The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Futility of elections without economic development

    The first election I was conscious of was the electoral college of 1951 through which members of regional houses of assembly were elected in Nigeria into the regional parliaments in Ibadan, Enugu, and Kaduna. It was from these regional assemblies that representatives were sent to the central parliament in Lagos. I would not have been conscious of what was happening but for the fact that one of my older brothers was one of those elected or perhaps it will be more correct to say “selected”. I was too young to know what the hullabaloo was all about at the age of nine. Even my brother, Oduola who was elected was a foreigner to me because up till that time, I had never met him. While I was growing up, he was in Fourah Bay College (a constituent college of University of Durham) and I only heard stories of him from my mother. I only knew my other brothers in Government College Ibadan and Christ School Ado Ekiti whenever they made quick visits to my mother.

    The evolution of elections in Nigeria from 1923 elections in Lagos and Calabar into Sir Hugh Clifford’s Legislative Council of Nigeria is fairly well known to deserve repetition here but it will suffice to say periodic elections which are part of democratic system has never solved our problem in Nigeria but rather they have always exacerbated our problems and have always exposed the ethnic fault lines of our country. A day after such elections involving the expenditure of huge amounts of government and personal monies, the problems always remain until another election.The question is why do the same thing over and over expecting different results? Is that not the definition of madness? Suppose there is another way of politics without the ruinous periodic elections?

    What is the purpose of these periodic elections? The purpose presumably is renewal of leadership and possibly of political and economic direction. Are there countries where this is being done without the attending ruinous violence and ethnic mayhem characteristic of elections in Nigeria? Is electoral democracy the last paradigm on political governance? Which should come first between economic development and political development?

    Are there lessons from history both past and contemporary that can help in elucidating the problems of today and foreshadowing the future? I had this kind of discussion with an academic colleague who simply dismissed me as a frustrated man who because of poor development in his country was consequently being led into the path of fascism and illiberality. My friend is probably right but I will first want to put some of my ideas forth before my readers who may find them not too crazy after all.

    The question to ask is what is the purpose of government? Is it not to guarantee peace, law and order? How does government do this except through provision of good living conditions, good jobs, domestication of the environment through good infrastructure, provision of electricity, transportation grid, health and education facilities that should be able to regenerate and replicate themselves. In short, governments exist for the humanization of society in a sustainable way. In an ideal situation, all these can be done through careers open to talents of finding the right people to run things. The yardstick of success or failure will be the efficiency and performance of the system. The problem is how to find the right people in a multi-ethnic society? This can be done through wholesale decentralization with representatives chosen by acclamation, from the local communities and sent to regional assemblies or national parliament not on party basis but on the basis of their peoples’ confidence in them as well as their expertise. The unit of this representation will be the villages and towns small enough for people to be able to vouch for one another.The time they spend representing their communities will be fixed and they would be remunerated by the communities that send them so that there will be no disconnect between them and the people they represent. The rural communities will be linked to one another by mutual pact of defence which will be defended by all able men and women in some kind of a citizen army. There will be no standing army like in Costa Rica, but in time of danger, every citizen will be called upon to defend the community. There will of course be police force based on community policing.  These community police forces would be linked together city by city, region by region and the central police will merely coordinate the overall policing efforts. Essentially the unit of administration will be small like cities and a coalition of villages. The central core of my proposals will be a lean civil service at local, state, regional and central levels recruited based on transparent competition and meritocracy. Civil servants will enjoy tenure based on efficiency, performance and success of the enterprise. The purpose of the system will be economic development while politics will be totally irrelevant. My belief is that if everybody is gainfully employed there will be little time of politicking. People will be working so hard and enjoying the fruits of their labour that they would have little time for the gossips which are the core ingredients of the Nigerian type of politics where debate is only about sharing and which ethnic coalition is in and which is out and little attention is paid to technological innovations or things that would benefit society at large.

    It has been proved in countries like Italy and Belgium and even in Germany which for months and in some cases are so politically divided that they can’t form coalition governments, yet the work of development continues through their enlightened and focused bureaucracy. From my experience in Germany, the work of development and governance are done at local, city and villages levels rather than at the leviathan centre.

    There is a global trend nowadays in which people prefer governments closer to home than governments in distant regional or federal capitals.T his centre to periphery has been embraced in Europe as an administrative attempt to encourage the feeling of patriotism in areas that feel forgotten by the forces of centralization and globalization. This idea of subsidiarity has been widely embraced in the European Union where transfer of administration to the periphery is encouraged and practiced.

    In China leaders emerge through a carefully planned recruiting system albeit through the Communist Party. But somehow this system seems to throw up good material for leadership without which the great economic strides the Chinese have made in recent times would probably have been impossible. I am not advocating wholesale adoption of the Chinese system but we should take a close look at it instead  of our regular waste of resources time and lives on the western model of electoral democracy for which we have little temperament and resources and even time if we are to leapfrog several developmental stages of economic developments.

    In economically advanced countries, people do not waste their time on where people come from. This is because of their developed economies. Who wins or loses elections is not as life-threatening or nation-shaking as they are in a country like our own. As imperfect as the USA is, Barack Obama, a black man, still became president. In Canada within living memory, French Canadians like Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and now Justin Trudeau have become prime ministers in spite of being members of the minority French Canadians. What matters is what one is bringing to the table. This is because the state is already economically developed and winning elections are not matters of life or death. What is now generally referred to as the “deep state’ will take care of an errant parvenu coming to power and trying to upset the applecart. The point to make is “the economy stupid!” as president Bill Clinton said to underscore the fact that economic well-being takes precedence over politics. The devil will usually use jobless hands for evil deeds. Any system that does not guarantee fair economic well-being of the people will fail. This was why in the 19th century, emphasis in universities in Europe was placed on political economy rather than the separate studies of economics and politics. Politics is meaningless if it is not rooted in economics. We will not make it as long as we keep the wheel before the horse. No matter how many elections we have no matter the permutations and the ethnic alliances we form or forge, we will not build a nation until we build an economy that can sustain the politics of jobs and jobs for everyone so as to make sense of our constitutional preamble of building an egalitarian society.The stupendous strides the Chinese have made in recent years was not due to their politics, and not even on the totalitarian control of all levers of power by the Communist party of China but on discipline rooted in ancient Confucius ethics and national pride, determination and self-sacrifice. If we can somehow achieve national consensus about the future based on massive economic development based on exploitation of our God-given agricultural lands, abundant sunshine, mineral and water resources, homegrown innovation,then we can come up with our own unique ‘democracy’ that may or may not be based on periodic electoral process. But if it works judged on economic development, then that is what we need and we should stop monkeying around any western democratic paradigm.

  • See you at the polls on Saturday

    FEBRUARY 16 is here. It is just a few hours to Nigeria’s date with history. The general election begins on Saturday.

    It has been a long, tortuous journey full of drama, venom and malice. The battles have been fought on many fronts – newsrooms, boardrooms, restrooms and staffrooms. Internet “hyenas” and “jackals” have been at their most venomous, splashing hatred and lashing everybody.

    The tension has been so thick one could slice it with a kitchen knife. Elders and leaders have become mere dealers, with some claiming they have the key to a race’s brain box. Others have dumped the garb and dignity of statesmen to jump into the arena of politics, spewing out lies and concocting weird scenarios.

    It is an old ambush-and- hit war strategy: whip up sentiments against the opponent with a big heap of lies, play the victim by urging the world to keep an eye on him, rally people of like minds and dreams behind you and  get set to strike. Raise as much hell as you can and then go for the kill; hammer him.

    Obasanjo, a combatant of some repute, has been a master of this “shock and awe” strategy, which he used against Dr Goodluck Jonathan just before the 2015 elections. He accused the former president of breeding snipers who would be unleashed on the populace if he lost the election. Dr Jonathan lost and returned peacefully to his Otuoke redoubt, holding Mama Peace by the hand. The strategy has been deployed against President Muhammadu Buhari, a soldier, who seems to be unperturbed. Naturally. Has it worked? We shall see on Saturday.

    So prominent is Obasanjo’s role – he rallied some parties to form a stillborn coalition and delivered a lengthy diatribe of a press statement excoriating Buhari –  that the respected former president became the object of derisive jokes on the social media. There is this picture of Obasanjo in which he is dressed in a big “agbada”, cap and dark shoes. His neck is turned to the right as his head falls in total submission to the awesome power of nature. He is asleep at a public function. The caption: “Nobody should wake him up until the election is over; im wahala too much.”

    The religion card has been played in a desperate bid to heighten the tension. Buhari was accused of planning to Islamise Nigeria and Nigerians. As I write, the Church is getting stronger and nobody has claimed to have been Islamised.

    Besides, ethnic jingoists stepped up their campaign that Buhari was planning to enthrone a Hausa/Fulani hegemony – an age-old song. Will religion and ethnicism play a role? We shall see on Saturday.

    Guns were booming in many communities. Farmers and herders who had been together for ages suddenly became bitter enemies, killing one another and destroying structures that represented many years of toiling and sweating. Homes were burnt. Cows were stolen. Human life became a ping pong ball smashed across a table until it got broken, replaced by another, which is also smashed and broken for the morbid cycle to go on.

    Now, the guns are silent. Some peace. A governor made a huge show of the funeral of the victims of such killings. Obasanjo and his co-travellers turned the state into a tourist attraction. Tragedy-for-sympathy became a political tool and state policy. Take a bow Benue Governor Samuel Ortom. He dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and shortly after, the killings stopped. That was magical.

    Will all this count in this election? Let’s wait till Saturday.

    Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen was accused of failing to declare some choice assets of his. He was told to face the Code of Conduct Tribunal after an investigation by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). His Lordship, a honest man, simply told the truth – he forgot to declare the said assets, among them an account through which some $3m had passed.

    Indiscretion? So thought many patriots. Not so the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). It rose like the Eiffel Tower in defence of the symbol of its trade and insisted that Justice Onnoghen should face the National Judicial Council (NJC) and not the CCT. A wise man, Justice Onnoghen would rather not sit at judgment in his own matter; he sent the NJC on an indefinite suspension and then launched a series of legal battles to stop his trial. The CCT, unbowed, yesterday ordered his arrest.

    As I said, eminent lawyers lined up behind Justice Onnoghen. They were falling on top of one another to enlist in his army. But there were some renegades, who felt the procedure should not trump the substance. Did he do it or not? That should be the question, they roared for their lonely voice to be heard amid the popular din. Step forward for recognition, the indomitable Prof Sagay Itsejuwa Esanjumi, SAN.

    Stalemate. Not quite. Armed with an order of the CCT, Buhari suspended the CJN and swore in an Acting CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad . The crisis, rather than recede, boiled over. The NBA ordered a two-day court boycott, which many shunned even as the association’s officials launched an enforcement that sent the public wondering: “Are these lawyers or NURTW (Up National!) members?”

    The NJC has somehow found the courage to sit. It has given the CJN seven days to defend himself against the allegations hurled at him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The opposition PDP joined the fray. It accused Buhari of planning to emasculate the Judiciary ahead of the elections. The Senate rushed to the Supreme Court to find out if the President was right in suspending Justice Onnoghen. Curtain-twitching busybodies launched pro- Onnoghen protests, calling for his reinstatement because “he has committed no offence”. Incidentally, CJN Onnoghen was later to reveal graciously the secret of his remarkable wealth – farming. Now, where art thou ye doubting Thomas who see no redeeming feature in the government’s diversification efforts!

    Will the Onnoghen matter affect the election? We shall see on Saturday.

    After the CJN Onnoghen matter and the Obasanjo tantrums, the international community stepped in. The EU, the U.K. and the U.S. cautioned that credible elections should be guaranteed. The Federal Government was angry. It warned that it was all Nigeria’s internal affairs and that our sovereignty should be respected. APC Chair Adams Oshiomhole was furious. He said Nigeria had long ceased being a colony.

    The United States has since assured Nigerians that it has no preferred candidate, but interested only in free and fair elections. Will all the parties agree on what constitutes a free and fair election? What are the parameters? Is an election free when the winner gets his prize and becomes magnanimous in victory and  the loser imbibes the spirit of sportsmanship, believing that Olympics is not for winning, as they say?

    Saturday is here. We shall see.

    When Nasir Hell (a slip there; I take that again) El-Rufai, the tempestuous governor of Kaduna State, jumped into the fray, it became a full-blown street fight. He warned foreigners to behave so that there will be no need for body bags. That was highly inflammatory; combustible. The governor was pilloried to no end. But the Presidency lent him a hand, stressing that His Excellency spoke in the national interest.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told the international observers that they are just to observe and not monitor the elections. What is the difference between an observer and a monitor? We shall find out on Saturday.

    The Chinese, apparently, won’t be left out of this momentous moment – thanks to the social media. A friend sent me this yesterday: “Breaking News. The Chinese President has spoken on the February 16 election. He says, “chai choi ting. Young tei won feng. Nigeria chun fun chom 2019 feng chaing kin koo kung.

    “After looking at the whole thing, I agreed with the Chinese president. After all, it is in our national interest.”

    See you on Saturday at the polls.

    The Benin City torture victim

    THE police in Benin City, the Edo State capital, are holding five suspects who allegedly stripped naked a young girl, beat her up and poured hot pepper into her private parts – all in a savage bid to make her confess to stealing a phone. The video of the obscenity went viral on the Internet.

    The girl denied stealing the phone. She confessed under duress, she said. “They took me to a jujuman who said I was the one that stole the phone, but I maintained my innocence, until he brought a live snake to frighten me. It was then I said I took the phone, but I don’t know where it is. As soon as he left, the boys pounced on me, stripped me naked and started beating me.”

    Otoghile Joel, Lucky Igbinoba (aka One Man Squad), Edobor Osemwengie, Kingsley Iyamu and Ekponmwen  Friday are facing 14-count charge bordering on unlawful attempt to kill, kidnapping, attempted murder, unlawful administering of noxious substance into private parts and unlawful trial by ordeal. There are other charges.

    Prosecuting counsel Peter Ugwumba told the court that no phone was missing and it was all conceived to extort money from the victim.

    The poor girl’s account of her ordeal is moving. It is a vivid illustration of the bestiality that has displaced our humanity. Rights activists and all lovers of decency should pay attention to this case. I trust the court will determine who is right or wrong in this matter and dispense justice without favour.

  • Herd parody

    The modern voter is a moral catamite. Like Pope’s court-enamoured Sporus, he becomes his own nemesis, the mirror-evil, that he must be saved from.

    He chooses neutering in the service of political parties and aspirants, to the detriment of society and country. His scorning of freewill for the leash of their token ejects him from the electorate’s altar-place of power.

    He is self-eunuchised. But he understands, that to profit, he must integrate into a larger herd. Thus he becomes part of the docile crowd, mostly by will and often by default.

    The herd is integral to the political party’s stature and perceived chances at the polls; the greater the crowd, the higher the contender and the party’s ratings in public and media circuits.

    Parties live for those rare moments, in which their ratings plummet or pirouette skywards, hence in a frenzy to improve their ratings, they let loose, chieftains and agents inured to crowd sourcing and mobilisation for rallies.

    As you read, a swarm of high and low agents of contending parties, descend on villages and towns, where they actualise a repertory of lies and abuse, and commit extortionate manipulations, to lure prospective voters to their rallies. As if massive turnouts translate to votes.

    Their strategies resonate the mutation of integrity and ethics into grotesque forms, the tragedy of the electorate. Through the insolence of the crowd wars, contending camps highlight ‘massive turnouts’ at their presidential rallies as testament of strength and political capital.

    The media have also learnt to amplify the debate by juxtaposing, for instance, Muhammadu Buhari’s Kano crowd with Abubakar Atiku’s Kano crowd. To what purpose does it serve to analyse aspirants’ strengths based on the size of the crowd that attend their rallies?

    Shouldn’t contenders be assessed based on their performance and antecedents in public office?

    The crowd at Nigeria’s political rallies are often the same. Large segments of the crowd that attend and chant party slogans at the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s political rallies also attend its major rival, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s rallies, usually at a price. The parties feed off the electorate’s ignorance and cattle mentality while the latter profit by a token, a glorified sentiment or ego.

    The malady reinforces the electorate’s sheepish fascination with celebrity politics; large segments of the electorate are often captivated by contenders’ fame and fabricated repute thus they do not examine their antecedents or compare their verbal claims with verifiable facts.

    The reality of their preferences is determined by bigotries, propaganda and the frequency and tenor of media reportage. Consequently, both the unlettered and supposedly lettered voter are severed from reality by prejudice and blind acquiescence to sophistry, base sentimentality and any lie that soothes and reinforces the biases of partisanship.

    In pursuit of effete glories of the present, they choose to dwell in a fictive universe, where they are ensnared to fugitive perks and grandeur. Ultimately, their lives amplify an eonian lie, fabricated in the mills of duplicitous politics and aspirants.

    In truth, they deserve pity; disabled by ignorance, the pathetic little fops are clueless of their handicap. Stripped of bluster, they cavort in the nude, wearing their witlessness like the proverbial new garments of the delusive emperor.

    They do not understand, and are never willing to understand, how predatory leadership impoverishes and bankrupts them. They cannot decrypt policy failure and the con of micro-finance and commercial bank loans; they cannot decode the interests that plunge them into unmanageable debt.

    Enthralled by garish tokenism and sound bites, they proclaim and chant illogical clichés and slogans. They are captive to the ditty and chorus of a political culture that markets predators as shepherds and maniacal looters as messiahs.

    When push comes to shove and the folly of their actions bears down on them, they recoil from truth, seeking refuge in familiar plaints and vitriol. For the pitiful herd, life is a permanent state of ethical blackout, an inordinate quest for fleeting escapism and carnal gratification.

    When conversation segues to the probe and prosecution of public officers for outrageous acts of embezzlement and corruption, they say: “Is he the only one? Is she the only looter?”

    If the sitting president must probe and prosecute a public officer for treasury looting and corruption, they aver, that he must first, probe of every public officer that looted Nigeria since independence. It’s the only way, they would rest assured, that, the action was initiated without prejudice or malice.

    Such arguments are bland and juvenile, yet they connote public commentary and discourse, thus reflecting citizenry amorality and desensitisation to corruption.

    The loyalties and sympathies of the herd are reserved for the tyrants who treat them like dogs on a leash. Thus the Ekiti electorate’s denial of Kayode Fayemi at the expiration of his first term, and blind acceptance of their nemesis, Ayodele Fayose. Lest we forget Ogun electorate’s recent show of shame at the APC rally, where they pelted President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and gubernatorial candidate, Dapo Abiodun, in furtherance of the host government’s juvenile plots.

    The malady bespeaks Gustave Le Bon’s ‘Crowd’ philosophy, which contends that the type of “hero dear to crowds will always have the semblance of a Caesar. His insignia attracts them, his authority overawes them, and his sword instils them with fear…Should the strength of authority be intermittent, the crowd, always obedient to its extreme sentiments, passes alternately from anarchy to servitude, and from servitude to anarchy.”

    It is unsurprising then, that materially and intellectually impoverished folk would distrust democracy and its promise of collective good, to covet and pursue the vain and ephemeral perks of socio-political harlotry.

    Harlotry subsists in the riotous mobs masquerading as concerned students, civil societies and ‘elders’ caught in the frenzy of reproach a la Onnoghen-gate. These groups of self-styled revolutionaries earnestly chanting anti-Buhari war and ouster songs, for instance, claim to be led by a noble, higher conviction in the interest of the state, but in truth, their indignation and partisanship is paid for.

    Atiku currently presents as meal ticket to many who have failed to profit off a supposedly ‘stingy’ and ‘pedantic’ Buhari.

    If by some radical twist of fate, Buhari/Osinbajo are voted out of office, Nigeria will regret her choices. Soon after the platitudes and chants have fallen silent, each voter would withdraw to lament individually, follies he committed in concert with a group of sentimental others.

    Buhari is not perfect but his implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), anti-corruption campaign and decimation of Boko Haram inspires a pat on the back.

     

    An act connects a person to person, or self to society. Action becomes illusion in an orbit where, as Heracleitus says in Pater’s epigraph, “all things flow.”

    To expect progress by PDP’s Atiku/Obi, is to extend the gifts of alchemy to woodcutters, and expect them to turn pebbles to gold. Their gospel of ill bliss and a token will eventually lead each voter into a bower of bruises, much like a life sentence. A solitary confinement without parole.

    If we fail to vote responsibly, Nigeria will subsist until 2023, like Rachilde’s necrophiliac aesthete, confined to a self-made tomb.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Living and dying with tuberculosis

    • Patients share heartrending encounter with drug-resistant tuberculosis
    • The buzz about Bedaquiline

    Tanimola begged her father to teach her to whistle. But much as he tried to teach her, she couldn’t. Her infant lips were too tender to hoot.

    “She kept blowing air and bathing me with spittle,” said Folajimi David, her father.

    Then, one Sunday evening, the five-year-old said, “Daddy, I can whistle with my chest.” To this, David responded with a smile, enthusing about how talented his little girl was.

    He knew she couldn’t whistle with her chest. But “kids will always be kids,” thought the widower, craning his ear against her chest to hear it ‘whistle.’

    All he could hear was the deep-seated wheezing that broke with her cough.

    He blamed it on her inability to pass out the phlegm that was stuck in her chest. It’s one of the things she inherited from him, he thought; “I have never been able to cough out phlegm no matter how hard I tried,” he said.

    Thinking she got that from him too, along with her looks, he gave her cough syrup, and then, a tincture of honey, bitter kola and mint.

    But neither the cough syrup nor the potion provided relief to the five-year-old. She couldn’t sleep and she coughed through the night. By dawn, David noticed a spatter of blood on the bed sheet, at the spot she rested her head.

    “Her symptoms got worse and she wheezed for breath like an asthmatic. But she had never been diagnosed of asthma. In the morning, she complained of fatigue, and collapsed on the way to the bathroom. That day, she didn’t go to school. I took her to a neighbourhood clinic from where she was referred to the Lagos teaching hospital,” he said.

    Early diagnosis indicated that Tanimola had pneumonia and typhoid fever, for which she was treated. But her symptoms persisted.

    “I became very scared when her teacher called, urging me to come for her; she said her cough had aggravated, and droplets of blood stained her teeth at every expiration,” said David.

    Thus precisely eight days after she was treated at the teaching hospital, Tanimola was rushed to a private hospital, where lab tests and analysis revealed that she was infected by the Multi Drug Resistant strain of tuberculosis , widely known as MDR-TB.

    David was diagnosed with the same disease, and father and daughter were advised to commence treatment at the state’s MDR-TB centre.

    “We received the result late in the day, around 6.25 pm. There was no way we could report for treatment at that hour. I intended to take her to the clinic the following morning, which was a Tuesday,” said David.

    But Tanimola would not make the trip with him. Seventeen minutes past midnight, she died in his arms.

    David should have paid good mind to his daughter. Contrary to his belief, that, the five-year-old suffered a mild cough, she was in the advanced stages of MDR-TB. It wasn’t until she died, that, he understood the reason for her protracted cough and tiredness.

    Today, David is “almost rid” of the disease. But he would never be rid of guilt.

    The bereaved widower and his late daughter, however, represent a fraction of the country’s missing MDR-TB cases.

     

    •An MDR-TB patient using his medication on the watch of a health officer at a DOT centre.

    An awful way to die

    Each year, nearly one and a half million people die from tuberculosis, that, for many years, has been treatable and curable. More than 30 million people have died since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared TB as a global emergency in 1993.

    The devastation wreaked by the disease is best captured in the anonymous quote: “When TB wakes up and gets into the lungs, it eats them from the inside out, slowly diminishing their capacity, causing the chest to fill up with blood and the liquid remains of the lungs.

    “A wet, hacking cough is evocative of TB. The lungs, now in liquid form, are sloshing around in the chest. Cough that up, even in microscopic, impossible-to-see droplets, near other people, and they have a very good chance of getting TB too.

    “Eventually, liquid replaces the lungs; the suffering patients cannot get enough oxygen, and respiratory failure occurs. They can no longer breathe and they drown. It’s painful. It’s drawn out. It’s an awful way to die. But before any of this happens, the disease weakens you. It diminishes your capacity for work, and puts your family and friends, and anyone else you come into contact with at risk. Individual death is only part of the problem.”

    The bereaved family often inherits death from the deceased too. Or vice versa. In the case of the Davids, for instance, the father infected his daughter with the disease “because her immune system was very low, compared to his own,” said one of the doctors that attended to the deceased.

    The typical pathway of the infection according to health experts is as follows:

    When somebody coughs, it spreads through the sputum and then a susceptible host inhales it. If the person’s immune system is intact, the TB stays dormant in the lungs, without causing any harm to the body. But if the body’s immune system is compromised, the bacteria mutates aggressively in the body, corrupting and totally overwhelming the host’s immune system as a full blown infection. From a single host, TB can spread to infect between 10 and 12 people.

    The progression is worse where the hosts dwell in a slum. It spreads rapidly, and assumes the state of a pandemic.

    According to the 2017 Global TB Report, Nigeria is among the 14 high burden countries for TB, TB/HIV and MDR-TB. The country is also among the 10 countries that account for 64 percent of the global gap in TB case finding. India, Indonesia and Nigeria account for almost half of the total gap.

    Nigeria is also ranked 7th among the 30 high drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) burden countries and second in Africa, with an estimated 4, 700 patients with multi drug-resistant-TB (MDR-TB) in 2015.

     

    •A shanty kid picks her way through a river of filth in Makoko. The Lagos slum is widely known as a cesspit of diseases like tuberculosis.

    Why TB persists…

    Tuberculosis, widely adjudged to be a disease of the poor, is endemic in urban slums and communities, where the poverty level and population density is high.

    “Most hospitals in the communities are, however, not equipped with TB care and that is where you have most of the cases. Also, most of the affected areas are hard to reach,” said Dr. Babawale Victor, a Senior Health Officer with the The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTLCP), in a chat with The Nation.

    Further findings revealed, that, while TB care services are supposed to be available at the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country’s 774 local government areas (LGAs), they are absent in most of the target coverage areas.

    Where PHCs are present, they are ill-equipped and understaffed to contain and treat TB patients, let alone MDR-TB sufferers.

    Victor argued that prohibitive cost of treatment also delays and prevent individuals from initiating TB treatment after diagnosis. The dearth of paediatric TB specialists in areas most affected by the disease also poses an impediment to containment efforts, he said, stressing that, delay in reporting cases for treatment and lack of point-of-care laboratory capacity also hinder treatment and containment efforts, especially for multi drug-resistant TB.

    A nurse at a Lagos based directly observed treatment (DOT) centre revealed, that, in order to encourage patients to complete the full course of treatment, they are provided some token for transport fare and meals. After the intensive phase, patients are allowed to return home for the continuation phase of treatment.

     

    Why paediatric TB goes neglected

    Until very recently childhood TB has not been a priority in public health and has remained essentially a hidden pandemic. All too often, paediatric TB goes undiagnosed in children.

    While high-income countries now use sophisticated molecular tests to detect the disease, most developing countries, Nigerian inclusive, still use the method developed 130 years ago: the patient must cough up a sample of sputum, which is then checked under the microscope for the bacteria that causes TB.

    Young children, generally, are unable to produce a sample. Even if a child with active TB succeeds in providing a sample, it often contains no detectable bacteria.

    Compounding difficulties with diagnosis is the fact that children with TB have families that are poor, lack knowledge about the disease and live in communities with limited access to health care.

     

    •TB bacteria inside the human body.

    The burden of stigmatisation

    Isa Mahmud, 35, was forbidden from using the same cutlery with his parents and siblings, soon after he was diagnosed with TB.

    “Even after I started treatment, they kept their distance from me. My brothers stopped sleeping in the same room with me and my mother turned her face away from me whenever she had to talk to me, even after using a nose mask. I have been treated like a leper. They don’t even tell me sorry anymore, when I cough. Instead they frown and hiss. Sometimes, I feel like killing myself,” he said.

    Experiences like Mahmud’s have often led to non-disclosure of illness by TB patients. Even while the chronic cough persists, some simply explain it away as “chest problem.”

    Patients also dread being quarantined in the hospital, often likening it to a jail cell.

    “They will make you feel like a condemned prisoner. The nurses are particularly careless in thought and speech. They shout at you and treat you like a hardened criminal. They make you feel like you are doomed for death,” said Gladys Onuh, who quit treatment at a Lagos Direct Observation Treatment (DOT) facility to patronise a herbal doctor.

     

    The ugliness of hospital based care

    A typical ward in Nigeria would contain 24 patients with MDR-TB, who should be cared for by 10 specially trained nurses running shifts, where they provide 100 per cent of their time for this service. Additionally, doctors attend to patients for about 15 minutes weekly. This depicts an ideal situation.

    In reality, patients complain of stigmatisation by doctors, nurses and other health officers. Princewill Okeh, an outpatient in a treatment facility in the southern part of the country, complained that many TB sufferers are reluctant to come forward due to the hostility they might experience from public health officers.

    “It’s one thing to be maltreated by your family but when government doctors and nurses also treat you badly, you lose hope in the system. This disease (MDR-TB) will make nurses and doctors avoid you. My girlfriend also has TB, but she would rather treat it from home. She has witnessed my experience with family and doctors and nurses. They all treat me like a demon. This is why she will never come to DOT for treatment. She is using home remedy and antibiotics,” he said.

    Further findings revealed that some public health workers avoid the wards of MDR-TB patients thus leading to a fragmented bedside interaction and hindered service delivery.

    In a recent Focused Group Discussion (FGD) conducted by health researchers, some participants recalled that healthcare providers in other facilities, which they visited for specialised services such as audiometry and chest X-ray avoided contact with MDR-TB patients and were more resentful than the healthcare providers at the

    treatment centre.

    They also stressed that it was disparaging and unfair for patients to use an inferior quality face mask while healthcare providers used a superior type.

    “It is an inferior face mask. It is not a good type. It is the type they are selling in the market that they brought to us. They were using the better type. You see Nigerians! I argued with them seriously. They said, I argue too much because I am educated,” said a 54-year-old male patient.

     

    The cost factor

    Management of identified MDR-TB cases is based on a standardised WHO approved treatment regimen of 20 months, consisting of an eight-month intensive phase and a 12-month continuation phase.

    Patients are placed on Pyrazinamide and four second-line anti-TB drugs namely Levofloxacin, Kanamycin (replaced by Capreomycin when indicated), Prothionamide

    and Cycloserine. The five drugs are used for the eight-month intensive phase, at the end of which Kanamycin (or Capreomycin) is discontinued for the remaining 12-month continuation phase.

    A recent study revealed that three models of MDR-TB care were utilised in Nigeria between June 2013 and December 2014, and differed only in their eight-month intensive phase.

    Patients treated under Model A, were hospitalized for the complete duration of the intensive phase; patients in Model B were hospitalised for a duration of five months in the intensive phase while patients treated under Model C received the complete

    intensive phase treatment as ambulatory care in the community.

    The estimated total cost of providing diagnostic and treatment care as outlined in the Nigerian MDR-TB guidelines, was $18, 528 (N2,927,464) per patient for Model A, $15, 159 (N2,395,070) per patient for Model B and $9, 425 (N1,489,080) per patient for Model C – all 2014 figures.

    Although financing for care and prevention has increased over the last decade, there remains a funding gap – $2.3bn (£1.74bn) in 2017. The biggest donor, the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria, allocates just 18 per cent of its resources to fight the disease.

    Babawale Victor

    Is Bedaquiline the next-best elixir?

    There is no gainsaying the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has threatened the progress made in TB control globally; MDR-TB is the resistance to Rifampicin and Isoniazid, the most effective first line anti-TB drugs, by the disease.

    Els Torreele, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières’ access campaign, said there has been a dearth of research and development (R&D) over many years for adequate tools for diagnosis and treatment.

    In the last few years, however, Bedaquiline (a bacterial drug belonging to a new class of antibiotics) has been released to treat patients with drug-resistant TB.

    “Before Bedaquiline, the last drug we developed was before we put a man on the moon,” said Aaron Oxley, executive director of Results UK. “Unfortunately in TB – or fortunately now – things are about to get more expensive because we’re getting tools that actually work.”

    Bedaquiline (BDQ) has a novel mechanism of action. It binds to mycobacterium tuberculosis ATP synthase, an enzyme that is essential for the generation of energy in the pathogen. Inhibiting ATP synthesis results in bactericidal activity. The atpE gene product (subunit c, a proton pump) is the target of Bedaquiline in mycobacteria.

    The distinct target and mode of action of Bedaquiline minimises the potential for cross-resistance with existing anti-TB drugs thus the buzz about its efficacy and potency as an anti-MDR-TB nullifier.

     

    Tackling the MDR-TB conundrum

    A major issue with TB in Nigeria is the low TB case finding for both adults and children. In 2017 only 104, 904 TB cases were detected out of an estimated 407, 000 of all TB cases.

    This indicates a treatment coverage of just 25.8 per cent thus leaving a gap of 302,096 cases, which were either undetected or detected but the cases were not notified especially in non DOT sites.

    A total of just 1,783 MDR-TB cases were notified out of an estimated 5, 200, according to the health minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

    Nigeria currently has 6,753 Direct Observation Treatment (DOT) centres compared to 3,931 in 2010. The total number of microscopy centres has risen from 1,148 in 2010 to 2,650 in 2017. GeneXpert machines installed in the country have increased from 32 in 2012 to 390 in 2017.

    Treatment centres for patients with MDR-TB expanded from 10 in 2013, to 27 in 2017, while the number of TB reference laboratories also increased from nine in 2013 to 10 in 2018. Over 90 per cent of the TB patients notified in 2016 have documented HIV test results compared to 79 per cent in 2010, according to Adewole.

    The health minister disclosed, that, in addition to this, a shorter drug regimen for the treatment of MDR-TB was introduced in the country in 2017 to reduce the treatment duration for patients with MDR-TB and ensure better treatment outcomes.

    •An x-ray of a lung damaged by TB

    “To further strengthen TB notification in some challenged states, TB Surveillance officers have been recruited in 12 states (Rivers, Delta, Imo, Anambra, Lagos, Oyo, Benue, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi and Taraba) to work with non-NTP facilities (private Health facilities, atent medicine vendors, community pharmacists), disease surveillance and notification officers, state epidemiologists and TB programme officers, to improve TB case notification, he explained.

    In a bid to bolster Nigeria’s anti-TB campaign, the Federal Ministry of Health has also initiated an active case-finding campaign in key affected populations spanning people living with HIV, children, urban slum dwellers, prisoners, migrants, internally displaced people and facility based health care workers.

    The result has been encouraging so far, with the detection of over 11,500 TB cases through active house to house case searching in 2017.

    However, the number of TB cases detected represent a small fraction of the over 300,000 missing cases of TB in the country; that is, those that go undetected.

    Recently, Nigeria signed a $71 million agreement to support efforts to control TB in the country over the next two years (2019-2020) thus signalling the government’s intention to prioritise TB efforts.

    In the wake of the development, national TB program officials and health care practitioners converged in Lagos, as part of a training focused on building health systems’ capacity to tackle TB and multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) at the national and sub-national levels.

    Prof. Isaac Adewole

    These, among other efforts, are certainly meant for the long haul. On the short-run, the government and partnering agencies would do right to increase sensitisation efforts. It’s the only way prevent an experience like the Davids.

    Sometimes, when he shut his eyes, David, 36, remembers his deceased daughter’s smile, and the pitter-patter of her feet.

    In those moments, the world peels away and the bereaved father and TB patient, experiences fresh torment; heartbroken, he relives the screaming gleam in his daughter’s eyes just before the glimmer turned clay-like, the colour of burnt mud.

    “I know she is in a better place. But I should have been more observant. My carelessness led to her death,” said David, in the tenor of a man for whom time and memory allows the gift of reflection. Until reality afflicts him with the plague of truth: Tanimola, his bubbly five-year-old daughter, lays dormant beneath cracked earth.

     

    PHOTOS: William Daniels, Olatunji Ololade, Library

  • Manual for a crucial election

    POLITICS is in the air again.

    Big rallies and debates; speeches, facts, farce and figures. But many are praying that February 16 should just come quietly and go quietly. There is so much tension in the land. So thick is the tension that you could slice it with a kitchen knife. Some are excited by it all. Others are indifferent. Many are angry – that by this time in 2015, the green back was the currency of preference. It was raining dollars as politicians prepared for the elections. Alas, as it turned out, money couldn’t buy victory.

    As usual, “Editorial Notebook” remains apolitical, even as it holds a ringside ticket for this historic show. This taciturn stance, it is to be noted, has done little to stop the flood of inquiries from far and near by politicians and their supporters desirous of grabbing the prize.

    One would have ignored such inquiries but for the public service and scholarship orientation of this column as well as the need to enrich public debate. Here then, dear reader, is an update of the old manual on how to win elections with which you are familiar – free:

    After securing your party’s ticket, do not waste time to raise a big campaign team, which will be led by one of those who contested the ticket with you. In other words, be magnanimous in victory and show that you will run an “inclusive” campaign. Some busybodies may be deriding your victory by saying you bought the ticket at $5,000 per delegate and all that. Never mind; they are mere interlopers who are not even members of your party.

    As soon as you have the ticket in your pocket, sit down and spare a thought for your past. Is there any person or group or interest or section that you need to appease? Is there any testimonial that can jeopardise your ambition? Should there be the impression that you are a shifty politician who cut deals to feather his own nest – as most good politicians like you are often labelled – launch a desperate battle to correct it.

    Make peace with your former boss. Raise a team of credible people who will join you on a visit to him. Confess your sins – no need denying them at this stage – and ask for forgiveness. Cry like a baby. Go down on your knees. Promise never to misbehave again. You will be shocked that he, your former boss, will simply say: “Go in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee.”

    The effect, needless to say, will be magical. Your former boss, who had scorned you as if you were the head of the 40 thieves Ali Baba trained, will lead your campaign. He will tell the world that you have changed and that you are, in fact, the best man for the job.

    Your opponents will be all over the place campaigning. Never fret; you will have enough time to do that. Hop onto a jet and fly overseas for some key meetings which cannot be held anywhere in Nigeria. You can go to Kuala Lumpur or Chattanooga or Ouagadougou or Bandar Seri Begawan or Yamoussoukro.

    Should your opponents taunt you that there is a country you cannot visit just because you have not been there in more than a decade for some minor allegations,  stay calm. Do not panic. No comments. The way out? Simple. Hire some fellows whose business is to mind and mend other people’s businesses. They are called lobbyists. They will surely impress it on their home governments that you just cannot be ignored as you may eventually get the prize. Who will want to make an enemy of the future leader of the world’s biggest black nation? In no time, your visa will be ready. Don’t announce to anybody, including your ardent supporters, that you will be travelling. Get the best of photo opportunities for a few days and return home in triumph.

    Campaigns? Not yet time. Relax. Get on the propaganda train. Tell the world that your opponents are planning to rig the poll. Discredit the umpire by saying it is peopled by your main opponents’ relations. Tell the world that the police and other security agencies must be persuaded to be neutral. Urge the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and, indeed, the international community to prevail on the government of the day to allow a free, fair and credible election. Create a bold impression that the election is yours to lose.

    The result, you will be shocked, will be electrical. U.S., U.K. and E.U. will issue statements, cautioning that all sides should respect the rules and do everything not to jeopardise the credibility of the election. Your opponents will be on the defensive.

    You can now launch your campaign. Some lazy observers, who will never care to attend your rallies let alone get involved in it, will say either the crowd is scanty or rented. Others will say the campaign lacks bite – whatever that means. Ignore them. Keep your eyes on the ball.

    Your former boss should be encouraged to play the statesman’s role. He should come out with an earth shaking statement delivered at a “world press conference”, alleging that your opponents had concluded their plan to ruin the poll by rigging it. He need not tender any evidence; his stature should be enough proof that no lie is intended. Okay?

    Your opponents and their anxious supporters will hurl invectives at you. They will say your “statesman” is a frustrated politician who gathered a few sympathetic newspapers and radio/television stations, lying that the show was a “world press conference”. Do not join issues with them; they have a right to their opinions. Is that not the hallmark of democracy?

    There will be a rash of debates all over the place. Choose discreetly the one to attend. If they ask you how you will strengthen the economy, tell them that you will sell the state’s oil company, the goose that lays the golden egg, and enrich your friends, who will in turn empower their friends and their friends will also empower their friends and on and on like that. There will be an outcry – that you are planning a government of friends, by friends and for friends.They will say you plan to sell NNPC on Jumia, Konga, Dealdey and VConnect. Laugh it off. It is not your fault that your opponents have no friends or lack the deep affection you have for your friends.

    If the audience seems to be unconvinced about your economic plan, tell them you will grant looters amnesty. You will be derided for planning a “lootocracy”, a government of looters, by looters and for looters. Never mind; that is the way of politics. How do we bring back the loot if we don’t pamper the looters?

    After a while, you should renew your allegation that your opponents are planning to rig the polls. Your proof? Oh; the Chief Justice or some top government official has just been removed. Your opponents will again be on the defensive, asking: Is the Chief Justice a member of your party? Is it true you planned to ambush the ruling party in court? Why are you crying more than the bereaved? Is “suspension” the same as “removal”?

    They will mock you, saying your party “is threatening to boycott elections because Buhari has removed their goalkeeper”. Never mind. What do you expect from a soccer-crazy country?

    Corral as many groups as possible – League of Wizards and Witches, Association of Genital Mutilators and Face Markers, Union of  Port Rats and Allied Professionals and Wuruwuru Bar Association and more – to back you. Throw in some group of elders (never mind those who will deride them as dealers)

    As the election draws near, get some foreign and local media houses to endorse you. There may be so much noise that the predictions are off the mark. So what? Again, ignore them and keep your eyes on the ball. The end, remember, justifies the means.

    Now that you are set for this popularity battle, tell your party’s leading lights to be in high spirits as they announce that you have won. Those armchair critics, aforementioned, will demand proof. Laugh it off. Were they out of town when all those groups endorsed you?

    All rights reserved under International Copyright  Conventions. No part of this manual may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of this copyright owner.

     

    Herdsmen and reprobate youths’ bloody end

    THEY were young, agile and bright, the pride of their parents and the hope of many. They had a promising future. They were the stars of their community. All that collapsed one bloody night in a bush where they had gone to be initiated into a cult.

    Some dangerous herdsmen thought they were the target of the strange night gathering deep in the heart of a bush. They opened fire at the young university students. Two fell, never to rise again. Three escaped, badly injured. The bodies were found by farmers.

    Residents of Abraka, Delta State are still struggling to understand why these  young, energetic men lost their heads. They ought to have been studying, but they chose to gather in a bush, wearing a cult group’s uniform, for an initiation that never was. Why did they join a cult? Money? Power? Sheer exuberance? We do not know, but what is clear as day is that these youths’ vacuous move has plunged many into mourning.

    Will our young ones learn from this foolish act?

  • Breath of fresh air

    THEIR intervention was least expected, but it came at a time many thought there was no way the legal profession could redeem itself. The judiciary, a very important arm of the law profession, is in dire straits. Things were never like this before in the third arm of government. The judiciary is our bulwark against injustice and the many evils which plague modern society. The judiciary stands in a class of its own because it is expected to uphold the scale of justice.

    We know that the symbol of justice is a blindfolded woman wielding a two-edged sword. This tells us that justice is blind. It does not know a judge or even  a president. Everybody is equal before the law no matter your social status. So, anyone, who breaks the law must pay for it. The person must be brought to justice. In the last three weeks, we have seen the state and the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen engage in a tango.

    The state is accusing Onnoghen of false asset declaration. The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has since filed a charge against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). But the case cannot go on until the defendant appears in court. So far, Onnoghen has not shown up in court as his lawyers have brought an application, challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction. The same lawyers are making moves for a political resolution of the matter. Their move is not bad, but they should not make it look as if their client is being witch hunted.

    It is the duty of lawyers to defend their clients in court no matter how bad the case may be. But it is not part of their brief to read political or any other meaning into the case or try to pull wool over the people’s eyes. A clear conscience fears no accusation, so goes the saying. Without going into the merits or demerits of the Onnoghen case, it is trite that the CCT should be allowed to handle the case the way it deems fit without anybody interfering. But there is a twist to the matter as it has now gone before the National Judicial Council (NJC). To many, both lawyers and non-lawyers alike, the matter should have gone there first before being taking to court, if need be.

    No doubt, some lawyers have gone overboard over the Onnoghen case. This is why the intervention of the 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) under the aegis of the Justice Reform Project (JRP) is refreshing. In its mission statement released on Saturday, the JRP said it felt embarrassed and deeply concerned by the events surrounding Onnoghen’s suspension. Indeed, virtually every Nigerian is embarrassed by the development because they never thought that their chief justice will find himself in such a situation. The judiciary has known no peace since the story of his non-asset declaration broke because many of our judicial officers are torn between their loyalty to an embattled boss and the oath they swore to uphold.

    Judges who wish to do their job conscientiously are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. They are afraid of doing anything which may lead to their being ostracised by their colleagues. Many lawyers and judges have turned it into a case in which they must show solidarity with the CJN. If Onnoghen was not the defendant, will these judges be this deferential to the accused? This is the question our judges and lawyers must answer as the world is watching what is going on. Judges are expected to wield the sword of justice without looking at the face of the person in the dock before them. When they do otherwise, they show their bias and will invariably pervert justice. As the SANs noted : ‘’the crisis of confidence that is currently shaking the judiciary and the legal profession is unprecedented’’.

    They could not have put it better. They understand the system well because they are key players there. With some of them having been SAN for over 30 years, nobody can accuse them of not knowing what they are saying. They know the system and the people inside out. ‘’Certain facts are hardly contestable’’, they said. ‘’There is a widespread perception that there is corruption in the judiciary and this perception is supported by anecdotal evidence. Unscrupulous litigants and some complicit lawyers, including some SANs, procure judgements and orders by corrupt means. It is also beyond dispute that the system for self-regulation in the judiciary and the legal profession has failed.’’

    This is frank talk and only lawyers, who are not true to themselves, will deny their ‘learned friends’ submission. The first step to correcting yourself begins with admitting your fault. If you do not admit your fault, you will never accept correction. These SANs have exposed some of the ills of the judiciary and the legal profession, it is now left for their colleagues to join hands with them in their search for a remedy. What we are witnessing in the judiciary today is not healthy and the earlier lawyers come together to address the problem the better. May the tribe of these SANs increase.

  • Facts amidst ritual of endorsements

    Presidential candidates of APC and PDP in next week’s election have in the last four weeks visited many parts of the country selling their candidacy. And desperate to secure the support of the electorate, promoters of each candidate have turned the past week into a season of endorsement.

    Obasanjo is the arrow head of the anti-Buhari group. He has written two letters, all designed to delegitimize his administration. He first floated a coalition led by many of those responsible for the state of affairs in our nation today. He then explored the possibility of mobilizing the youths. He then tried unsuccessfully to align his coalition with Olu Falae’s SDP. When all his efforts failed, he returned to PDP where he has tried to promote the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar demonised since 2007.  Last Sunday, out of desperation, Obasanjo, who prides himself on being Mr. Nigeria as against being a representative of an ethnic group, joined Ayo Adebanjo, the unrepentant Yoruba ethnic irredentist and leader of Pan-Yoruba Afenifere group to reposition himself as the  rallying point for  other regional leaders and socio-cultural groups from other zones of the country viz Northern Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan-Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum  to adopt  Atiku Abubakar  as their consensus candidate for the 2019 election.

    The group, after blaming Buhari for ‘the banditry in parts of Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and the insurgency in Borno went on to convince voters that  ‘Atiku possessed the intelligence, capability and knowledge to lead the nation state”. Ayo Adebanjo, campaigning against his own son, Vice President Osinbajo, appealed to those present to “do everything in your(their) power to ensure Atiku wins”, because a vote for Atiku, according to him ‘is a vote for national unity’. And for Atiku Abubakar, the endorsement “is a loud statement that there is hope for our country’

    However for Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna in the second republic, Obasanjo and his group “are clearly ganging up against Buhari not because they don’t know that Atiku is no match to him, but because they are aware that Atiku will not revisit their past misdeeds” and went on to warn that “Nigerians risk having a fascist government under Atiku because of his open alignment with former heads of state and retired generals, who have some questions to answer”.

    But last Monday, barely 24 hours after Obasanjo’s group endorsement of Atiku, 91 retired Generals, also made their way to Abuja to endorse President Buhari.  Speaking on their behalf, Brigadier General Marwa said “We, the retired armed forces officers, representing 99.9% of our colleagues say that we are proud of you; proud to be associated with your administration; and proud to witness this era of Nigeria rising again under your able leadership.

    “We support you fully and totally in the presidential elections next week and will do whatever we can within the law to contribute to your emergence as the victor in the election in order to take Nigeria to the next level.’’

    The most senior of the retired officers, Jubrila Ayinla, a retired vice admiral and former Chief of Naval Staff, said future generations would acquit Buhari as the “most creditable” personality of his time. He went on to congratulate Buhari on behalf of the Generals ‘on the tremendous work done by this administration, and assured him of their support in next week election. Responding, President  Buhari  who said he could not complain over anything he is going through  since he sought for the position, thanked the retired Generals for their support and reiterated that he would continue to do his best in serving the nation”.

    But as Obasanjo, Babangida and Danjuma along with other PDP leading light proclaim themselves as new messiah, it is important to remind ourselves where we were coming from. Buhari inherited a decadent governing elite with a self-serving legislature that short-changed the people from 1999 to 2015 and an untouchable judiciary manned by men that have since been discovered to be ordinary men with feet of clay. With many former PDP party chairmen, ex-senate presidents, ex-speakers of the lower house, ex-governors, serving house committee chairmen, declared ordinary felons through different judicial pronouncements, it was clear, the nation was in firm grips of brigands.

    For instance, Obasanjo inherited a total power capacity of 1,500mw in 1999. The projection while inaugurating the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) in 2001 was to add 10,000MW to the national grid before the end of his term in 2007. But despite Dr. Doyin Okupe’s claim, that ‘before the end of 2014, Nigerians’ long held dream of joining the world’s list of countries with uninterrupted power supply will be closer in reality than it has ever been’ and President Jonathan’s promise that any Nigerian with generator would by 2014 have no need for them, Nigeria was generating 3,717MW by the time PDP was voted out of power in 2015. The true legacy was that after the expenditure of between Yar’Adua’s, $16billion and United Nations special rapporteurs’ $51b, PHCN was shared among those PDP’s leading light including Jerry Gana, the president of the association of distribution companies, who on behalf of his undisclosed friends donated N5b to Jonathan campaign fund in 2014.

    The Lawan Farouk House committee report alleged a theft of N1.7trillion. On January 13, 2013, EFCC had dragged some children of leading PDP leaders to Ikeja High Court for fuel subsidy fraud charges preferred against them.The Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force discovered N10trillion was lost to crude oil theft, from a yearly loss of 250,000 barrels per day or N1trillion yearly. This  include over 60,000 barrels per day from Shell according to Mutiu Sunmonu, Shell Nigeria’s managing director, who went on to appeal “to government confront the big men behind oil theft” put at $7billion in 2011.

    The major beneficiary of Sanusi’s ‘banking Tsunami’ turned out to be known PDP members and their friends. They reaped from the tragedy of helpless Nigerians by buying the banks after Sanusi’s injection of about N400billion of public fund while ordinary investors with less than 200,000 shares were left with nothing

    It is also on record that crisis between herdsmen and Benue people predates Buhari’s presidency. Under President Jonathan, there was a presidential peace committee  led by Michael Zoukumor, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), and Brigadier General John Atom Kpera (rtd), the state chairman, Conflict Resolution and Peace Building Committee, with Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, the national president, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, where all members of the peace committee agreed on cessation of hostilities by Fulani herdsmen and their host communities in Benue State in Government House, Makurdi.

    But indiscriminate killing continued with Iyordye Akaahena village and Akuroko village in Guma LGA in Benue losing 34 and with Governor Suswan surviving an ambush during his sympathy visit to Gbajimba LGA.  Maru LGA of Zamfara also lost over 215 while holding a vigilante meeting according to Emir of Dansadau, Alhaji Hussaini Adamu. A simultaneous attack between April 1 and April 2 left 20 dead in Yobe, 32 in Plateau and 30 in Kaduna, while the attack on Tarawa village on April 19 2014   left 77 dead.

    Buhari was elected to put an end to the above mindless killings. But for the purpose of next week election, the electorate must be protected from the falsehood being spread by Obasanjo, Danjuma and other Christians without the spirit of Christ to the effect that Buhari  was behind the activities evil and criminal minded Nigerians and immigrants.

  • Brief history of UN and Nigeria’s role in it

    The foundation of the United Nations in 1945 did not occur in a historical void. The idea of international government and collective security can be traced to the League of Nations formed in 1919 after the First World War. Its purpose then was securing world peace after the tragedy of the First World War which led to the death of over 20 million people from direct military action, collateral damage and disease particularly the outbreak of influenza in 1918. The situation in 1945 was even worse. Mankind had perfected greater destructive means of warfare including the release of the nuclear genii from the bottle thus presenting mankind the possibility of total self-immolation and destruction if measures were not taken to curtail man’s slippery road to collective suicide. It was this realization that made the victorious powers to begin to think even during the war of how to secure the peace that was bound to follow the global conflict. This led to the Atlantic Declaration (Charter) first made in 1941 by the leaders of Great Britain and the United States namely Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt respectively to set up an international organization with the aim of collectively securing global peace, a peace which will be based on fairness, equity and justice. After the charter was made in 1941, representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington DC to sign the Declaration of the United Nations. Following up on this, the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and the United States Secretary of State, Cordell Hull met at the Quebec conference in Canada in August 1943 and agreed to draft a declaration that included “a general international organization, based on the principle of sovereign equality of all nations’. This was followed up with an agreement in principle to form an international organization for maintenance of world peace after a conference in Moscow in October 1943. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in November 1943 with the USSR President Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, and proposed an international organization comprising an assembly of all member states and a 10-member executive council to discuss social and economic issues. He proposed that the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and China will enforce peace as the “four policemen” of the world. What later became specialized agencies of the United Nations began to crystallize namely – Food and Agricultural Organization, (May 1943); United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (November 1943); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (April 1944); International Monetary Fund and World Bank (July 1944); and International Civil Aviation Organization (November 1944).

    When the US, British, Soviet and Chinese representatives met in Dumbarton Oaks in Washington in August and September 1944 to draft a charter of a post-war international organization based on the principle of collective security, they recommended a General Assembly (UN-GA) of all member states and a Security Council (UNSC) consisting of the Big Four plus six members chosen by the General Assembly. Voting procedures and the veto power of permanent members were finalized at the Yalta conference in 1945. Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco from April to June 1945 to complete the charter of the United Nations. In addition to five permanent members – France having been added to the original four, and six elected members of the Security Council and a General Assembly of all states, there was an 18-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Other organs included an International Court Of Justice, Trusteeship Council to oversee certain colonial territories and a Secretariat under a Secretary General (UNSG). Later other specialized agencies like the World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, UNESCO became important arms of the United Nations Organization.

    To avoid the fate of Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations which the US Senate did not ratify, Franklin Delano Roosevelt carried the bi-partisan senate along and by July 1945 by a vote of 89 to 2, the United States Senate ratified the United Nations treaty. The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945 after 29 nations had ratified the protocol setting it up.

    Nigeria‘s membership

    Before Nigeria became a member of the UN, African countries like Ethiopia, Egypt, Liberia, Morocco and South Africa were founding members in 1945. Libya (1955) Sudan (1956) and Ghana (1957) beat Nigeria to membership of the United Nations. There were historic reasons for the earlier African members. Ethiopia, Egypt and Morocco are older nations than many European countries not to talk about relatively new countries in the Americas. Liberia was established in 1823 as a sovereign country for liberated Black American slaves  when many of the African countries were still sovereign kingdoms and principalities before being brought together to form the present African countries. But the wave of independent African countries since late 1950s and early 1960s saw large numbers of them becoming members of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

    In October 1960, Nigeria became a member of the United Nations as part of its sovereign right as an independent African nation. There were high hopes that Nigeria was an emergent power in Africa. Our then prime minister who doubled as foreign minister addressed the UN in October 1960 declaring among other things, friendship with “our trading partners” and other democratic countries in the world. The prime minister also said Nigeria will defend the interest of all black peoples where ever they might be and would not compromise with forces of colonialism, racism and apartheid regime in South Africa. In this speech, Nigeria set the trajectory of its foreign policy for the next 50 years. Some have said Nigeria’s ambition was not based on political and economic realism. But there is no doubt that it was an inspirational agenda. Nigeria has distinguished itself as a troop contributory country to most UN peace-keeping operations right from 1960 to the present. Nigeria has also been elected once or twice as president of the General Assembly of the United Nations and more than twice as an elected member of the UNSC. Several Nigerians have served in executive positions in the specialized agencies of the UN such as the WHO, ICAO, WMO, ILO, the World Court, the World Bank and at the Under Secretary General level of the United Nations Secretariat. Nigeria has also been effective in the disarmament conference in Geneva and in the UN effort to ban the use of nuclear and biological weapons as well as in making the continent of Africa nuclear weapons free. Between 1988 and 1990, Nigeria championed the cause of prohibiting trans-boundary transportation of nuclear and hazardous wastes. There is no doubt that the high profile of Nigeria at the United Nations has shot her  to the front of those advocating for an overhauling of the UN  structure to reflect the present global community as well as the need for the democratization of the UNSC. Africa while supporting reform of the UN insisted that it should at least have a seat on the Security Council (UNSC) not only to represent Africa but black humanity. When those who did not want to hear this challenged Africa by saying which of the African countries should occupy the permanent chair for Africa, Nelson Mandela said Nigeria was the obvious choice because of her role in championing the cause of Africa. Others said Nigeria is an authentic African country unlike the rainbow nation of South Africa. Furthermore Nigeria has the largest concentration of black people in the world (180 million) and also the biggest economy in Africa with a GDP of around $400 billion. Compared with possible competitors like Egypt, South Africa and Morocco Nigeria’s position remains unassailable. Nigeria chaired the Decolonization and Anti-apartheid committee of the UN from its inception to the end of the odious and racist regime in South Africa. Nigeria’s troops and police contribution to UN peace-keeping and peace-enforcement operations all over the world has been third only to India and Bangladesh. On the principle of service deserving its rewards, Nigeria feels if reforms were to come, it should be considered as a permanent representative of Africa on the UN Security Council. I must say America preferred Egypt because it is a long time American ally while the Europeans preferred South Africa and Africans themselves were not united behind any particular country. The late Kofi Annan was in favour of reforms of the UN structure but the big powers particularly the United States was totally against any form of reform and since this could not be done without the United States acquiescence because of her veto power, the reform movement died a natural death.

  • This heathen dialectic

    The current enthralment with the politically-correct aspirant will end in a splash of spittle and a curl of the tongue, inwards. No doubt. But this minute, vistas of the 2019 elections unfurl like a fragile fiction of ‘Change.’

    Amid the racket, dreams of progress bloom like a fictional retreat. An elaborate simplicity. A Nabokovian invention of rarefied detail, as Gardner would say.

    Incensed by the fiery mantras: “Change!” and “Change the Change!” citizens march to both real and taught indignation, unabashed arrogance, to stretch their necks for a leash of cash, bigotry and sound bites.

    Soon afterwards, they will howl from dawn through dusk, threatening litters of tumult atop the soapbox, forgetting that the storms they incited would eventually consume them and weaker, wretched compatriots. But they will make good their threats anyway and increase the swell of trodden demise a la IPOB and Boko Haram.

    The press would sensationalise the tragedies they incite via reportage that stretch beyond the photographs of civil deaths.

    It’s all part of a recurrent script. Some would call it the Naija-theory of things. I would call it the therapy of the breadlines; the deputation of evil from one social class to the other.

    The heathen dialectic of Nigerian politics depicts electorate mind and nature. Nigerians vote for tribe, money and random bigotries. Many vote to actualise established and latent hostilities thus the voter’s card becomes a weapon to torment a rival ethnic group and religious divide, seasonally.

    The 2015 general elections, for instance, assumed a landmark in the country’s celebration of hate and bigotries. The electorate, severely divided, along religious and ethnic divides, voted for Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan in fulfilment of ugly stereotypes.

    Few voters could convincingly articulate their reasons for choosing either Buhari or Jonathan.  True, a depressed economy, sky-rocketing inflation and embarrassing corruption across tiers of government, substantiated the debate for and against either candidate.

    For most voters, however, the decisive factor was the religious affiliation and ethnic root of the contestants. The malady subsists till date; as Nigeria prepares for the 2019 general elections, the electorate separates into two factions, spawned on ethnic and religious bigotries.

    Even though Buhari and his supposedly strongest rival, Atiku Abubakar, both hail from the north and are both Muslim, large segments of the electorate do battle in the candidates’ names, guided by even more dangerous bigotry, intolerance for the anti-corruption fight.

    Several folks are supporting Buhari and Atiku by default, having been led to support their running mates, Yemi Osinbajo and Peter Obi, whose religion and ethnicity they prefer.

    Many would argue, that, Buhari and his team have made a mess of the much vaunted anti-corruption fight but the president’s apologists would argue otherwise; the latter would rather Nigeria re-elects Buhari, guided by his sparse victories or semblances of ‘Change’ instead of a baggage-infested Atiku.

    The electorate, in turn, devotes too much attention to the presidential candidates. A crinkled fascination with presidential and to some extent, governorship aspirants, has often led to a situation, whereby, candidates vying for lesser offices enjoy a smooth ride to victory, not by merit, but by the strength and political capital of their parties’ presidential and governorship candidates. This also denies their offices crucial attention from the media, critics, and electorate.

    Many would vote for Atiku and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in protest against Buhari’s refusal to ‘share the money,’ translatable as his refusal to run the government – like his predecessor – like a bazaar, where shady characters pocket unearned profits via treasury looting.

    And while the social media pulsate with bickering for and against Buhari and Atiku, the traditional media pulses with the vitriol of certain prominent lawyers, journalists, and activists, who turned staunch critics and cynics of the Buhari administration, having failed to land plum positions as cabinet members and ‘contractors’ of the incumbent government. The latter has equally let loose, bands of apologists, to repel the propaganda and outright lies of pro-Atiku/PDP groups.

    At the backdrop of these shameful realities, youthful segments of the electorate display political illiteracy that is embarrassingly far-flung and subsumed in sentimentality. In response, rival parties have learned to re-invent a political devil in the opposition, to exploit their ignorance and intolerance.

    The youth rant across media that they have been excluded from power, at the state and federal levels yet they have populated Nigerian politics for 59 years as thugs, murderers, arsonists, vote buyers/sellers, and rhetoricians. They are deployed every political season by aspirants – who previously identified as youth five to seven decades ago – as unthinking muscles, emissaries of death and destruction.

    Nigeria’s current dilemma is a consequence of bad choices and perversion of governance. There is urgent need for Nigeria’s enlightened youth to seek each other out in wisdom, and coalesce into more definitive roles.

    Since elder politicians, whom Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, aptly described as the ‘Wasted Generation,’ have failed to grow up and make progressive choices for the nation, the onus rests on informed youth to answer as the adults the ruling class would never become.

    The Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) assemblage is already a failed enterprise; driven by self-seeking egoists, the platform could not assume the prized role it set out to perform, thus leaving Nigeria with limited choices.

    This calls for urgent, proactive steps by the youth. The first is to provide a foundation for the unity of ideas and cause, and to do it very quickly. The second is to evolve a social agenda that strengthens the ideals of a higher education, common progress and commonwealth. It is not too late to undo ruling class malfeasance but 2019 is gone. Hence strategic efforts should target the 2023 electoral season and beyond.

    At the moment, familiar predators have regrouped into familiar camps. From the 2019 polls’ date, their political paradise will persist; governors will rule for two terms (eight years) and afterwards, compensate themselves with outrageous pensions and senate seats.

    The malady subsists in real time. At the expiration of their eight-year tenure, for instance, certain outgoing governors, with unabashed arrogance, struggle to choose their successors, and other crucial public appointees. Some have waged war, to turn government into their family inheritance hence their frantic struggles to install their sons-in-law and siblings in government quarters.

    Ultimately, they seek to impose stooges as successors. The latter are expected to cover up official fraud, embezzlement and other atrocities that they committed during their tenure.

    This is the result of junk politics, where nothing changes, meaning zero interruption in the processes and practices that institutionalise corruption and inefficiency in governance, according to Hedges.

    Junk politics “redefines traditional values, tilting courage toward bluster, sympathy toward mawkishness, humility toward self-disrespect, identification with ordinary citizens toward distrust of reason and intellect.”

    At every turn, it seeks to obliterate voters’ consciousness of socio-economic and other differences in their midst, and it is the major indoctrination of Nigeria’s most prominent political parties.

    Its about time the youth established a platform, unlike PACT, where more humane aspirants would foster politics as everything but a by-product of a diseased culture that seeks its purpose in characters, who are, as Boorstin writes, “receptacles into which we pour our purposelessness.”

     

  • Atiku’s visit to USA: Much ado about nothing

    Some weeks ago, Abubakar Atiku in a clandestine fashion visited the United States Of America for the first time since  he was denied a visa after leaving office as vice president under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007. He had been denied a visa following the jailing for 13 years of his business associate, a certain Congressman, by the name of William Jefferson representing New Orleans in the US Congress for corruption. Atiku was implicated in the charges of corruption and money laundering. He has however not been convicted  yet for any offences even though he was indicted. The Congressman had hidden $500,000 in his freezer allegedly to be given to Atiku to facilitate an award of a contract in Nigeria. The burden of visa denial weighed heavily on  Atiku who wants to be president. His opponents in the ruling APC made a song and dance issue about it. It was implied that he was guilty even though he had neither been charged nor tried. This was why Atiku put so much effort and money into securing a visa to the USA. Finally after getting the visa, his party, the PDP made it look as if America was supporting their man.  Some have claimed that Atiku went under the cover of Bukola Saraki, the controversial senate president. If true, that would have been a humiliation. But whatever the case might have been, Atiku went to the USA without the threat of Nigeria’s former vice president and a presidential candidate of the most important African country being dragged before an American judge and possibly detained. But Atiku must have gotten clearance that such a scenario would not happen. It would not have surprised many people if Donald Trump’s America said it was supporting him.  Donald Trump could possibly find a soul mate in Atiku just as he praised Malaysia’s Najib Razak who with his wife,  Rosmah Manssor embezzled  $4.5 billion belonging to his country. When Najib visited him in the White House, he played the music Trump was eager to hear when during the visit, he placed orders for millions of dollars worth of goods from American companies. Donald Trump’s celebration of Najib Razak has now become an embarrassment. But this did not stop the Malaysian people  from throwing out Najib Razak  in their recent elections and bringing back to power 93-year old  Mahathir Mohammed and  Anwar Ibrahim, a former finance minister who had been disgraced out of office accused of sodomy.

    I am making this point just to say America will not determine who wins in our  elections. Trump’s America has ceased being the standard by which countries are judged on morality and integrity in global politics. In fact, no country has a moral monopoly of what is right in politics and as president, Trump has said each country should defend its own national interest.

    Never mind that those who should know better are shouting at their rooftops that the USA and Europe and the United Nations should intervene in our domestic affairs whenever they feel threatened. This constant call for outside intervention has emboldened the embassies of western nations to meddle in our domestic affairs. Recently, I read in the newspapers that the European Union ambassadors and the ambassador of the United States either called in or visited the  new Inspector-General of Police to remonstrate with him to promise them  that the police will be impartial  during the coming elections. They have done the same with the Independent National Electoral Commission. Presumably they will do the same with the leadership of our armed forces!

    By so doing they have judged our institutions as unworthy and unreliable and are only going to do the right thing when prodded by western nations. What an arrogant and a manifestation of penny pinching piece of racism. In all my life, I have never seen this kind of outright and outrageous undermining of our sovereignty. It is not their fault. It seems some of our politicians are so desperate for office that they would sell our sovereignty just to get elected. The minister of foreign affairs should call these people in and read the contents of the Vienna Act governing diplomatic relations among all countries of the world.

    How will any of these countries react if we also start meddling in their affairs? We can take public positions on Brexit and the Mueller investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in America. There is so much we can do to retaliate by getting involved in the politics of their nations. We are not as weak and supine as they think. We can shift our commercial and political relations from Europe and America to China, India, and Southeast Asia and Japan. As for those who usually clamour for foreign intervention, they had better be careful so that they don’t get what they wish for. They should ask themselves which country has come out better after western or American interventions in recent times. Is it Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya or Somalia.

    I sometimes wonder whether the people urging Europe and America to interfere in our internal affairs know anything about our history and the sacrifices of our nationalist leaders from the 1930s to the 1960s. The humiliation of colonial domination and what our parents went through to get independence should not just be ignored for some temporary political advantage. Some of the actions of our politicians calling for intervention are simply treasonable.

    We should be grateful to God that in spite of provocation we have a level headed president who seems to give everyone incredible latitude to enjoy the fundamental right of freedom of speech but it is in our interest that this right should not be a license to be calling on foreign governments and the United Nations to interfere in our domestic affairs in peace time and whenever there is disagreement between government and the opposition.

    Respect begets respect. We should at the highest level of government call the heads of governments of some  of these countries involved in eternal meddling in the domestic affairs of African countries and tell them that we would not tolerate it again. Do they want to plunge us into civil war and political disequilibrium so that they can from their racist psychology point out to the world how people in Africa always run to them to get political direction and support whenever they have elections in their countries?

    These are the same countries that bellyache about illegal immigration into their countries. Some of their leaders like Donald Trump even publicly say the USA made mistakes by removing Saddam Hussein and Mummer Gaddafi. Nigerians want to be left alone to determine our political future. We all know that this is not the best we can have as a country but rather than plunging precipitously into an uncertain political future, we want to make haste slowly.

    I and others were responsible for the present  zonal approach to rotational presidency. Our committee headed by Professor Joseph Inikori, currently of Rochester University but then at Ahmadu Bello University recommended this to President Ibrahim Babangida. Some politicians who claim to originate it must have gotten copies of the secret report from the presidency. The report has not been properly presented or applied. It went beyond the presidency and included ministerial distribution. I will write about this report sometime later to put in historical perspective how we arrived at the zonal rotational presidency as a stop-gap measure before finally arriving at the proper destination of careers open to talent. What I want to say is that everybody knows our present structure is not too functional but we can rejig and pad it where necessary without bringing down the entire superstructure on our heads. This is my advice to all desperate politicians outside there.