criticisms and attacking the opposition.

What really are Jonathan’s plan for the country? What does he intend to do after six years in office without anything to show for it? Is he just seeking to return to office for the sake of it? Yes, it is good to bear the title of president, but it comes at a price. Being president is not a tea party. It is a demanding job. The office demands a lot of sacrifice from its occupant, who must be ready to work, until he drops dead, if need be. The country he seeks to lead must come first, always, no matter what. In the past six years, Jonathan has shown that he is not that kind of leader. He is a jolly good fellow, no doubt, but that does not do the job.

We need an all – hands on president and after trying him for over 55 months, he has failed this litmus test. Jonathan does not have anything to offer. It is obvious that he is tired and that he needs a rest. But those benefiting from the system feel that all is well. What else do we expect from such bootlickers? As long as they get free money they will praise the president to high heavens. Not only that, they can even sell their mothers for filthy lucre.

We can all see what the Transformation Ambassadors of this world are doing. To these people, Jonathan is the best thing to have ever happened to Nigeria. Jonathan, they say, has rehabilitated the Ore-Benin road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Nigeria Railway Corporation; tackled terrorism to a halt and improved security. Those behind the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) know all too well that they are lying. There is nothing on ground to support their claim. If there were, Jonathan would have pointed them out at his ongoing campaign.

Let us start with corruption and security on which he spoke at his Lagos rally. The President did not tell us what he has done to tackle these problems. Rather than say what he has done or intends to do, he got busy throwing barbs at his critics. ‘’They talked about insecurity’’, he began. ‘’They said they will fight insecurity. And I ask, are our armed forces weak? If we have problems, what is the cause? Equipment. Somebody who told young people that he is going to fight insecurity, ask him if he bought one rifle for Nigerian soldiers when he was Head of State. These people did not buy anything for Nigerian soldiers. They refused to equip them. Ask them what they did with their defence budget.

‘’They said my government is corrupt and that we are not fighting corruption. Only yesterday, I addressed anti-corruption agencies and told them that people are deceiving young Nigerians. I said that they must tell Nigerians what they are doing. We have arrested more people and done more convictions…If somebody tells you that the best way to fight corruption is to come and arrest your uncle and father and show him on television and jail him, it won’t stop corruption. It even encourages corruption’’.

Are we not in trouble if the President can, on a live radio and television programme, refer to stealing as a minor matter? To him, stealing is not corruption. ‘’What they are calling corruption is petty stealing’’, he said on the Presidential Media Chat not too long ago. Stealing is stealing, sir. There is nothing like petty stealing just as there is nothing like petty robbery. What is petty in taking something that does not belong to you? You do not take something that does not belong to you without the owner’s permission. Going by our president’s definition of stealing, that is permissible.

So, if members of his cabinet take what does not belong to them, he will look the other way! This is what I understand the President to be saying with his definition of stealing. If he overlooks ‘’petty stealing’’ because the amount involved is small, will he have the will to act when a huge sum is stolen? Is this the kind of president we deserve? Your answer is as good as mine.

January 15, 2015
The market is market

The signs are all too clear and they point to one thing : President Goodluck Jonathan should go. Not too long ago, many of those seeking his exit today were his ardent supporters. They rallied round him when some forces wanted to sideline him in the running of the country when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua died in May 2010. Before Yar’Adua’s death, those who had custody of him prevented then Vice President Jonathan from knowing what was happening.

Jonathan was in the dark about the health of his boss and about everything that was going on in government. He was number two just in name and as his wife, Dame Patience, later revealed, he was reduced to reading newspapers in the office, while some of the late Yar’Adua’s aides and his widow, the then First Lady Turai ran the country.

But the bubble burst when Yar’Adua died. The cabal was exposed for what it was. Since the Constitution states explicitly that the vice president should take over after the president’s death, they had no choice than to allow the law take its course.

Because of the goodwill he then enjoyed, winning the 2011 election was a piece of cake for Jonathan. But in less than two years in office, he burnt his bridges. Across the country today, the singsong is that Jonathan must go. Why is this so? What offence did he commit? Has he not fulfilled his promise to end irregular power supply? Has he not built or reconstructed roads? Do we still have unemployed graduates roaming the streets? Are our schools and hospitals not functioning well? So, why should anybody campaign against Jonathan’s return?

It was easy measuring whether he still enjoys the support of the people with what happened nationwide on New Year’s eve. In their New Year messages, virtually all the clerics hinted that change was in the offing. They were not campaigning against Jonathan; they were telling the people just like former President Olusegun Obasanjo did on Monday ‘’to vote wisely’’. Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) General Overseer Pastor E.A. Adeboye said being an election year, he would not say much. ‘’But at the end of the year’’, he told his flock, ‘’many of you will say all is well that ends well’’. I leave the decoding of that to you.

To Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry (MFM) General Overseer Pastor D.K. Olukoya, Nigeria will not break up over the coming elections. But the renowned Enugu based Catholic Priest, Rev Father Camillus Ejike Mbaka, did not mince words in giving his own message. ‘’We need change. Whatever it will be, let it be. This is my golden message to my beloved country…By the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are announcing spiritually, change! 2015 should not be a year of any hooligan maneouvring to hijack power. This is our New Year message. Listen, when you get home, tell anybody you see that from the oracle of the Holy Spirit, we are announcing change. Can somebody help me to shout change in Jesus Holy name.

‘’Once upon a time, the whole country was crying for a leader who would help us to move forward with our economy, have an authentic democracy, give our unemployed youths jobs, enable our power to be steady, who would industrialise Nigeria, who would encourage mass education and agriculturise Nigeria…Then Goodluck met Yar’Adua and Yar’Adua died. Before you know it, the Goodluck met our oil and our oil had a bad luck and poured away. Before we knew it, the Goodluck met our naira, our naira had a bad luck. Where are we going? What is the fate of this country? Shall we continue like this? We need change.’’

No matter how you look at it, the Revered Gentleman has said it as it is. We need change. Things cannot be allowed to continue like this. If yesterday, we were shouting hossanah, we did so in ignorance because we thought Jonathan will correct societal ills. With his humble background and most importantly, considering the circumstance of his emergence, we thought he would have the people’s feelings at heart. The country has not benefited from his leadership looking at all indices of development. This is why today, the people are calling for change.

Those reaping from the system will, of course, say otherwise, but the larger segment of the society that is at the receiving end cannot but wish for change this year. Change does not come easily, it must be worked for. So, Nigerians should be ready to, with their votes, effect a change in national leadership in next month’s elections. Enough of crying in the corners of our homes, lamenting the rot in the system. We can do something to remedy the situation and that is by casting our vote ‘’wisely’’ as Obasanjo advised.

You may not like Obasanjo, but you may not fault him at times when he takes his stand on certain issues. Being a former leader, he knows the workings of the economy inside out and the picture that he painted of things on Monday is not palatable at all. Hear him: ‘’Our nation is plagued with insecurity, economic downturn, increase in poverty, corruption and impunity in doing things. People do things because no man can do anything to them, but God will catch them.

‘’Our economy should not have been this bad. When I was leaving office about eight years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we had paid all our debts. Almost $25billion we kept in what they call Excess Crude Account. When we left in May 2007, the reserve was said to have been raised to $35billion. But today, that reserve has been depleted.

“Our reserve after we had paid off this debt was about $45billion. I heard that the reserve increased to almost $67billion before the end of that year. Our reserve now, I learnt, is left with around only $30billion. That is why the naira has been falling against the dollar…’’

The Southeast which Jonathan considers home seems also to be up in arms against him. In an upcoming interview in The Sun, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme hinted that “Jonathan may not have maximum support from the Southeast”. This statement is pregnant with meaning. The handwriting is clear on the wall. The chances of Jonathan being rejected at the poll are high. But his loyalists see his chances as bright and are goading him on with such statement as “in 2015, it is either good luck or bad luck”

Of course, it will be our good luck if he loses and otherwise if he wins. Well, you do not tell a blind man that the market is over. He will return home when he no longer hears the noise of the market place.

January 8, 2015
2015 through the crystal ball

FORTUNE-telling is not for ordinary mortals. It is for men who are schooled in the art of looking into the seeds of time to tell which grains will grow and which will not as the witches did to Macbeth in the Shakespeare play of the same name on his return from battle with Banquo. The witches predicted that Macbeth will be king, but had no message for Banquo until he challenged them to use their power to look into the future for him. They did before they vanished right before the eyes of both men.

Their disappearance provoked an argument between Macbeth and Banquo on what the witches told them. As it was then, so it is today. Like Macbeth, many today believe in the power of seers, who go by many funny names nowadays. Those who believe in them can swear by them. They take what these seers tell them as the gospel truth, which must come to pass.

So, they go to any length to ensure that predictions concerning them are fulfilled. In ensuring the fulfilment of these predictions, they are ready to kill, if need be. Seers play on the gullibility of their clients. They know that people want to be told about nice things that would happen to them and would also do anything to avert evil. So, our soothsayers cash in on this to fleece their clients. But to them, it is all good business.

This is the time of year that business used to boom for them in the past. Parapsychologists were the darling of the media in the not too distant past. In those halcyon days, newspapers devoted a lot of space to capture what they have to say about the incoming year. Their predictions border on the good, the bad and the ugly. For the nation, institution and individuals, especially the affluent and influential among them, they are one or two messages for them. So, as 2015 dawns today, we will gaze into the crystal ball to see what the year has in store for our dear country. Will it be a year to remember for good or for ill?

As the year begins, with as usual, prayers across the country, our utmost wish should be for a peaceful Nigeria where equity, justice and fair play reign. 2015 is a critical year. It is the year of crucial elections. Many are afraid that the elections will be a do or die, but it is heartening that President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking reelection, has been assuring Nigerians that he is not ready to shed blood in order to return to office.

It is heartwarming that such statement is coming from him, but he has to call his loyalists to order. The President may mean well in his desire for a free and fair poll, but can we say the same of his followers, some of whom are already seeing him as winner of the February 14 election? The President has much work to do to ensure that the impending elections do not split the country. As President and Commander-in-Chief, he is the de facto and de jure leader of the country. The buck stops at his table.

To ensure that there is no rancour during the elections, he must tell his men, who are spilling bile, to apply the brakes in order not to overheat the polity. We should be spared such statements as ‘’in 2015, it is either goodluck or bad luck’’. Such inciting pun on the President’s name is uncalled for. It will be to Jonathan’s eternal glory if Nigeria comes out of the elections still united. At least, the so-called experts on Sub-Sahara Africa, who expressed fear that the country may break up in 2015 if we do not get things right, will come to see that their fear was needless after all.

If the elections do not break the country, what about the Boko Haram monster? We have been battling the menace without success in the past five years. Rather than being tamed, the monster keeps growing, threatening the social fabric of the country. Boko Haram strikes virtually every day in the Northeast, killing and maiming. Gombe and Bauchi states, which were hitherto considered safe in the Northeast, are now facing the heat from Boko Haram. These states and Abuja harbour many of those displaced by the sect from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

With Bauchi and Gombe now feeling the brunt of Boko Haram insurgency, the entire Northeast has come under siege. The Jonathan administration must address the problem in 2015. It can no longer afford to sit on its hand over this matter. Enough of looking for an easy way out of a problem, which requires thinking outside the box. There is nothing that portrayed the government’s lack of seriousness in ending the insurgency than the calibre of boys that milked it of millions of dollars.

Where were our security agents when these boys were running rings round top government officials, collecting money from them under the guise of getting the Boko Haram leadership to ceasefire? The government fell for the scam by announcing a ceasefire that never was. Today, they are holding those boys as criminals when those that should be arrested are our security operatives who failed to do real intelligence work when it mattered most.

And how can we forget the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls who have been in Boko Haram enclave since April 15. Will the government bring back our girls this year? These girls have suffered enough and we cannot continue to go on with life as if everything is okay. Things are bad, extremely bad. As the mother of one of the girls put it during an interview with the Cable News Network (CNN) shortly before Christmas, ‘’it’s a bad Christmas’’. It may end up being a bad year if at the end of 2015, these girls are still in captivity. Happy New Year, Nigeria.

January 1, 2015
Promise unfulfilled

BY now Nigerians should have thrown away their generators going by the boast of President Goodluck Jonathan some years ago. When he succeeded the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010, he boasted that by 2012, electricity would have become so stable that Nigerians would dash him their generators! Trust Nigerians; they were unimpressed by his boast. They adopted a wait and see attitude. 2012 came; no dice. The Federal Government then moved the goalpost forward as it usually does when it has overreached itself. It promised a power generation of 5000megawatts (Mw) by the end of 2014. The ‘magic’ year 2014 ended yesterday and it was, again, no show. We are told that the target fell short of 887.71Mw. We do not know whether to believe them or not since they are the sole custodians of the record. What we know is that power supply is still bad, very, very bad; yet people are being sent crazy bills for services they do not enjoy. They are fuming and cursing the government and wondering when things will improve. In 2015? I pray so!

January 1, 2015
Do they know it’s Christmas?

It is a yearly event that Christendom looks forward to not because it is a time to wine and dine; but because of the significance of the Messiah’s birth. Over 2000 years ago in the city of Bethlehem, Jesus was born in a manger. Yet, from that humble background, He rose to world acclaim. This is why His birthday is celebrated worldwide every year in remembrance of the life He lived in order to save mankind.

Jesus lived and died for man to be saved. He did not come to the world for the righteous, according to the scripture. He came for sinners. This is why in His lifetime, He neither condemned nor judged people. He simply led all to the right path. At Christmas, the world remembers His coming with nostalgia because He came so that we may have life more abundant. He was an only begotten child who was sacrificed for the good of man.

Man is expected to be Christlike, to live holy and see ourselves as our brother’s keeper. These are traits we are expected to exhibit every day, but more often than not, we do not. We live for ourselves not bothering about the other fellow. At Christmas, things change; we become kind and of good nature. We see the other man as our neighbour whose needs must be met whether or not he asks for our help.

If only we could do half of the good we display at Christmas, our country will be a better place to live. It is at Christmas that we remember that our neighbour is hungry; it is at Christmas that we remember that our neighbour’s children cannot go to school because of lack of financial wherewithal; it is at Christmas that we remember to be of good behaviour. Just because it is Christmas, we believe that we should act as saint and not be seen perpetrating evil. Oh. how I wished everyday is Christmas.

Despite our penchant to do good during this season, there are some who are still not touched by this outpouring of love. We do not remember such people because they are far from our thoughts. It is not that we are not aware of their existence. We are aware of them, but we do not remember them. These are the people who have been lying in hospitals for years nursing injuries from which they may never recover except by divine intervention. I am talking, among others, of the paraplegic who can neither move nor do anything for themselves.

Many of them are in orthopaedic hospitals, lying down in one place because of their inability to use their limbs. We tend to forget these people at this season because it does not cross our minds to go look for them. We are only concerned with the needs of those in our immediate environment and do not cast our nets wide for the sick and elderly, who have been abandoned in Old People’s Homes. The joy of Christmas should radiate in every corner of the universe and in every home, hospital and rehabilitation centre.

Painfully in the homes of the missing Chibok girls this Christmas, this joy will be missing. It is not that these households do not want to celebrate, but circumstances beyond their control have robbed them of such celebration. In the rustic Chibok community in Borno State, over 200 families will not know the joy of the season. As I was pounding away on my desktop on Tuesday, something made me look up at the television and what i read on the screen pierced my heart.

The Cable News Network (CNN) was running a promo of its interview with some of the missing Chibok girls’ parents. The girls were kidnapped from their school last April 15 and since then they have remained in captivity. For eight months, their parents have not heard from the girls nor do they know where these children are being kept. When the girls were snatched in April the world rose in condemnation of their abduction.

The United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), among other powerful countries, promised to assist Nigeria in getting back the girls. Nobody knows how far they have gone in making good their promises. Are they still interested in helping us get the girls? Is there any hope of getting all the girls back intact? How committed is the Federal Government to the rescue of the girls? It is sad that these girls will be spending their first Christmas away from home in captivity.

I watched dejected as two parents – a man and a woman – spoke of the trauma of a Christmas without their children. The man said : ”Every Christmas, we come together as a family and we are happy. How can we be happy now, when one of us is not here?” The woman said : ”There is nothing I can say, it has happened. It is a bad Christmas”. If those in power were to be in these parents’ shoes, I am sure they would have spoken in like manner.

How can any parent, no matter how heartless he or she may be, celebrate Christmas knowing that his or her daughter is in kidnappers’ den. The most heartrending of it all is that we do not even know if the girls are still with their abductors, sold into slavery or married off. For as long as these girls remain in captivity so long will their parents be pining away in anguish and sorrow, thinking of what would have been if their daughters were with them.

These parents can no longer know the joy of Christmas. Their homes were once bubbling at a season like this, with laughter ringing out from children, friends and relations. Painfully, this season, the reverse will be the case and it may be so for a long time, with the way the government is going about the rescue of the girls. How do you wish parents like this, Merry Christmas. That’s a tough call.

Favour seekers

The Quran and Bible enjoin us to be cheerful givers. These holy books also tell us that whatever good we do with our right hand should not be known to the left. Many people, however, find it difficult to live up to these injunctions. Some give to show off or to curry the favour of those in power. For others, their giving is pay back time for favour once done them. They do not give to attract the blessing of God, they give for political and other reasons. Last Saturday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held a fund raising for its presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and some individuals and institutions virtually broke the bank in order to be seen donating towards ”a worthy cause”. In a society where many are dying of hunger; where there are no good roads; where the hospitals are ”mere consulting clinics”; where power is unstable, N21.7billion was raised within the twinkling of an eye. The donors did not give because they love the president, they gave in order to be in his good book and to be the first to be considered for those juicy contracts when the time comes. You do not give a sitting president a billion naira or more for nothing; you are saving towards the rainy day when your donation will speak for you. Is that a cheerful giver? No, that is a favour seeker.

December 25, 2014