The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • PDP’s dirty wars

    Ordinary Nigerians bear the burden of PDP gang wars, viciously fought over the sharing of our common patrimony among its members through their ingenious creation – privatisation and commercialisation of public utilities built by Nigerian taxpayers. As it was during Obasanjo and his group including those who masterminded the failed third term agenda, and Atiku Abubakar’s group of loyal governors one of who is today serving jail terms, so it is today as President Jonathan, Tukur and their 16 governors that resorted to self-help after losing a governorship forum election and the self-proclaiming new-PDP’s gang of seven dig in for final battle. Having concluded that we all suffer from collective amnesia, both groups have continued to assault Nigerians by proclaiming their love for a nation they have jointly ravaged for 14 years.

    Following last week’s showdown of the two PDP’s on the floor of the National Assembly, the new PDP has donned a new cloak of a messiah, set to liberate the people from 14 years of PDP economic exploitation and impoverisation of our people. As if a part can be holier than the whole, chairman of new PDP Alhaji Baraje has ‘unequivocally condemned’ the rape of the country’s economy by Goodluck Jonathan administration insisting that with “the massive scale of officially-induced oil theft, the dwindling returns from oil and massive looting going on at the federal level, Nigeria is surely on the brink of economic collapse despite claim to the contrary by the administration, in futile bid to deceive Nigerians”.

    But our new liberators that today swear by their love for the poor have been active participants in the ravaging of our land since 1999. They were there when poor Nigerians were visited with a callous taxation following monumental stealing of about N1.7 trillion by some of the 140 oil importers appointed by Ahmadu Alli, then chairman of PDP as well as chairman of PPPRA and Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, Minister for Petroleum Resources. We did not hear a moan as the people groaned under the weight of taxation of over 200 percent in the guise of removing phantom fuel subsidy. They joined government apologists, Sanusi Lamido, the CBN governor and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister for Finance who falsely claimed it was only the middle class car owners that would be affected by the callous taxation.

    There has not been a murmur from our new lovers about the ongoing efforts of government to force vehicle owners cough out about N30,000 on an already registered vehicle. As our university students roam the street, there has been no condemnation of the insensitive declaration by the National Assembly members that N190bn which they dismissed as only three percent of the national budget is not too much for the lawmakers even when government says the economy cannot support the payment of N88bn, representing four years cumulative indebtedness, made up of miserable allowances ranging between N8, 000 and N15, 000 for university lecturers supervising Masters and PhD candidates.

    In the same vein, President Jonathan who has been accused by his PDP family members of imposing hardship on nation while protecting those he once personally identified as saboteurs of the economy, last week chose United Nations headquarters in New York to proclaim himself as the lover of the people. Hitting back with use of innuendos, he had told the world that “in the country’s past privatization, we know what happened there and yet those who sat over the exercise are the same people who are opening their mouth wide to attack this administration”. And awarding himself a pass mark in the ongoing privatization of public utilities including the energy sector which he said is very transparent, he claimed the nation has made a bounteous harvest of $3bn.

    But the president was silent on what it cost the taxpayers to build up those public utilities in the first place. What we have are conflicting figures from PDP leading lights. For instance, Umaru Yar’Adua, on assumption of office claimed $10b was spent on the power sector by President Obasanjo, with little to show for it. The then Speaker of the House Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, claimed the sum was over $16 billion, while the House power probe committee chairman, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, gave a figure of $13 billion. But Suswan, on behalf  of the Presidential Review Panel on the NIPP set up by National Economic Council, NEC, said the panel found “that as at 2007, total project allocations/ estimates to NIPP was $10.231 billion inclusive of the $2 billion Federal Government counterpart funding for Mambilla Hydro Power project”. With the different figures being bandied around, the president’s celebration of a harvest of $3bn will appear too hasty.

    Of course the president on whose table the buck stops, more than anyone else is better placed to tell us all the under hand dealings that accompanied the privatization programme during the  Obasanjo presidency,  vice president Atiku Abubakar as chairman of the National Council on  Privatisation and Nasir El Rufai as BPE boss. The reports of some of the sordid deals about the privatization as revealed by his PDP warring family members are on his table.

    It was through aggrieved PDP members that Nigerians learnt that NITEL, a successful outfit that posted a profit of N53bn in 2002 before PDP government embarked on its fraudulent privatization recorded a loss of N19bn in 2003 when BPE sold it to unqualified Pentascope, an alleged proxy company hurriedly registered only three months earlier with staff strength of six. It was from them we learnt BPE could not find a buyer after trying both Investors International (London) Limited (IILL) and a more renowned TELNET to buy 51% of NITEL at $1.317b.

    It was also from the PDP warring members and their fronts we learnt Folio Communications, buyer of the Daily Times had to sell Daily Times asset including NSE House on Customs Street and some properties in London before it could pay BPE N1.2bn. It was from them we learnt that the entire Trade Fair Complex was sold to a company for as low as N10bn. There were more revelations. ALSCON, built with $3.2b dollars was sold to a Russian firm for $250m out of which it paid only $130m. NICON and Nigerian Reinsurance were alleged to have been bought through questionable deals by Global Fleet Oils and Gas Limited.

    From Christopher Anyawu, a former boss of Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, we learnt that sales proceeds were first kept in commercial banks before transfer to the CBN. Former deputy director of BPE, Charles Osuji who claimed OBJ and Atiku killed  the privatization dream’, admitted collecting a thank  you bribe of $100,000 from the successful bidder for the National Oil for El  Rufai who in turn claimed Osuji was directed to return the money. Ms Onagoruwa, former DG of BPE alleged Obasanjo concessioned the Ajaokuta Steel Company to Global Infrastructure without recourse to BPE.

    Musa Mohammed  Sada,  appointed minister of Mines and  Steel Development in April 2010 by the then acting President Jonathan  accused the firm which also acquired Delta Steel Company of asset stripping in Ajaokuta by moving out equipment from Ajaokuta to Delta, and cannibalising them as spares.  For this reason, Sada says ‘the steel sector is in a sorry state, we have not been able to move forward’.

    Instead of escaping to New York to point accusing fingers at some of his troubled PDP family members who had engaged in bare- faced stealing and sharing of our common patrimony, what Nigerians expected of President Jonathan who has sworn to an oath to protect the interest of the nation is to act on the above documented report of PDP’s handling of privatization programme up till 2010.

    And finally, I think it will be hard for President Jonathan to persuade cynical Nigerians that his privatization programme is more transparent. Some of the names behind the newly licensed independent operators have featured prominently in the past efforts of government. The segment of PDP that claimed Professor Barth Nnaji who was pushed out as a minister because he stepped on power toes and not because of divided interest as claimed by government, seem to have been vindicated when no eyebrows were raised with Professor Jerry Gana, a PDP stalwart, leading a delegation of registered Independent Power Producers (IPPs), to plead with government for import waivers and government participation in their private companies.

  • Boko Haram hits Nigeria hard at 53

    Nigeria was preparing to celebrate its 53rd Independence anniversary when it happened. Even though the event has become a yearly ritual, those in government place a store in its celebration. At times, when they read the nation’s mood and see that the people are not happy with them, they will say the celebration will be low key. When they are riding high with the people, they spare no expenses in celebrating the anniversary. Whether low or high key celebration, the truth is they waste public fund on it.

    To those in power, this jamboree is not a waste, but a necessity which must be marked, come what may. The Independence anniversary cannot go unsung, no matter what, except perhaps, if something untoward happens to one of our mighty men of power. That is when it will dawn on them that there is need to cancel the celebration. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in marking our National Day, but I believe that we should know where to draw the line when certain things happen in the society.

    Leaders who care about their people feel for them in every way. When the people are happy, they are happy, when the people are sad, they share in their sorrow. Those are leaders, who sleep and think about their people because they know that the power they wield flows from the people. In Nigeria, our leaders are too far from us to appreciate our worth. They know that they can get to power without our votes because they can rig elections and still declare them free and fair. To them, the people do not count, but they pretend that we do.

    Most times, we fall for their tricks. Or is it their sweet tongues? With sweet words, they woo us to vote for them and where in some cases, we do not, they use underhand tactics to get the votes and with a pliable electoral umpire they are returned as winners and the real winners declared the losers.

    Nobody is a second class citizen in this country. The president was born the same way other citizens of this country were born. One’s lowly birth should not make him a second class citizen and those born with silver spoon should not see themselves as superior to others.

    We should all learn a lesson from the humble background of President Goodluck Jonathan. We heard the story from him when he told us the harsh conditions under which he went to school. He had no shoes, he said, when he was going to school. He also had no bag as his bare hands served that purpose. Today, as Providence will have it, he is our president. Now, the days of no shoes are behind him and we thank God for that. We have many others like that in other high offices in the land. Many of them have forgotten those days of little beginning, contrary to the teaching of the scripture, but some still remember and tread with caution.

    The beauty of a grass to grace story is the lucky person’s remembrance of where he is coming from and the uncommon favour he found with God. He is not the only person, especially in a country like ours with a population of over 160 million and counting, before he was singled out for such favour. His remembrance of this is expected to temper his attitude and guide him in everything he does.

    But, what do we see often times? People tend to forget their background and turn themselves to tin gods, oppressing members of the class they once belonged to. That is what power and money do to people, especially the unwise, who forget that vanity upon vanity all is vanity. Did we come to the world with power? No. Did we come with money? No. Will we go with our power and money? No. We came with nothing and we will return with nothing.

    Boko Haram, the dreaded Is

    lamic fundamentalist, which

    believes that “education is a sin” has been on the loose now for over four years. The group has rebuffed all peace entreaties, perhaps, because it feels it has what it takes to pursue its devilish agenda. It has been killing, maiming and looting and there are no signs yet that it will soon stop. The Federal Government went out of its way to court the group, yet it did not embrace this hand of fellowship. This misguided group has turned itself into a terror in the land. The Northeast has since lost its peace to Boko Haram’s hideous activities.

    Between 2009 and now, it is believed to have killed over 3000 and the group, it appears is not done yet. In the days ahead, it is likely to kill more people. Boko Haram, for reasons best known to it, is waging a war against society. Granted that a mistake was made in the extra judicial killing of its leader, Yusuf Muhammed in 2009 has the group not killed, enough people in retaliation all these years? Should it not cease fire now and allow peace to reign? Does it think that these senseless killings will bring its leader back to life? Boko Haram has bitten more than it can chew, but unfortunately, it seems the government lacks the will to stop the group.

    The group is emboldened by the government’s seeming helplessness in the face of its atrocities, which it is in no hurry to end. As long as Boko Haram can kill people with ease in the Borno – Yobe axis, it will continue to carry out this dastardly act until it is dislodged by superior force. With what the group did on Sunday, some 48 hours to the celebration of our 53rd Independence anniversary, there is no need to beg it to lay down its arms again. If the group knows how to kill, the government too should devise means of stopping it from carrying out these fatal acts. Or is the government saying that Boko Haram cannot be stopped?

    The government should not give the impression that Boko Haram is such a fiend that it cannot match it guns for guns. What the group did on Sunday was to challenge us all to a duel. What Boko Haram did on Sunday was not new, but to have done it on the eve of the country’s 53rd anniversary is a challenge not only to the government but to the society at large. Boko Haram is spoiling for a fight with the people and I think it is high time we gave it to the group. We have appealed to it, we have cajoled it, yet it keeps on killing school children. It is time for the government to remove its gloves and fight Boko Haram with bare knuckles. What it did on Sunday is not different from what some militants did on October 1, 2010, when they stormed the Eagle Square in Abuja with bombs during the celebration of our 50th Independence anniversary.

    If we are a nation that values hu

    man life, what happened on

    Sunday was enough to have stopped us from celebrating the 53rd Independence anniversary. But the government appeared unmoved by the cutting down of some of its youths in their prime. If anybody in government had a child or two in the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, would it have reacted in the lukewarm way that it did? We don’t pray for tragedies, but when they happen, we should be able to show concern as human beings because of the casualties. The families of the slain students will forever see those in government as a bunch of uncaring and inhuman people.

    To show feelings with those in grief is not a sign of weakness on the part of those in government. Rather, it shows that they too are human and know how it feels when people die, especially in such barbaric circumstance. Being in power should not make us lose our sense of humanity. We will leave office one day, but we will continue to live in the midst of people until our time comes to go. Would the president have lost anything if he had cancelled his media chat that night in memory of the slain students? Would we have lost anything as a nation if we had cancelled the Independence anniversary celebration? We would have lost nothing because there will be other anniversaries to celebrate.

    But those who died in that gory circumstance will not die twice. So, it would have been befitting to honour the dead by cancelling last Sunday night’s Presidential Media Chat, considering the circumstances under which they died. If somebody high up in government had been involved, that chat may not have taken place. Even Tuesday’s celebration would have been called off, no matter the amount already spent on preparations. Remember, we nearly skinned former President Shehu Shagari alive for travelling abroad when the NECOM House was on fire during the Second Republic. So, which is worse travelling abroad when a public building was on fire or celebrating the National Day when over 40 of your citizens were killed.

    If people in high places could bellyache that some people did not pay them condolence visit over the death of their beloved ones, I think we should also not keep quiet when government fails to honour its massacred citizens, no matter how lowly they may be. Every human life is precious, whether that of the poor or the rich. Otherwise, the rich will not cry because certain people did not visit them personally when they were bereaved.

  • Big Brother, celebrity-maniacs and other ‘guinea fowls’

    If we could take a minute to introspect, we would find that our obsession with Big Brother Africa (BBA) game show is only a symptom of our malaise. We would find that the decadence we lament started with our descent as a people and our ‘creative’ perversion of our media.

    This minute, conversation degenerates into mere gossip and heartfelt dreams manifest as perfection of perversity, everywhere. Everybody is a sucker for “high-society.” Like heat-maddened farm rats, ordinary people are persistently yearning for news about “high-society.”

    It’s the little packets of madness that we need to fear. How unforgivably silly the society becomes in its lust for celebrity gossip. The news we read, for the most part, is too paltry for the human genius. I do not know why our news should be so trivial.

    It is the stalest repetition. Yet we madden and lust for celebrity humdrum to the point that one is tempted to wonder why too much passion is squandered in pursuit of too little substance. We live for idle amusement and thus…the nature of our daily news.

    Our facts appear to spiral in the atmosphere, insignificant as the spores of the toadstool, and yet impinging on the surface of our mind, poisoning it, till it becomes not much in expression and thought. Superfluities meet superfluities; when our life ceases to be inward and absorbed, interaction degenerates into mere tittle-tattle and humanity relapses into the filthiest of averages.

    Every celebrity is a media creation; I repeat. While some may be deserving of the exaltation liberally accorded them, not a few celebrities, like Beverly Osu, Karen Igho and a host of other BBA past ‘inmates’ are undeserving of the hero worship they receive and so desperately seek. It is hardly the fault of the celebrity however, that the press and the society in general have chosen to accord them immeasurable hero worship despite their deficiencies.

    It takes more than newsworthiness to create a celebrity. The vast, interlocking web of resources and institutions involved in creating and maintaining a single celebrity is astounding. From media outlets to fan clubs and agents, from media products to gossip columnists, a star is never solitary, but often the result of hundreds of backstage orchestrations and player deals.

    It is even all the more disturbing to watch our fascination with celebrity gossip slide into precisely the kind of ruthless pursuit of its subject to which we claim to be ostensibly opposed; it is disheartening to observe the infringement of morals and humaneness at the heart of our inquest.

    There is no such thing as virtuous curiosity. Our curiosity oftentimes does violence to its object. On the flipside, it leaves the society stuck in a revolving cycle of spectatorship that believes in its own virtue even as it corrupts itself – a perfect representation of Jacqueline Rose’s the “perverting of curiosity in motion.”

    And even our so-called superstars have learnt to profit albeit fraudulently from the society’s perverse curiosities about their affairs. From Chaucer’s early poem, “The House of Fame,” whose hero-poet wrestles with the fame bestowed on him by society to Martin Scorcese’s film, King of Comedy, in which an amateur comedian jokes to a national television audience that it is “better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime!”

    Not to forget Nigerian actress, Genevieve Nnaji’s illuminating response to a CNN interviewer’s poser about her celebrity status, “Oh yeah, I don’t even need to wake up. Just sitting down sometimes, I’m like (sighs), sometimes I hate my life, but I can’t complain” — these celebrities and their works speak to us, even give voice to our own desires, as they reflect back to us the realities and illusions of today’s celebrity culture.

    Celebrities who insist, often with apparent desperation, that they do not court publicity, who try to hide from the public gaze on which they are totally dependent (they are legion – open any paper), are either naive or unapologetically fraudulent. With respect to Nigerian celebrities, being fraudulent and then, infantile, comes easy. Not only are most unable to discern that this is the balancing-act they are required to perform, they believe –erroneously so – that by virtue of their claim to stardom, they should have both the press and the public subjected to their whims.

    Therefore, the juveniles that they are at heart fail to realize that they are never functioning quite appropriately as befits their status; never perpetuating so perfectly the drama and duplicity on which celebrity thrives, as in the moments when they make that exasperating and utterly deceptive claim.

    If truly they do not crave media and public attention, let them desist from making their affairs known to the public. Let them desist from scorning such attention only to divulge news of their purported “best kept secrets” to the media surreptitiously. Celebrities who do that while making a show of their distaste for the limelight embody the worst form of infantilism and narcissistic tendencies.

    The vanity of their renunciation contains its own disavowal. It is a blatant hypocrisy that they perpetrate claiming that they do not want to be seen or become the subject of public attention; it simply says very much about their impoverishment in character and worth.

    It is even more disturbing to watch the society’s curiosity translate into precisely the kind of ruthless pursuit of subjects perpetrated by celebrity journalism. It is about time Nigerian journalists learned to focus on the issues that truly matter. How are news of the “high-octane” wedding of a telecommunication company proprietor’s daughter’s wedding, a Reality Show contestant’s current boyfriend, a professional hip-hop dancer’s pregnancy – outside wedlock – and the likely father of the child more beneficial to the youth and the society than a report about the dwindling culture of scholarship on the nation’s campuses and outside them? How is such news more beneficial to the public than the lack of functional local government authorities at the grassroots and the deplorable state of vocational and public primary schools across the country?

    It should be the media’s job not to give equal time, not to give 12 inches in a newspaper story to the idiocy and eccentricities of Nigeria’s middling rich trash and their spoilt kids. It is apparent that a passion for celebrity gossip has become the next illogical evolutionary step of journalism and readership in the country.

    Basically, it is in the media’s best financial interest to pervert its principal role as “Status-Conferrer” according to the public’s yearnings. This bespeaks a deeper perversion of the journalism ethic particularly, its “Agenda-Setter” function.

    But the fault is hardly the media’s alone. Now that it has been confirmed that the Nigerian press is fundamentally a trash can cum sounding board for the psychosis and perversions of celebrity trash and their families, the public’s role in their perpetuation of such depravity is undeniable.

    Given the public’s fascination with celebrity trash and their world, everyone remains complicit in the societal perversion. In essence, the Nigerian society is being ruled by base desires and voyeuristic inclinations for accounts of celebrities’ lives. This has led us to the point where we are not getting the journalism we need but rather the journalism we deserve.

    •To be continued…

     

  • The next century of Nigeria -1

    One of the reasons for the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 was the economic complementarity of the two British protectorates of northern and southern Nigeria. In other words, it was an economic union but it is not certain that Sir Fredrick Lugard who was behind the amalgamation was prescient enough to hope that economic integration will lead to political integration. In fact, he tried to preserve the political, social and cultural dichotomies of the two regions of Nigeria as he met them. He did try to import indirect rule into the south-western part of the country with its strong indigenous monarchies which he wrongly equated with the northern emirate system and where there were no chiefs in the largely acephalous south-eastern part of Nigeria, he gave warrants to any strong man he could find in the society to become chiefs . This import of the northern emirate system into the south did not always work out. In fact evidence exists to suggest that it led to disaffection and revolt against the colonial government and its surrogates in the south.

    At an official level, the colonial administration tried to separate people of the south and the north with the effect that southerners living in the northern part of Nigeria lived in the strangers’ quarters or outskirts of towns appropriately named Sabon Garis (new towns). The same thing happened to northern Nigerians living in southern Nigerian towns. So there developed segregated townships, one for native and indigenous inhabitants and the other for their fellow countrymen and women coming from outside the regions. The two local administrations were also separated; the northern part of the country until the 1940s was ruled by orders-in-council, meaning by the colonial officials in collaboration with the Emirs while there was an element of democratisation in the south beginning from 1923 when elections were held in Lagos and Calabar to choose educated Nigerians into the legislative council of Nigeria in which the representatives of the north were largely colonial officials. It was not until 1946 that attempts were made to bring the north into the mainstream of Nigerian politics and by this time, the sense of nationalism even though found in the south and in some pockets among educated northerners particularly teachers was not felt in the entire country. The effect of this was that it was easy for the British colonial officials to persuade the northern leadership of imaginary threat from their southern counterparts which led to a comment by a critical colonial official who said that if somehow Nigerians had disappeared from Nigeria even as late as the 1940s, civil war would have broken out between the British officials in the north and the British officials in the south.

    The point to note is that by the 1950s, Nigerians themselves inherited the prejudice harboured by the British colonial officials in the north and in the south. The result was that when political parties were formed in the 50s, the Jamiyar Mutanen Arewa (JMA) which metamorphosed into the NPC (Northern Peoples Congress) and the Action Group which developed from the Egbe Omo Oduduwa in the South-west were regional parties formed to challenge the nationalist pretension of the NCNC (National Convention of Nigeria and the Cameroons) formed as far back as 1944 as a mass movement and was later to change its name to the National Council of Nigerian Citizens. There was no national party that cut across all the various ethnic groups. This shows to a certain extent that amalgamation did not lead to political integration of the country and the seeds of separation and dichotomy that was sown in 1914 has germinated and grown into a strong tree.

    Nigeria has witnessed series of ups and downs including a civil war and ethnic, religious and fratricidal conflict in some parts of our country in which people of different ethnic groups have found it necessary to kill one another in order to assert and preserve their identities and hold on to indigenous rights and land. The military since their intervention in government in 1966 had tried very hard to restructure the country in such a way as to minimise this regional fissiparous tendencies in the country by dividing the country into several smaller states for ease of administration and development. But it is a moot question whether the sense of separate ethnic identity among Nigerian peoples have been minimised. In fact some have suggested that the military itself as a way of control found it convenient to encourage this sense of separate ethnic identity among Nigerians. After the end of military rule, the politicians have not helped matters because they too have not been able to form country wide political associations rooted in national ideology. The fact is that most political parties in Nigeria seem to be agglomerations or associations of people formed largely for sharing what is euphemistically referred to as the national cake. The result is that Nigerian politics is about sharing rather than baking the national cake and this sharing is done along ethnic lines and those shut out of the sharing usually feel left out to the point of eagerness to bring down the whole national architecture on everybody’s heads. While this is going on, the task of creating necessary infrastructure on which to build a virile nation and an industrial economy that would provide jobs for the teeming youthful population has been abandoned. It seems every successive government becomes more and more corrupt, inefficient and inept than the previous ones. This is therefore not a good augury for the future.

  • Reading Jonathan’s lips

    Even if those close to him pretend not to know, President Goodluck Jonathan knows what he is up against in the build up to the 2015 general elections. Many members of his party, especially from the North do not want him to seek reelection in 2015. These people claim that he reached an agreement with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors that he would only do one term. But from the look of things, the president seems interested in more than one term. That is no news, you would say.

    But, it is news because he has not come out to tell the nation categorically that he will be running. He has promised to do that next year. The chairman of his party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, wants him to declare before next month. The president may have tacitly done that with his statement in the United States (US) a few days ago. Until now, we had followed his body language, which spoke volume than words before his New York Declaration.

    Although as usual, he chose his words carefully, his message was crystal clear. What he will tell us next year will not be different from what he said in New York on Monday. As we have always said here, Jonathan will run in 2015, no matter how the Babaginda Aliyus of this world feel. What matters to the president is that he returns to office in 2015 and he will give 1001 reasons why he should do so when he addresses a world press conference on the matter in 2014.

    The president does not give a hoot whether or not his ambition will overheat the polity, that is if it has not started doing so already. In the past few months, from Abuja to Bida, Lagos to Lokoja, Enugu to Kaura Namoda, we have heard nothing but talks about Jonathan’s plan to return to the job at the expiration of his present tenure. The Group of Seven Governors and their loyalists stormed out of the PDP convention in Abuja some weeks ago partly because of what they termed the president’s plan to use the party’s structure to push his ambition.

    Led by a former chairman of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, the G7 has been unrelenting in its campaign that Jonathan should not seek what it calls a third term through the backdoor. The group believes that the president will be going for a third term if he seeks reelection in 2015. Its position is informed by the fact that Jonathan was sworn in first as president in 2010 after the death of President Umaru Yar ‘ Adua. In 2011, he stood for election and won and was sworn in on May 29 of that year for his current tenure.

    By virtue of the Constitution, the president is entitled to two terms of eight years after which he becomes ineligible to run for office again. While the New PDP members insist that he is no longer eligible to seek reelection, the president and his supporters believe that he is eminently qualified to return to office in 2015. Besides the Constitution, they are also citing his experience on the job to support their case. The president, they say, has no less than six years experience as president and two as vice president. He was also governor for one – and – a – half years, and deputy governor for six – and – a – half years. What else are we looking for in a president? Tell me, will Nigeria not be lucky to have such an experienced person lead it for life?

    This is what the president’s supporters have been trying to say to us, but we have refused to listen. Why dump an experienced and God fearing candidate like Jonathan because of a so-called one term pact to which the people are not a party? If some politicians reached such a Gentleman’s Agreement with him in the confines of their homes, should they now draw us into it? Should such an agreement be binding on us? Is the agreement cast in iron that it cannot be breached? If these people were in the president’s shoes will they behave differently? Agreement ko, agreement ni. Agreement or no agreement, the president has told the world that he is qualified to run, if he seeks to do so in 2015.

    He said it was not illegal for the president or a governor to stay in office for two terms, apparently referring to the Constitution, which says in Section 137 (1): A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of president if –

    (b): he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections and Section 182 (1) : No person shall be qualified for election to the office of governor of a state if –

    (b): he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections.

    Armed with these provi

    sions, Jonathan gushed

    before the world: : ‘’Already, we have a Constitution that makes provision for a maximum of eight years for anyone who wants to become a president or a governor. There is no president or governor that all citizens vote for but at the end of the election, if somebody emerges, you must allow the person to work. If you love your country, you would want your country to work. That does not mean that you will not vote against the person if you don’t like the way he works, but you must allow him to work’’.

    Interpretation; those of you who do not want me to run in 2015, yes, you are entitled to your position, but for God’s sake allow me to work. You have the right to exercise your franchise for or against me at the poll, but for now allow me to work until the election. Can the president accuse the opposition of distracting him? Is he not the one distracting himself with the many battle fronts he has opened to ensure that he crushes those who stand in his way on the road to 2015? Can he honestly say he has no hand in the Nigeria Governors Forum brouhaha?

    Can he say he is not empowering Nyesom Wike, the supervising Minister of Education, to fight Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi? Can he say he is not in support of his wife’s needling of the same governor? The truth is the president is fully involved in the fray, which has affected governance. What job does the president do these days than to attend to issues concerning his ambition. If he is not meeting with the G 7 to resolve the crises rocking the PDP, he may be having talks on how to reconcile the warring governors.

    Governance has taken a back stage because of his ambition. There is no way he can be fighting for his political future and still have time to attend to state matters. It is just not possible. So, why delay what he can do now till next year? He should just accept Anenih’s advice and declare his political stand today. We are tired of reading his lips and body language. As the Yoruba will say, let him unmask the masquerader. But will he?

    Apo 9

    Eight years ago, the news of the killing of six persons in Apo, Abuja, by the police shook the nation to its foundation. As usual to justify their bestial act, the police described the victims as “robbers”. Their families, friends and business associates challenged the police claim. Through these people, the nation got to know that the police killed the Apo6, five men and a woman , and tagged them robbers in order to hide their dastardly act. Eight years on, the families of these people are still crying for justice. Don’t forget, the police chief, who led that operation, escaped from custody and is still at large. Last Friday, a similar scenario played itself out in the same Apo. Nine persons, described as commercial tricycle operators (Keke NAPEP) were killed by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) in a dawn operation. The SSS described the victims as members of the dreaded Boko Haram, the insurgent group terrorising the Northeast. The SSS may have received information that Boko Haram members were in that place before storming there, but did it verify the report. Security agencies are not expected to take any information at its face value. They must sieve it to know how to use it. Did the SSS do that in this case? Or did it just act on the spur of the moment? These are some of the puzzles that must be unravelled so as to avoid another extra – judicial killing by another security arm in Apo.

  • Big Brother’s guinea fowls (2)

    The Chase” game show, she would have become a proud recipient of a $300, 000 cash prize, organized razzmatazz, inexplicable movie roles and corporate endorsement deals. But she didn’t win. Even though she had to get naked and engage in a sexual act in the bath with fellow “inmate,” South Africa’s Angelo Collins, to the delight and revulsion of the show’s teeming audience.

    Beverly didn’t win but she emerged from the house a heroine of sort. Her mother must be proud of her; the Nigerian society too. Thus her celebration by the print, broadcast and social media. A local newspaper reports that: “Beverly Osu made history by becoming the first BBA contestant that was never nominated for eviction since the inception of the African franchise of the television series in 2003. Twenty four hours after she arrived Nigeria, the BBA ‘The Chase’ finalist, Beverly Osu (sic) was rushed to Faith City Hospital, Oju Olobun Close, off Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The BBA star was admitted for treatment due to a sprain ankle she suffered in the BBA house, a day to the finale…”

    Embellishments of the quoted report abound in mainstream media across the country. The message is clearly woven to arouse sympathy for Beverly, particularly amongst local moralist circuits. By endorsing her claim to celebrity status, the media confers on Beverly, the iconic image of a national heroine.

    Journalists are supposed to be aristocrats of the spirit, projectors of the just, decent and humane; not promoters, hustlers and salesmen for the high jinks and infamy of every middling creature with a narcissistic streak – yet many a Nigerian journalist opts to fulfill roles characteristic of the latter. So doing, a character like Beverly is projected as role model to millions of Nigerian youths.

    If Beverly had won, she would have become another living proof that decadence and idleness are preferable to decency and hard work. Ordinary folk’s decadent fantasies of fame, success and fulfillment would have been perpetuated and substantiated by her. Yet in her loss, these fantasies are irreverently stoked by the media, perceived moral agents who amplify reality TV’s culture of illusion and persuade us that the shadows are real.

    The contemporary media landscape has changed significantly thus affecting the nature of the press’ involvement in the construction of citizenship and cultural identities. There is no gainsaying that the Nigerian media is wholly perverted by this wave of change. The changes are evident in relevant parlances where prime time local and educational cultural content have been displaced by commercial and transnational media offerings like the BBA game show on TV. In the print media, pages that could be devoted to thrashing developmental issues and moving them to the front burner of national discourse and resolution are dedicated to promoting the agenda of international media companies like Endemol and the shenanigans of participants in its perverse entertainment and lottery offerings like the BBA.

    Consequently, BBA producers attempt to appropriate the functions of the media as societal watchdogs and moral agents – particularly the reconstruction of citizenship and cultural identity of a state and national community. The agenda of BBA isn’t quite difficult to detect. Although producers and fans of the show explain its depravity away as a realistic take and mirror of human behaviour; the Big Brother game show seeks to repudiate and destroy ancestral cultural norms and ethics of morality.

    Its mission is to desensitize its teeming audience, particularly the youth, to base urges and primal instincts that renders brutes like the stray bitch and guinea fowl the lower beasts they are. Little wonder the Big Brother game show thrives on its x-rated scenes: the shower hour and the party nights. These scenes are scripted to celebrate sexual freedom and irresponsibility but defenders of the show argue that there is no compulsion to view the scenes. Often times, they argue that since the show’s x-rated scenes are viewable only by subscription to VIP access via pay-TV, critics of the show have no justification.

    Of course such argument pales to reality: the fact that the show’s x-rated scenes and pictures are downloadable on the internet renders its apologists’ arguments invalid. As you read, impressionable minors of primary and high school ages across the country have easy access to BBA’s porn scenes.

    In the show’s recently concluded edition, Natasha, a BBA ‘inmate’ from Malawi masturbated before live audience, while having her bath. Of course she knew she was being broadcasted to millions of viewers worldwide and therefore, endeavoured to put up an excellent performance for her voyeuristic audience.

    Pan over to Beverly and Angelo; the latter who had a serious relationship with his fiancée back home in South Africa, indulged in steamy smooch sessions in the bathtub with Nigeria’s Beverly thus repudiating moral and romantic notions of love, loyalty, decency and responsibility. Sierra Leonean Bolt who was actually a husband and a father and Betty, an Ethiopian School Teacher equally put up a daring bathtub performance, similar to Beverly and Angelo’s.

    With such characters in the house, BBA’s “The Chase” successfully projected flawed and debauched characters as worthy role models for the African youth to emulate. It’s all part of a grand plot: Endemol’s Big Brother, having identified Africa as yet a virgin territory for defilement seeks to infest her with perversions from the west even as it stirs up and legitimizes similar but latent perversions that has so far being curtailed by the African continent.

    Very soon, producers BBA producers will introduce two homosexual couples – male and female – into the show. Sex between the gay couples will be used to legitimize African homosexuality and desensitize Africans towards it.

    As Okwuanya Pius rightly notes, Mary Cover Jones’ desensitization theory as adapted by Joseph Wolpe, a South African psychologist infers that when an individual or a group is desensitized towards an activity, they quickly move to another activity that will best hold their interest. He termed it “systematic desensitization.” Now that Africans, Nigerians in particular have been desensitized to voyeurism and random sex, the next stop is homosexuality and bestiality otherwise known as sex with animals perhaps. Who knows? African youths, Nigerian youths in particular, may yet revolt against established norms and demand the institution and legitimization of incest.

    Eventually, human beings become a commodity in celebrity culture. Poor, unemployed and desperate youths learn to fantasize and obsess about chancing on unearned acclaim and affluence. Beverly, in perpetuation of this reality is objectified by her performance in the BBA game show. Like every other participant in the game show, she has become an object like consumer products. But celebrities like consumer products have no intrinsic value.

    Very soon, she will be subjected to the inescapable debasement of the currency of celebrity: the impossible illusions inspired by BBA’s celebrity culture and perpetuated by the media to substantiate her glaring insignificance will soon begin to pale away. But unlike many a consumer product helplessly caught in depreciation, Beverly will beg for more. And the Nigerian media will continue to aid her simply because it’s hip, lucrative and socio-politically correct to do so. The society will be worse for it.

    To be continued…

  • Redeemer’s University’s 5th Convocation

    There are no strikes by students or by staff and this is what makes Redeemers University attractive apart from the Christian environment that prevails there. It is hoped that when the university grows to its optimal level of about 10,000 students or more and have full complement of colleges and staff, the sky would be the limit for what is possible. The Proprietor, Pastor Adejare Adeboye wants the university to be one of the best in the world. He also wants the products to be job creators and not job seekers. With trust in God, all things are possible.

    Redeemer’s University has been very lucky in the choice of its foundation Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oyewale Tomori, a distinguished Virologist and currently President Nigerian Academy of Sciences. He was an efficient, strict and disciplined Vice-Chancellor who did everything to demystify the office of the Vice-Chancellor and saw himself as primus inter pares among other professors. He related to the students like a father and I always remember him breaking down and shedding tears sometimes when he felt he had to take the difficult decision of sending a student away. He was also a very lucky Vice-Chancellor who had experienced people to work with. He has now been succeeded by Professor Debo Adeyewa, who until he came to Redeemer’s University was one of the Deputy Vice-Chancellors in the Federal University of Technology, Akure. He is a distinguished Meteorologist and Atmospheric Physicist who has brought into the university his passion for hard work and his love for God. He is a much younger person than Tomori and his approach to administration is quite different but no less effective. His obsession is to move the university to Ede as rapidly as possible and also to continue to build on the excellent academic tradition which happily exists in the university. The good fortune of Redeemer’s University has also been in the steady hands of Professor Fola Aboaba who has just retired as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council and who was, so to say, present at its creation. The university is also lucky to have as its Chancellor, the distinguished historian and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor T.N Tamuno, who brings to his office his well known solidity of character and profundity of thought. And at the top of the hierarchy of the university is Dr. Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the Visitor, who had to be prevailed upon to accept the office of Visitor and who has never interfered in the internal running of the university and who in self-denial has been making huge personal financial contribution to the university and his example has been followed by his wife who has also made personal financial contributions to the university and has been a regular mobiliser of funds for several projects in the university.

    On a personal note, I have had tremendous fulfilment by working in this university and I know a little bit about university system and administration having taught in Canada, the USA, and in the West Indies and many universities in Nigeria, particularly in my alma mater, Ibadan and University of Lagos where I spent most of my academic career, I can say without any equivocation or fear of contradiction that Redeemer’s University is one of a kind. This is because we pay attention to the career development and academic growth of our students, we know them and we know their parents, we know whatever peculiar problem each student has, and we try to help in whatever way we can and this young people reciprocate by seeing us as friends, fathers, grand-fathers and this makes for a good community of students and scholars, which is what Redeemer’s University is all about.

    The university was the ninth private university to be licensed by the Federal Government. But in terms of ranking today, it would rank among the best if not the best. The major setback has been the non-movement to the permanent site in Ede, but this is being taken care of through the generous investment in the development of the permanent site of billions of naira by its proprietor. All being well, within the next one year, the university should be operating on its permanent site and hopefully commencing the development of its professional colleges of Law, Engineering and Medicine. If the period of the last eight years is something to go by, the future of the university is assured.

    In terms of value for money, I think parents and guardians should be satisfied with what they are getting when compared with the astronomical fees payable in other private universities in Nigeria. The icing on the cake is that students in Redeemer’s university are not only taught and educated by a crop of experienced teachers and younger people operating with the same spirit of service to God and man.

    On graduation, the students also get special blessing and prayers by the man of God its Proprietor. The university is of course not perfect. No institution created by man can be perfect. Whatever lacuna exists would be bridged and taken care of through the committee system by which most universities operate. The university must ensure that its Vice-Chancellor continues to operate as primus inter pares among a conclave of Professors. One of the things that has damaged and is damaging public universities in Nigeria, is that the position of Vice-Chancellors have suffered a disconnect from company of other professors in the university. Vice-Chancellors in public universities sometimes operate as if they were governors of their universities and go around with a retinue of security guards and even sirens and sometimes administration of public universities are done almost exactly like the state and the Federal Government with retinue of Intelligence Officers and other secret operatives. In such places, there are no debates and Vice-Chancellors operate like Poobah rather than academic leaders. Our various governments have encouraged this development by paying university vice-chancellors double what their professorial colleagues earn and by making the positions political rather than academic. This is why as soon as their terms are over, they rush to the National Universities Commission, NUC to become errand boys of the executive secretary and shamelessly help to send directives and decrees to their various colleagues still left in the system. This is one of the things that are killing the Nigerian public universities and it is our hope and prayer that this ungodly development would not spread to privat e universities. Although signs that these may happen are there especially when proprietors of some of these private universities give orders to vice-chancellors, who are reduced to the status of running dogs. Happily, this is not the situation in Redeemer’s University where the vice-chancellor and his colleagues, both academic and administrative operate as a united family.

  • Executive lawlessness

    Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move

    freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any

    part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be

    expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto

    or exit therefrom.

    – Section 41 (1) of the Constitution

    The Constitution lists out the fundamental rights of the citizens and in line with the principle of social contract those in authority, must as a matter of course, uphold those rights. They are charged with the protection of these rights, which the citizens must enjoy without any encumbrance, except where they break the law. These rights are, however, not absolute as they come with responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the citizens to ensure that in enjoying these rights, they do not do anything contrary to the law, which may lead to the abridgement of their rights.

    These rights are enjoyed by everybody, whether king or serf, president or pauper. The king is not expected to use his position to deprive the serf of his right nor is the president allowed to use his exalted post to oppress and deny the pauper or other members of the society their rights because of political disagreement. The lowly too are not expected to abuse the rights of those in power by denigrating them in any form whatever.

    In essence, the mighty and the lowly should learn to live together and accommodate one another’s idiosyncracies. The powerful are not expected to take the law into their hands because they have what it takes to punish the poor. It is always the powerful versus the poor, but once in a while, we see the powerful taking on the powerful. When these two elephants take on themselves, it is usually not on equal terms, as we saw in some instances in the past.

    A few years ago, the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu – Ojukwu took on the then military government in Lagos State over his father’s property in Ikoyi. The government of the day brought state might to bear on the case, despite the high and appeal courts’ verdicts that the property belonged to Ojukwu. Annoyed by the government’s disposition, the Supreme Court described the military junta’s action as ‘’executive rascality’’.

    Governments, whether a dictatorship or a democracy, are expected to obey the law. This is why the sage once said: ‘’Even in the midst of guns, the laws are not silent’’. Yes, the laws are never silent, but we the people are the ones that are silent in the face of tyranny. We keep silent when others are being maltreated because of fear of what the late legendary musician, Fela Anikulpo – Kuti, called: I no want die, papa dey for house, mama dey for house…’’

    We forget that when we keep silent when others are being oppressed, there may be nobody to speak up for us too when we find ourselves in a similar situation because by then, they may all have died or be in jail. This is why Wole Soyinka said in his book : The Man Died, ‘’that the man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny’’. It is tyrannical for the powerful to oppress the poor and more so when the highly powerful takes on the less powerful.

    The Constitution, which grants every Nigerian the right to freedom of movement, states the condition under which that right can be curtailed. According to Section 41 (2): Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic setting –

    (a): imposing restrictions on the residence or movement of any person who has committed or is reasonably suspected to have committed a criminal offence in order to prevent him from leaving Nigeria.

    Last Thursday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, without respect for this constitutional provision, Governor Rotimi Amaechi was prevented from entering his residence at the Government House by the police that were as usual ‘’acting on orders from above’’. Amaechi and his entourage were returning from an outing when they tried to access the Government House through Forces Avenue in Port Harcourt GRA, which is said to be a shorter route. They ran into the police blockade.

    The blockade of road by the police is not new in our country. They do it at will under the guise of looking for a criminal. At other times, they may cordon off a street when they seal off a newspaper house. We have seen all these before, but to block a road leading to the Government House? That is the height of impunity. Being a governor comes with certain privileges. These privileges include unhindered access to anywhere the governor chooses to go on legitimate business. So, to stop Amaechi from entering his own abode under any pretext is farcical.

    If Amaechi were to be a common man, it would have been understandable. We would have said that is how they treat us. But Amaechi is a governor for God’s sake; his office and person deserve respect. Who is a Commissioner of Police (CP) by the way, to stop a governor from accessing his quarters from any point he likes? Is there any law which says that the governor must come in or go out through a point chosen for him by the police? Who is the CP to direct Amaechi to take another route? Did he do that to show that he can make things tough for Amaechi? According to a Yoruba adage, no matter how mad a dog is, it is expected to respect its owner.

    The police should not forget that they are public servants. They are funded by tax payers’ money and as such, they should be beholden to the people and not to those who are in power temporarily and who will quit when their time is up. What would it have cost the police to move their vans to enable Amaechi enter his house last Thursday, if they had no ulterior motive? When the governor alighted from his vehicle, they should have listened to him out of respect and allowed him to pass, if they had no other agenda. They didn’t because they wanted to humiliate him.

    It wasn’t Amaechi that was

    humiliated but those who

    think that they can use their positions to play god. Why is the governor being harassed all over the place? In one breathe, they are talking peace, in another, they are still using agents of state to fight the poor guy. What did he do wrong to warrant being treated as if he is a commoner? By the grace of God, Amaechi is today a governor and there is nothing anybody can do about that, whether they have the police at their beck and call or not.

    Besides, constitutionally, he is also the chief security officer of his state. So, the police must learn to respect him, no matter the brief they may have to make things difficult for him. I pity the policeman, who reportedly told Amaechi that he ‘’does not take instructions from civilians’’. He is emboldened by the support he is enjoying from those using him now. He will soon realise the folly of his action when they dump him. But I pray, will they let Amaechi be?

     

    What a man can do…

    Before the National Assembly resumed from its seven weeks break on Tuesday, the crisis threatening to tear the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apart had reached the place. Some lawmakers had pledged loyalty to the Abubakar Baraje – led breakaway faction. No fewer than 20 senators were said to have pledged allegiance to the New PDP. An equally large number of members of the House of Representatives is also with the group. This was the setting when the faction visited the House on Tuesday hours after it rose from its first sitting after its vacation.

    The meeting with the lawmakers was rowdy. Those opposed to the group came with a set mind to disrupt the meeting. The other side will not allow that. The highlight of the battle was the superlative performance of Binta Masi Garba, an ex – member, who torn the agbada of Hon Afeez Adelowo to shreds. Were you surprised at the woman’s performance? I was not. Isn’t it said that what a man can do, a woman can do, even better? Ride on, my sister; show those lazy men, the stuff some women are made of!

     

  • Chance meetings

    Chance meetings

    THEY were no friends. They had a cat-and-mouse relationship. Turbulent. One was the President; the other was a governor whose state’s monthly allocation had been seized- in a strange show of power that shredded all democratic credentials and mocked the laws on which institutions are built.

    Then, the two of them found themselves on a flight. A row broke out on politics and other issues. The former President threatened to push the former governor off the helicopter. A former Commonwealth chief stepped in to stop a potential disaster. Dear reader, sorry; no prize for guessing who the former president and the former governor are.

    The duo may have been frank about the thoughts they harboured about each other. I doubt if others are this blunt. Many see politics as a game of lies, intrigues and treachery – all in a bid to get power, power as an end in itself and not a vehicle to service that will bring joy to all.

    The other day at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan was addressing the congregation at the chapel. He placed one hand on former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s shoulder and held the microphone with the other as he spoke nicely about him. Obasanjo was chuckling. What was on his mind? Was the President being frank? Or was it a case of “Pikin Deceive Papa”?

    After the post-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mini convention thanksgiving service, the duo strolled indoors, chatting and smiling , like a bride and her groom walking down the aisle. What were they discussing? What went on behind those glossy doors? Some home truth? I doubt it.

    The next day, a pro-Jonathan group condemned Obasanjo’s moves to lead the settlement of the PDP crises, saying he was, in fact, the architect of the ‘civil war’ that has turned the largest party in Africa – all size no sense? – into a laughing stock. It said Obasanjo, who was not at the rancorous convention, was recently in Jigawa eulogising Governor Sule Lamido, one of the seven governors pushing for sanity in the PDP. Besides, Obasanjo has been lashing the Jonathan administration on its response to Boko Haram and unemployment, among other issues.

    Why do our politicians lack the boldness to speak the truth when they meet one another? Is it simply out of their character to so do? Are they afraid that an encounter could result in violence? Let’s consider some chance meetings.

    When former State Delta Governor Chief James Onanefe Ibori finishes serving term in Britain, he will surely return home. He could run into Obasanjo at Heathrow. Will they shake hands? Obasanjo’s face will suddenly wear a frown, a grin and a scowl. He will chuckle and mutter: “If anybody dey vex, dat na im toro. I no send anybody any message.”

    Will the Ogidigboigbo just walk past? I doubt it. This being a family newspaper, I won’t like to bother you with the expletives that are likely to follow. Will they come to blows? I won’t guess.

    I do not know if Dr Chris Ngige, the charismatic former governor of Anambra State – he is in the November 16 race – has met Chief Chris Uba, the self-acclaimed godfather of Anambra politics since the 2005 incident in which the then governor was kidnapped and held incommunicado for hours. Ngige claimed that Uba asked him to surrender the treasury keys, but he refused. He had to pay the price. Ngige survived it all and ran a purposeful administration, which achieved so much. Should Ngige and Uba meet today, will they be all smiles? Uba’s brother, Andy, is in the desperate battle to secure the PDP ticket for the November race.

    Or consider a chance meeting between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his former Chief of Staff, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education. Wike is said to be interested in succeeding Amaechi. The governor says this will not be right as both of them are from the same ethnic group; others should be given a chance. Ever since, Wike has been pouring invectives on Amaechi whose camp has also been attacking Wike. Nobody wishes to witness their supporters’ show of strength as it once happened at the Port Harcourt airport. But should Amaechi and Wike, who are said to be highly temperamental, meet, what will happen? Handshake? Pleasantries? Blows?

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi may some day run into his predecessor, the exuberant Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala who has been trying to forge an alliance with Accord chieftain Rashidi Ladoja, the former governor who was elbowed off his seat by lawmakers loyal to the late Lamidi Adedibu. Ajimobi has transformed Ibadan, the capital city that suffered so much neglect in the Akala-Ladoja years. Other parts of the state are feeling the Ajimobi touch, but his opponents are doing their all to revile his efforts. Will methodical Ajimobi smile when he sees ebullient Alao-Akala? Will he be cheerful on seeing Ladoja to whom he gave so much space in his administration but got regular abuses in return? Will they embrace or settle it all once-and-for-all? Remember, street fighting, it is said, is Ibadan’s ailment (Ija igboro larun Ibadan).

    PDP chair Bamanga Tukur has been having it rough managing the rebellion in the party. One of his adversaries is Murtala Nyako, his state governor who has joined forces with six others to insist that Tukur should be removed. Tukur’s son is said to be interested in succeeding Nyako, who is against such thoughts. To pave the way for the young Tukur’s emergence, it is said, Nyako had to lose control of the party. Ever since, he has remained bitter against Tukur, with President Jonathan suffering some collateral damage. Just imagine Tukur and Nyako meeting at the Villa?

    Will former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Farida Waziri smile and bend her knees if she runs into Obasanjo at a social event. Obasanjo believes Ibori got Mrs Waziri the EFCC job. The woman said she never met Ibori before getting the job. Angry, she said: “I will like to warn that those who live in glass houses don’t throw stones and, as such, Obasanjo should not allow me open up on him. Respectable elder statesmen act and speak with decorum.” Besides, she listed her academic achievements and doubted if Obasanjo could match them. Since then, the former President has held his fire.

    I do not want to guess what may happen should Obasanjo and Mrs Waziri- dark goggles and all- meet.

    In the run-up to the 2011 election, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe was set to give incumbent Governor Godswill Akpabio a run for his money. The senator, who was Akpabio’s campaign chief in the 2007 election, was popular, confident and bold. Akpabio saw the danger quite early. He unleashed the massive state machinery on Akpanudoedehe. He spared nothing in fighting the battle. Many heads were smashed and properties worth a fortune were razed. The senator was exhausted. I do not know if they have ever met since then.

    When Taraba State Governor Danbaba Suntai suddenly returned from a 10-month medical trip, frail and enervated, he moved swiftly to get his grip back on power. He wrote the Assembly that he was back at work, disbanded the executive council and appointed another Chief of Staff and Secretary to the State Government. But, his deputy, Alhaji Garuba Umar, reversed the actions, insisting that his boss could not have done all that were ascribed to him.

    There was confusion. Then the PDP stepped in to announce a strange plan under which Umar will continue to run the show, even as he consults Suntai. Has Umar seen Suntai since then? How will Suntai receive his deputy who some see as being power hungry and duplicitous?

    When will politicians and public servants be truthful to themselves – and to the rest of us?

     

    That show in the House

    OUR lawmakers returned to work on Tuesday in a sensational manner. When the Kawu Baraje faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) addressed the caucus in the House of Representatives, some members loyal to the Bamanga Tukur faction got angry. They heckled Baraje. A former member of the House, Binta Masi Garba, the Baraje faction’s woman leader, thought that was not decent. She descended on the heckler-in-chief, Afees Adelowo (PDP, Oyo), tore his dress and attempted to rain blows on him. Ms Garba deserves a prize for her show of martial skills. Women activists, where are you?

    Many were screaming, pushing and shoving. Pandemonium. Thankfully, there were no casualties. But, I was well entertained; I bet you were. If this is all our lawmakers can do to enliven the polity, they should do it more often, rather than heat up the system. After all, the dividends of democracy we often talk about can come in any form, including watching on television VIPs exchanging blows. Exciting. Isn’t it?

  • FRSC’s double taxation on vehicle owners

    Neglected by government, betrayed by a self-serving National Assembly and spurned by the judiciary whose leading lights have taken side with economic and political fraudsters with access to enough state funds to buy justice, ordinary Nigerians, have long come to terms with the absence of government in their lives. They provide their own water, generate their own electricity, and dispose off their refuse and those who can afford it, avoid government schools and hospitals.

    They are only remembered by government on those occasions when needed to make additional sacrifices such as during the president’s fuel pump price increase, or in recent times when called upon to appeal to striking university teachers whose earned allowances government claimed it has no funds to pay; and finally when needed as sporadic participants to give legitimacy to every four years’ rituals called elections where their votes hardly count. Nigerians have long given up the illusion of having anyone protecting their interest. PDP shameless elders only intervene to preside over how the party buccaneers settle quarrels over sharing of money and offices. Our internet services are the slowest yet the most expensive in the world. Our telephone service providers are declaring outrageous profits that will make their counterparts in Europe green with envy in spite of their shoddy services and PHCN charges consumers N50, 000 and above for meters they don’t own and on which they pay monthly service charges which are discountenanced when such metres require repair or replacement.

    ‘Suffering and smiling’ (apology to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti) ordinary Nigerians have carried on their burden with philosophical strength of mind and will. In the last one year, many have engaged in daily rituals of going to queue up at the FRSC Ojudu headquarters to use the only available ‘capturing machine’  in an effort to obey without questioning, FRSC’s illegal imposition of double taxation  in the guise of registration of new plate numbers and securing the new drivers license.

    Interviewed on a Channel Television programme last week, Osita Chidoka, the Corps Marshall, was all in his elements as he laboured with little success trying to justify the new number plate and drivers licence scheme which he said was introduced “to harmonise, standardise and unify all modes of licensing of drivers and vehicles so as to involve a better road culture and efficient data management”.

    For the above stated objective, overburdened Nigerians with existing vehicle plate numbers are being called upon to part with about N15,000. If a man paid the prevailing  rate to register a plate number for his vehicle five years back, the least expected of any agency that has the interest of the people at heart is to replace the old number plate with the new one at no cost  to the citizen.

    If a car owner decides to sell his car, the Corps Marshal says such a person loses his old plate number to government without refund while the new buyer will now register a new plate number. Why not just change the ownership of the plate number at no cost to the new owner instead of rendering it useless to both the old and the new owner of the vehicle?

    Chidoka says there will be a linkage between the new car plate number and drivers licence and that we can use the new licence to validate national ID card. How about those who don’t have cars or those who don’t know the number of cars in their garages? Is it not a common knowledge that the last three attempts by PDP government to tackle the ID card issue were marred by corruption and scandals that led to the jailing of a minister? It appears Corps Marshal would hold on

    to any straw to justify a callous imposition of double taxation on helpless Nigerians.

    The Corps Marshal has other ambitions. The new license and vehicle plate registration, he said will help custom to improve on its revenue drive and prevent smuggled vehicles from being registered.  But it is common knowledge even if the Corps Marshal pretends not to know, that vehicles are smuggled in daily through our porous borders manned by the same custom he set out to aid. And we all know that for every smuggled car, there are forged custom papers purportedly emanating

    from Apapa /Tin Can Ports, duly signed and stamped, accompanied with stamped police report, all in one day, an exercise that would ordinarily take over a week. In his desperate bid to generate revenue, he forgot to tell us how this double taxation of Nigerians will checkmate this practice involving customs, police and sometimes road safety officials.

    There is also something in the scheme for the insurance firms. He now wants human beings who own the vehicles to be insured as against the current practice which is the other way round. His preference he says is comprehensive insurance. But he was silent on how he intends to ensure insurance firms fulfil their obligations to their clients which was what in the first place drove people to opt for a Third Party or simply put their fate in God. Many who are unable to afford cost of comprehensive insurance especially among the Pentecostals simply cover their cars with blood of Jesus, other Christians and their Muslim brothers, the rosary and tesbiu while the traditionalists wade off evil forces with ‘African juju’. If a man buys a N400, 000 used car and decides to do a Third Party insurance because that is what he could afford, why must it be the business of FRSC to direct otherwise? Whose interest is the Corps Marshal protecting, Nigerians or insurance firms?

    Chidoka, who has not told Nigerians how to bring down the 1,375 casualty figure recorded between February and September this year, who has not addressed the unwholesome activities of some of his men, including those involved in issuance of fake driving licenses in the past, hiding at obscured corners on Lagos roads to intimidate and negotiate  with motorists with minor offences, but who has

    demonstrated his passionate commitment to raising revenue profile of government through customs and insurance firms, says he is not engaged in revenue drive. But what other name do we assign to a scheme that is extracting about N15, 000 from millions of Nigerians who have existing registered plate numbers?

    If we assume Lagos with an estimated population of 16 million has five million registered vehicles, at an average of 15,000, the FRSC is set to extract about N75billion from Lagos vehicle owners who never bargained for double taxation. Even if FRSC turns out to be better than other government revenue generating agencies the Senate had accused of failing to transfer collected revenues to the federation account, or FRSC agrees to subject itself to auditing unlike the 194 MDAs the Auditor-General accused of not subjecting themselves to auditing last year, we will still not be able to guarantee judicious use of proceeds of this blood money. After all, ours is a nation where no one knows the specific projects the foreign loans taken on our behalf and which our children will have to pay back are used to execute.

    It is therefore difficult to fault the argument of cynical Nigerians who see FRSC’s cruel imposition of an illegal double taxation on helpless Nigerians, despite the initial misgivings expressed by a National Assembly known to give only a lip service to issues that concern the well-being of our people, as part of the MDAs’ desperate efforts to raise funds for the 2015 election, in the same manner phantom fuel subsidy was used to finance the 2011 election. The very ‘creative’ PDP ruling party and its spin doctors see nothing abnormal in reaping where they did not sow, or immoral in living and surviving on the sweat and blood of the poor and helpless.