The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Stop establishing varsities which cannot be funded

    There was a report in the newspapers that the Senate has approved the establishment of a “Federal University of Medical Sciences” in Oturkpo the capital of Idomaland. This was on the heel of another approval of a “Federal University of Marine Sciences” somewhere in Izon (Ijaw) area of Delta State for which we are told N5 billion is being released. What are the reasons for this proposed action? The Senate president, who is a physician by training, said a university of medical sciences will increase the capability of our country to handle difficult medical problems and end what he described as medical tourism.

    I find it difficult to understand how a new university of medical sciences would suddenly sky rocket Nigeria to join the First World of medical sciences knowledge, capability and treatment of difficult medical problems. We already have at least close to 20 medical schools which are grossly underfunded. Reports have it that the budget of all medical schools and teaching hospitals in Nigeria is less than the budget of the presidential medical centre in Aso VIlla which we now know is underfunded and not functioning because what is budgeted for the centre is never released. If that is so, where will the money for this new medical sciences university come from?  What will be new in this new university that is not available in the existing medical schools that are not performing optimally because of underfunding?

    There was a time in our recent history when the University College Hospital in Ibadan was reputed to be one of the best teaching hospitals in the Commonwealth. We are all witnessing in our lifetime the gradual degradation of an excellent institution as a result of reckless establishment of other medical institutions instead of regular upgrading of an existing facility in tandem with advancement in medical sciences. The result of this duplication of financial effort and resources is the migration of hordes of people to India and other places for medical treatment and succour.

    Anybody knowledgeable about university education would know that a medical university is a complex process that could be as expensive as a conventional university. Apart from departments of premedical sciences, it would probably also need to have programmes in biological and physical sciences to provide training in the sciences. Then a wide variety of clinical science departments would have to be founded equipped and funded. This will have to be accompanied by a first class teaching hospital whose cost would run into billions of naira. I made this point when the former governor of Ondo State  Dr. Rahman ‘Segun Mimiko, a physician himself, at almost the tail end of his eight-year rule, suddenly established a university of medical sciences when the state’s two other universities in Okitipupa and Akungba were grossly underfunded.  The state will soon find out that it does not have the resources to maintain three universities.

    There is a medical school in the state university in Makurdi. I know of course the prickly relations between the two major ethnic groups, the Tivs and the Idoma. This is not enough reason for the federal government rushing in to establish a second university in Benue State thereby starting demand for two universities in each state of the union. The federal government already is already chaffing under the burden of funding of existing federal universities some of which were established during after dinner speeches.

    I have an idea of why this so called medical university is being foisted on the federal government. It emanates from pressure from the long-serving senator, David Bonaventure Mark. I have respect for the senator but I do not believe that he has the right to run the government from the opposition bench. I have many Idoma friends and I acknowledge the exceptional qualities of their people and I will suggest a better option must be found to support the ambition of the Idoma people for rapid development. Perhaps the senator should mobilize funds to establish a conventional or even medical university in Oturkpo. If this decision of a medical university gains traction, it will be against one federal university per state and there is already a federal university in Makurdi.

    The University of Marine Sciences in Western Ijawland is apparently one of the demands of the western Delta people for a specialized university as a condition for peace. Peace in the Delta has strategic and financial significance. Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings come largely from hydrocarbons export. Substantial portion of this comes from the Niger Delta. For that reason, Nigeria is being blackmailed into establishing this so-called marine sciences university thus breaching the unwritten law of one federal university per state since there is already a University of Petroleum Sciences in Effunrun.  How different will this marine university be from existing Nautical College in Oron in Akwa Ibom State, another major oil-producing state that has been agitating for upgrading of the Oron college into a university? It seems to me that the federal government has no choice even though I believe the government is kowtowing to demands by militants. There is also what we can call “mission creep” in specialized universities which eventually become conventional universities. This is how the universities of agriculture in many parts of the country are now running conventional courses. I do not blame them because no university of agriculture in Nigeria can survive if it restricts itself to agricultural sciences alone. The same is true of the so-called federal universities of technology. Thus the one in Bauchi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, has metamorphosed into a conventional university with a medical university.

    The National Universities Commission has to take its job of approving the establishment of universities much more seriously. I know of course the NUC can be overruled and sidestepped by government for political reasons but there is need for this commission to assert itself and to let governments know that unplanned universities expansion without planning for teaching staff and continuous and consistent funding would lead to wishy washy products as unemployable outcomes. Establishing universities by the stroke of ministers’ pens or presidential largesse is the easiest thing to do but any good university needs serious planning. Perhaps one needs to call attention of our various governments to the Asquith Commission and Eric Ashby’s Commission that led to the establishment of first generation universities in this country and contrast it with the frivolous tendency now prevailing in Nigeria.

  • The Maina saga

    The Maina saga

    The civil service is the citadel of bureaucracy. It does not joke with process, procedure and discipline. You must go through the whole gamut before being employed there. Unfortunately, the time and energy spent on recruitment do not reflect in the workers’ output. Our civil service, which should epitomise the best in service delivery, presents the worst case scenario when compared with the private and informal sectors.

    Many Nigerians do not see anything good in the civil service. They refer to it as a cesspool of corruption. Their assessment may not be wrong because of the activities of many civil servants, which we are aware of. There is no difference between the senior and junior workers when it comes to tampering with the commonwealth, which they hold in trust for us all. Files suddenly get missing when people do not do the needful, which is euphemism for bribery. The messenger will refuse to announce your arrival to his boss if you do not ‘see him’ nor wll the boss attend to you if you do not part with 10 percent of that contract sum. It goes on and on like that.

    Our civil srvice should comprise the best and the brightest because it is the engine room of government whether at the federal, state or local government level. If we can put in extra effort in recruitment, why can’t we double that effort in the discharge of duty? The Abdurasheed Abubakar Maina saga clearly shows that our civil service has become an Augean stable. A civil service of anything goes.

    Even with Servicom, the almighty formula for getting the service to work, Nigerians have yet to get the best out of this all-important sector, which is the hub of governance. Maina was dismissed from service in 2013. He was then an assistant director in the Ministry of Interior. He was also chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform in which capacity he was said to have recovered a lot of money and properties. He was said to have helped himself to some of the recovered assets. He ran into trouble with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because of this. The EFCC invited him for questioning. He refused to go and went underground. The agency declared him wanted and following his long absence from work, he was dismissed.

    Suddenly, he resurfaced last month and returned to work at a higher level as a director. How did this happen? The Head of Service (HoS), Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, whose office is the clearing house for the posting, promotion and dismissal of top civil servants, said she did not know how he got back to work, contrary to the Interior Ministry’s claim that she was in the know. Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), said his office advised the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to recall Maina based on a court verdict, which voided his dismissal. Malami later told a bewildered nation that he met with Maina in Dubai. Of course, it goes without saying that Maina’s recall was signed, sealed and delivered at that meeting. Just imagine, the nation’s chief law officer meeting with a fugitive in a foreign land!

    Granted that the court voided Maina’s sack, but did his reinstatement follow civil service rules? This is the poser from Mrs Oyo-Ita, which many in the corridor of power cannnot answer. Maina’s dismissal, according to her, passed through the HoS office in line with procedure. His reinstatement too should have followed the same process, she argues. No, says the Interior Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Abubakar Magaji, who told the House of Representatives Committee investigating the matter that he unilaterally reinstated Maina. The almighty Perm Sec seems to forget that he is answerable to the HoS, who is the overall boss of the civil service. Who is a Perm Sec to bypass the HoS in a serious matter like this? Who is Magaji by the way to talk as if he is the alpha and omega of  the civil service?

    The Maina matter is too grave to be trifled with. Magaji acted wrongly and he knew that what he was doing was wrong but still went ahead to do it because he knew nothing will happen to him. He knew his godfather(s) will come to his aid. But should Magaji be allowed to go scot-free for breaching service rules and also publicly disrespecting the HoS? We should not set a bad precedent with the Maina case. We should do what is right by punishing all those who had a hand in this messy affair. The world is watching to see how we will handle the matter. It is not an open and close case because the more you look, the more you see. There is more to this issue than meets the eye. From Malami to Abdurahman Danbazau to Magaji, they all know something that we do not know. Will they tell us? You can bet your life they won’t. The most we can get from them is what we have heard from Magaji.

    Why did they bring back Maina through the back door? If they meant well for the country and knew that what they were doing was right, they would not have shrouded Maina’s return to work and promotion in secrecy. Now that everything has backfired, they are telling us cock and bull stories and looking for a way out of the mess they created for themselves. Well, they have found a fall guy in Magaji, the Perm Sec., who rather than bow his head in shame for bringing his high office into ridicule, is trying to justify an action for which he should be dismissed from service. It is crystal clear that he did not act alone, but since he has chosen to die alone, so be it. His dismissal should serve as a lesson to others who think that they can circumvent procedure to please the powers that be.

     

    Who becomes PDP chairman? 

    On Saturday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold its convention in Abuja to pick its national chairman. Former Kaduna State Govermor Ahmed Makarfi has been acting in that capacity for a while. Makarfi is not in the race. He is eyeing the presidential slot for which Atiku Abubakar has just returned to PDP. The party’s Southsouth governors are behind their man Uche Secondus for the chairmanship seat. Candidates from the Southwest have shouted foul over the governors’ stand.

    Their cry certainly cuts no ice with the governors who will do anything to push Secondus’ candidacy. Who gets the chair? Secondus? Bode George? Tunde Adeniran? Taoheed Adedoja? Gbenga Daniel? Raymond Dokpesi? Jimi Agbaje? We will know in 48hours. May the best candidate win.

  • PDP’s missed opportunity

    PDP’s missed opportunity

    The fierce battle for the soul of PDP comes up at its crucial convention in two days-time. The battle line has been drawn between self- proclaiming founding fathers of the party made up of veterans of coup d’états such as Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau and David Mark and PDP’s serving governors coordinated by Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose. There are other marginal interests made up of ex- PDP governors, opportunists and a presidential aspirant like Abubakar Atiku for whom ruling Nigeria has become an obsession.

    PDP, formed in 1998 has in 18 years produced 14 chairmen through a deadly game of dog eat dog. The battle became vicious under Jonathan when in an effort to undermine the PDP zoning policy to pave way for his emergence as presidential candidate in 2011, the party produced five chairmen in quick succession: Vincent Ogbulafor (2008), Okwesilieze Nwodo (2010), Haliru Belloý Mohammed (2011), Kawu Barajeý (2011), Bamanga Tukur (2012), Adamu Mu’azu 2014). The battle for the PDP’s plum job did not get any less ferocious even with the defeat of the party in 2015. If anything, it got more vicious with the imposition of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a total outsider whose name was not on the north-east list for the plum job by Wike and Fayose.

    Either in victory or in defeat, PDP has always been at war with itself. For instance, disagreement over sharing of spoils of office after the party’s 1999 victory was followed by assassination of party members and opponents including Ahmad Sardauna Ahman Pategi, Janet Oladapo, Victor Nwakwo, Marshal Harry, Bola Ige, Aminasoari Dikibo,, Funsho Williams, Ayo Daramola, Theodore Agwatu and Andrew Agom among many others whose killings till today remain a riddle.

    What is not a puzzle however are the reasons for the war of attrition and brutal killings. Unlike political parties that serve as recruitment centres for political offices and as modernisaton agents in developed democracies, PDP is an association of ‘wheelers and dealers with no identifiable ideological world-view or a coherent manifesto’. John Campbell, a former US envoy to Nigeria during a debate on Nigeria in the British House of Commons a few years back described PDP as ‘an elite cartel at the centre of power in Nigeria, a political party that came together … essentially as a club of elites for sharing of oil rents and political spoils.’

    If anyone is in doubt, PDP and its members provided sufficient empirical evidence to validate Campbell’s thesis. For instance, Babangida who a few days ago proclaimed himself a founding father of PDP is widely believed to have institutionalized corruption in Nigeria. In fact President Buhari recently claimed his regime was toppled in 1985 by Babangida, Gusau and Abacha for insisting that one of the three involved in import licence scandal be brought to book.

    Another PDP founding father is former vice president, Atiku Abubakar. Both President Buhari and ex-President Obasanjo recently argued that Atiku’s refusal to visit America may not be unconnected with his association with corrupt and jailed US lawmaker – William Jefferson. (Atiku however attributed his inability to visit the US to repeated denials of US visa by US authorities). At home, Atiku Abubakar is haunted by his role in the ill-implemented Nigerian privatization policy, an exercise roundly condemned by a House of Representative probe.

    If further evidence is needed to consolidate Campbell’s otherwise unassailable position, we also have it on record that 17 of the 24 governors elected on the platform of PDP in 2003 were charged to court for corruption by EFCC. We can also add how desperate PDP stalwarts first created artificial fuel scarcity before stampeding President Obasanjo to  set up the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), an instrument used by PDP stalwarts and their siblings to defraud the country to the tune of N1.6 trillion under the fraudulent fuel subsidy scam.

    And a critical look at the PDP candidates and their god- fathers for the Saturday battle presents no less depressing outlook. Uche Secondus is a leading contender. At a period when most part of Borno State, including military barracks,  were overran as a result Boko Haram’s superior fire power, Secondus was part of PDP leadership that allegedly converted $2.1 loan meant to cover military hardware and welfare of soldiers to war-chests for the purpose of 2015 election.   Secondus recently admitted he was drafted by Fayose who according to EFCC and Musliu Obanikoro, received N3billion out of the $2.1billion military hardware loans as war chest to fight the Ekiti State gubernatorial battle. His other sponsor, Wike along with his other South-south supporters have sworn ‘to fight to the death’ on Saturday.

    Also gunning for the plum job is High Chief Dokpesi, a successful business man and media mogul. He admitted collecting N2.1b from Dasuki, ex-President Jonathan’s NSA but insisted it was payment for media publicity and special duties carried out on behalf of President Jonathan.

    Also set for the battle is Gbenga Daniel who as Ogun State governor, locked up the state House of Assembly chambers and ruled as a sole administrator after chasing the state lawmakers out of town. Besides his battle with EFCC, Daniel will also be remembered for carrying ex-President Jonathan on his back on a campaign trail around Ogun State, commissioning uncompleted  or yet to take-off projects.

    Another serious contender for the PDP plum job is Chief Bode George. He was part of Babangida’s South-west military administrators that in the guise of liberalization, sold off some Yoruba national patrimony including the Ikeja Cocoa industries at less than the cost of land on which the industry was built.

    Another serious contender for the plum job is Professor Tunde Adeniran who as an accomplished intellectual had attempted albeit unsuccessfully to set an agenda for standard of behaviour for his fellow PDP contestants. Unfortunately his godfather, Babangida has never been known to do anything for Nigeria out of altruism. He destroyed our budding industries and turned our nation to net importer of the labour of other societies. He took the nation through a ‘transition without end’ for eight years only to annul the results of the most credible free election in our nation’s history.

    Since it has been established that PDP as an association of wheelers and dealers cannot pass for a political party, Saturday’s convention would have been an opportunity for its stakeholders to reinvent the party by giving way to youths not tarred by PDP 16 years of mindless looting of the nation’s resources. Unfortunately, Saturday’s vicious battle will end the way of all past PDP’s deadly battles: as a family affair if a consensus is reached on equitable sharing of spoils of war or as vicious foes set on a war of attrition with itself. The losers  as usual will be Nigerians especially those that had hoped PDP will reinvent itself as a viable alternative to wobbling APC and President Buhari who two and half years into his administration, still depends on PDP appointees to manage some of the over 500 small governments he needed for effective governance.

  • The northeast bazaar (1)

    •Is Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis a meal ticket to UN agencies, other NGOs?

    There is a formula for writing the story of the northeast. If you are a Nigerian journalist, you stick to the script. You are expected to fawn and grope through lattices of horror and contrived appreciation to present a humane story, often tailored to funding needs, schema, politics and administrative ego of United Nations’ multilateral agencies and other international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

    You may be tame or sensational in your reports but whatever you do, do not reveal the fraudulence and rot characterizing international NGOs.

    Not a few journalists are familiar with the process; perhaps they are too awestruck by patronage from the NGOs hence you never get to read of the decadence across dystopic expanses of Konduga, Muna Dalti, and other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps managed by UN agencies in Borno and the northeast region.

    A recent fire outbreak in Muna Dalti revealed the extent of the agencies’ complicity in endangering the lives of Borno IDPs. The magnitude of the loss makes you wonder what the UN agencies in the state, particularly the one responsible for sheltering refugees, do with outrageous funding for shelter that it receives.

    The fire completely razed the camp. A personal tour revealed that the tents burned faster because they were built with sticks, rubber and nylon sheets. The dwellings are fit to house animals yet Nigerians were forced to dwell in them. Do UN agencies receive outrageous dollar funding to house IDPs like fowls?

    Adding insult to injury, UN agencies and other NGOs’ internal press teams interview victims of such disasters and take ‘touching’ pictures of them that project their funding needs and political agenda.

    Sometimes, they enable their journalist friends from abroad to take the pictures and even contribute in no small measure to actualising preferred shots. They consider as fair game, anything that glorifies their work, criminalises local government (often deservedly) and substantiates their extreme claims for material and financial support.

    One such picture could be of several tiny hands (of kids) eating from a bowl of badly done rice mixed with stones. The fraudulence of the shot subsists in the portion of stones in the food. Yopu get the feeling that the stones were deliberately added to the food to achieve impact. Who does that?

    It is instructive to note that Nigerian journalists are hardly given the privilege of taking such shots, except they are contracted to do so by aid agencies. The UN’s agencies for instance, accord such privilege only to their internal media teams or foreign (often Caucasian) journalists from abroad. You could be forgiven for imagining racist undertones to such act.

    Five years ago, while on a visit to the Garwa refugee camp in Maroua, Cameroon’s Far North Region, I witnessed the extremities endured by Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram’s onslaught from Banki, northeast Nigeria, into Cameroon. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) administrators of the camp tossed fragments of bread to hundreds of starving refugees, who shoved and fell over each other to grab portions of the loaves. For each lucky refugee, a portion was equal to a bite.

    Of course, they were livid that I witnessed the situation. They tried to frustrate me from doing my work but for the governor of Maroua, who facilitated my access into the camp afterwards.

    While UN authorities would argue that they can  only do so much with ‘inadequate’ resources, is it also due to resource inadequacy that UNHCR staff tossed bread at starving IDPs like animals? There were more humane and dignified methods to feed the starving refugees but UNHCR officials opted to feed them like guinea fowls.

    Just recently, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State accused UN agencies of alleged misappropriation of about $334 million (N133.6 billion) meant for “humanitarian interventions and assistance” for Boko Haram victims in the state and north-east sub-region.

    He made the allegation while receiving the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)’s Deputy Regional Director for West and East Africa, Beatrice Mutali, at the Government House in Maiduguri, Borno’s capital.

    Shettima lamented that the crisis is grossly misrepresented and exploited by humanitarian workers. He accused NGOs of splurging on bullet proof vehicles from intervention fund and operating in the northeast without any concrete and visible relief on displaced persons. He also alleged that more than 500 U.N. workers had invaded Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and that their presence and expenditures are “questionable” given their lack of impact on some of the two million refugees in the state.

    Of course, Borno officials are also been found complicit in sex for food scandals, theft and other crimes on IDP camps. One would think that the situation would improve over the years but it gets worse. A recent encounter with shady and very hostile staff of international NGOs in Konduga, Borno State, further attests to the loathsomeness and detachment characterising relief workers’ relationship with IDPs. It’s far removed from what you see in cozy humanitarian reports.

    At the Konduga IDP centres managed by UN agencies and collaborating NGOs, minors share rubber tents with the elderly; the poor, helpless souls huddle together at the mercy of the elements through heat and rain, cloudbursts and sandstorms.

    The officials in the camp almost lynched me and broke my camera. They claimed I didn’t obtain permission from them before speaking with IDPs even after showing them a pass granted by state authorities. They were actually worried that I would speak with IDPs who would reveal the true situation in the camp – which was deplorable. They would rather I spoke with IDPs handpicked by the; the ones who wouldn’t reveal that they managed the camp like a pig farm.

    It is noteworthy that perpetrators of such wickedness to IDPs are often black Africans comprising Nigerians and fellow Africans. This is certainly a practical ploy by Caucasian managers of the agencies, who believe that the dirty work should be done by the IDPs’ compatriots. This shields Caucasian staff of the agencies from likely criticism and accusations of inhumanity. There is asides lopsided employment regimes and benefits unevenly instituted between local and international staff of UN agencies among others.

    The malady subsists at the backdrop of fraud and embezzlement of funds within UN agencies. A 133-page examination of “fraud detection, prevention and response” across 28 organizations in the U.N.’s network, carried out by members of the organisation’s Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), for instance, revealed that the UN simply ignores fraud committed by its staff.

    This casts a suspicious shade on the UN’s $1bn (£800m) humanitarian response plan launched in partnership with the Nigerian government recently. But while Peter Lundberg, deputy humanitarian coordinator for the UN in Nigeria claimed it is to help prevent the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians over the coming 12 months, President Muhammadu Buhari accuses the UN of exaggerating the humanitarian crises.

  • Atiku visits Obasanjo

    Atiku visits Obasanjo

    Poor Atiku Abubakar. Every time he gets set to run for the highest office in the land, some invisible but sturdy obstacles are rolled on the way. His political opponents and their friends will reel off a legion of reasons why he should not run. Some will simply say in a most damning manner that he is not fit for the job; a former vice-president not qualified for the number one job?

    He has been derided for changing parties- as if he is the only notable politician who does this routinely. He has just jumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) ship. There are speculations that he plans to rejoin the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That common action has attracted attacks and derisive jokes.

    On the social media has suddenly appeared a caricature of the Turaki Adamawa, smiling, in a doctor’s clinic, a heart monitoring equipment strapped onto his chest and a blood pressure cutt on his arm. The caption: “Atiku undergoing medicals at PDP Headquarters in Abuja. On free transfer.” Some soccer buffs at work, no doubt.

    It is, I dare say, a big credit to his tenacity and sense of purpose that Atiku, like a marathoner, stays the course. He keeps throwing his hat in the ring.

    There seems to be a problem of perception, his minders may have told him. He recently challenged anybody who insists that he is corrupt to come out with the proof or remain quiet forever. Again, to his credit, nobody has accepted that simple challenge.

    Atiku plans to pick the PDP ticket and give President Muhammadu Buhari a run for his money in 2019. Buhari has not said he will run? Will Atiku get the ticket? Nobody can tell, for sure.

    As usual, there have been suggestions, propositions and postulations on how the Turaki should go about his life-long ambition. Of all such suggestions, the most striking seems to be from former President Goodluck Jonathan. He asked Atiku to beg former President Olusegun Obasanjo – Atiku was the vice – president in the Obasanjo presidency – if he must realise his ambition. Obasanjo and Atiku had a turbulent relationship that almost cost the former a fresh tenure.

    The story is told of how Obasanjo grovelled before Atiku to get the governors’ support ahead of the crucial PDP convention. Those who claim to know Baba Iyabo closely – they are few, I am told – have sworn that was sacrilegious. The Ebora Owu, they stress, would surely take his pound of flesh in a bigger measure. He takes no prisoner.

    The Jonathan advice sparked a round of questions and speculations. Why should Atiku beg Obasanjo? What is his offence? Does anybody need Obasanjo’s endorsement? Will he speak for potential voters? Is the PDP ticket in Obasanjo’s pocket? Did Jonathan prostrate for Obasanjo when he wanted to run?

    The questions are so many. Some of them are ridiculous; others simply absurd. Besides, many have been suggesting how a meeting of Obasanjo and Atiku will go, if it ever happens. Here is one of such imaginary scenarios of such a meeting:

    Obasanjo springs up from a seat in his expansive sitting room as soon as Atiku is ushered in. He smiles briefly and offers a handshake. Atiku throws himself at him for a hug.

    “Please, sit down. Good to see you again. I’m sorry I couldn’t give an earlier appointment. I’ve been travelling. The problem in Zimbabwe, Kenya and so many others. Anyway, what brings you this time?”

    “Baba, I thank you for your time, for receiving me despite your tight schedule. I won’t take much of your precious time sir. I bring peace. You’re our leader; our pillar. We do not think it will be wise to take any important step without informing you and carrying you along.  In this country today, nobody can say you don’t count. You are not just an ordinary person; you’re an elder statesman. And…”

    Obasanjo cuts in, raising his right hand. “Please, go into the specific. What exactly do you want? That long introduction seems to be confusing. Straight to the point.”

    “Baba, I’m running and I wish to get your blessing.”

    Smiling, Obasanjo looks straight at Atiku, his visage betraying some incredulity. “You ’re running? Where to? Why? Is anybody pursuing you?”

    “No Baba. I’m planning to contest the presidency on the platform of our great party, the PDP. And I am honoured and privileged to be telling you this so that I can receive your blessing. Former President Jonathan and many other eminent Nigerians have advised me to visit you and settle whatever differences we may have. This is my mission sir.”

    “Hee he. Jonathan asked you to come here? Am I in their party? Please, I’m a statesman. I announced it that I’m no longer a politician. When I resigned from PDP or whatever they call themselves, I didn’t do corner corner o. I tore their card. So, if that boy, em…eeem…eeeem… Jona, is telling you to come and you’re coming here, is he sincere? I remain a farmer and a statesman. One million Atikus can’t change that whether they are running or walking or flying. I’m sorry, Mr Atiku.”

    “You seem to be getting it all wrong sir. I’m not asking you to come out of retirement and campaign for me. No. I’m only informing you and asking you to bless me so that I can succeed.”

    “Again, I’m not a politician. Are you listening? I’m too honest and frank to remain in that circle – of lies, backstabbing, intrigues and corruption. Deceit. No. I’m done. My politics now is Nigeria. Anybody who says Nigeria will not rise and move forward, I am ready to go konkobilo with that person. So, oga, that is my position.”

    “Baba, I salute your sincerity – and courage. You are not the type who will deceive anybody to score cheap political points. You’re blunt. There are many of us in the race. That is why I crave your endorsement. You must have an opinion on this important matter.”

    “Yes. I have heard that some of you are warming up. I’m not the type that fears. I have my opinion on each and everyone of you. The other boy (wetin be im name now o?). Obasanjo scratches it aggressively. He looks up and continues.

    “Makarfi. Yes; I hear he too wants to contest. I know he used to be governor of Kaduna. He was a senator. And now chairman of what they call Caretaker Committee. Hmmm…

    “Sule Lamido is my boy, but dem say he get baggage. And you know Buhari is a soldier. He will simply ambush him and that will be the end of the matter.

    “Buhari sef. I said so that he will not steal. He will fight corruption and jail all the thieves making noise and gallivanting all over the place. But Buhari may not do well in the economy. I said so. No be so?”

    “Baba, I thank you for your insight. The words of our elders… . Do I take it that I have your blessing to pick the PDP ticket for 2019?”

    Hmm…hmmmm…hmm (Obasanjo clears his thrioat). “PDP my foot. I don’t care who gets the PDP ticket. Dat one na dem toro. I’m not a member and I don’t plan to be one. Let them sell it or give it or dash it to whoever they like. Me o, Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo, I don’t care. A statesman I will remain. I thank you for visiting.”

    A crowd of reporters and photographers have set up a camp outside the door. As Obasanjo and his guest emerge from the main house, they spring up onto their feet and rushed towards them.

    “Baba, good afternoon. How are you sir?”

    Obasanjo, smiling without showing his teeth:”I dey kampe, as you can see.”

    “How did the meeting go?”

    “Which meeting? No meeting o. You know Christmas will soon be here. The former VP came to wish me merry Christmas. Is anything wrong with that? And I wish you all Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.”

    After a handshake with Obasanjo, Atiku walks briskly towards his car, adjusting his agbada. The reporters rush to catch up with him.

    “Sir, how did it go? Is it true you came to tell Baba to support your ambition? Did he promise to back you?”

    “Baba has spoken and that is all. I have no comments – for now. Have a nice day, my friends.”

    An aide opens the door. Atiku jumps in and the car rolls out of the large compound.

    The Maina roadshow returns

    After a short break, the Abdulrasheed Maina  roadshow is back. The fugitive civil servant, in an interview with Channels Television from an unstated location, has been reeling off incredible facts and figures emanating from his work as the head of the controversial Pension Task Force Team.

    Perhaps out of ignorance or sheer sense of impunity, some key government officials have allowed themselves to be roped into the Maina mess. There are desperate efforts to bring in President Muhammadu Buhari.

    It is too early to pronounce Maina guilty. He should forget about the threats he claims are being issued against him and return home to clear his name. In the court of law, he will be allowed to say all he knows about how trillions of naira have been creamed off neatly and roughly from the pension funds.

    It is sickening enough that Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, his Interior counterpart Abdulrahman Dambazzau and others have been named in the botched bid to reinstate and reward Maina with a promotion. But this should not be the main issue. Who are the fat cats who fed on the huge pension funds? Who took what? Where is the cash Maina claims to have recovered? From who?

    Until these and other questions are settled, the Maina matter will remain an arrow shot right at the heart of the anti-graft war. It must be resolved – fast.

  • The Atiku gambit

    The Atiku gambit

    His ambition to lead the country dates back to 1993. Then, he had age and the support of those that matter politically on his side. He was in his late 40s and he was a close ally of the master political strategist, the late Maj-Gen Shehu Yar’Ardua whose structure, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), he would have used to clinch the presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the other half of the National Republican Convention (NRC), which made up the  two parties decreed into being by the Babangida junta.

    Atiku Abubakar threw his hat into the ring long before the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola, who eventually emerged from the SDP convention in Jos, Plateau State, as the party’s standard bearer in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by Gen Ibrahim Babangida. Atiku reluctantly withdrew from the race after being prevailed upon by Yar’Adua, who had initially given him the nod to run.

    Since 1993, Atiku has matured politically, building bridges across the country in his determined bid to be president. When the country prepared to return to democracy in 1999 he oiled the old PDM machinery and moved into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was set to fight for its presidential ticket when circumstances intervened. Some retired generals, who once ran the country, felt that a member of their constituency should take the first bite at the plum job. After a long search, they settled for Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, who was then in prison.

    The Obasanjo presidency faced challenges within because of Atiku’s ambition. Atiku had won election as Adamawa State governor and was waiting to be sworn in when Obasanjo picked him as his running mate. But he was not satisfied being number two. He was reportedly plotting to be president. His relationship with Obasanjo became sour because of this. The presidency became divided and the crack was visible during the countdown to the 2003 election. Atiku, with the backing of PDP governors, who did not see eye to eye with Obasanjo, was ready to challenge his boss for the party’s ticket. The crisis was somehow managed and they ran again on the same ticket. But the seed of enmity was forever sown between them.

    To realise his ambition, Atiku has been jumping from one party to the other. In 2007, he dumped PDP for the Action Congress (AC) when he was deprived of the then ruling party’s presidential ticket. When Obasanjo heard of his plan to contest the election on AC’s platform, he sneered: I dey laugh o. He lost the election to former President Umaru Yar’Adua, who died in office in 2010. Towards the 2011 election, he ran back to PDP when he realised that AC, which metamorphosed to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), will not give him its ticket. The party fielded the former anti-graft czar Nuhu Ribadu, who lost to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Atiku found his way to the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the 2015 election when it dawned on him that PDP would give Jonathan a second term ticket. The former president lost to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is likely to get a second term ticket for the 2019 election. Having seen the handwriting on the wall, Atiku last week left APC. It is certain that his next destination is PDP, which has been swimming in crisis since it lost power in 2015. Atiku’s ultimate desire is not only to pick PDP’s ticket, but also to become president. Getting the ticket may not be easy considering the various interests within and outside the party.

    Many from the north are also interested in the ticket and it is certain that they will give Atiku a run for his money. Can he get other aspirants to subsume their interests under his? Won’t his coming further polarise the party? Of what electoral value really is Atiku? Does he have what it takes to lead PDP to victory in 2019 if he eventually joins the party? Besides, he has a big hurdle to clear in Obasanjo, who though no longer a card carrying member of the party, still packs a lot of weight within the fold. Will Obasanjo bury the hatchet and allow Atiku be? Can Jonathan, who is propping up Atiku, get Obasanjo to change his mind about the former vice president, who will be 72 by the time of the 2019 election? It will indeed be interesting to see how things play out for Atiku in what appears to be his very last chance at having a shot at the presidency.

  • Moral and ethical standards in society

    There is a moral gale sweeping through the Anglo-Saxon world.. The whole thing started with revelations about how the movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein has used, over the years, his power and influence to sexually molest young girls looking for breakthrough in the movie industry in Hollywood in the United States.  Close  to 20 ladies have come out to accuse the same man of either rape or improper sexual conduct. The list of abusers is growing every day and it now includes Kevin Spacey; Dustin Hoffman, Brett Rather and James Tobback. The 80-year old radical film star,  Jane Fonda even testified that demanding sexual favours from young stars has been going on in Hollywood for as long as one can remember. These accusations have come on the heel of the sexual misdemeanors allegedly committed by Bill Cosby who in his famous Bill Cosby Show for decades presented himself as the ideal father and husband that both white and black audiences could associate with. He is now derided as someone who was drugging women before sexually assaulting them.

    The  distinction must however be made between sexual harassment and sexual philandering or people having affairs. Sexual molestation is when one exploits his or her power to demand sexual favours from an unwilling person or even making sexually lurid and suggestive jokes to somebody of the opposite sex or somebody with a different sexual orientation especially homosexuals and lesbians. Kevin Spacey for example was accused by somebody who as a young 14-year  old,   found Spacey trying to make love to him.  This was a horrible situation because the poor boy was straight. In all these accusations those accused have denied the accusations or have said most of their sexual relations were consensual. The police in California and New York are looking into possible prosecution of those accused. Very few American politicians have been accused yet unlike the gale sweeping through Westminster. There is the funny accusations against  President George W. H. Bush who at 93 was said  to have touched the buttocks of the women taking care of him after telling them dirty jokes. The old man had to issue statements of regret and apology to his accusers. I personally feel the old man should never have been bothered. My son Seyi feels differently saying old age is not an excuse for inappropriate behaviour.

    The case in Britain is totally different from what is happening in America. The Deputy Prime Minister Damien Green  is under investigation for inappropriate behaviour dating back a decade ago when “extreme pornography” was found  in his computer  during investigation of inappropriate sexual conduct.  The Defence Minister Sir Michael Fallon has already resigned for touching the knees of a female journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer some 15 years ago and apparently for inappropriate proposition to a female cabinet colleague. Another Conservative member of parliament, Dan Pouter has been referred to an internal party disciplinary committee for proper investigation. The Labour Party has its own problem. Clive Lewis, a member of parliament has been accused of groping a woman at Labour’s 2017 conference. One or two members of parliament have been accused of raping young interns or junior members in their offices or of inappropriate behaviour such as a minister sending a secretary to buy him sex toys in a shop in notorious Soho area of London. Sexual scandals are not new in British politics dating back to the John Profumo scandals of 1961. The then Secretary for War was accused of sharing a prostitute with a Russian agent. He resigned in 1963 because he was found to have lied to parliament. Recently Sir Edward Heath a former Prime Minister in the 1970s was posthumously accused of inappropriate relations with young boys. I remember John Major, sleeping apparently on consensual basis, with one of his beautiful ministers of state in 1990 or there about. The longest serving female Labour MP, Harriet Harman said this kind of behaviour cuts across all facets of life in the United Kingdom especially when people  having power deal with those below them. She gave a personal experience of when she was about to graduate some decades ago. Her lecturer called her and told her “young lady you are close to an upper second honours degree and to make sure you make that grade you have to sleep with me. The choice is yours”. She did not say what later happened. For those who think Nigerian teachers are lecherous, you better believe that inappropriate behaviour in tertiary institutions is global. The point must also be made that female students are not saints in this sordid drama.

    What I find intriguing is that the  current brouhaha  about sexual harassment is not likely to cut any ice in France. Infidelity and sexual promiscuity has been tolerated in France  since the time of the Bourbon dynasty to the present. President  Francois Mitterrand for example had a daughter out of marriage and proudly went about with her without anybody raising an eyelid.  The mother of President  Francois Hollande’s children was not the First Lady of France in the last regime and neither was he married to her or the First Lady. The Germans are like their British fellow Saxons who probably hypocritically put on a moral armour in public while  doing something different in their privacy. The Italians of Silvio Berlusconi would laugh at the prudishness of the British. Journalists and victims of sexual harassment in Putin’s Russia will be too afraid to accuse anybody in government because they may be sent to jail or worse.

    I wonder what will happen if there were to be a focus on people in power in Nigeria in their relations with women under them. This would cut across all spectrum of the society in government, bureaucracy, tertiary institutions, business, and even the holy orders  of Christian and Islamic traditions.

    I remember some incidents that make our situation a bit peculiar. In 1995, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu led a delegation on behalf of the Abacha regime to the European Union. I was Ambassador in Germany winding down my mission to that country. The delegation sought a meeting with the German foreign office. I had to arrange it. We were given 15 minutes for the meeting. Ojukwu was the spokesperson for the group. After a rambling speech about the generosity of Abacha to Abiola in  detention, he dramatically said that Abacha allowed “four of Abiola’s senior wives to visit him every week”. The Germans with broad smile asked Ojukwu “How many wives does Abiola have?”

    The attitude in Asia is not much different. This reminds me of  what the minister of foreign affairs in the Philippines was said to have said to a  Philippine lady who complained to him during a visit to Saudi Arabia about being raped by her boss. He was said to have whispered to his aid without knowing that the microphone was switched on  that she should enjoy it. When the news got home, the minister was immediately fired.

    Although there is no universal norm of sexual relations, but we can all agree that no one should have the power to sexually exploit a fellow human being because of the position of power one holds. Even in marriage, one should not be able to exploit his or her partner sexually. A husband can technically be guilty of rape if a wife is forced against her will. As bad as we sometimes think  things are in Nigeria, people still maintain decent and respectable relationships with people of the opposite sex. I was in Redeemers University for 12 years and I can attest and affirm the fact that nothing of this sort occurred between staff and students. There were cases of improper relations among students. But this is to be expected among young people whose hormones drive them towards sexual relations. Unfortunately with the downturn in the economy in the country, girls and boys in order to survive, I am told, are forced to compromise their morals.Young people of today are less inhibited  as people of my generation. A former female student of mine told me she and two other former students were sharing an apartment in Lagos. I immediately assumed the other two were girls. I was shocked when she told me they were boys. I then told her that I found the situation a bit confusing to put it diplomatically. She explained that there were three different rooms, and that they shared a common kitchen and bathroom and toilet. She then said they were adults with knowledge of permissible boundaries. I then recalled my stay in Lillian Penson Post-graduate hall in the university of London in 1968. This was a mixed hall and my neighbour to the right and left were ladies. Since all the rooms were en suite, I never heard of any scandal through out my stay there yet coming from Nigeria where sexes were rigidly separated. I initially found the arrangement difficult to understand. It all boils down to discipline. Since we were all young and had no power or influence to exercise over others in exchange for sexual favours, the idea of sexual harassment did not come up. This is the crux of the matter. Sexual harassment is a manifestation of power.

  • Nigeria leading the world in extreme poverty?

    Nigeria leading the world in extreme poverty?

    I woke up two days ago and accessed my emails as usual, and was confronted by a story emailed to me by a young friend, a story concerning our country, Nigeria. The story was so shocking that I immediately went into a serious act of prayer for Nigeria. The story says that “According to the World Poverty Clock…Nigeria will by February 2018 (be) the country with the most people in extreme poverty (in the world). Currently, 82 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty, which is 42.4 percent of Nigeria’s population”.

    The story explains that the World Poverty Clock was created by the World Data Lab to track poverty estimates in about 99.7 percent of the countries in the world, using data obtained from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, United Nations, and the governments of the countries themselves. Using all these data, the Poverty Clock estimates the rate at which poverty is being reduced globally, and also how many more people are becoming extremely poor in the countries of the world.

    The story further explains that living in extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as living with under $1.90 per day. “People living in extreme poverty are unable to meet their minimal needs for survival”. To reverse the trend towards more and more extreme poverty, and to be able to eliminate extreme poverty completely by 2030 (as the United Nations hopes for all countries), Nigeria needs to have 11.9 people rising above extreme poverty every minute right now. But instead, Nigeria presently has 6.8 people falling into extreme poverty every minute.

    Various factors are, according to the story, responsible for this constant growth of extreme poverty in Nigeria. One major factor is rapid population growth. “Nigeria’s population is growing faster than its economy. Between 1990 and 2013, Nigeria’s population increased by 81 percent. By 2050, going by the speed of its present population growth rate, Nigeria will be the third most populous country in the world. By passing the 400 million mark, it will be taking over from the U.S.A. (as the world’s third largest country) and be only behind China and India”. Another factor is the decline in Nigeria’s oil revenues in recent times, oil being the main pillar of the Nigerian economy. The decline led to a recession recently, and after the recession passed, the economy has been growing only slowly.

    Yet another factor is Nigeria’s deeply unfair wealth distribution. More of Nigeria’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of the elite – politicians, public office holders, civil servants, crony capitalists, and various kinds of rogue millionaires. Most of this concentration of wealth in the hands of only a minority of Nigerians has been attained through a culture of rampant corruption.

    The outcomes of all these failings are the lack of basic social amenities for the vast majority of Nigerians, poor and worsening infrastructures, serious difficulties in doing business in Nigeria, high and rising levels of unemployment, and massive hopelessness.

    As a result, concludes the story, “Nigeria’s rising extreme poverty numbers isn’t unexpected. Instead, it’s a direct result of years of negligent and ineffective government policies… dependence on oil for years and an inability to generate non-oil revenue. Even now, Nigeria’s 2018 record budget is running on a deficit and will be funded by much borrowing with government debts also on the rise. The solution to this problem would be the formation of a credible policy aimed at eradicating poverty. The clock is ticking”.

    What all these mean is that the Buhari presidency is pushing or pulling our country towards something truly frightening. What this will be if he continues unchanged, only God knows at this point. But President Buhari does not have to continue unchanged. There are many other options that he can choose now to guide our country away from the present perpetual decline into extreme poverty. In the interest of our country, and in the interest of the nearly 200 million of us Nigerians, he must stop, look around, and consider other options.

    First, one very important option is that Nigeria must liberate the inherent energies of each section of Nigeria, empower each section, and thereby allow for many centres of potent development initiatives. In short, let many centres across our country have the capability to make serious contributions to development and socio-economic growth. This is one major reason why many leading Nigerians have been demanding the restructuring of our federation. Removing much of the powers and resources which the federal government controls now, and vesting them in strong federating units, will create the situation whereby resource development and wealth production will no longer be given to one large and ponderous federal centre, but will be given to a number of competing centres. What this means is that every section of Nigeria will be able develop its own homeland in its own way and make its own kind of contribution to the overall progress and prosperity of Nigeria. That means, we need to restructure our federation rationally. The capricious structure given gradually to the Nigerian federation since the 1960s, the massing of all power and resource control and development in the hands of the federal government, and the use of 36 states that are essentially impotent, dependent on federal fund allocations, and grossly expensive, has not worked and it can never work. It is a path to the economic and, ultimately, political death of Nigeria. And it needs to be changed expeditiously.

    Secondly, Nigeria must begin to invest heavily in our youths in all corners of our country.  I mean in quality education, in modern job skills training, in entrepreneurial skills training, in job ethics and business ethics training, in leadership development programmes, in business support programmes, etc. All of these should be a mandated agenda in all our states, and should be strongly shielded from infestation with partisan political germs and viruses. The objective must be that our men and women will soon rank among the world’s best modern workers, best managers, best chief executives of companies, most prolific inventors and business starters, most professional and dignified civil servants, etc.

    Thirdly, we must definitively crack the naughty problem of our infrastructures. In particular, we must zero in on electricity, and make partial, haphazard and spasmodic supply of electricity a thing of the past in all parts of our country. This will serve as an incentive to draw countless Nigerians out to scramble for, and push, a modern economic and industrial culture in our country. Centralization of electricity supply has failed our country; we need to diversify in various ways.

    Fourthly, we must create various incentive policies to encourage investment – investments by Nigerians and by foreigners, in all facets of our economy (industrial, commercial, service, agricultural, research and development, tourism, social services, real estate, etc). We must devise ways and means to attract Nigerians scattered all over the world to be part of this investment movement. And we must establish various incentives to encourage businesses in Nigeria to pursue an aggressive export orientation – to produce high quality products that can easily penetrate the most sophisticated markets in the world, and to evolve superior and efficient export management practices.

    Fifthly, we must de-emphasize politics as a means of livelihood among our ambitious citizens. We must drastically reduce the emoluments and perquisites earned in politics and public offices, shut down the unrestricted and uncontrolled access of public officials to public money, revive the public service rules and regulations that guided the handling of public money during the 1950s (rules and regulations that were destroyed by the military regimes in 1966-99), and institute enforceable limitations and controls over political and electoral expenses.

    All these will deal a heavy blow at public corruption in our country – in addition to whatever other methods the Buhari presidency may choose to use to fight corruption. To crush public corruption effectively and abidingly, we need to reform or change the pubic structures, institutions and practices that uphold public corruption in our country. Merely striking at the manifestations and culprits of public corruption at the top cannot really eliminate corruption. If it subdues corruption to some extent now, it cannot ensure that corruption will not return.

    We do not deserve to live in poverty. Our country is naturally rich in resources, and our people are ambitious, creative and pushful. The poor organization of our country, and the consequent inefficient and wasteful management of our country’s assets, and the greed and corruption that these generate among the elite of our country, are the things wrecking our country. We can change all these.

  • Sakayama at 60

    Sakayama at 60

    We were all starry-eyed boys when we entered Ahmadiyya College (now Anwar-ul Islam College), Agege, in January 1973. By the way, there were two sets in 1973; the first came in, in January and the other in September. Today, those two groups make up the Anwar-ul Islam College Agege Old Students’ Association (ACAOSA 77/78 Set), which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of our exit from that great school between December 14 and 16, this year.  Ahmadiyya, pardon me, if I continue to refer to our school by that name because that is what most of us are used to, is a Muslim boys only school and I daresay the most popular among the Ahmadiyya Group of Schools. We came in when the college was about to celebrate its 25th anniversary in April. The school will be 70 next year. We came from different backgrounds to seek knowledge, which the school was more than ready to impart to us. It was the era of sound and intelligent teachers, who knew their onions. They had no choice because they worked under a principal, Alhaji J.A. Gbadamosi aka Oga who brooked no nonsense. I write today in honour of a member of my set, Gafar Sulaiman popularly known as Sakayama, who turns 60 tomorrow. Sakayama was a toughie in those days. He has not lost his toughness even in old age. In our school days, you will only find him in the midst of hard people and where the lily livered will never venture into. Our seniors knew him to be tough and they normally dealt with him in a special way. But Sakayama was and is still fearless. He took on many seniors without fear and at times even asked some of them if they could challenge him to a fight if they met outside the school. Has Sakayama changed? Well, in some way, he has. The ‘there is nothing anybody can do to me look’ has been replaced with that of a man, who has seen a lot in life. Age is a funny thing indeed. So, Sakayama, happy birthday as you join the sexagenarian club. May you glitter as diamond as you mark your Diamond Anniversary. Gbogbo wa nbo lola o.  

  • Malami, ‘Mainagate’ and Buhari’s integrity

    Malami, ‘Mainagate’ and Buhari’s integrity

    Integrity is President Buhari’s most priceless asset. This has unfortunately come under serious threat in recent times with macabre dance among arms of state security services and the embarrassing role of Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the unfolding ‘Mainagate’. The President has maintained a dignified silence. And if the public was expecting the president to use the big stick against members of his kitchen cabinet engaged in a turf war capable of denting his image, what they got was loud silence.

    Of course we are now very familiar with the president’s style. He keeps his head when others are losing theirs. It must also be conceded to the president that as a leader that has experienced pains of defeat and suffered pangs of sorrow following betrayal by those who swear by his name during the day and engage in palace coup in a night of long knives. He understands Nigeria and Nigerians.

    As a defeated ANPP presidential candidate in 2003 and 2007, his vice presidential candidates and party chairmen were the first to abandon him while he battled PDP election riggers in courts. As a victorious APC president-elect in 2015, Saraki, Dogara with the active support of Atiku Abubakar, their godfather who crawled back to PDP last week, traded off his victory to the opposition.

    As he valiantly battled inherited decayed infrastructure and economy in recession, those who brought the nation to its knees recommended devaluation of naira in an import-dependent economy, wrote-off his minister of finance as incompetent, and canvassed for a reconstitution of an economic team to tackle the economic crisis.  Suddenly, those we all know as lawyers and human right social crusaders were on television predicting a long-drawn recession while accusing Buhari of harming the banks with the implementation of a policy that hitherto allowed banks to hold on to government funds which they give back to government as loans with high interest rate.

    And perhaps because against predictions of prophets of doom, recession ended within a year and Treasury Single Account has liberated government from being held hostage by banks that sit on government funds which they give back to government as loans with interest, Buhari has come to believe his ‘suru-lere’ (virtue in waiting patiently without doing anything) can be a substitute for governance.

    I think Nigerians want their elected government to govern. They want the president to start by first putting his own house in order.

    First, most Nigerians have come to regard the minister of justice as an embarrassment to Buhari’s government. Junaid Mohammed, who holds no hostages, describes him as “Kano charge-and-bail lawyer’. He insinuated that Malami probably has a secret agenda for embarking on an alleged ‘trip to London for a secret meeting with a fugitive minister’ and for attempting ‘through some subterranean connection to quash the fine imposed on MTN by the government regulator, the National Communications Commission”.

    If there is one area where Junaid sees eye to eye with Buhari’s government, it is on Magu’s competence and integrity in prosecuting the president’s anti-corruption war. Of Magu, he says “I believe from my heart of heart that the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC) is doing an excellent job”. Unfortunately, this is one organisation Malami and the DSS seems not to have confidence in.

    For instance, while testifying before Senator Emmanuel Paulker’s committee last week, Malami alleged “Nigerians were “blind folded” from getting answers to: What happened to the monies recovered from the syndicate?  What about the 270 properties comprising of real estate and motor vehicles one of which is a mansion worth N1 billion situated at No 42 Gang Street Maitama Abuja allegedly given to a senior lawyer meant to crave for his “buy in” in maximizing media hype aimed at distracting the attention at the public pension fraud?”

    Concluding he said “These properties are under the custody of the EFCC. The properties as we speak have been shared among top officials of the commission, friends and family members, including lawyers of the agency.”

    He made similar allegation before the Aliyu Madaki-led House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigative hearing on the disappearance, reinstatement and promotion of Maina.

    But denying all, EFCC has said “All the pension fraud assets that are in the recovered assets inventory of the commission were products of independent investigation by the EFCC, for which Maina and his cohorts had no clues. If Maina or any government official witnessed the sharing of any recovered pension assets by any official of the EFCC, they should be willing to name the official, the assets involved; when and where the ‘sharing’ took place”. And hitting Malami below the belt, it says “However, in view of the consistent display of public ignorance about the profile of recovered assets by even those who should know, it is important to state that it is impossible for anybody to share a property that is subject of interim forfeiture by court.”

    Femi Falana (SAN), respected human right crusader has also accused Malami of mischief claiming Malami was trying to malign his name for “joining other well-meaning Nigerians in calling on President Mohammadu Buhari to sanction the members of his administration who had exposed the nation to ridicule”. ‘Contrary to Mr. Malami’s claim, I never bought any property from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’, he insisted.

    While the president by his own inaction is providing ammunition to the opposition for the 2019 battle which they will likely lose on account of their baleful legacies even if Buhari contests on a wheelchair, there are however some begging questions that have to be answered before then. “The reinstatement of Maina’’ according to Malami “was done with no strings attached, based on court processes and the fact that none of the parties exercised their rights of appeal. I acted in the best interest of Nigeria, not on any individual’s interest”. How come the minister of justice was more interested in reinstating a wanted fugitive than how a wanted fugitive secured a court judgment?

    Malami claimed he got clearance from security agencies and National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno before his meeting that was arranged through a third party with Maina in Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE) where he was availed of further information on recovery drive and individuals involved. Again borrowing from Junaid Mohammed’s probing questions: In what capacity did Malami undertake this trip? Did he at the end of the suspicious trip avail EFCC, an agency he supervises and other security agencies of his findings that “pension fraud was beyond Maina, adding that a syndicate that cuts across all sectors, including serving and retired public officers, including members of the National Assembly, was involved in cornering N3.7b monthly from pension funds.’

    If he got the information that “there were over 116,000 ghost workers responsible for N829m monthly spread across 29 bank accounts”, apparently from Maina the culprit now trying to play the victim, why did he not pass the information to the appropriate body equipped to investigate instead of directing “his office to begin investigation into the pension fraud in some key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA)”? And if as he said that ‘Maina was part of the syndicate until things fell apart between them’, how does his reinstatement become ‘the larger interest of Nigerians’?

    Both the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) Winifred Eyo-Ita and the acting Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Joseph Oluremi confirmed citing the AGF letter requesting Maina to be reinstated, is Malami now the government? His actions seem to fuel the fears expressed by the president’s wife about those trying to hijack her husband’s government several months back.