The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • The pursuit of self

    It  is not wisdom or courage that drives us to do the things we do; it is their absence that dwarfs our hearts from the highest deeds. Thus we evolve from a nation enfeebled by fear and greed, to become the land besotted to lust and death’s every endeavour.

    Our pursuit of self is to the detriment of the state. Despite our tiresome rant and supposed displeasure with the status quo, we remain the perfection of stagnant self-complacency.

    We do not provide a focal point to inspire progress and ultimately advance its course. The Nigerian elite today perpetuates its parasitic existence. So does the country’s working class.

    Despite our protests in the interest of the “average Nigerian,” reality proves us mostly, to be just another band of opportunists and frauds. The Nigerian working class indeed constitutes a scam. Without a doubt, this purportedly cheated class has evolved to become greater tormentors than the ruling class it despises.

    If you look closely enough, you will find that we are cut from the same stock. We possess no superior culture or refinement save our proficiency in the decadent, which explains the preoccupation of the citizenry with acquisition of material wealth, fame and a degree of influence to make an obscene show of them.

    This impacts negatively on the country’s social institutions of which many evolve like those chestnut burs which contain abortive nuts, perfect only for pricking the fingers. The downside of this abnormal situation manifests in the quality of the country’s citizenship.

    Although the pioneer ruling class emerged to serve patronising and reactionary roles in response to the agenda of the country’s British colonialists, this small band of ‘patriots’ have since evolved along rudderless and incoherent shades of citizenship.

    The Nigerian working class, on the other hand, evolved out of economic necessity, betraying conscious and desperate attempts by members of the class to align themselves with the ruling class against fellow impoverished.

    The working class has since, evolved into a crooked class, comprising struggling professionals, unemployed youth, self-styled activists and opportunists persistently milking every impasse and volatile situation to their advantage.

    With the inexorable expansion of the process of globalisation, they are bonding faster and inching together towards the absolute destruction of the nation’s populist movement.

    The scale of the current crisis is no doubt immense and reflective of the contradictions that have been piling up in 58 years of the country’s independence. Not only has the Nigerian working class been severely depleted of men of potential and substance, its capacities to make new heroes of otherwise dormant youths is ruthlessly sabotaged.

    Far removed from its limitless potentials in the pre-independence era, the country’s working class has become too handicapped to face the country’s tremendous challenges. Therefore, the citizenry’s capitulation to the country’s stringent living standards which continually manifests in the country’s leadership malaise, dying industries, unemployment, substandard education, healthcare and insecurity to mention a few.

    Caught in the vortex of these dehumanising conditions, many social commentators have advocated a Soviet-styled or Middle-Eastern sprung revolt against the country’s ruling class. However, what such advocates have failed to note are the striking peculiarities that will hinder such an uprising in this part of the globe – basically, the absence of a cohesive and a fundamentally aware working class.

    The most remarkable detail replicated in the various revolutionary actions that have taken place across the world is the reality of Freidrich Engels’ assertion that the state is nothing more than armed bodies of men, organised in the interest of the private property.

    Historical tyrants like various characters constituting Nigeria’s conscienceless leadership are just individuals, who on their own are powerless, but they maintain their influence and might by imposing themselves on the citizenry via the apparatus of coercion and violence perpetrated through their nation’s armed forces.

    But we have democracy or a semblance of it. Every segment of the citizenry is also affected by the pervasive harsh realities and inhumane conditions of our society. But our common miseries have failed to incite a rousing fearlessness to challenge and dispense of incompetent and tyrannical leaders through the ballot box at election time.

    Despite our travails, we do not reason and identify with the aspirations of the revolutionary movement. We do not see ourselves as jointly oppressed; we are a nation of individuals, where each citizen unapologetically seeks his or her selfish interests.

    What is deductible from these occurrences is that too many of us do not understand what it is to be patriotic and free. Thus Nigeria remains an independent nation constituted by citizenry who do not know yet how to be free. Despite his freedom from colonial tyranny, the average Nigerian is at present, slave to various classes of home-spawned political and economic oppression.

    The working class today lacks an authentic culture of citizenship and manhood characteristic of the free. It comprises mostly mindless folk, incapable of evolving an acceptable standard of truth and identifying with it.

    However, it’s probably due to the persistent hardship and extreme realities that they are forced to endure that the working class have become cowardly in reason and deeds. The success of any revolution is never entirely dependent on the presence of a bloodthirsty revolutionary front, but as current realities instruct, the existence of a conscientious, cohesive, patriotic, peaceful and formidable working class.

    The existence of such peace-loving and dependable class of citizenry becomes imperative in a country like Nigeria where the ruling class seems completely lost to reason and justice.

  • Better late than never

    Better late than never

    THERE is no gainsaying the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is  popular in the north. People can swear by him there and anybody who dares to contest against him in an election does so at his own peril. He has shown consistently that he has the region in his pocket election wise. The hoi polloi rever him; he is their god. They run after his motorcade like ants swarming around sugar. So, any party worth its name will court such a person because of his electoral value.

    As a politician, Buhari has what the typical Nigerian politician does not have – integrity. Because of this attribute, he enjoyed enormous goodwill, which saw him  elected as president in 2015 after his third try. Goodwill is one thing, governance is another as we have come to see in the almost three years of his administration. By voting Buhari in 2015, Nigerians reposed trust in him to lead them away from the rot of the past. For 16 years under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerians virtually went through hell. They were years of the locust represented by government of the PDP by the PDP for the PDP.

    No one puts the people’s frustrations with the government better than the Catholic bishops, who visited the President at the Villa on February 8. ‘’There is no doubt that when you came into office, you had an enormous goodwill…since people saw you as a person of integrity who would be able to bring sanity into a system that was nearly crippled by endemic corruption. Nearly three years later, however, one has the feeling that this goodwill is being fast depleted by some glaring failures of government…”

    Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), promised us change and we embraced them with both hands. Our country needed change in every facet of life. It required change from poor leadership, change from corruption, change from nepotism, change from kidnappings and killings, change from terrorism, militancy and insurgency, change from armed robberies and change from cultism. The people wanted a leader that would lead the way in building infrastructure, revamping the economy through diversification, improving security, creating jobs and an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and eradicating corruption, which is the bane of our country

    The President was expected to do all these and more, but in the last three years we have been regaled with stories on why he seems to be handicapped. Sixteen years of rot, we were told, cannot be cleared in four years. Didn’t they know that before they took office in 2015? The truth is Nigerians are tired of excuses and of hearing the immediate past administration being blamed for everything under the sun. We were happy when we were told that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated”. Its capacity for evil, we were told, had been “downgraded”. But Boko Haram showed that it could still bite when it abducted 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19.

    Before then, herdsmen had seized the land, killing from one state to the other. On January 1, they struck in Benue State, killing 73 people. During their mass burial in Makurdi, the state capital,  on January 11, it was business as usual in Abuja. The Presidency did not mourn with Benue. In other parts of the country too where such dastardly acts were carried out, Abuja did not deem it fit to visit to see things firsthand. To add salt upon the Benue injury, barely 24 hours after the funeral of the 73, some governors led by Kaduna’s Nasir El-Rufai (who else?) were in Abuja to ask the President to run for a second term. At such a time, it was the most insensitive thing for anybody to do. But  El-Rufai, who sees himself as  the only righteous Nigerian, did it puffing and huffing and “without apology”.

    Last Saturday, he was again in the forefront when the children of Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) got married in Kano. The President also played a prominent role at the wedding at a time when all hands should be on deck in bringing back the Dapchi girls. The message they sent across to the nation is that they do not care about what happens to other Nigerians  as long as they are not touched by the vicissitudes of life. Should the President have been there or not? Many believe he should not have attended the ceremony to show his empathy for families whose children were abducted in Dapchi.

    As the President, Buhari carries the nation’s enormous burden on his shoulders and he cannot afford to do things that will make people accuse him of not being fair and equitable to all. He is the father of the nation and he must be seen to act as such at all times. His visit to Taraba, which has also been rocked by herders-farmers clashes,   though belated is most welcome. And as we look forward to his visit to Benue, Nasarawa, Rivers and other troubled spots, we pray that he weans himself off those (especially second term seeking governors) surrounding him who do not wish him well, but are only thinking of using him to win election in 2019.

  • Some fresh air, for a change

    Some fresh air, for a change

    I’M sick of it all. Whoever thought another mass abduction was possible in Nigeria would have been dismissed as a prophet from hell and scorned as a tool in the hands of desperate politicians.

    My heart goes out to those 110 Dapchi girls- and their grieving parents –  whose love for education has crashed in the camp of a terrorist group. After the Chibok abductions, we all said “never again”, but here we are again. Before our very eyes, scores of our kids have been trucked away into slavery – and savagery – of the worst kind.

    Who was supposed to have prevented this major calamity? The military and the police are locked in a shameful blame game. Those who claim to have clues to the whereabouts of the girls are dismissed as “a bunch of confusionists”. Have we checked out their claims? What facts and figures do we have to knock the bottom out of their arguments? Who saw the convoy of evil that drove the girls away? Nobody did? Which way did they go now that Sambisa has been deforested? We are even building a road there!

    Herdsmen and marksmen. An army of killers is on the rampage. The more we vow to stop them, the more vicious they get. Who are their backers? Are they bigger than the government? For how long will the bloodshed go on? Do the killers have a secret licence to kill? What audacity; what impunity! It’s all so sickening.

    Many of our youths, assailed by the vicissitudes of a stifling economy, are hooked onto narcotics. They find some inner peace in music that encourages them to indulge in such egregious perversion. Armed robbers won’t give our cities and towns a breathing space. Everyday, we unearth incredible stories of the looting that went on as governance in the immediate past dispensation and you wonder how Nigeria survived such an avaricious assault on its fortunes.

    Nobody seems to be moving. Again, the leadership question. Leadership at all levels; not just at the top. If those in charge of securing lives and property in Dapchi had been alive to their responsibility, perhaps this national shame would have been averted. Whose duty was it to raise the alarm? When did the military learn that another major calamity had befallen us? How fast did they move? Are some villagers more comfortable with Boko Haram? Otherwise, why won’t they give information to our security agencies?

    It has been 17 days since the girls were abdtheir school and all is normal, except in their parents’ hearts.

    Better not to dwell on our collective  abnegation – and utter betrayal – of our duty to our country.  Better to seek some fresh air and celebrate some of our compatriots who soldier on despite the shocking insensitivity displayed by those who took an oath to care.

    Step forward worthy compatriot Aruna Quadri. While many of us were immersed last Saturday in the revelries that hallmark our weekends, this young man was flying Nigeria’s flag in mountainous  Kenya where the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African Cup was taking place. He lost in the final game to Egyptian star Omar Assar, his friend and sparring partner of many years.

    Aruna was a gallant loser. With all guns blazing, from 3-1, he levelled up at 3-3 with the skillful Egyptian and lost the last game at 8-11. He congratulated Omar on Facebook – in the spirit of true sportsmanship. Aruna’s story is a metaphor for our collective failure to encourage our youths to, like flowers, bloom and blossom.

    Unknown to many, he is arguably one of Nigeria’s foremost sports ambassadors, playing in many countries all year round. Humble to a fault, Aruna has defeated many giants of the game. He has been Africa’s number one; he is 20th   in the global ranking and – don’t forget – the only black man to have reached the quarter finals in the men’s singles at the Olympics. The world saw a dazzling African star in 2014 when he was named the ITTF Star Player of the Year. All this by sheer grit; no government and no private sector input, until recently when Premier Lotto chipped in some sponsorship.

    Just like many of our stars, Aruna is more popular overseas. An all-colour, glossy magazine, World Table Tennis recently landed on my table. A big picture of Aruna in action is emblazoned on the cover. Inside, there are more photographs, accompanied by a long interview. I flipped through several times, smiling. Besides the title, “Superstar in Africa”, I couldn’t read a word.  It was written in Chinese.

    From mountainous Kenya, Aruna has moved across the Saudi Desert to Qatar  where he has been distinguishing himself in that country’s Open.He won last year’s Hungarian Open. When he misses the trophy, he has never failed to win the hearts of the fans – with his good conduct and terrific display of skills.

    Whenever Chelsea plays, I spare some time to watch on television. Not just because the Blues are a delight to watch. Yes; they are. I watch because Victor Moses is in the team. He has shown exceptional display of talent. The coach has had sweet comments on him. His fans around the world are legion. Moses’ conduct is quite antithetical to his status as a celebrity. Many of his mates go about with an army of bodyguards and paint the town red when they visit.

    Not Moses. He has been a role model to many.

    I celebrate golf prodigy Georgia Oboh, the first black woman to play at the Ladies Professional Golfers Association of America (LPGA). Oboh, the 2015 U.S. Kids Golf Teen World champion, started playing golf at six, encouraged by her parents. She is presently in Morocco at the All Africa Junior Challenge, flying Nigeria’s flag.

    At 16, Oboh is a role model to many youths as she goes around promoting the game that has seen her travel the world and ranked among the best. She once said in an interview with this newspaper: “I see my representing Nigeria as an opportunity to inform people about Nigeria and uplift the status of the nation. This is the time Nigerians should stand tall and be proud of their roots. We are still a developing country but we can use that as the driving force to a much brighter future for the generations to come.” How inspiring. And from a teenager.

    David Oyelowo, the Selma actor and black James Bond, was born in London. The popular actor attended the London Academy of Drama and Music Art. To his credit are many great TV shows and movies, such as “The passion of Christ”. With his talents, he continues to make many homes happy.

    Oluchi Onweagba – Orlandi is a world class model of her generation. She lived in Lagos before moving to London for training. In South Africa where she  runs her own agency, she is grooming some of the best in the trade. She had featured on the covers of ELLE and Vogue, among others.

    Mohammed Barkindo is not doing badly at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). He was kicked out of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration. OPEC was, just like Nigeria, really troubled when oil prices tumbled and threw many countries into a financial mess. Oil is recovering and Barkindo is at the helm at OPEC.

    In Italy, a black man, a Nigerian, has just been elected as a senator – for the first time. Toni Iwobi, an IT businessman, will represent Brescia, the industrial city in northern Italy. He broke the news on his Facebook page.

    There are so many other Nigerians who are making the black humanity proud. They never swore to any oath of allegiance to the nation, but Nigeria is their song. If only many of our leaders -at all levels – could be as patriotic as these compatriots of ours? If.

     

  • Tony Ezimakor and DSS

    FOR Tony Ezimakor, the  Abuja Bureau Chief of the Independent, his six-day ordeal with the almighty Department of State Service (DSS) ended on Tuesday night. He was released following the public outrage over his arrest, which many believed was uncalled for. Why was Tony arrested? As usual, the DSS kept mum over the matter as it always does when it acts arbitrarily. All we know is that Tony did a story on how $2million was paid to secure the release of some of the Chibok girls, who were abducted in their school in April 2014. The DSS did not like the story, just as it took exception to the statement issued on behalf of former military president Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) by his media aide Kassim Afegbua few weeks ago. Tony got a scoop and ran it. The DSS wants him to disclose the source of his story, a thing journalists are forbidden from doing worldwide. What is the DSS’ grouse with the story? Is that what the agency should be interested in at a time it should be seen working  with other law enforcement agencies in locating the over 100 girls who were abducted in their school in Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19. Come to think of, why  did the DSS not gather intelligence on the girls’ abduction before it happened? That is its primary duty, but rather than face that, it is always looking for journalists to torment for no just reason. Releasing Tony is not enough, the DSS should be made to apologise to him publicly for detaining him illegally. May be that way, the department will realise that it is not above the law in the discharge of its duty.

  • Ghanaians scoffing at Nigerians

    WHERE did President Muhammadu Buhari go wrong in Ghana?

    In his speech at that sister-country’s 61st Independence anniversary, he pledged Nigeria’s support to Ghana in fighting corruption. Is that too much to pledge? Why should Ghanaians see this as a vacuous gesture?

    Now, they are all over the place, mocking Nigeria’s fight against corruption. They say we should go and catch the snake that swallowed N36m before lending them a hand.

    Poor fellows. They don’t know that the woman who said a snake swallowed the cash belonging to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has since confessed that her boss collected the money from her. If the Ghanaian authorities reject our hand of fellowship in this regard, there is the risk of our corrupt men – and women – joining hands with theirs to fight a common enemy.

    When corruption fights back, property merchants will start building safe houses for looters and their loot in Accra and other places. Grave diggers will start living big, not because more people are dying, but the trade has suddenly become lucrative. Big lawyers will suddenly become legal gymnasts, applying every trick of their trade to impede the dispensation of justice – no locus, adjournments,  no-case submission and appeal. Besides, accused persons will start attending court on stretchers.

    Ghanaians should simply agree that we are way ahead of them in this game.

     

  • Ibadan: Darkness has enveloped our world

    Ibadan: Darkness has enveloped our world

    I have lived virtually all my life in Ibadan and Lagos and whatever affects these two cities affects me. I remember when Ibadan was preferred over Lagos because of its space, serenity and virtual absence of anti-social activities that tended to mar the social life of Lagos. Ibadan was the capital of the Western Region which in all respects operated as an autonomous, if not outrightly independent country with its own coat of arms, constitution and external diplomatic representation in form of Agent-General in London up to the year of independence in 1960. Lagos at that time was the federal capital which the Action Group party, the party in government in the West, claimed was part of Western Region but which the federal government asserted was separate. The Yorubas of Lagos because of politics and federal money and the crumbs from the federal masters’ dining table sang the song of Lagos separateness. Since then, Lagos has always had identity crisis of whether it wants to be regarded along with the rest of Yorubaland as one and indivisible whole or as a separate entity. The debate is now academic because the old song of the Action Group “Lagos belongs to that West, Lagos belong to the West, awon oponu alai lero won ni gedegbe Leko wa; Lagos belongs to the West” has become a reality. Never mind the rear-guard sentiments of my friend the Oba of Lagos that Lagos is not part of Yorubaland because Lagos royalty traces its origin to Benin. First of all, the origin of a dynasty is not the same is that of the people. English people are not Germans even though their present dynasty comes from Hanover in Germany. The Bini people are not Yoruba in spite of their dynasty coming from Ile Ife. Furthermore, the Bini royal influence in Lagos is a reflection of the Ife- Bini relations. The territorial extent of the obas of Lagos on the Island was hemmed in by the pre-existing Awori kingdoms all around the same territory occupied by the Oba of Lagos. Permit my digression.

    Now to Ibadan.

    I have no comment on the tussle between the Olubadan and his son, the governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi. In any case the case is in court so it is sub judice. I want to applaud the tremendous efforts of the governor to improve the road infrastructure of the city and the state as a whole even though there is much to be done. There is no doubt that the governor would have done better if he has had the kind of resources available to other much better endowed states. On this point, I blame the Oyo administration for not increasing its internally generated revenues. The population base of the state is very large with cities like Ibadan, Ogbomosho, Oyo, Iseyin and many of the towns in Oke Ogun. Population is a critical factor of power of any state and if well mobilized can be decisive in its economic development. With fair and equitable taxation covering the whole state, Oyo State should be able to generate enough funds to run the state on modern lines. The state can borrow a leaf from Lagos State and begin to levy land use charge from a range of N100,000  to N5000 annually. People will naturally grumble but when they see what their money is being used for, they would calm down. This levy can be restricted to the towns and commercial and industrial houses as well as educational institutions to begin with. Later it can be extended to cover the entire state so that the people can be made to own their government. The present situation in which money comes from Abuja is not good for citizenship development and is largely responsible for leadership corruption all over the country.

    Sometimes last week, I went out at 6 pm in the evening and returned at 8 pm driving from Molete to Bodija. I normally don’t go out after 6 pm. I was shocked by the fact that there was not a single street light along the roads. I was told this is the same all over Ibadan. It was very depressing and distressing. It was as if one were back to the 19th century. I discussed this with a few friends and I was told that why would there be light on the streets when there is no light in people’s homes. Well, there is a point in that argument. But lighting the streets is a security strategy apart from being a matter of aesthetics.  It is also not divine in both Christianity and Islam to live in darkness. God said we should let our light so shine so that people may glorify our father in heaven. The first statement of God at creation is let there be light. It is not good enough for a city of five million people to be in pitch darkness in the 21st century. A city that used to pride its institutions as “first in Africa” should not be in darkness. Are we now first in Africa in going about like blind men in total darkness in peace time?

    We must have street lights in Ibadan. How can Yorubas watch the biggest town in Yorubaland descend to this abyss of underdevelopment? This is not just acceptable. The governor of Oyo State should send somebody to China or contact our embassy there to visit the best solar energy company with good and demonstrated record of having successfully lit up cities in China and other parts of the world with solar power and invite such a company to come and visit Ibadan with the purpose of picking up a contract to light up Ibadan. China happens to be the leading country in this regard. We should bypass the local companies who have serially failed in executing solar energy contracts in Lagos and other cities and institutions all over Nigeria. This present gloomy darkness in Ibadan must be removed. When successfully tackled, the campaign must move to Oyo and Ogbomosho. Electric lighting of urban Nigeria is not only a matter of beautification and necessity, but a matter of security and safety.

    If all our universities ‘ streets and those of other institutions of higher education and even those of secondary schools were lit, the incidence of cultism and kidnapping will be greatly reduced. The Yorubas say “oru komeni owo” meaning darkness provide cover for all kinds of nefarious activities to be committed. One of the cheapest ways to secure a city is to light it up. This is why modern cities all over the world spend resources on urban lighting. In fact in modern cities,night does not mean darkness any more. Night fall is no hindrance to production and productivity. One of the reasons for our economic backwardness is the lack of electricity which in Nigeria unfortunately manifests in unlit or poorly lit streets. But solar energy, if appropriately deployed, constitutes a relatively cheap solution to this embarrassing urban problem. The Ibadan situation was first highlighted in Bola Ige’ s novel “ The Kaduna boy “ in which he reflected on the lack of streets light in Ibadan in contrast to Kaduna where he grew up in the 1930s. That’s almost 80 years ago. His grand children should not be afflicted with the same problem in 2018. It is my hope that Abiola Ajimobi will crown his efforts as not only a builder of roads and institutions but also as the governor who lit up Ibadan and brought the city to the 21st century.

  • Of awards by media umpires

    Of awards by media umpires

    Temporary power holders in Nigeria wishing to humour themselves have in recent years found an unusual ally in the media, often, like everywhere else, captive of those who have taken more than their own disproportionate share of national resources. The media, although constitutionally empowered as an integral part of the political process to hold government accountable and interpret its policies for the benefit of the governed, has in recent years traded this role for a more rewarding business of giving awards to highest bidders. Many have therefore argued that it is fraudulent to claim the media, owned and controlled directly by those in power or by their allies and proxies who daily assault our sensibilities with their warped view of society, is a free market place of ideas

    We have since 1985 been under assault of a section of the media that want Nigerians to see only their own reality. While Babangida for instance, destroyed all the values we once held sacred, according to Chief Obasanjo, derailed our political socialization process, destroyed  the economy by turning our nation to importers of labour of other societies, he was celebrated and crowned ‘the Prince of the Lower Niger’. He and his wife acquired awards after awards from various institutions topping it up with that of Fellowship of the Nigerian Economic Society, ostensibly for his economic wizardry even as he planted the root of today’s economic woes.

    The strings of awards of his successor, General Sani Abacha, the maximum ruler who history has shown was a common thief for stacking away billions of Nigeria’s foreign earnings in foreign banks, encouraged his supporters to humour him by claiming without him there would be no Nigeria. They assailed and assaulted us with their song of “Abacha today, Abacha tomorrow and Abacha forever”.

    At the birth of the fourth republic in 1999, Obasanjo topped his own numerous awards with that of ‘the father of the nation and founder of modern Nigeria’ courtesy of his PDP. It was however during the Obasanjo administration that managers of the media decided to extend the high rewarding business of media awards to government fronts and other generous givers in the business community. Two of the leading bankers that got awards after awards from the media and other clowning institutions at that period can be identified as Cecilia Ibru, former CEO of Oceanic Bank, who after plead bargaining over 25 counts of fraud and mismanagement, was sentenced to six months in prison for fraud and ordered to hand over $1.2bn (£786m) in cash and assets and, Erastus Akingbola, of Intercontinental Bank, indicted by the British judicial system while he is still trying to defend his integrity in Nigeria courts.

    In recent weeks, there has been a gale of awards targeted at politicians. New Telegraph, The Sun and Silverbird Television, featured Ayo Fayose, Nyesom Wike and Bukola Saraki, as their role models during their recent different outings.

    Dr. Bukola Saraki, who back in 2015 traded off the victory of his party to become Senate President went home with the “Outstanding Politician of the Year Award” for “brazing all odds and against a strong and formidable opposition from within his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to emerge President of the 8th Senate in June 2015”. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, a man who according the EFCC received N3b from Jonathan administration to influence his election as governor, who mobilized thugs to chase out of town 19 elected members of his state House of Assembly, a man who supervised the beating up of a judge presiding over his case in his court premises and a governor who is owing several months in workers’ salary arrears was nominated for the ‘Silverbird ‘man of the people award’. Wike, his friend and co- owner of PDP who had with his firm control of militants made Rivers State ungovernable for Rotimi Amaechi his godfather  before riding to power by unleashing terror on his fellow compatriots was nominated for the Silverbird Television star award –‘The governor of the year’ – ‘for embarking on a massive infrastructure development in Rivers State’.

    Before his latest record breaking 2016 Sun Newspaper Award as the governor of the year for the second year running, Wike was also the Daily Independent newspaper 2016 ‘Governor of the year’, “for defying the recession and breaking new grounds in infrastructure and human resources development in Rivers State”. Then more honours followed with Wike carting home the New Telegraph Man of the Year, 2017, Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year 2017 and Independent Newspaper Political Icon of the Year 2017 awards respectively”.

    Not even the Nigeria Guild of Editors could ignore Wike’s magic. In a communiqué issued after its meeting in Port Harcourt, it commended Wike “not only for economic development but also for the steps he has taken to improve the state of security in Rivers.’

    However, our umpires-turned cheerful award donors conveniently failed to point out that Rivers as an oil producing state earns in one month what some non-oil producing states cannot earn in a year. It is also curious how these bodies concluded that by bringing peace and stability to Rivers, Wike who as leader and mobiliser of militants and local touts made Rivers State ungovernable for Rotimi Amaechi, his godfather, is deserving of awards for reining in his boys.

    And finally, as it is often said in this business, ‘the medium is the message’. A critical look at the forces behind the award spinning media houses might provide an insight as to what weight to attach to the new wave of awards for Wike, Fayose and Saraki.

    Daily Independent is owned by South-south Chief James Ibori, the former Delta State governor who was let off the hook by an Asaba High court for allegation of monumental corruption and impoverisation of his people but indicted and jailed for the same offence by the British judicial system. He recently returned home to a massive reception by his people after serving his term.

    The New Telegraph and the Daily Sun are owned by Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State who has been facing EFCC charges of corrupt enrichment since he left office on 2007. He was again in 2016 dragged to court by EFCC over alleged N3.2b fraud.

    South-south Senator Ben Murray Bruce, the owner of Silverbird Television was a successful business man before his brief service in government which probably encouraged him to contest for a Senate seat in 2014.  However, The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) was in June 2016 reported to have taken over the assets of his Silverbird Galleria Limited, Silverbird Promotions Limited and Silverbird Showtime Limited appointing Muiz Banire as receiver/manager following an interim court order over N11b debt. Kunle Adegoke, an attorney working for Muiz Banire, the debt recovery manager appointed by AMCON was reported to have said: “It must be borne in mind that innocent depositors money is what the common sense propagator and his brothers have been living large and feeding fat upon without the recourse to the interest of the real labourers who own the money”.

    While chieftains of award churning media outfits by their ongoing travails have not committed any crime, the baggage they carry however raises questions not only about the value of their awards, but also questions the propriety of their decision to set standard of behaviour for Nigerians.

  • Big Brother’s guinea fowls (3)

    Big Brother’s guinea fowls (3)

    •Crusted corpses in DSTV/Multichoice’s garden of dirt

    Anto is a ‘grown ass woman’ who has ‘f..ked a lot of niggas.’ But ‘no one should take this personal,’ because she and fellow inmates in the Big Brother Nigeria-DSTV/Multichoice morality jailhouse are simply ‘having a good time.’

    It’s all a game, she reportedly said in a fit of sexual irresponsibility. Some mother gave birth to Anto. Some father sired her too. But whatever anyone thinks of her and fellow inmates, they are hardworking ambassadors of their families. Pride to their ancestry, it would seem.

    Anto and peers are tragic manifestation of the modernity curse; there is too much to be feared by their theatrics and the applause they excite from viewing public, mostly youth.

    Youth like Anto, Teddy A, who allegedly had sex with fellow inmate, Bambam, in a public toilet, are ‘wildly’ described as Nigeria’s future. Even though Teddy A’s moral compass led him to ‘appreciate’ Bambam by having sex with her in the toilet, soon after fellow inmates’ Miracle and Nina’s perverse sex, they are expected to succeed the incumbent ruling class.

    Picture Teddy A as Nigeria’s Senate President; Anto as the country’s first female President and Bambam, the alleged daughter of a pastor, as a governor, bank chief, pastor cum youth mentor.

    If the imagery scares you, wait till you read published commentary about inmates sexual ‘exploits’ in BBN’s controlled environment or jailhouse to be precise. Apologists of the show’s serialised pornography tirelessly spring caustic remarks in its defense: “But you are free to change the channel;” “Nigerians are hypocrites…they enjoy the show in secret and whine in the open,” they rail.

    In response to Teddy A and Bambam’s toilet escapade, a music producer reprimanded critics thus: “I am not even judging…You never use toilet before? Cast the first stone.” Some other viewer defended the duo claiming they engaged in simulated sex.

    Whether it is simulated or not, it’s wrong, subhuman perhaps, to have two adults go at it in a public toilet used by 20 persons, on live television.

    It is even more disheartening to read subtle rationalization of the BBN perversion by journalism’s supposed leading lights; so-called fiery critics of government and societal corruption mutate into DSTV/Multichoice’s lackeys or errand boys in real time. What do they seek? A seat at the broadcaster’s annual gala or movies award night?

    Kids are witnesses to BBN inmates’ perversions. They watch it on the internet and read frenzied reports of goings-on in the show by mainstream and new media.

    Desperate rationalization of the show however, ignore its imminent repercussions on society to focus on economics; BBN apologists drone about how lucrative it is. To whom? It’s the show’s producers and sponsors that pocket all the profit.

    Even its N45 million winner-takes-all prize is devilishly exploitative on participants who characteristically become fame junkies and commercial sex workers by the end of the show.

    They bend and break and distort into hideous forms in pursuit of the prize money. Such character is unworthy of young men and women persistently touted as Nigeria’s future leaders.

    At a time when the country needs young men and women of unimpeachable character to wrest leadership from predatory leadership, the country suffers the preponderance of degenerate youth.

    There is no gainsaying Nigeria thrives as a theatre of the absurd; where public officers frolic with and sexually abuse minors; where an elected governor feverishly seeks to impose his son-in-law as his successor in a state of supposedly free citizens; where a mystical snake swallows millions of naira from JAMB coffers; where lawmakers mortgage the interests of the state to fulfill their material lusts and nomadic herdsmen murder aged farmers, in order to take over their land as pasture for cows. The list is endless.

    Given that Nigeria’s federal government and broadcast regulators are enslaved to DSTV/Multichoice’s leash of ‘questionable incentives’ and touted ‘economic worth,’ the onus rests on parents, teachers and religious leaders to counsel their wards against indulgence in such gross contests as the BBN show.

    At the absence of media and government censorship, the only thing left is an appeal to reason. Contrary to widespread notions about the show, it is actually scripted reality, which makes it unreal and fraudulent in scope.

    Viewers believe that their votes count in selecting the winner. In truth, their votes never count. The show’s producers arbitrarily decide the winner of the prize money. And very few participants in the show go on to achieve their dreams of bliss. Most of the prize winners and runners-up squander whatever good fortune they earn by the show, in the long run.

    True, the prize money may increase annually, but it is often a ploy to arouse wilder depravity in the show’s participants; no one should be surprised if DSTV/Multichoice introduces homosexual, lesbian and transgender porn via LGBT participants in subsequent editions of the show.

    That day is coming; when it does, the media and government would turn a blind eye while the public claps in appreciation.

    If truly, the evolution and progress of a nation is determined by the nature of its youth, what do we make of Nigeria; where youths rush to have sex in DSTV/Multichoice’s serialised pornography?

    It’s an ugly reality for ex-BBN inmates outside its jailhouse. Anto, Teddy A, Bambam , Miracle, Nina and co will find life bleak and frustrating soon after they lose their pass to the red carpets. They will desperately lust for sustained media mention to no avail.

    In the BBN show, winners become famous and losers, almost famous; like past participants, some will become prostitutes, drug addicts and pitiful fame junkies. Eventually, they will burn out, unsung.

    Until then, swamped by adrenaline, wild ego and depravity, they will exult in DSTV/Multichoice’s fiery lava of grime. It’s ill-bliss which eventually disappears. In time, their names will resound as the crusted corpse’s muffled groans in a garden of dirt.

  • Dapchi as failure of leadership

    Dapchi as failure of leadership

    Governments exist primarily for the protection of lives and properties of the governed. Sadly in spite of President Buhari’s giant strides in his crusade against corruption, revamping of the economy and ending the nation’s drift after 16 years of impunity, the February 19 carting away of 110 students of Government Girls’ Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, in 11 trucks by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in military fatigues, was but a confirmation that all that has been going on  either in Abuja or Damaturu, Yobe State, were nothing but motion without movement with little or no governance

    The president decision to beg the traumatised parents of the abducted girls was at least an admission that the buck stops at his table. However, his description of Dapchi as tragedy  while the April 14, 2014 abduction of 214 Chibok schoolgirls which formed part of the President 2015 campaign promises was yet to be resolved and on the heels of  an ongoing mindless killing  and sacking of communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen across the country, as ‘a national disaster’ was an understatement. It was a national embarrassment, or as Isha Sesay of CNN puts it – “a national disgrace”.

    Both President Buhari and Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State should be held responsible for the Dapchi tragedy. It was all about failure of leadership. This often finds expression in absence of governance. By governing with a mind-set of an emir while delegating governance to his unelected aides that from their actions and pronouncements, are widely believed to harbour anti-Nigeria agenda, the president has betrayed the nation. Yobe’s Gaidam, like his predecessors in office was also until recently opposed to state and community policing. This reactionary mind-set cannot be said to be borne out of a desire to safeguard the interest of the governed in Yobe State.

    A people that fail to learn from history, as the Chinese say, will be punished by history. Apparently not much lesson has been learnt from the failure of ex-President Jonathan by the Buhari administration if anything, criticism of his handling of the Chibok tragedy as it has now turned out, was an excuse for in-effective governance. It has now taken a government that blamed its failure to rescue all the Chibok girls on Jonathan’s foot-dragging within the first 24 hours of the Chibok tragedy, several days before “urging Nigerians, including the rural dwellers who might have information that could lead to the location of the girls, to bring such information to the attention of the military authorities?” But Nigerians would want to know the measures put in place by the minister of internal affairs and his counterpart, in defence to protect the girls’ school – a soft target for Boko Haram insurgents in the north? What happened to the DSS officials whose duties were to carry out covert activities for other security arms? Where were the police and military joint checkpoints when 11 trucks laden with priceless Dapchi girls sped through our ‘borderless’ borders to Niger far away from Nigerian territory we were told was secured a long time ago?

    The military has also denied Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s allegation that “prior to the attack, the army units stationed in Dapchi and Bayamari towns were removed”. But I think the military owes their commander-in-chief and by extension Nigerians, an explanation on why a military formation located only 30 kilometres from the scene of the tragedy needed the president’s directive several days later before sending “more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, in the hope that all the missing girls will be found?”

    If indeed there was anyone in charge before the tragedy, why did we need to resort to our usual ‘fire-brigade’ approach by declaring after the tragedy that “henceforth, the police and the Civil Defence Corps will ensure that their presence is strong in every school to serve as a deterrent to the insurgents?”

    Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser (NSA) who announced deployment of 100 jet fighters to search for the missing girls eight days after the tragedy and  constituted a committee with  membership from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Police, Department of State Services (DSS); Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) “to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction”, should have done that two years back to forestall the Dapchi tragedy.  Monguno who lives in an analogue age has no business in modern government. And indeed if there is any form of governance going on in Abuja, he and others that have failed the nation ought to have by now tendered their letters of resignation if the president will not fire them.

    Similarly, the protection of lives and properties of the governed in spite of the constraints of our imperfect constitution is the core responsibility of elected governors. Unfortunately, with the exception of Lagos and a handful of others, many other state governors behave like parasites collecting huge allocations in addition to security votes from Abuja and turn around to blame the centre for their security challenges. That Governor Ibrahim Gaidam and his entourage were stoned by traumatised parents of the abducted girls was not just a vote of no confidence in his government, but sufficient proof that the governed also know their real enemies.

    It is on record that since the death of Ahmadu Bello, the revered northern premier in 1966, nearly all northern governors have continued to oppose community and state policing. Many observers believe the only plausible explanation for this reactionary mind-set in an age when community policing has been adjudged as ideal for fighting municipal crimes and securing communities, is probably the desire of northern minority rulers to guarantee easy passage for their fellow Fulani cattle-grazing compatriots who live across Nigeria’s borders and who often become important variable during census, election and religious crisis that define Nigerian politics.

    They have cited the recent subtle support by some prominent northern emirs for herdsmen’s resistance to anti-grazing laws promulgated by some states. There was also the recent threat by the leadership of Miyetti Allah to invite Fulani herdsmen across West Africa to wage war on Nigeria if their demand for open grazing was not met. They have equally cited the case of an influential emir from the northeast who during the 2014 Confab told his colleagues during the debate on the national question that unlike them, he had an option of crossing over to join his fellow Fulani in northern Cameroon if Nigeria descended into chaos.

    Many informed Nigerians believe Dapchi tragedy could have been avoided if there had been community and state policing. It is not likely indigenes, unlike the military and the Nigeria police who are today trading blames after a monumental tragedy, would stand by and allow their daughters to be shipped away in 11 trucks by those who exhibit instincts worse than those of animals.

    Now the chicken has come home to roost. The nation is haunted by perfidy of those who allowed our nation to be infiltrated by jihadist in the guise of Fulani herdsmen. And more tragically, four weeks after an agreement between the Presidency, governors and lawmakers that state policing is the only answer to effective governance, beyond a consensus celebrated on pages of newspapers with howling headlines, there is no evidence any bill has been initiated.

  • Chibok, Dapchi…the evil goes on

    Chibok, Dapchi…the evil goes on

    IT SOUNDED far-fetch when the news broke in the night of Monday, February 19. It cannot happen again, we chorused, looking at one another as we shared the news of the abduction of another set of school girls in the Northeast. No, not after what happened in Chibok, Borno State, about four years ago. In our subconscious minds, we silently prayed that the news would not be true. But the abduction of over 100 pupils of the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi, Yobe State, was real.

    At first, the situation was confusing. The police initially denied that the girls were abducted. According to the police, they were missing. Some, they claimed, had run back home following the invasion of their school by Boko Haram. That was on Monday night. By Tuesday, things started to fall in place bit by bit. It had become clearer that something sinister happened at the school that fateful Monday. With the Chibok incident still fresh in our memory, the police were cautious in talking on the matter. They did not want to release more information than they should in order not to create panic.

    Unknown to them, with the world now a global village because of the social media, the news had  spread like wildfire. Whether or not the government was willing to release information, the public got information anyway and from diverse sources. Initially reports said 94 of the girls could not be accounted for; they were not among those who ran back home from school. No fewer than 906 of them were said to be in school that night. Some ran into the bush; some ran into nearby houses and yet others took to wherever their legs could carry them just to escape from the insurgents.

    With the 2014 Chibok experience and what happened in Bunu Yadi also in Yobe State in 2013, where some schoolboys were killed, still so fresh, a government that cares about its people, especially the future of its young ones, would have taken steps to prevent a recurrence of incidents like this. It is a big slap on the government’s  face  that Boko Haram could still storm a school and abduct pupils with ease despite its claim that it has clipped the sect’s wing. What happened in Dapchi on February 19 has turned that claim on its head. Troops may have levelled Sambisa Forest, the Boko Haram headquarters, to Ground Zairo, but it seems  they have not curtailed the sect’s power to do evil.

    It is sad that Boko Haram still has enormous power to raid schools and villages as well as  ambush exploratory research teams and troops and abduct people in the process. More still needs to be done in the battle against Boko Haram. Can we still describe it as a battle? The answer is no. It has become a war, which the nation must win at all costs if the kidnapping and killing of pupils must stop. The  insurgents must be laughing at us now wherever they are holding the girls. Our troops paved the way for them to strike on February 19 by letting their guards down.

    When fighting a sect like Boko Haram, you must be at alert every second, every minute. You must not leave your flank open. Troops were said to be stationed about 30 kilometres from the school. They were deployed there to guard the school and prevent the kind of thing that happened  on February 19. But that day, they left for another mission, without a thought for the safety of the GGSTC girls. I am a novice in the art of war, but I do not think that is how to prosecute a war, whether conventional or unconventional. You do not move all your troops from one front at a go, without making provision for the safety of those in your charge.

    Those girls were the state’s charge and those troops had no right to expose them to danger under the guise of moving to another front. What is in that front that is more important than the lives of those  vulnerable 906 schoolgirls? Shouldn’t some troops have been left behind to secure the girls? Come to think of it, are we sure that some of these troops are not working with the insurgents? How did the insurgents know that the soldiers will not be at their base 30 kilometres away from the school that night?

    Now that the government has obtained the actual number of abducted girls – 110 – everything must be done to bring them back. Unlike the Chibok case, where the nation was caught flat-footed, our troops unarguably  opened their flank for Boko Haram to abduct the Dapchi girls right under our nose. It is unfortunate that this is happening under an administration in which we pinned so much hope at the outset. Was it misplaced? The administration has a lot to do to win back the people’s trust. It can start by bringing back the Dapchi girls and all those abducted before them.

    If only the troops had not left their position, what happened that night would have been averted. There is no way the sect would have had the audacity to strike knowing that troops were not that far away. It could have been a pre-arranged attack for all I care because the insurgents took their time in carrying out their dastardly act. One of the girls, Aishatu Abdullahi, who escaped, said they were preparing to break their usual Monday fast when the insurgents struck. The senior school pupil told the online paper, Premiun Times: “They (insurgents) were shooting guns and everyone was confused; then we started running helter-skelter, but they were able to get some girls. We saw some people pushing some of the students to enter their vehicles. There were no soldiers at the time of the invasion.

    “They came in three trucks.  Some of the other girls ran with some of our teachers to a house near the school… we had to enter and hide inside the house; all of us that escaped, including our principal. The vice principal and some other teachers stayed in the deserted house till morning’’. So, the insurgents had all the time in the world to wreak havoc on the school because there was no superior force to stop them. How can we explain this – that the government abandoned 926 vulnerable girls at the time they needed it most? It is inexplicable. It is sad; so, so sad.