The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • The Iran nuclear protocols: To be or not to be?

    After grueling negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1  namely the USA ,Russia ,Great Britain ,France ,China and the Federal Republic of Germany  an agreement was reached to prevent Iran from proceeding to build nuclear weapons while tacitly accepting Iran’s sovereign right to conduct and develop its nuclear engineering expertise. The United States as the most important power in the world and self-appointed guardian of the nuclear non- proliferation international regime was the lead negotiator. The United States in recent years has been saddled with the problem of limiting the number of countries that have become nuclear weapons states, especially following the joining of the nuclear weapons club by unstable states like Pakistan and North Korea and the possibility of these weapons falling into wrong hands precipitating their usage with worldwide ramifications.

    But the most concern is the extension of nuclear weapons arms race to the tinderbox of the Middle East where it is generally known that Israel has the weapons obviously as defence against being overrun by the hundreds of millions of Arabs who still do not recognise the right of existence of a Jewish state in the Arab Middle East .For quite some time the status quo seemed to have been the bedrock of some precarious stability in the Middle East because the Arabs were  technically far behind nuclear weapons capability; and secondly the Arabs seemed  more inclined to enjoy their petroleum-induced wealth rather than worry too much about the military imbalance in their region; thirdly, American and western influence  helped to moderate possible Arab radicalism. Egypt which remains the most important Arab country has remained in the western orbit since the death of Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser and the richest Arab country Saudi Arabia is more concerned with the stability of the monarchical regime of the kingdom than on foreign adventure, and in this regard it enjoys AMERICAN military, political and financial support.  Arab radicalism in Libya,  Iraq ,and to some extent in Syria has largely been neutralised following the so-called Arab spring uprisings and American intervention which have totally reduced those three countries to shells of their  former selves . The removal of Saddam Hussein paved the way for military superiority of Israel for a long time to come. In fact, the chaos within most of the Arab countries, even though not particularly welcome by the international community, has given the West and Israel opportunity to shape events in their own fashion.

    But the coming of non-Arab Persian Iran into the military and political equation has become a matter of serious concern in the West .This is not only in the West but also in the Arab world. Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has decided to confront the USA and Israel in the Middle East. Iran is now a major player in Iraq where it is supporting the Shia government in Baghdad and ironically for its own reasons involved in joining the USA to fight the so-called Islamic caliphate in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).. The agreement reached with Iran followed a previous agreement some six or seven months ago urging Iran not to continue  the enrichment of its nuclear fuel to weapons grade in exchange for easing of the UN imposed economic sanctions following the reluctance of Iran to permit unrestricted UN inspection of its nuclear facilities . Iran appeared to have complied with this agreement . The p5+1 then after grueling negotiation with Iran which will permit UN  unrestricted inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities including its disposal of nuclear fuel to prevent its upgrade to weapons grade agreed to recommend to the UN the lifting of all sanctions incrementally according to the speed with which Iran complies with this internationally agreed protocol. This agreement to become binding will have to be approved by the Iranian parliament and the U.S. Congress. The other powers that negotiated the agreement seemed to have said implementation will follow the signing of the agreement by Iran and the USA . Iran stands to gain a lot in trading with the rest of the world once the sanctions are lifted .And in spite of the protestations of ayatollah  Khamenei  who still sees America as an enemy ,the  Iranian parliament will ratify the deal . It will then be left to what the American congress will do

    The agreement has been subjected to unrestrained campaign by the Republican Party and even some members of the Democratic Party in spite of their man in the White House .  The Jewish lobby is very powerful in the USA .This  is also a pre election year and the agreement has unfortunately become a victim of electioneering campaign  in America . All Republicans claim that the agreement will lead to the destruction of Israel and this emotional mantra has been aided by Binyamin Netanyahu the pugnacious prime minister of Israel who against all known international norm seems to enjoy being a player in domestic American politics by openly criticizing the American president Barack Obama . One can of course appreciate Netanyahu’s concern because for Israel it is a matter of life or death. This is why the American president said AMERICAN commitment to Israeli security is absolute and that no American president will negotiate away Israel’s security. In spite of this assurance Israel remains unconvinced. Of course there are voices within Israel that supports the agreement but Netanyahu feels Iran would receive so much money from the lifting of the UN sanctions against it that it will have money to destabilise the entire Middle East and threaten the state of Israel whose existence many in Iran are opposed to.

    President Obama has argued that if at any point Iran is found not to be complying with the agreement the UN would be called upon to reimpose the sanctions.

    Israel says Iran cannot be trusted in spite of public declaration  by the Iranian government and the grand Ayatollah  Khomeini that nuclear weapons are  unislamic  and that Iran is committed to peaceful use of nuclear knowledge  .The grand ayatollah had previously issued a fatwa against Iran’s development of nuclear weapons . It is simply an impossible situation. Israel has genuine fears and if it attacks Iran, the Islamic republic will retaliate and there is no certainty that America will go to war with Iran unless Iran first attacks Israel. This is the dilemma facing Israel and it is in the interest of both Israel and Iran to moderate their rhetoric while the USA and the rest of the international community seriously finds a solution to the Palestinian problem based on two sovereign and independent states  within secure borders ,one for Israel and the other for the Palestinians . This is the cause of the interminable problem in the Middle East .The other problem of Persians and Arabs ,Shia and Sunni Muslims living together will eventually be resolved within the overarching pan Islamic religious architecture . These two issues are going to be the main foreign policy issues in the area for foreseeable time to come and it will not be solved unilaterally by Israel or Iran and the Arab states and foreign powers as patrons of one group or the other.

  • Money ruins all of us

    Money ruins many men. It impairs the moral fibre thus making the average human inhumane but that is because man often fails money. The Nigerian man in particular, fails money and so doing loses his right to lord over it and own it.

    Money, like a wild mongrel needs to be tamed. It requires firmness, chariness, deliberate conservatism and modesty of a full man to tame it, own it and control it. But that is hardly the case; many a man is owned by his money. The Nigerian man, woman and society in particular, are owned by money; that is why contemporary Nigeria worships money.

    Like fire, money becomes a bad master due to our incapacities at taming its flare and controlling it; consequently it consumes us. Money corrupts the brightest amongst us and renders the most promising man and woman worthless; it consumes all who would do anything and everything to acquire it, whatever the consequence.

    Hence the domestication of yesterday’s ‘heroes’ and corruption of the shrewd – men and women by whose citizenship and wisdom we aspired to freedom and progress have being tamed, house-trained, like hunt dogs and pastoral cattle. Eventually, we suffer the transmutation of such established, self-acclaimed defenders of the people’s rights into despicable lapdogs, attack dogs and junkyard dogs of the ruling class.

    Little wonder Sunday of Isabo, Abeokuta, Ogun State, ditched his noble job as foremost columnist and chairman of a national newspaper’s editorial board to become the attack dog and junkyard dog for President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Many of his readers and fans bemoaned his ‘betrayal’ but from Sunday’s perspective, it is unarguably selfish of anyone to expect him to cling to the drudgery and emptiness of his former job and scorn a-chance-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of Nigeria’s high-society be it as errand boy or disposable ‘bingo.’

    Who would have thought that the unrepentant critic of inept and oppressive ruling class would dump his pen and cape of honour to become an attack dog for the ruling class that erstwhile incited his vitriol? Today, Sunday is speaking from every side of his mouth; having patrolled Aso Rock corridors as the greyhound would the premises of its master, he has beaten a retreat at the ouster of his master to hibernate in safe haven abroad . It must have been lucrative being an errand dog.

    In Sunday’s descent subsists the irony of a contrived metaphor; the former columnist’s desertion of his sanctimonious high ground and renunciation of his self-touted activism and crusade for justice, government accountability and morality aptly illustrates contemporary Nigeria’s self-love and enslavement to mammon.

    An inordinate lust for money drives this generation to self-destruct. Having perverted the natural order that places man above money, the animate cowers to the inanimate; Nigeria submits to mammon, and science, technology, power, property and other bastions of materialism own and controls us. The consequences are rampant and discernible for all to see.

    Our lust for money has put paid to that staunch historic adherence to a cultural value system that supposedly distinguishes the Nigerian in the larger comity of nations and universal citizenship. Gone are our touted values; incontestable code of personal and societal ethics that supposedly humanizes the average Nigerian and moulds him into a fuller and better breed of mankind than any other in Africa and across continental divides.

    The current generation, the youth especially, manifests a dissonance with future bliss and progressive leadership anticipated of it. This generation is not only the most knavish but also the most effeminate of all generations; I will not bother over the shortcomings and atrocities we inherited from preceding generations lest I tow the oft beaten path and glamourize our claims to victimhood and base sentimentality. If the Nigeria we inherited is truly shorn of values and promises of a brighter tomorrow, must we aggravate the circumstances that foist upon us such hopelessness?

    One of the most curious kinks of this generation is its sustenance and obeisance to the cult of the ruling class. Take the immediate past administration of former President Jonathan for instance; men and women that erstwhile professed to champion the people’s rights united to defend Jonathan’s honour and justify defiantly, the unceasing ineptitude and mindlessness of his administration.

    They conveniently forgot that the administration’s insensitivity, clumsiness and gluttony cost Nigeria thousands of lives. Evidences of the government’s incompetence and tactlessness abound in its appointment of men and women unfit to run a roast corn kiosk to man the nation’s finance, aviation, health, defense, foreign affairs, education, works and housing ministries to mention a few. Inefficiency of such characters fostered corruption, violence and deaths across the country.

    This anomaly incited harsh criticisms and disillusionment among the citizenry, however, as had always been the case, the leading critics took no part in the pursuit and actualization of majority will beyond lip service; nonetheless they proceeded with the most vulgar extravagances courting power and projecting it, irrespective of the nature of men and women that wielded it.

    It is incontestable that many of such men, including the former president’s media attack dogs, attracted to themselves much that bespoke psychosis and common crime. Like the minority that paraded themselves as the former president’s apologists, they cackled like a coven of unbalanced enthusiasts that saw every illicit and sentimental act of bestiality as cause for political theatrics and hysterical spinning.

    Renowned turncoats like Sunday of Isabo for instance, were very useful to the ruling class; wobbly in intellect and infinitely handicapped by greed, they repeatedly paraded themselves as pirates amenable to crimes and accessible to venal enterprise. These purchasable characters eventually shed their pretensions to heroism and honour to unite with the ruling class in its savage war against the citizenry.

    We have fought many wars in Nigeria; wars for Biafra and Niger Delta, the ongoing war for and against the soul of the Northeast currently asphyxiating in the grip of terrorist sect, Boko Haram; these wars are ultimately triggered by our failures with money and its innumerable material vestiges. Yet these wars are never enough; every day, we embroil in fresh wars for self-actualization but the wars of the underdog, Nigeria’s impoverished lot, has a greater significance than all of the others.

    This daily battle for the soul and survival of the struggling working class and barely existent middle class is merely an episode of the universal war that constitutes the true nature of humanity and history of the world—the war of good against evil, ruling class against working class, the haves against the have-nots.

    These wars however, are lost on all fronts even before the masses march on to the battle field every day. This is a consequence of the knavery of men entrusted to serve as our moral sentinels, custodians of culture, value and hope for a brighter tomorrow. These men, contrary to their touted crusades in the interest of the citizenry, unconscionably mutate into more savage destroyers of hope and forms of life than the ruling class they were known to despise. But rather than call them out for the savages and murderers of hope that they have become, the Nigerian masses continually rationalize their betrayal arguing that they were only being smart. Perfidy and greed thus become noble enterprise in the Nigeria of our dreams.

     

    • To be continued…
  • On the Abuja Centenary Legacy City Project

    On the Abuja Centenary Legacy City Project

    It is the season of daily media reports about shocking frauds, financial scams and massive corruption in Nigeria, uncovered since the change of government in May. Last week, the public was jolted by a claim from a Mr. Cairo Ojougboh, a little known public figure, though the former chairman of the Nigerian (Free) Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), that due process was not followed by the Centenary City PLC in acquiring a large chunk of land for developing its proposed Legacy Centenary City project in Abuja.

    Specifically, he named the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Pius Anyim, as being behind the project and claimed that he had abused his office as the SGF in improperly securing the land for the project, as well as in getting the approval of the authorities of the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) for the entire project estimated to cost over US$18 billion. In response, the sponsors of the project claimed that it is a PPP project, and that it is being funded by contributions from 15 developers from the USA, the UAE, and some Nigerians. So far, none of the shareholders has been publicly named or identified either by Mr. Ojougboh, or the Centenary City PLC.

     I was, at first, quite sceptical of Mr. Ojougboh’s allegations against Senator Anyim on this matter. I just could not believe it is possible, even with our famed public corruption that such a heist as the Legacy City Project could be pulled off by a public officer, no matter how powerful he is. But now, I have just read an advertorial placed on page 44 of this paper on Monday, August 24, by the management of Centenary City PLC, the sponsors of the so-called Abuja City Centenary Legacy Project. It was their first public attempt to fully refute any allegations of wrongdoing by either the Centenary City PLC, or by Senator Anyim, as claimed by Mr. Ojougboh over the project. I should say I was almost persuaded by the strong case made in its own defence and of the project by the management of the Centenary City PLC. Their defence basically is that this is a public and private sector project, that due process was followed in acquiring the land from the FCT, that no public funds were involved in any way in the project, and that it was in the public interest. But, even if these claims by the sponsors are true, there are a lot of ethical and moral issues raised by the manner in which the project was conceived. These moral issues are quite disturbing and require further reflections on the whole matter.

     Is it morally justified that such a large chunk of valuable land in Abuja, the nation’s capital, should have been handed over, for whatever reasons, to so-called private developers? Can this be validly held to be in the national interest? Is this not a case, again, of the rich, whether Nigerians, or foreigners, grabbing potentially valuable land from the poor for the benefit of the rich, a regrettable and disturbing trend that is growing in our country, and that should be of public concern?

     I had, last year, written extensively in my column in this paper criticising the idea of an elaborate celebration of the centenary, an event in Nigeria’s history that is best forgotten. If the Federal Government decided, despite strong and widespread public criticism, on marking the centenary of Lugard’s amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, why was the idea of the so-called Legacy City preferred to other options that could have been more beneficial to the nation? Even if it is a private sector initiative, are there not many other sectors of the economy, particularly energy and public transportation, crying for investment that would have been more beneficial to the public? Was the idea of an Abuja Legacy City, with its planned huge financial investments, not preferred to others because it offered people in power, such as Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the former SGF, who claims to have coordinated the celebrations, ample opportunity for graft? Who were those behind the decision to build the Legacy City? And why should such a large chunk of land in Abuja, a national asset, be handed over to a so-called private company for the development of an exclusive city, the social benefit of which is not so apparent? And who are the shadowy members of the Board of this secretive company? Why can’t the sponsors of the project reveal their identities? It is a matter of public interest. The public is entitled to know who are behind it all. We need to know those who made the cash calls from which N1.2 billion was allegedly raised to compensate the original owners of the land, as well as the US$18 billion proposed for the project. And was the compensation offered to the indigenous owners of the land in question reasonable, prompt and adequate? How much was paid to the FCT for the land in question? These are legitimate questions begging for answers.

      We are reminded of a similar land grab by Jonathan, the former President, near the airports in Abuja that was originally intended for the development of the aviation industry in Abuja. Is this not a replication of the failure of judgment by Jonathan in the land grab that caused such a public furore in the country? And did Jonathan not feel obliged to turn a blind eye to the deal because of his own Abuja land grab? The fact of the matter is that such a land grab of a valuable national asset in the nation’s capital, or anywhere else for that matter, is outrageous and should, in no circumstances, be tolerated or accepted by the public. I find it morally repugnant as it is not in the public interest. Even if it is fully and finally developed, which I doubt in present circumstances, it is bound to be socially divisive as questions will continue to be asked in future about its ethical and moral perspectives. If the sponsors of the project decide not to go ahead with it for financial and other reasons, who takes over their assets including the Abuja land? Your guess is as good as mine.

    Secondly, the man at the centre of the project, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, admits that he coordinated activities marking the centenary celebrations, including the Legacy City Project. Why should he have been given such wide powers by the Jonathan PDP federal government? Was he solely in charge of the Legacy Project, or were other ministers involved in the transactions? Were the federal Attorney-General, Finance Minister and the Minister of Trade and Investments asked for advice on such a massive project? If they were not, then there is something fundamentally remiss about the manner in which the project was conceived and executed. In fact, in view of its national importance and possible negative physical effect on Abuja, such a project should not have been conceived and approved without a referendum, as would have been the case in other civilised climes. Abuja is our collective national patrimony. Any departure from its original master plan should be thoroughly debated first before any alteration to it. The big, rich land grabbers have already succeeded in distorting and changing the Abuja master plan. It is now over built and no longer the beautiful city it was supposed to be. Clusters of slums are now growing around Abuja. Those who support Anyim in this matter will argue that he acted in good faith even if his judgment and his role in the sordid matter can be called into question. But this can only be established by a thorough investigation into the manner such a vast track of land was acquired by private individuals in our capital city where there will soon be an acute shortage of land.

    The Eko Atlantic City in Lagos with which it is being wrongly compared by its sponsors is totally different from the Abuja Legacy City. First, most of the land in respect of the Atlantic City is land reclaimed by its sponsors from the sea. A lot of investment went into that venture. What investment have the sponsors of the Abuja Legacy City made in the Abuja land they have grabbed? Besides, unlike the Eko City project, the Abuja land grabbed for the proposed Legacy City is a national asset. This and Jonathan’s land grab in Abuja should be thoroughly investigated and the land grabbed should be revoked and recovered from them. We cannot afford to have people placed in a position of trust and responsibility, such as the SGF, grabbing public land, or aiding other private individuals to do so. It is clearly an abuse of trust and power about which President Buhari should do something.

    Over the years, the position of the SGF has become too powerful. That was not the case when civil servants, with all their faults, held the post which, for a long time, was held along with the post of Head of the Federal Civil Service. For all practical purposes, the SGF is now like an unelected prime minister, more powerful than the ministers. It is he who coordinates the activities of all the ministers, many of whom are denied direct access to the President, as all important official documents pass through him. I believe it is time to review the position and powers of the SGF so as to avoid its abuse as in this land grab case. As is becoming clearer with recent revelations, ex-President Jonathan did not really know much about what was happening in his government. He only saw and heard what his ministers and the SGF wanted him to know. This does not exonerate him from ultimate responsibility for the chaotic financial situation he left behind in the country. But he was not really on top of his government the way Obasanjo would have been. Despite his many faults, President Obasanjo would almost certainly not have endorsed the idea of a Legacy City of the kind planned for Abuja.

  • Kabiyesi Okunade Sijuwade Waja, Erin wo ajanaku sun bi oke (2)

    When Okunade Sijuade became the Ooni he was well-prepared for the throne following in the footsteps of the great Ooni Sir Adesoji Aderemi who was at a time the Governor of Western Nigeria  and who  had earlier on used his considerable influence  in 1951 to sell the then new Action Group to the Yoruba people who had been supporters of the Herbert Macaulay-led NCNC .

    Oba Sijuwade’s grandfather, Olubuse1, was on the throne when the British took over Ife.  And unlike some Yoruba kingdoms, Ife did not insist a prince must have been born while his father was on the throne (Omo ori ite). In Benin, the Edaiken of Uselu (heir apparent) being the first son normally takes over when his father passes on. In Ife, one must come from one of the ruling houses apparently not sequentially.

    Kabiyesi Okunade Sijuwade brought glory to the throne using his contacts and charm all over the world to spread the glory and civilisation of the Yoruba, particularly in South America and the Caribbean, most especially in Cuba, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago where there exists substantial Yoruba Diaspora as well in the West African states of Benin Togo and Ghana.

    Okunade Sijuwade was a bridge builder in Nigeria and his close relationship with Alhaji Ado Bayero and later with the Obi of Onitsha is too well known to be dwelt upon here. His relationship with the Oba of Benin was a bit prickly apparently because of the old age of the Benin monarch and the pressure on him not to accept any notion of subservience of Benin to Ife.  Kabiyesi was also very close to the Igbinedion family, having been of great help in the business growth of the Esama of Benin. This close rapport with the Esama may not have been favourably regarded in the palace. Kabiyesi nevertheless held his Benin son, as he called the Oba of Benin, in great respect; and in spite of his rather cold relations with the Alaafin of Oyo, he tried to get on as well as he could. Many people stoked the fire of discord between Iku Baba yeye  Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi and Onirinsa  Okunade Sijuwade;  but the two, in spite of occasional public sniping at each  other, continued to  maintain  reasonable and correct relationship.

    The Ooni was a thoroughly modern ruler, some may say too modern for a traditional throne. The question is at what point modernisation becomes destructive of the old order rooted in mystery and mysticism. Some critics of Yoruba Obas say the institution is suffering from overexposure and that the institution is becoming too familiar and that they are many times seen at public gatherings including parties. Ordinarily, Yoruba Obas do not eat in public or should not eat in public. But in these days of thoroughly modern traditional rulers, not just in Yoruba land but all over Nigeria, it is becoming difficult to put traditional rulers in some kind of cultural straightjacket. But at the same time we cannot afford to sacrifice the institution on the altar of modernity.

    People point to the Bini monarchy’s aloofness and its hidden isolation from the public is greatly admired by many people who admire African tradition. I remember some years ago, precisely in 1991; as a new ambassador to Germany, I went with some colleagues to the Emir of Kano Ado Bayero who was a close associate and bosom friend of Ooni Okunade Sijuwade, for a familiarisation tour.. The Emir, having served previously as ambassador to Senegal before becoming the Emir, was very happy to see us as colleagues, wanted to chat with us and wanted to shake hands with all of us.  When it was the turn of Ambassador Subeiru Kazaure to greet the Emir, he refused to allow the Emir to shake his hand. The revered Emir got the message and he stopped shaking the hands of the rest of us.  When I remember this episode, I think the Emir was right because when our rulers become too familiar we may no longer hold them in awe as we should do.

    This problem is global. Even the European monarchies are struggling to be both popular and remote. The Japanese and the Thai monarchies are like the Bini monarchy in their remoteness. I would like the Yoruba Obas not to be seen everywhere and to be a little remote but not totally cut off from the people they are ruling over. To strike a balance will be a problem but the current familiarity would have to be reduced in order to preserve the sanctity of the monarchical institution.

    On a personal level, the transition of Kabiyesi Okunade Sijuwade, Olubushe11, is a great loss. I used to see him visit Chief Oduola Osuntokun in the 1950s and 1960s in Ibadan. Chief Osuntokun himself being young related well with the young prince from Ife. He was introduced to him by another Prince of Ife Ademiluyi who served as parliamentary secretary to my brother who was at one time or the other minister of Finance, Lands and Housing, Health and Social Welfare and lastly Education in a long parliamentary and ministerial career spanning the years 1951 to 1966.  When Chief Osuntokun left Ibadan, Prince Okunade Sijuwade, now Ooni of Ife, transferred his affection  to my most celebrated and cerebral brother Professor Kayode Osuntokun.

    I remember when our mother died in 1985 the Ooni sent a large sum of money to Professor Kayode Osuntokun as assistance towards burial expenses and also the royal staff of office as a mark of respect for the dead.

    Since my brothers passed on, he has been very affectionate to me, sending for me and others to advise him on national politics.  I remember his asking me to draft a speech for him which he delivered when General  Abacha  drafted him to chair an advisory committee of traditional rulers. He again once called the late Professor Kunle Olusanya and myself in the presence of the late Professor Saburi Biobaku to intervene and intercede on our behalf when the late Professor Omotola the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos was giving us a hard time after we were hurriedly recalled from France and Germany respectively by General Abacha in his onslaught on the Yoruba people who were considered enemies of his regime.

    The last honour he did to me was attending my 70th birthday and giving me unforgettable gifts. It is, therefore, obvious that I lost a brother and a father just as Yoruba people lost a symbol of unity. My greatest regret is that as Bapitan of Oyo I never tried to reconcile both the Ooni and the  Alaafin because  I felt the division between the two was so deep-rooted and  was like a riddle and a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.

  • Buhari must initiate process for dealing with Nigeria’s fundamental problem

    I applaud President Buhari’s courageous and focused assault on the hideous evil of corruption. I believe that if he succeeds with it, he would give our country some moral strength and a fair chance to return to the path of socio-economic progress.

    But that is not all that our country needs. Our country’s most important need is to find ways to be a stable country – to find ways to make our hundreds of nationalities live together in reasonable harmony as members of one country. It can be done. Many multi-nation countries like ours – such as India, Switzerland, Britain in its own way, and others – have done it or are doing it with reasonable degrees of success. Without finding a reasonably broadly acceptable solution to this problem, we are not likely ever to make Nigeria a stable country; in fact, we doom our country to continued instability, conflicts and probable ultimate break-up. President Buhari is the President of Change and Hope that Nigeria has long needed and desired. He must not continue to appear to be unaware of, or to be ignoring, or to be evading, this fundamental problem.

    This fundamental problem is not peculiar to Nigeria; it is common to virtually all Black African countries. And it is because no Black African country has found a broadly acceptable solution to it that virtually all Black African countries are forever going through turmoil and conflicts. And the reason no African country has found a solution to it is that African leaders, in general, do not accept fact as fact concerning this problem and deal with it as reasonable humans should.

    The root of this fundamental problem is that Black Africa is peculiarly a land of mostly small nationalities. After its three largest nationalities (the Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo of Nigeria) and a few sizeable ones, the remaining thousands of Black Africa’s nationalities are very small – many not more than a few hundreds of thousands, or even only tens of thousands, in population.

    With this minute ethno-linguistic fragmentation of the Black African sub-continent, virtually every Black African country of our times comprises tens of nationalities. Nigeria, the largest in population, with some 170 million people, has over 300 nationalities – of which the three largest share about 130 million.  Clearly, over 100 of Nigerian nationalities have populations of only a few hundred thousand or even less each. The small Republic of Benin next door, with a population of about eight million, is home to about 40 nationalities. Tanzania, with a population of about 38 million people, has about 120 nationalities.

    Therefore, no matter how Black Africa had organised itself into new modern countries at the beginning of the last century, this fundamental problem would have been indeed a difficult reality to handle – since almost all countries would have needed to contain many nationalities. But, in fact, and unfortunately, Black Africa’s organisation into our modern countries actually happened in the worst way imaginable. It happened through conquest, control and direction by European imperialists who had no respect whatsoever for Black African peoples. In the process, these European imperialists compounded and confounded Black Africa’s fundamental problem. They twisted and mangled this problem, and now it is a tenacious nightmare for all the countries, and all the peoples, of Black Africa. Approaching African peoples with deep disrespect, the European creators of our modern countries simply trampled down our various nationalities, cut boundaries through the homelands of countless nationalities, and created new countries in such ways as to make room for little or no likelihood of cohesion or stability ever.

    To convey some picture of this sordid disrespect, let’s quote statements of two participants in the creation of our countries. In 1884-5, representatives of leading European countries met in Berlin in Germany to share Africa among them. One of those representatives later wrote: “We have been engaged in drawing lines on maps where no white man’s foot has ever trod; we have been giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to each other, only hindered by the small impediment that we have never known where the rivers and lakes and mountains were”. One British official who took part in creating the eastern boundaries of Nigeria wrote later: “In those days, we just took a blue pencil and ruler, and we put it down at Old Calabar, and drew that blue line to Yola. I recollect thinking when I was sitting having an audience with the Emir (of Yola) surrounded by his tribe, that it was a very good thing that he did not know that I, with a blue pencil, had drawn a line through his territory”.

    That is the ignorant, disrespectful and shoddy manner in which our country, Nigeria, was created – and in which all other countries of Black Africa were created. That is also the ignorant and disrespectful manner in which the internal boundaries of our Nigeria were created. When we feel like making noises about our Nigeria or about our North, or whatever, we need to remind ourselves of these sorry pictures. Starkly put, our country and its international and internal colonial boundaries are one package of ignorant and presumptuous errors. They are a package of wounds that still pain many of our nationalities.

    This does not mean, of course, that Nigeria is impossible to keep together and to build into a successful country. What it does mean, however, is that those who manage the affairs of Nigeria must keep consciously aware of the fundamental realities of the country we call Nigeria. It means that we must consciously nurture a culture of respect for every nationality, large or small. It means that we must be committed to a true federation, and to a federal structure and order based on respect for our nationalities. With these, we can make success of Nigeria; without them, we cannot. President Buhari needs to show that he knows these things.

    President Buhari must show that he knows what is known by a total foreigner like Elliot P. Skinner who wrote, “African countries will continue to be racked by conflicts unless leaders agree about how to govern their multi-faceted nation-states and how to distribute their economic resources equitably. Without compromise that would ensure “ethnic justice”, neither so-called “liberal democracy” nor any other species of government will succeed in Africa”.

    In short, no matter what else we do, no matter how successfully we suppress corruption under Buhari’s leadership, we still must provide a broadly acceptable solution to the fundamental problem created by the fact that our country is a country of hundreds of different ancient nationalities. To make a success of Nigeria at all, we must provide solutions acceptable to our various nationalities.

    Some of our most prominent citizens think that the answer to this enormous problem is to keep asking us Nigerians to think of ourselves only as Nigerians and cease thinking of ourselves as Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa-Fulani, Ibibio, Igbo, Kanuri, etc. Some think it is something worthy of pride to keep telling us that they see themselves as Nigerian leaders only and detest being seen as leaders among their own nationalities. It does not amount to a solution.

  • In defence of my Archbishop

    Archbishop Mathew Hassan Kukah has been under severe stress and strain these past weeks.  His role, agenda as well as the motive of the peace group he empanelled have come under deep scrutiny. His view as a cleric who daily seeks forgiveness of sins, no matter how grave, that Jonathan’s act of conceding defeat must be appreciated even if he stole all the monies in the world has been described as ‘dishonest’ by thePunch newspapers because  it ‘raises larger questions about our moral values’. Osita Okechukwu of CNPP has described Kukah’s argument as ‘subtle blackmail’.

    A prominent member of his peace group, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar has distanced himself from Kukah’s call for remission of punishment. The Congregation of Catholic Bishops has pitched its tent with Buhari. His other platform that was expected to be more sympathetic has turned itself into an intellectual lynch mob. Yet the only weakness of this Nigerian patriot is his passion for the country. This he has abundantly demonstrated in the last few years by serving selflessly in various ad hoc committees set up to address the ‘Nigerian question’, starting with the Oputa Panel .

    Kukah is a cleric greatly misunderstood.  Having taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Kukah cannot be seen as supporting corrupt practices. For him, “We all must defeat the ogre of corruption which has consumed our past, destroyed our present and threatens our future.” He, however, believes ‘corruption is a symptom of our semi-primitive state of existence which can only be defeated by development and not by threats, moral exhortations or lachrymal denunciations but by adopting scientific skills; an understanding of the causative factors’. And here, he does not speak as a cleric. ”I consider myself a public intellectual”, he says, “My job is to stir the hornet’s nest, generating new ideas and pointing the way forward.  I make mistakes; my views are not gospel and people are free and welcome to nourish me with new ideas.”

    If he, therefore, says, “Nigerians must have heroes and heroines; people whose names will inspire some awe, not because they are saints but because of what they have done,” he is speaking as a stakeholder in the Nigeria project. And if for him, Jonathan, like all our surviving leaders who many have accused of betraying our nation, fits the bill, he is not asking anyone to swallow his prejudices which are likely going to be coloured by his accident of being a member of an oppressed minority ethnic group that has for years fought for self- actualization and membership of a persecuted minority religion. Above all, Kukah’s critics must be told he is protected by our federal system which as a social philosophy strives to liberate individual and groups from the tyranny of the state.

    With the above clarification, we can go back to Kukah’s thesis. First he says ‘corruption is a factor of underdevelopment in Africa’. But so is leadership. We cannot separate leadership from crisis of underdevelopment which manifests in various forms.  I am not sure if any of our leaders, including the incumbent President Buhari whose first policy statement is fighting corruption at the LGA when there is no known federation where the centre usurps the functions of states and local governments, has sincerely articulated our crisis of nationhood.

    We must ask ourselves why our past leaders behaved like foreign conquerors with little faith in our nation. In four years, 1979-1983, Shagari’s NPN administration frittered away all the foreign reserve left behind by Obasanjo in 1979. The economy collapsed while his NPN wheelers and dealers became intoxicated with specially branded imported “Akinloye Champagne’ to wash down their profligate consumption.

    Buhari came in on a rescue mission rejecting IMF liberalisation dose and insisted Nigerians will not eat grain until they produced their own grain. Babangida sent him to detention, embraced IMF liberalisation, paving the way for the collapse of our budding industries, today’s N1b daily importation of grains, and exchange rate of about N2 to $1 to today N212 to $1. And in an act of betrayal of our nation, he went on to annul the most credible election in our nation’s history. Abdulsalami Abubakar is tarred by the inexplicable death of MKO Abiola in his custody on the eve of his expected release after serving his expected four-year presidency in detention instead of presidential palace desecrated by Abacha. Shonekan who neither contested nor won an election was an impostor used by crafty Babangida to supplant MKO Abiola, his fellow Egba.

    Obasanjo has publicly admitted tampering with the democratic process in 1979, imposition of Yar Adua in 2007 and Jonathan in 2011. He has been accused of presiding over the worst-conducted presidential election in our nation’s history in 2007. Statesmen are not leaders who exploit ethnic and religious fears of citizens for personal gains but those who demonstrated their faith in their nations through selfless service.

    We similarly have no evidence to support Kukah’s unrestrained declaration that “Jonathan will be remembered as a great Nigerian statesman who put God and nation first”. Not many will see promoting religious intolerance by moving from church to synagogue in Nigeria, from Jerusalem to Nazareth and to Rome with indicted government officials and governors without character and using every opportunity to exploit our ethnic divisions for electoral victory, as evidence of putting the nation first.

    Kukah also wants the nation to treat Jonathan well so as not to “give excuse to those African leaders who want to go to their grave from the throne bringing shame to Africa and diminishing their people, breeding hatred and war by their greed.” Here also, Kukah seems to suffer from selective perception.  We find no evidence to show Jonathan conceded defeat out of altruism. What we know is that Jonathan who played Dr Okwelieze Nwodo against Vincent Ogbulafor to immorally secure the PDP ticket in 2010, outwitted the northern states’ governors as well as his godfather he later dismissed as ‘Motor Park tout’, is a very resourceful politician. He had undermined the credibility of the military by involving them in “Ekitigate’, Osun pacification and in shifting the date of the election to buy time. He had frittered away the goodwill of the people by allegedly funding TAM led by those EFCC had questioned over the N1.7t fuel subsidy scam to assault Nigerians with lies.

    Besides pressure from the international community, Obasanjo, Jonathan’s estranged godfather has become his nemesis. With Elder Orubebe’s theatrics after he had lost the election in four of the nation’s six geo-political zones, he was smart enough to concede defeat without first consulting PDP wheelers and dealers that he claimed had caged him. He sensed if he had done otherwise and violence broke out, he would have ended up in The Hague just like Gbagbo.

  • The Buhari magic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

     Chibok girls: 500 days on

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

  • Babatunde Fashola as the APC’s broken idol (1)

    The All Progressives Congress (APC)’s mantra of ‘Change’ flaunts a supreme theme: that of the remarkable radical – or reformer if you like. Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos State, impressively rose to become the poster-icon of the ‘Change’ movement. In APC-speak, he actualised the development master plan facilitated by his predecessor, Bola Tinubu, a two-time governor of Lagos State and leader of the APC. Fashola soon became the worst nightmare of Lagos’ brutish crowd. Parts of the coastal city that erstwhile listed like a vessel bearing the coastal city’s rejects cum worst elements, cleared out to the purge of Cyclone-Fashola. Oshodi for instance, pulsated in the throes of the brilliantly rigged catharsis – a paroxysm that rid the transit township of the city’s worst’s elements, to birth an enchanting vista of change. Lagos had a no-nonsense governor. There was bound to be change. There was.

    Armed robberies, the Ebola scare, impunity of Lagos motorists, educational hiccups, dwindling revenue and infrastructural collapse were some of the maladies Fashola faced and tackled with admirable zeal. Large segments of the citizenry were of course, appreciative and enthusiastic of his radical and transformational style of governance, despite its shortcomings. Fashola thus enjoyed the resounding applause of a turbulence-weary citizenry that earnestly acknowledged his significant contributions to the progress of the coastal city.

    Citing Fashola’s achievements among others, the APC campaigned for its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and Lagos governorship candidate, Akinwumi Ambode, before an increasingly critical Lagos electorate. While the APC campaigned, Fashola was a sight to behold; memorable punch lines and poetic depiction of facts and pro-APC slogans leapt from his mouth to persuade and titillate the consciousness of a wary and increasingly critical electorate. The responses were habitually awesome, particularly when platitudes meshed with facts to substantiate the party’s promising imagery of change.

    The polls took place and the APC’s candidates emerged victorious with the party claiming gubernatorial victories in 22 of Nigeria’s 36 states. The party was ecstatic; the future seemed promising for the new power bloc. But like Ola Rotimi would say, “Joy has a slender body that breaks too soon.” So does change. If anything, the APC’s much hyped change suffers the affliction of prodigal vigour, in Lagos State to be precise.

    Fashola, the APC’s prodigious prince of change soon evolved to become primping peacock in the estimation of certain interests within the party. Scandalous snippets of a ‘progressive’ rebellion drifted from the party’s circuits, spilling beyond its ideological walls and sullying its promise of change. In the ensuing drama, Fashola is serially pitched against Tinubu, the man widely acknowledged as his benefactor and mastermind of his ascension to power and political acclaim. But like his staunch loyalists would say, Fashola rode to acclaim on the wings of his excellent performance as Chief of Staff in Tinubu’s cabinet and two-time governor of Lagos State.

    “Therefore, asking him to man the driver’s seat was arguably on merit…Those who settled for him knew they merely gambled for obvious selfish extrapolations,” reads a recent diatribe against the political machinery that produced Fashola. The article, titled, “Fashola’s indestructible record,” makes an interesting read on web and social media.

    This comes in the wake of the former governor’s rebuttal by a press release, of what he considers “manipulated and unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing.” According to his statement, “They range from allegations of extramarital paternity of children, to mundane and phantom conspiracy in the National Assembly, a debt profile for Lagos State and lately a website upgrade contract of N78 million, which is being distorted.”

    All is clearly not well with the APC’s golden boy. But he keeps an appearance of calm anyway, like a bejeweled idol, exulting, self-intoxicated in the electric moment before lightning strikes. Lightning struck the former governor recently as the APC’s top hierarchy and all its prominent governors stayed away from his recent book launch thus leaving him severely shaken and bereft of spunk.

    The APC’s golden boy has lost his fabled swagger and equilibrium, what is left is a feeble  attempt at valour, a necessary performance of will. But how did things degenerate to this point?

    Are the rumours about him unfounded or is his recent rebuttal of the allegations a frantic quest for empathy and recapitulation of facts? Various unprintable stories pervade the social media and junk online publications. If his rumoured spat with Tinubu is indeed true, are the several versions of the truth worth acknowledgment? Has Fashola fallen to hubris or a chthonian overflow of the elements that entwine the fate of every promising politician?

    There is no gainsaying he performed remarkably in certain areas of governance; Fashola no doubt deserves the applause he earned. However, contrary to the sentimental drivel of his army of self-confessed loyalists, Fashola hardly qualifies for a Messianic status. He is a leader still in process. But the former Lagos governor, sadly, is entangled in the designs of self-seeking characters around him. The latter spiritedly ply him with earned and unearned plaudits as a practiced lecher plies a starry-eyed maiden with exaggerated flattery. Like the proverbial maiden, they draw him into a maenadic dance of death. Not mortal death per se but the demise of his legend even before the exhaustion of its prologue.

    Fashola is very much alive but the golden boy of APC dies by the sedition of his own fable; the intelligible momentarily loses to the irrational, manifested as a fiery ego, an army of intellectual thugs and habitual fops gratuitously fostered by an innate lust for acclaim. The APC’s golden boy, trapped by his tar-baby loyalists and burdensome ego thus mutates into a crusted corpse in the party’s garden of change.

    The impending crisis may be averted once affected parties agree to sheathe their swords and rein in their attack dogs. It was hypocritical of camp Fashola to claim that he was appointed Chief of Staff to imbue the administration he served with credibility. If Fashola was truly a man of integrity, he’d steer clear any political environment that could sully his name and dignity.

    It is an open secret Fashola would never have emerged Chief of Staff and proceed to become governor had he not soared on the platform of the one (s) who his attack-dogs claimed “merely gambled for obvious selfish extrapolations” by choosing him – whatever that was intended to mean.

    Truth is, Fashola became governor because Tinubu took notice of him and enabled him.

    As governor, he did what he was paid to do. And he was handsomely rewarded for being governor too. Fashola did Lagos no favour, he was simply doing his job as governor. Lagos however, did him great favour by allowing him serve despite the fierce antagonism initially accorded his candidature by interests allegedly in disagreement with Tinubu’s belief in him. Nonetheless Lagos appreciates Fashola but if he erred in his duty as governor, the law will make him pay. If not, he will experience the karmic onslaughts of the universe.

    Those that pushed Fashola to rebel, goading him with sophistry and sycophantic allusions to his invincibility are urging him to his doom. In time, Fashola will learn that they simply see him and his estranged benefactor as meal tickets, projects to be exploited and profited from. It’s about time he extricated himself from the vicious grip of sycophant journalists, politicians and so on, deviously urging him to his end, in pursuit of their own meals. Tinubu is already yoked to such mad men and specialists in greed – but he seems to have mastered the art of navigating through the folds of their treacherous ways. Fashola should simply mend fences with Tinubu and retire to his law practice for a while. He would be stunned to see his self-confessed army of loyalists disperse to realign with fresh ‘projects’ or mugus to fleece.

     

    • To be continued…
  • Where are they now? (II)

    Where are they now? (II)

    Let me start with a clarification. Last week’s installment of this column was not meant to slight or degrade anybody. Far from it. Nor was it meant to be a naked exhibition of crass ingratitude to those men and women who served this country – or got served so well – to the best of their abilities.

    Many readers felt I left out some former public officials and their associates, those men and women who played major roles in our lives before the wind of change that tore through the land uprooted them and swept them out of public gaze. My apologies. And now some amendments.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has not, contrary to predictions, settled down to write his memoirs. Neither has he returned to Otuoke to take up the age-old family business of canoe – building, giving it some presidential touch . Rather, His Excellency has embarked on his long overdue holidays. Not even the crisis that is threatening the Bayelsa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would be a distraction.

    The other day he was seen at an airport in Europe admiring a set of twins. Just last week, he flew in style to Kenya with his family in two chartered jets, like a Hollywood star. The way Dr Jonathan leapt off the aircraft, one would have mistaken him for an athlete who is set for a major race.

    Gone is the long Niger Delta dress with chains and buttons glittering like a veteran soldier’s medals and the Fedora cap.   He was in town to see the games reserves. Now, we have been let into another passion of our former leader – he loves wild animals.

    Just before then, Jonathan had paid a secret visit to the Presidential Villa where, according to sources, he asked President Muhammadu Buhari to take it easy with his associates and former ministers. Needless to say, it was learnt, he got a standard reply – that the anti-corruption war was just gathering steam, it would not be a witch-hunt and only the guilty needed to fear. Chikena!

    Femi “loud mouth” Olukayode, the one we used to know and address as Femi Fani- Kayode, has since got off the hook in the money laundering charges slammed on him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He acknowledged the fact that God’s favour saw him through. In appreciation of this, he changed his name to Olukayode. Now many are asking: what’s in a name? Has the man who lied that Buhari did not go to school and concocted a fake medical report of the then presidential candidate changed?

    A few days ago, the former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign was in the news again – for questioning the paternity of three girls who he was said to have fathered. He, so goes the salacious story, had been asking that the girls from his estranged woman, Yemisi, daughter of a former Lagos judge, should undergo a paternity test.

    With the EFCC issue behind him and nobody ready to hire a propagandist now, Fani-Kayode–Oh! sorry about the slip –  Olukayode has enough time to straighten his private affairs, details of which will not be published here, this being a family newspaper. But, there is some good news, Olukayode has found love again – he is head over heels with a former beauty queen, Precious Chikwendu. If all goes well, the fourth marriage will soon be consummated.

    Little has been heard from Dr Doyin Okupe, the former presidential aide, since the May 29 shellacking. There have been stories of how the medical doctor-turned- politician diverted into property business in Britain–Is he on exile?– The trade, it was said, brought bountiful rewards – initially.  Then, our man planned to go for the kill. He shelled out a hefty sum of money – some said everything he had – and it all blew up in his face; a scam. Now, friends and associates are asking the prince to return home. When he will yield to their plea, nobody knows.

    After Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe’s failed attempt to disrupt the collation of the presidential election’s results, he apologised for his disgraceful conduct and left Abuja in utter contriteness. But, against all expectations, his purgatory lasted just a few days. The former minister returned to his church in Ogbobagbene, Delta State, preaching morals and good conduct. In fact, he was recently at a ceremony in which he admonished the youth to be of good behavior.

    Many who heard of the event turned it all into a joke and recalled how Orubebe’s name became a subject of biting witticisms, a kind of laughing stock, after his encounter with Jega. In one of such jokes, a woman goes to a doctor to complain about her husband’s strange behaviour.

    “Woman: Doctor, my husband is acting strange. He has been screaming ‘we will not take this’ all-day.

    “Doctor: Hmm…that’s Orubebelysus

    “Woman: O my God! What’s that?

    “ Doctor:  Calm down. It’s a kind of post-electoral stress-induced psychosomatic  disorder, with a low chance of resulting in permanent  psychedelic hallucinations. He needs Jegamycin every four years.”

    Former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala , according to sources, has been busy compiling what she believes to be evidence that will exonerate her whenever she is called upon to explain some strange transactions under her watch. She was not just running the Ministry of Finance; she was our first-ever Coordinating minister for the Economy, an economy that has now been found to have been shredded by sheer greed and avarice of wicked public officials.

    Now we are told that $1.2b was illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) earned N162b in one year but remitted only N2b to the treasury (no questions, no sanctions) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) withheld N3.8tr between 2012 and this year. There are more, including  the $6b, allegedly stolen by former ministers and the N109.7b oil firms royalty, which the Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) did not send to the treasury. Where was the minister?

    Musiliu Obanikoro thought being a minister was going to be a life-long job from which retirement could never be contemplated. He spoke like a mafia boss whose  fiefdom extended from Benin to Birnin Kebbi and Aladja to Hadejia. Buoyed by a platoon of soldiers, he personally stormed the site of a housing project in Lagos to stop the work. In Ekiti, he told an army General – General indeed – to follow the election rigging script prepared in Abuja or risk not being promoted. The poor officer – the kind the late songster, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, called Zombie – succumbed to Obanikoro’s antics and turned into a one-sided war a civilian affair that should have been a celebration of democracy.

    A few days ago, Koro, as his associates call him, was at a birthday party in Lagos. When his name was announced as one of the guests, many shook their heads – perhaps in pity or admiration or both. One couldn’t really say.

    Godswill Akpabio, the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, is now the Senate Minority Leader. Even before the upper chamber begins the very sober work of making laws for the growth of our dear country, it is glaring that we are headed for “an uncommon transformation”, the type that Akwa Ibomites savoured for eight years. Consider this: in just two months, despite passing no bills and going on recess for several days, Senators and House members have shared N12.9b. Just like that.

    Where is former Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan? A source told me the other day that His Excellency was away in London for the Wimbledon tennis fiesta. That immediately brought back memories of the Governors Forum election in which Uduaghan was an umpire or an electoral officer (as seen in the video). He later described his role as that of an agent. Fine.

    That election, you will recall, ended in a fiasco when some governors said the man who scored 16 votes had beaten the one who scored 19. Governors then became the subject of beer parlour jokes. There was one in which a father asked his little son:  “Which is bigger between 19 and 16?” The son replied: “16”. The dad retorted: “Who told you so?” “ Our governor said so on television,” the boy replied. The dad burst into laughter.

    Ex-international soccer star and Jonathan campaigner Joseph Yobo has not been seen in public since the May 29 electoral defeat of his favourite. A source said he was away in Europe on holiday. Another swore that the former Eagles captain remained in Lagos, enjoying his bountiful harvest from the recent political season.

    Abba Moro, the former Interior minister who was behind the tragic Immigration jobs scam, was one of the powerful members of the Jonathan cabinet. No fewer than 20 youths whose only offence was that they wanted a job died in that bloody exercise. Moro, against all expectations, retained his job. Besides, there was no refund of the about N520m collected from the applicants. He asked Nigerians to consider the tragedy an accident. We did just so?

    Moro, going by reports, has put it all behind him. He has forgiven those who insisted that he must carry the can for that inhumanity. A few days ago, a grand reception was held in his honour in his hometown of Ugbokolo, Benue State where he gleefully announced that contrary to the rumour in circulation, he was not arrested for allegedly stealing N21b. He said the purveyors of the rumour wanted to tarnish his record as he never held the purse stringThere you have it, reader. A good debate topic: what maketh a good record?

    So much for our former men of power.

     

  • Power sector needs EFCC, not Senate probe

    Senate President, Dr, Bukola Saraki, is troubled. This has nothing to do with his ongoing crisis of legitimacy as Senate President. For now, the battle against his political party that has accused him of playing Brutus has been shifted to another day. His priority today is promoting solidarity with Nigerians that have been in darkness for 16 years. Bukola Saraki, an inheritor of Kwara fiefdom who often treats all as subjects, told Nigerians last week that he was troubled that they have not derived joy from both ‘the power Reform Act and the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.’

    Senator Godswill Akpabio, probably as part of the horse-trading that produced him Senate Minority Leader against Senate convention, was the first to echo the Senate President’s sentiments. He was followed by Senator Danjuma Goje who expressed his empathy for Nigerians because of ‘the untold suffering that lack of power supply had caused’ them. As for Senator Ndume, his righteous indignation stemmed not just from the fact that he spends  N10,000  daily to power his generator, but more from the failure of ‘government to show anything for the huge amount of money sunk into the power sector in the last 16 years.

    United by their passion for Nigeria, law makers that have for two months engaged in  competition over ‘materials and ideas’ which only ended with the sharing of about N13b for doing absolutely nothing, resolved to probe the power sector from Obasanjo to Jonathan. They have accordingly set up the Senator Abubakar Kyari‘s Ad Hoc Committee to ‘investigate the activities of the Discos and what is preventing Nigerians from benefitting from the unbundling of the PHCN’.

    However, for the exercise not to be seen as diversionary, many are saying the Senate should first solve its leadership crisis of legitimacy following the establishment by the police that the Senate rules used for the election of the Senate leadership were forged. But beyond this, many also believe Nigerians don’t really need a probe to identify those behind their continued darkness. All that is needed, in their view, since our leaders believe Nigerians suffer from collective amnesia, is a recall to memory.

    In 2008, Obasanjo in a long letter warned the Dimeji Bankole-led Lower House that probing his handling of the power sector will be noting but ‘a theatrical or circus show (which) will provide fun and maybe hurt some people’. He then went on to give an account of his stewardship to the Elumelu House Committee. He inherited in 1999 seven power stations in different states of disrepair, generating 1500MW; he added six with the seventh at finishing stage by 2007; introduced the pre-paid meter system and moved revenue generation from about N2b per month in year 2000 to about N7b per month in 2007 with$6.5b as capital expenditure and running costs between 1999 to 2007 including outstanding letters of credit as against the Dimeji Bankole’s $16b and Yar Adua’s $10b bandied figures. He capped all up with the inauguration of the Nigeria Integrated Power Project (NIPP), hoping ‘his successors would be driven with the same zeal and move the planned target up to 20,000 MW by 2015’.According to him, to kick-start, besides the Chinese loan facility, the National Council of State and the National Assembly also approved an initial $2.5b for NIPP from the “Excess Crude Oil Account” (ECOA) in August 2005.

    The late Dr. Agagu, his minister for power,  also revealed that ‘between June 2000 and December 2002, ‘our electricity generation capacity increased from 1425 to 4300 megawatts’; that the establishment of four power projects were completed within 24 months from contractors’ mobilisation, making them the fastest of deliveries in the history of Nigeria. ‘For all the four plants, a concessionary funding programme was negotiated with the Chinese Exim Bank through which the Nigerian government paid only 35 per cent of their cost for the plants to be delivered. The balance of 65 per cent, he explained, was to be paid over a seven-year period at six per cent interest rate and two years moratorium’. But Godwin Elumelu, as House of Representative chairman on power representing cash strapped lawmakers who claimed to have sold landed properties to fight the 2007 election, insisted there was indeed evidence of corruption in the process of awarding the contracts. On that account they delayed the Obasanjo scheme for two years.

    But all that was needed to prove our lawmakers were men with feet of clay was an opportunity to spend N7b of excess REA fund within two weeks to prevent the money from returning to government coffers. To beat the deadline,  Elumelu and his colleagues according to EFCC, ignored ‘due process’, nominated nine contractors by proxy, authorised the MD of REA to award them the contracts, and prevailed on the Permanent Secretary of the ministry who was also the acting minister to grant approval for the contracts and the payment of 15 per cent of the fee. The balance of 85 per cent was equally withdrawn from the REA account and lodged in the banks where those contractors had their accounts. On June 14 2010, EFCC further accused Godwin Elumelu, and Senator Nicholas Ugbane, his counterpart as Senate Committee Chairman on Power, of misappropriating over N10b public funds. EFCC therefore concluded that theexercise ”was used as conduit pipes with which funds of the Rural Electrification Agency were siphoned”.  EFCC added other offences – ‘misappropriation of N500million to buy houses; diversion of REA’s funds; flouting of government’s rules on award of contracts and award of fictitious and unnecessary contracts without following due process.’ But Justice M.G Umar of Abuja High Court on March 24, 2012, absolved them along with their fronts, claiming ‘he was unable to find a prima facie case or complaint disclosed in the proof of evidence against the respondent’. EFCC never appealed.

    Jonathan, after a two-year delay, went back to Obasanjo’s programme. His Roadmap for Power Sector Reform was a continuation of Obasanjo’s 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR Act), which called for ‘unbundling the national power utility company into a series of 18 successor companies: six generation companies and 11 distribution companies. But the well-known forces behind our darkness once again overwhelmed a less self-assertive Jonathan. For instance, most of the 60 licensed Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were allegedly owned by some PDP leaders or their sympathisers. And as if to confirm this, Jerry Gana, a PDP leading light doubling as (IPPAN) chairman,  led the body to meet government over the demand of IPPS for waivers on ‘importation of gas-related machinery and equipment.’ The Jonathan government followed with a promise of more than half a billion bailout.

    As the saying goes, ‘the pests that feed on leaf live on leaves’. The Senate needs not waste our resources to know that those who have continued to feed on the blood and sweat of Nigerian tax payers are those prolonging our darkness. Dagogo Jack, the chairman of Jonathan presidential task force on power now says “ since government  has no control over private firms, the best government can do is to ensure they ‘sustain the current 4500MW level, if they cannot increase it.” With power generation sometimes falling below 2000MW and   consumers debited for energy never supplied, government says it is helpless. Prof Bath Nnaji who as minister for power claimed that ‘apart from transmission, the  (power)sector, ”with regard to generation,  was moving ahead by ‘leaps and bounds’, now as an investor, probably smiles to the bank following the commissioning of his transmission firm in Aba by then President Jonathan.  The lot of consumers remains the same. His successor, Prof. Nebo, who told us that ”the situation where only 25 per cent of Nigerians have access to electricity is a nightmare caused by human beings used by evil forces” has failed to identify the parasites that have continued to prolong our darkness. Of course, as for the well-known PDP stalwarts with links to the power sector who donated billions towards ex-president Jonathan’s failed reelection bid, what is needed is not Senate probe but EFCC inquisition.