The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • Re: Access Bank versus Capital Oil

    Re: Access Bank versus Capital Oil

    My attention has been drawn to the commentary in page 19 of The Nation newspaper of Friday, February 1, in regard to the above subject matter.

    The commentary was interesting not for the facts presented, but for the ignorance and or prejudice behind it. The editorial chose to distort facts especially when it stated that; “Justice Abang concurred with Ubah’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who reportedly argued that, in seeking the English court’s freezing order in respect of a matter that happened in Nigeria, the bank “ridiculed the Nigerian judiciary” and demonstrated disrespect for the restraining order issued by the Nigerian court. Olanipekun further described the bank’s London suit as “an attempt to undermine the judicial process in Nigeria. In doing so the arguments of Wole Olanipekun SAN were lumped together in order to achieve the insidious objective of making the judge look bad.

    This reply is intended to correct the erroneous impression that the judge is trying to force Access Bank not to litigate a matter in the UK. Far from it.

    When the matter came up before Honourable Justice Abang on Friday January 25, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN referred the judge to documents filed by Access Bank before a London High Court, wherein the bank alleged that part of the reasons it avoided instituting an action against Capital Oil and it’s Managing Director, Ifeanyi Ubah in Nigeria was because the Nigerian judiciary was corrupt. Olanipekun said that Access Bank denigrated the Nigerian judiciary as well as dragged its image in the mud in the United Kingdom, as a result of the unfounded allegation against the judiciary. He also informed the court that in two affidavits filed on behalf of Access Bank in the London trial, Access Bank alleged that it decided that its dispute with Capital Oil and Ifeanyi Ubah because should be tried in the UK because of the corruptive influence that could be exerted on the Nigerian judiciary. He then informed the court that the above statement was made by Access Bank at a time it had flagrantly disobeyed the orders of the court.

    Olanipekun submitted that the claim by Access Bank that a person can have “the judiciary in his pocket” is understood to mean that the dispute between them can only be tried in the UK because the Nigerian judiciary was corrupt and could not be trusted to do justice in the matter. The allegation he further stated was intended to paint the entire Nigerian judiciary as so corrupt. He also said that it was contemptuous of Access Bank to suggest that the Nigerian judiciary could be so corruptly influenced by an individual, that Access Bank can ever get justice against such an individual in a Nigerian court. He admitted that while there may be some corrupt judges in Nigeria, the allegation by Access Bank gives the impression that no judge can be found in Nigerian judiciary who has not been corrupted or is capable of escaping the alleged corrupt influence of his clients.

     

    He regretted that the unfounded and unpatriotic allegation that the judiciary in Nigeria was corrupt was deposed to by Andrew James Preston relying on documents and facts presented to him by a Nigerian lawyer working with Access Bank as her Corporate Counsel, Fatai Oladipo and Deji Awodein one of the bank’s Deputy General Managers. Olanipekun then expressed further regret that no Briton would make such unpatriotic allegation against a British judge talk less of the entire British judiciary. In his opinion the allegation by the Bank as well the violations of the orders of the Nigerian court were attempts by Access Bank to undermine the Nigerian judiciary and amounted to criminal contempt of the court. The court was also informed that orders made by the court on two occasions had been violated by the bank.

    It was the above arguments that the trial judge agreed with in holding that by supplying information which scandalized the Nigerian judiciary the bank’s Corporate Counsel, Fatai Oladipo and Deji Awodein one of the bank’s Deputy General Managers were guilty of criminal contempt. The court also held that Access Bank and Coscharis Motors flouted the orders of court made on 12/11/12 and 21/01/13 respectively. It is therefore obvious that the Nigerian court had no grouse per se with Access from suing in a British court. In any case, Access Bank variously obtained orders from the London court ordering Capital Oil and Ubah to discontinue their suit in Nigeria or it would hold them in contempt of its orders. The court threatened to fine, imprison them or to have their assets seized if they disobey the order.

    As if that was not bad enough, the English court held that “any other person who knows of this order and does anything which helps or permits either of the respondents to breach the terms of this order may also be held to be in contempt of court and may be imprisoned, fined or have their assets seized”. We suspect that this may include the Nigerian trial judge, Capital Oil and Ubah’s lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun SAN and even any court official who participates further in the matter.

    One can understand why Justice Abang in a bid to uphold the integrity of the judiciary and the judicial process held that the two Access bank officials were in contempt of court. Access Bank cannot insist on maintaining its action in London and seek to prevent others from doing so in Nigeria and at the same time smear our judiciary in a bid to ride rough-shod over everybody.

    Capital Oil’s main grouse for bringing the action in Nigeria is because the Deed of Guarantee which purportedly vets jurisdiction in the English court violates Section 20 of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Act 1991.The Act clearly provides that “Any agreement by any person or party to any cause, matter or action which seeks to oust the jurisdiction of the Court shall be null and void, if it relates to any admiralty matter falling under this Decree and if (a) the place of performance, execution, delivery, act or default is or takes place in Nigeria ; or (b) any of the parties resides or has resided in Nigeria ; or (c) the payment under the agreement (implied or express) is made or is to be made in Nigeria. Capital Oil and Ubah’s contention therefore is that the provision is void as the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal High Court includes “any banking or letter of credit transaction involving the importation or exportation of goods to and from Nigeria in a ship or an aircraft, whether the importation is carried out or not and notwithstanding that the transaction is between a bank and its customer”, which is what the debt they guaranteed dealt with.

    These are facts and I so present them for clarity.

     

    • Hayes is spokesman, Capital Oil

     

  • The second coming of britain

    The second coming of britain

    The western nations have become apprehensive in recent years about their post colonial states degenerating to failed states characterised by weak ineffective and corrupt central government as a result of misrule by their new rulers. Thousands of hungry and jobless immigrants from ex-colonies are flooding the metropolitan nations in droves. At home the falcon can no more hear the falconer. The resources from their satellites states that once supported welfare services have been cornered by multi-nationals driven only by greed. To forestall the looming anarchy at home and abroad, the western nations seem to have started the new ‘scramble for Africa’.

    The new scramble has become more compelling because of globalization, the new god that proclaim all of us, the rich and the poor, equal participants in the globalised economy. The west also need to forestall the looming anarchy as a result of migration of frustrated, desperate jobless youths to Europe where the percentage of the unemployed is in some places is as high as 30%. Some two years back, France experienced first-hand, the anger of the hungry when frustrated homeless immigrants descended on the properties of their wealthy hosts. Last year, it was the turn of Britain as angry youths freely moved around London, looting and setting fire on malls.

    Anarchy is slowly creeping into Italy, Greece and Spain.

    Now, western leaders have decided to check the greed of their citizens and their collaborators in the poor African countries manned by incompetent thieving political class. Only last month, US President Barack Obama had during his second inauguration warned “The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob”. The French, after the massive destruction of property by disgruntled immigrants two years back have become very active in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Tunisia and Mali. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in Davos last week ahead of the G8 meeting scheduled for June 17 and 18 in Lough Erne, Northern Island, UK, had complained openly about squandered “Nigeria oil exports worth almost a hundred billion dollars”, an amount he said was “more than the total net aid to the whole of Sub Saharan Africa”.

    Also making reference to Nigeria where a few years back “a $800m discrepancy between what companies were paying and what the government was receiving for oil”, was discovered, Cameron had hinted “the western leaders and Japan are going to push for more transparency on who owns companies; on who’s buying up land and what purpose; on how governments spend their money, on how gas, oil and mining companies operate; and on who is hiding stolen assets and how we recover and return them.”

    Now that we all know sovereignty is dead and finally buried by globalization; if you ask me, I would suggest we formally invite the British to take over. Some two decades back, long before the current surreptitious move by Britain, late Olabisi Onabanjo, alias “Aiyekoto”, an accomplished newspaper columnist and a resourceful Second Republic governor of Ogun state had echoed the same sentiments.

    Today, there are more pressing reasons why Britain should come back. First we have been betrayed by our ill-equipped and ill-educated military adventurers starting with Gowon who said ‘money was not our problem’, (Of course the western companies provided wide range of consumer items to wipe out his ill-advised Udoji award) to General Ibrahim Babangida that fraudulently claimed there was no alternative to Structural Adjustment Program, (SAP). SAP which supported importation of Italian tiles, Italian shoes and Italian clothes and tyres sounded the death knell of our own budding industries. Today our exchange rate which was approximately one naira to one pound in 1982 is N260 to one pound sterling.

    Their military new breed politicians have not fared better. Infrastructural decay, unemployment and collapse of industries have come to characterize their war against Nigeria these past 13 years. To feed ourselves we depend on massive importation of rice, fish, chicken, palm oil, ground nut oil etc.

    There are other reasons we must support the return of Britain to Nigeria.

    Fifty two years after independence, no one can say precisely what the population of Nigeria is. We don’t even know who is and who is not a Nigerian. Since 1963 controversial census figure decided by the courts, we have not been able to have a credible exercise outside the 1953 colonial figure which defied all known demographic laws.

    Our judiciary lost its innocence when, under the guise of celebrating our sovereignty, we did away with the ‘Privy Council’ in order to cage the opposition Action Group (AG) party. We have since moved from “Coker’s My hand are tied” judgment, to twelve two-third ridiculous judicial pronouncement to install President Shehu Shagari in 1983, to plea bargaining where our judges and senior advocates have been claimed to smile to their banks while those who have stolen the nation blind escape with a slap on the wrist. Nigerians also earnestly yearn for a British Chief Justice to derail the ambitions of ’thieves in the state Houses’ currently preparing for a comeback as governors, senators or on the verge of installing their minions as governors with stolen money.

    Of course, if there is a survey of the police, they will probably opt for a British Inspector General (IG). First, many occupants of that position since the departure of the last British IG ended up as villains. Some have been paraded in chains like mere criminals for siphoning billions of naira meant for police welfare and police equipments. Some have demonstrated their prowess in election rigging. None has excelled in the task of protection of life and property, the only reason we traded our freedom for government protection.

    Unlike America, where President Obama only this last Tuesday insisted American street police will not be allowed to be outgunned by criminals, our ill-equipped and ill-trained police men have become sitting targets for criminals. They are neither safe on the streets nor in their barracks. We read on the pages of newspapers often how criminals walked into police barracks, killed those on duty, cart away their weapons and set the police station of fire.

    Since we can neither secure our water ways or borders, we need a British head of the armed forces. The Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently told us that the nation loses $7b annually to oil bunkerers in the creeks. The Pipeline Professional Association of Nigeria (PPAN) put the figure at N100b annually.

    With a standing army, navy and air force, the federal government was said to have awarded a security contract of $103m to Tompolo to help fight crime on the sea particularly against pirates, who are credited to be ‘too powerful for the Nigerian Navy to control’.

    To protect our pipelines, it was claimed ‘General’ Government Tompolo Ekpumopolo, got contract to the tune of N3.6bn; Asari Dokubo, 1.44bn; ‘General’ Ateke Tom, N560m and ‘General’ Ebikabowei Boyloaf Victor Ben, N560m. While defending the government action, which Okupe said was done by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, he said, “since this exercise began, the crude oil production has jumped from 1.8mbpd to 2.6mbpd. It is safe to suggest British takeover of our armed forces because it will be seditious to suggest a change of their Commander-in-Chief.

    As I watched Dr Anwen White, a female neurosurgeon of Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who on BBC Monday evening described as ‘routine’ a skull reconstruction and a cochlear implant surgery on 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, shot by the Taliban for advocating women education, I secretly wished for the return of British to a teaching hospital like the UCH rated as one of the best three in the commonwealth of nations in 1960.

    With the death of sovereignty, and the ascendancy of globalization, the new god, we have nothing to be ashamed of by asking Britain to start from where they stopped in October 1, 1960.

  • A guide to legal battles

    A guide to legal battles

    WHAT seems to be a new drive to seize suspected corrupt government officials is causing so much anxiety in the land.

    Those who have stolen from the public purse are worried that they may soon be hauled before the courts for taking too much and keeping it all for themselves and members of their families. Law offices are jammed by panicky officials seeking a way out of what looks like an imminent legal cauldron. I guess juju men, necromancers and Bar Beach prophets are also busy.

    But, do they need to panic like kindergarten kids before an angry teacher? No. Here is a guide on how to stay above the storm. It is the result of years of a painstaking research. It is practical; not a mash of esoteric theories that are good only for the classroom, lacking in efficacy when put to the test in the simplest of cases. Neither is it a textbook stuff that can easily be snatched off the shelf and run through for some academic exertion nor a Lagos pickpocket’s guidebook. It is for those with vast assets, incredible assets in cash and property, those suspected to have their hands in the till. Here we go:

    Today’s anti-corruption agencies are polite. They will never storm your home in the dead of the night, bearing arms and handcuffs. Neither will they come in broad daylight with an army of operatives decking bullet proof vests and steel helmets as if they are after some armed robbers or their cousins, the kidnappers. No. They will simply invite you for “a chat” or “clarification” on “a petition that this office is investigating”.

    Find a damn good lawyer; the best money can get, the type called SAN. He will accompany you to the agency’s office and stay with you for the few hours that your interview – sorry, a wrong word there – your interrogation will last. You will be allowed to go home on what they call “administrative bail”. They may even ask you to surrender your travel passport. Don’t panic; it’s all about due process. Whenever you need to travel, you can simply go to court and secure an order for the release of your passport to go on a long overdue medical check-up. You need to be alive to face trial, your lawyer will tell the court. Your passport secured, you can then go on that delayed yearly family summer break.

    The investigation will go on for months. During this long break, seek help from your powerful friends – every big man has some – so that the case can, as they say here, die naturally for “lack of diligent prosecution”. Let them talk to the Attorney General who can order a discontinuation of the case because, in his highly respected view, the investigation has been shoddy and no prima facie case has been established. In other words, the chief law officer will say it is better for 99 criminals to be set free than for one innocent person to be punished unjustly.

    If that route proves unworkable and the agency insists on prosecuting you, you can check into a hospital, a good government hospital with a facility for privacy (an air conditioned room, a television set with cable facility for you to watch the Premiership, a refrigerator and all those other appliances of comfort to which you are used). Your lawyer will then rush to the court, pleading for the protection of your fundamental human rights. He will tender a doctor’s report stating that you are down with any of those cabbalistic diseases (Atherosclerosis or Dilated Cardiomyopathy or whatever).

    He, the SAN that is, will push for a perpetual injunction restraining the agency, its servants, proxies and officers or whomsoever it may nominate from harassing or intimidating you. You may be lucky to get such an injunction. In case you do not, take it easy.

    Your lawyer can go back to argue that the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the matter. The prosecution will insist that the court is vested with such powers. Either way, the judge will fix a date to decide whether it has jurisdiction or not. Your lawyer will then stand up, bow sharply and look His Lordship straight in the eye, saying: “Milord…em…em I would like to crave your lordship’s indulgence for a longer date because I have another matter in Maiduguri on that day. A longer adjournment will be okay for me, Milord.”

    “Objection granted. April 12 suitable?” “Yes Milord.” “Since there is no objection from the other side,” the judge will say, “I take it that the new date is okay for everybody. Case adjourned till April 12.”

    If the agency is the stubborn type, it will insist that you must come to the court. Go there. Your lawyer will simply tell the judge that there is no need forcing a sick man to face trial and that, in any case, you have been on bail without breaching the terms. If your plea is taken, never plead guilty. The court will eventually ask you to go home on bail.

    But never you think the matter has ended. Remain firm. Don’t flee overseas. Doing so will give your enemies – remember every rich man has them aplenty – enough time to arm the anti-graft agency with dangerous documents to cause your extradition to a friendly country where you could be sent to jail in a jiffy.

    Remember your lawyer had told the court that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case – he will also add that the charges, which usually come in a deluge, looking repetitive to the untrained eye – and that it should be thrown out. The court may insist it has jurisdiction. Never fret.

    While all this legal calisthenics is going on, your lawyer can open talks with the prosecuting agency. He will tell the agency how good a man you have been, a man of conscience, a true patriot and a responsible family man who should not suffer unjustifiably. This is called plea bargain. Many – those arm chair critics and out-of-job lawyers – will be crying that this is alien to our laws and that it is an attempt to shield you from trial and pervert the course of justice. Remain calm.

    You will be persuaded to surrender some property, perhaps 10 out of 22 mansions. That’s not bad; is it? After all, you can keep the cash you have safely stashed away in some finance houses or stocked up in the stock markets.

    Your long list of charges will be compressed or consolidated, as they say, to about three counts. Stealing, you need not be reminded, is no murder or armed robbery. His Lordship, who must have been well briefed of the terms of settlement, will simply apply the law, ask you to go to jail for two years on each of the three counts or pay N150 fine on each and go home in peace to sin no more. Pay cash and walk home a free man.

    Then, there will be uproar. Those self-appointed moral policemen will start criticising the judgment, crying as if it is their inheritance you have stolen. Again, be calm. It is not strange. Coram non judice. They are only ignorant of the law, which the judge can apply as he pleases.

    If the noise is so much, coming from all manner of legal wannabes in the guise of amicus curiae, the anti-graft agency may come after you again, alleging that you have stolen some millions and that you did not declare your assets. Stay cool. Isn’t that the work of the Code of Conduct Bureau? Your lawyer will argue that this move is an attempt to start your trial de novo and cause you double jeopardy. The judge, as firm as ever, will dismiss the case as an abuse of court process and lash the prosecution for testing the court’s integrity and wasting its time. Case closed.

    If you follow this guide, you are sure to emerge from it all a hero. Your people can then buy an Ankara uniform, hire an army of drummers and dance round the town, singing your praise.

    One last thing: All rights reserved. No part of this Guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of this author.

     

    Super Eagles… so super

    GAINST all odds, the Super Eagles are in the finals of the Cup of Nations. Nigerians are excited. They were the subject of all manner of jokes.

    Keshi’s post-match interview was instructive. He spoke of two key elements of a great team – “mentality and character”. How I wish our politicians would embrace these values and more – the Eagles’ fighting spirit, agility and faith.

    Now that we have, for this moment, forgotten all that ails our polity–corruption, decaying infrastructure, insecurity, ethnicity and all others– I hope our leaders will reflect on the verdict of history that will surely come.

    As for the final game, my money is on the Eagles. How about you?

  • Yesterday, today and tomorrow

    Yesterday, today and tomorrow

    As humans, we owe our existence to the almighty. We do everything by His grace-eating, sleeping and waking. Without His munificence, we cannot do these things. This is why we praise God for life, for provision and protection. We are what we are by the grace of God. It is not by our power, education or wisdom. The scripture puts it succinctly : ‘’Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain; unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain’’. So, every man must bear this fact in mind irrespective of his position.

    As humans, positions mean a lot to us. We like to associate with those in high offices because it pays to do so. Nobody wants to relate with the poor because they will gain nothing by doing so. I am not saying that it is not good to aspire to high office; no I am not saying that. After all, what is the essence of our being if we cannot aspire to be great. But in doing that we tend to forget that greatness comes from God. A man will become great not because he has the greatness gene in his blood nor because he works harder than his peers but because fate smiles on him.

    According to the scripture, ‘’the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all’’. If this is so, why then do men play God? Why do they act as if they became what they are by virtue of their brilliance or hard work? Let them know that we have seen more hardworking and brilliant persons before without anything to show for their brilliance and efforts. What do you say to that? That they offended God? God, according to His word, will favour those that He will favour, meaning that some will be more favoured than others.

    In our society today, those at the helm of affairs can be grouped among the highly-favoured. As our leaders, we respect them and wish them all the best. Our prayer is that they succeed because their success will be for the good of us all. Since governance is a continuum, leaders come and go. We had leaders yesterday; we have leaders today and after today’s leaders, another set of leaders will come tomorrow.This is the law of nature which cannot be changed. No matter what, the leaders of yesterday and today must learn to work together in the interest of the nation. But in most cases, they don’t. Why this is so we don’t seem to know.

    But it all borders on fear of the likelihood of leaders of today exposing the misdeeds of their predecessors. When our people are in power, they tend to forget that a day will come when issues will be raised about their tenure. If there is something our leaders don’t like to do, it is being called upon to give an account of their stewardship. They can do anything to stop that process because of the fear of being exposed. What is there to be exposed if they have nothing to hide? As past leaders are afraid of probe, so are their successors afraid of criticisms. Those in power don’t like to be criticised. They want to be hailed for every decision taken, whether good or bad. Is that possible? They know that it is not, but they will never see anything good in criticisms meant for their own good.

    They demand constructive criticisms, but when such criticisms come, they pick up a fight with the critics. What is the problem with them? Are they saying that because they are in power they should not be criticised? Funny enough, some of those in power today who loathe criticism were foremost critics of government not too long ago. There is no difference between yesterday’s and today’s leaders; they are all the same. We only hear them quarrel on issues relating to their personal interests. It is then that you will see their aides firing from all cylinders. When they fight like that, it is for our own good because a lot of things are revealed.

    In some cases, the former and present leaders may be friends torn apart by their loyalty to different masters. By the time they finish abusing themselves, their masters will be meeting behind closed doors to sort out their differences. It is good for the people of yesterday and those of today to engage themselves once-in-a-while in public so that we may know some of the goings-on in government hitherto hidden to us. Since they will be talking from an advantaged position because of the facts and figures at their disposal, many things will be brought to light which we may never have heard of if not for their disagreement.

    So, these yesterday’s and today’s people should continue to wash their dirty linen in public, if that will make those in office to sit up. Being in power does not confer on one with superior knowledge. Those in power should not, therefore, see themselves as having all the answers to the problems of the country. Of course, those before them, who are today criticising them cannot claim to have found the answers for all the nation’s problems during their time. They have done their bit and left just as those in charge now will do theirs and leave. As the saying goes, ‘’no condition is permanent’’.

    In time, the people of today will become people of yesterday just as their predecessors with who they are now fighting. As I said, they should fight on as long as they tell us what they do in those secret places that have held us backward for long as a nation. Today’s office holders may find what their predecessors is doing to them repugnant, but if they are in those people’s shoes, won’t they do the same thing? Soon, very, very soon, they will leave office for the people of tomorrow. What will be their relationship with those people? Will it be different from that with their predecessors?

    Today’s people should not feel bad about what is happening now because, as my people will say ‘’na turn-by-turn’’. We are waiting to see if they will not talk if tomorrow’s office holders do certain things which they consider inimical to what today’s government stood for in its own time.

    Eagles of hope

    Like play, like play, the Super Eagles are in the final of the ongoing African Cup of Nations in South Africa. Nobody gave the team any chance of reaching this stage of the competition. Many of us believed that they would be defeated at the preliminary rounds. They survived that stage to confront the almighty Ivorian team in the quarterfinal. The Eagles defeated the Elephants of Cote D’ivoire 2-1 to meet the Eagles of Mali in yesterday’s semifinal. As I write this on Tuesday night, I am cocksure that the Super Eagles will beat Mali hands down. We are playing in the final of this tournament come what may. We may not have a superb team, but those guys are determined. They want to make a point that you don’t judge a book by its cover. Even if we don’t beat Mali, the Eagles have done something for their coach-they have saved Stephen Keshi’s job. The big boss should know the strategy to adopt against Mali having been that country’s national coach at a time. Goals, Eagles, goals, we need a basketful of them against Mali and your opponents in the final.

     

  • The aviation industry in Nigeria

    The aviation industry in Nigeria

    I have just returned from a trip to the UN in New York and during one of the committee sessions on the annual budget, there was a discussion on budgetary support for UN officials travelling in West Africa. One thing that struck me was the comment of a delegate I believe from the United States who remarked that travelling in West Africa is hazardous and that flying was particularly dangerous in Nigeria. And just as we were about to reply him, there was a news flash about the helicopter crash in which the Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Ibrahim Yakowa and the Former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi died. There was no need after that time to try and challenge those who felt that travelling in West Africa was hazardous.

    Since I arrived back home a few days ago, I have been reading a report by Accenture of the challenge before the aviation industry in our country. It is sometimes with trepidation that many of us travel by air within our country. When I was much younger, I used to enjoy driving long distances in Nigeria, because this is the only way to know our country. But now with the collapse of the road infrastructure, and the high incidence of highway robbery, travelling by roads is now very unattractive. This means that we must do everything to improve the safety of air travel in Nigeria as well as wholesale rehabilitation of our road network. For a country that wants to be by 2020, one of the most developed countries in the world, the aviation industry would have to play an important role. We have heard government make pronouncement about making Lagos the hub of the aviation industry in West Africa.

    This desire flows from the fact that the population of Nigeria is greater than the population of the remaining 14 countries in ECOWAS put together. The economy of Nigeria is about three times the economy of the rest of ECOWAS. If Nigeria is to realize its potentialities, we must put resources into the development of the aviation industry. I do not think starting a new national airline is the best approach. The history of the defunct Nigeria Airways should lead us into another direction. What our government should do is to assist major private airlines that have the capacity to consolidate and pull their resources together and also open credit lines to them as well as guaranteed purchase of new aircrafts. But while doing this, the present capacity of the airlines should be the deciding factor. There are only one or two airlines that meet these criteria. All the other one plane airlines should be allowed to die. It is a pity that the entrance of Virgin Atlantic into the domestic airline business in Nigeria did not succeed. Government should continue to make the aviation industry attractive for foreign investment. The kind of investment being suggested is not the type that we’ve seen before, where few Asians would use the local banks to set up airlines with disastrous consequences. It should be possible as part of our bilateral relations with countries like the USA and Germany to induce Lufthansa and Delta Airlines to engage major private sector operators in setting up airlines.

    On a final note, our current Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah deserves some commendation and praise in her policy of transformation of Nigerian Airports, particularly the major ones in Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja. But I am sorry to say that the current expansion of the Lagos Airport leaves much to be desired. This expansion does not meet the volume of air traffic in our country. If our minister has not been to Atlanta, Georgia before, I will advise her to make a trip and do a study tour of that airport. The Lagos Airport is about one-fiftieth of the Atlanta International Airport, which is arguably the third largest Airport in the world and is a major hub of the aviation industry in the southern part of the U.S.

    What I am trying to say is that while the effort of the minister is commendable, it is not enough. We have to plan big and not just for the moment. After being away for four weeks, I arrived back in Nigeria on January 6, at Murtala Mohammed Airport and what I saw pleased me a little bit and at the same time displeased me to a great extent. After arrival, I was pleasantly surprised that the airport had been configured in such a way that we had to walk for maybe 10 minutes which is great compared with the previous dispensations. This is important to keep the blood flowing and our circulating system back to normal. But along the narrow passage through which we walked were broken down desk and tables which should have been removed, but are left blocking the pathway. But the master of all embarrassments was that we had to wait for three hours before we could get our luggage. On enquiry about what was responsible for this, we were told that the luggage is manually removed from the plane and manually put on the conveyor belt and there was only one that was working. After hours of flying nobody likes to face this kind of delay. I could see the feeling of derision in the faces of foreigners in our midst and many Nigerians were saying unprintable things about our country and its leadership. The challenge therefore for our hardworking minister of aviation is that she must be on her toes and move round, not just sitting in Abuja, to see what’s going on at the major entry points of our country. She’s doing well, but she can do better.

    Let me say as a form of advice, that there is no need to always reduce everything in this country to politics. Aviation is a technical matter and those who should run the industry should not be politicians, but people knowledgeable and au courant in aviation know-how. From the ladies announcing the arrival and departure of airlines to flight controllers and managers of the airport; professionalism should be the yardstick of recruitment and not politics or ethnicity. On a light note, the ladies making announcements at the airports need to be tutored possibly by those who speak English and French as their mother tongue. The one who was announcing arrival and departure of flights on the night of January 6, should be given a desk job while someone who can speak English and French properly without our heavy local accent should be recruited. If she wants the job of an announcer, she should wait until Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba become languages of international and aviation communication.

     

  • Readers’parliament 21

    Your analysis is correct. Some parents are boastful of their ability to purchase seats for their wards to cheat at JAMB and SSCE centres. It is sad to see what our country has degenerated to. God will help us. 08023137600.

    Haba Tunji. This your piece was too harsh to Nigerians. I am sure you are not residing in Nigeria. 08033754830.

    Olatunji, I agree with you totally that, ‘We are very bad people.’ If Mr. ‘Integrity’Lawan Farouk could fall the way he did, then hope is not in sight for this society of ours. Look at the appointment of Dame Patience as Permanent Secretary. Very absurd. 08034053328.

    Remain blessed for saying the truth. All men need to be forcefully castrated, so that we can stop breeding baboons and then let the country return to stone age.08037967898.

    I wish you continue with this line of write-up. You strike a definite chord in our psychology and sociology with the message. I wake everyday with these foreboding realities of the basic Nigerian psyche. I fear for the future of this race and generation…I totally agree with your thesis. 08054967602.

    Excellent piece of writing. I agree with you 100 per cent. We need to change ourselves because we are indeed very bad people. 08079890367.

    “It is good to be bad and bad to be good in contemporary Nigeria,” truer words I have never read in Nigerian newspapers. Brilliant article today, Mr. Ololade! Please keep up the good work. And the truth shall set us all free. 08178675967.

    Thanks a lot dear. You did very well in your piece. May God bless you with more knowledge and wisdom. Amen. 08063675643.

    May Almighty God bless you for telling the truth the way it is, ‘We are very bad people.’ 08037036487.

    Olatunji, what you are saying cannot be disputed. What has eluded us is the way out of the quagmire. From Cyril Chinweike Eze. 08037907122.

    And Patience Jonathan is now a permanent secretary. Only in Nigeira can such happen. We are very bad people indeed. 07035347838.

    I have never read a more honest description of you and me. We are very horrible people. From Ehimare Ehoho. 08081322995.

    May God bless you for telling us the truth. Please keep it up. Luka Jos. 08081767426.

    Of course, we are very people Olatunji. In Port Harcourt where I live, it’s really the picture you painted. Success through hard work is no longer the way of life. What of teachers known b ydear patience, they are now the vampires that devour their wards. Thanks. Good piece. Ray from Port Harcourt. 08056666484.

    You said it all. We are indeed very bad people. None could be worse. From Barrister Obi Anierobi. 08031157593.

    Olatunji, I like your write-up. Let us be accountable for all our actions, let us stop blaming our leaders. An average Nigerian man is a criminal. Zuby from Port Harcourt. 08051603828.

    Your article is a very good one. Unfortunately you are talking to people who have long chosen the path of amorality. The assertion that the followership is as bad as the leadership is true. But in all climes, it is the leadership that sets the pace either for moral degeneracy or righteous living. The theory of the vital few cannot be wished away. The elites, opinion moulders and policy formulators who develop the framework for policy implementation and are supposed to enforce compliance are the first culprits. No society has only good people; what deters people from wrongdoing is the arm of the law which is supposed to be enforced by the leaders. That’s why foreigners come to Nigeria and beat traffic lights. Let’s get good leaders and things will fall in place. From Etokowoh Owoh Uyo. AKS. 08037975031.

    Your ability to put reality in pure perspective is outstanding. Until Nigerians move away from pretence, egoism, deceit, avarice, hate, etc, I wonder where our religious disposition will take us. From Paul Vingil. Abuja. 08035880838.

    I honestly agree with you and I pray that God endow you with wisdom, knowledge and blessedness to tell the nation the root of our problem. God bless you bro. From Wellington, Sango, Ogun State. 08060244044.

    Mr. Olatunji Ololade, your write up, ‘We are very bad people (1),’ I must confess, is the best write-up ever in this morally bankrupt and unholy entity called Nigeria. More of it, please, my brother. They will surely meet the people’s justice in 2015. May God keep more of your type for the battle ahead. Henry Oputa esq, Port Harcourt. 08033125515.

    Nice piece Olatunji. We need more of your type. Self tendencies have destroyed us all. I think that Nigeria can only be better when Nigerians think better. Indeed, we are very bad people.08036851612.

    Your write-up captured the sad reality of the contraption called Nigeria. You mirrored the true state of the inhabitants of this country and as sad and fearful the truth is, we are all culpable in the mess our dear country is in. More ink to your pen. From Tapshak Armstrong. Jos. 08166032757.

    We are very bad people 1 says it all. Keep telling the truth. You are superb. From Kehinde Olalemi. 07063504030.

    Tunji my brother, I totally agree with you. I fully understand your angst. Our society is largely populated by monkeys and baboons in human garb, primitive in thinking and bestial in deeds. I have never seen or heard of a society so depraved as ours. Until we, as a people, embrace those things that are truly important in life and jettison the mindless and blind accumulation of vanities, we are eternally doomed as a people spiritually and naturally. From Gerard Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo. Onitsha. 08023656124.

    What do you have to say about the south-east of the country where people are kidnapping fellow human beings including new born babies in the name of money? And all of us claim to be Christians. 08160149957.

    In fact, you have said it all and I totally agree with you. What can we do now to stop this menace and attitude of ours because each time? From Shakiru. 08030699828.

    Olatunji Ololade, since I was born in this feeble but very wicked and perverse country that is called Nigeria in 1953, I have never discerned anybody’s heart like I’ve just did yours…having gone through your humble and earnest dispositional topic, I thought I were you but of course, I’m not. This is to erase the unscrupulous position of the doubting Thomases that will oppose your write-up in anyway because Nigeria is just simply negative to the core. I’m in this position because some agents of negativity will want to counter the message of good people to this. They will want to smother this great message by which you teach all of us about how bad and wicked we are in this hopeless and worthless country we live in that is called Nigeria…A people that hails criminality are very bad people. A people that condones wicked preachers that pray for government officials who steal public money are very bad people. A people who allow their previous leaders to walk the streets with their loots, even after these leaders have lost immunity are very bad people. A people that have made their generation a thieving one are very bad people. 08036925729.

  • Jonathan’s CNN interview

    Jonathan’s CNN interview

    When he was in Davos, Switzerland, last week for the World Economic Summit, President Jonathan gave the ace CNN reporter, Christine Amanpour, a radio interview later shown on the CNN network. Of the issues raised with the President two were very interesting, but the President’s response to them was disturbing. First, Amanpour referred to advice from the US Embassy in Nigeria that US citizens should avoid going to certain parts of Northern Nigeria unless it was absolutely necessary. This advice to US citizens was given by the Embassy because of the disturbing security situation there, on account of the terror activities of Boko Haram, the extremist and violent Islamic sect in some parts of the North. Other Western Embassies including the British, French, and German have also routinely, as a precautionary measure, issued their citizens the same advice.

    Amanpour also asked President Jonathan about alleged reservations by the US Embassy of the strategy of the use of force by the Federal Government in handling terrorism in vast swathes of the North. She asked whether the use of force to put down the insurgency was being complemented by a dialogue with the insurgents. I consider the questions fair and appropriate in the prevailing disturbing security situation in Northern Nigeria. The same questions are being asked here at home.

    The other issue brought up in the interview by Amanpour with President Jonathan was about the huge oil bunkering that has been taking place in Nigeria for years without the government being able to do anything to stop it. According to Amanpour, some 400,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily from Nigeria and sold illegally in the foreign oil markets. This particular information is not new. It has been in the public domain for decades. I watched the interview with some dismay as I considered it very damaging to Nigeria’s foreign image. I also felt that the response of President Jonathan to the two questions by Amanpour were largely evasive and less than satisfactory. During the telecast interview he appeared tense, nervous and unsure of himself. He did not respond to the questions with any credibility or even conviction.

    On the question of the advice from the US Embassy regarding the general state of insecurity in Northern Nigeria, and the strategy of the Federal Government in tackling the danger of Boko Haram to national security, President Jonathan said he believed that the source of information of the US Embassy on the situation in Northern Nigeria was local. But he blamed the Embassy for relying on local information from the Nigerian public. Specifically, he blamed the Embassy for allowing Nigerians access to it and purportedly misleading it about the security situation in Northern Nigeria. But the security situation is not a secret and should not be treated as such.

    In this regard, President Jonathan was wholly wrong in vilifying the Nigerian public as the source of information of the US Embassy. Are the Embassies in Nigeria expected to rely on foreign sources for information about the country to which they are accredited? The primary duty of an Embassy is to gather useful information locally about its host country for the information of its own government and country. It is a traditional aspect of diplomatic practice accepted globally and taken seriously by professional diplomats as an essential part of their duties. Some of the information that the US and other Embassies have about Nigeria is from the local media which the Embassy staff monitor on a daily basis for useful information. But the press is not their only source of information on Nigeria. The US and other Embassies in Nigeria also have useful contacts in the National Assembly and in other government circles, including the Presidency itself. They interact often with senior members of the government many of whom talk freely with these foreign diplomats about the situation in Nigeria.

    In fact, the Nigerian secret service and security agencies collaborate fully and exchange information with their counterparts from other foreign countries on matters of national security. The US and other western friendly countries offer Nigeria assistance in tracking down the Boko Haram terrorists. On some occasions, they have taken part directly in military operations against the terrorists. There is nothing unusual about this, as these official contacts and security collaboration are useful to both sides and should be encouraged as a means of promoting cordial relations between the two countries.

    As a retired diplomat, I find nothing wrong with foreign embassies here openly seeking information legitimately about important political and economic developments in Nigeria. It is a basic function of an Embassy. That is why foreign diplomats are here in the first place. Their rights in this regard are fully protected by the Geneva Convention. What the foreign Embassies do here to gather useful information is not different from what Nigerian diplomatic missions are expected to do abroad to keep their government better informed about their host countries. In any case, there is far greater interaction at the official level between the officials of the Federal Government and the diplomatic staff of foreign embassies here, than with the general public. Representatives of the Federal Government have ample opportunities of correcting any wrong impressions or misinformation about Nigeria that the foreign embassies might harbour as a result of their interaction with the Nigerian public and press. In this particular case, in advising American citizens to stay away from the areas of the North affected by the current insurgency there, the US Embassy cannot legitimately be blamed for seeking to protect its citizens in Nigeria. Even Nigerians avoid going to the North now unless it is absolutely necessary for them to go there. It is counterproductive for the Nigerian authorities, particularly the President, to seek to deceive the public and foreigners on the security situation here.

    President Jonathan’s acerbic response on this matter reminds me of the manner the former American Ambassador here, Walter Carrington, was hounded by the authoritarian Abacha military regime for supporting and encouraging resistance to the regime. Very few people will now argue that Ambassador Carrington was wrong in his opposition to military rule in Nigeria and support for democracy in Nigeria. As the representative of a democratic government, he could not have been expected to support an unpopular and vicious military regime. The fault is not with the Embassies but with us, particularly our leaders who are intolerant of any form of criticism, even if such criticisms are legitimate and in the interest of the country.

    The second issue brought up in the interview by Amanpour was about the vast amount of oil being stolen daily from Nigeria through bunkering. Specifically, Amanpour claimed that some 400,000 barrels of crude oil were involved in this illegal export and sale of Nigerian crude oil. It is difficult to believe this figure as it represents about 20 % of total Nigerian oil production of about 2.5 million barrels per day. Considering the fact that oil exports remain the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, the government should be concerned about this vast oil theft and take the necessary measures in eliminating it. President Jonathan’s response on this crucial matter was very disappointing. Instead of outlining measures to tackle the problem, he blamed foreign oil companies for it, arguing that they were, in effect, the receivers of stolen goods. But oil is such an important and scarce resource that it will always find a market abroad. Whether they suspect it to be stolen, or not, there will always be buyers abroad for crude oil, some of which is sold in the open oil market. The fact is that the government is aware of the vast amount of crude oil being stolen from Nigeria. But it has done little to curb it because of vested interests in oil bunkering in the corridors of power in Nigeria. Very few culprits of oil theft have been caught and punished for the crime. When caught, as they are occasionally, they are let off the hook by the powers that be. Recently, this situation prompted the retiring Naval Commander in the area to complain that the Nigerian Navy has not succeeded in curbing oil theft in the area because of the connivance of people in high places and the rampart corruption in the Judiciary.

    These are local problems that require local solutions. President Jonathan should face them squarely. It does not do his government or Nigeria’s foreign image any good to look for scapegoats abroad for our internal problems created by our leaders. Foreign observers know quite a bit about Nigeria. With the vast improvement in global communications and reach there is no longer any hiding place for corrupt or incompetent governments any where in the world. It is a reality that the government should accept instead of blaming foreigners for our self inflicted problems.

  • Fayemi at work

    Fayemi at work

    At the mid-term of his first four-year mandate, which will be due for renewal in 2014, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi encapsulated his mission in government in two telling phrases: “Reclaiming the trust of the people; delivering the promise to the people.” This self-definition formed the theme of celebrations to mark his second anniversary in office, which included the launch of his new book, Reclaiming the Trust, a collection of his key speeches in the last two years at the helm of government business in Ekiti. Fayemi said, at a well-attended state banquet to end the week-long festivities, “Without being immodest and at the risk of sounding arrogant, our record of achievement in the past two years in Ekiti is better in quality and quantity than the previous seven and a half years that our people have lived through. But we are not deluding ourselves. We know we have not reached the destination. We know the road is still long. But from the prism of our eight-Point Agenda, we have been able to consistently present our scorecard to the people of the state.”

    Any trace of braggadocio in his self-appraisal found redemption as leaders of his party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in Ekiti State, endorsed him for re-election during the end-of-year party hosted by a former governor of the state, Niyi Adebayo, at his country home in Iyin Ekiti. According to ACN state Chairman, Chief Jide Awe, “The leaders of our party have spoken and the people on the streets have also spoken in clear terms. They are all saying the governor has performed and should be given a second term. I endorse this position because the Fayemi administration has made a difference in the state.”

    Even Fayemi appeared unprepared for the political colour of the social event, saying, “I am humbled by this expression of confidence and goodwill by our party men and women.” If there were any lingering doubts about the sentiments expressed by Awe the politician, the visit to the governor by the non-partisan Ekiti Council of Elders helped to put the party’s endorsement into perspective. At the governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the senior citizens, led by a First Republic minister, Chief Joel Babatola, said Ekiti was “very fortunate “ to have Fayemi in the saddle, and praised his “passion for development.” The first half of Fayemi’s tenure, they observed, was “characterized by integrity, hard work and performance.”

    Fayemi never gets weary of attributing his acclaimed performance in office to his determination to fulfil what he perceives as a social contract. According to him, “Everywhere we go, we get confronted by the question of how we have been able to record such a great success in Ekiti in just two years. I do explain it in two ways. One is to see everything as the favour of God Almighty. Without him and his support, nothing is possible. Another explanation we cannot run away from is that this administration understands the meaning of social contract.

    Leaders must understand that the position involves giving useful directions to the people, protecting them through policies and programmes, and empowering them meaningfully and usefully.”

    The harvest of completed “milestone projects” across the state’s 16 local government areas at the mid-term bears testimony to his commitment to his political philosophy; it was a grand inauguration of 160 projects , including roads, schools, water and rural electrification. Among his administration’s endearing achievements, which have touched the grassroots, is the building of five-kilometre roads in council areas, free education and free health programmes, and the Social Security Scheme for the Elderly, which is an impressive innovation in these parts.

    It promises to be business as usual at the Government House in Ado- Ekiti in the remaining half of Fayemi’s first term, if his administration’s proposed N93.6 billion budget for 2013 is anything to go by. According to the financial plan, tagged “Budget of Empowerment and Consolidation, “ capital expenditure is put at N47,200,688,770 (50.4 per cent), against recurrent expenditure of N46,416,141,231 (49.6 per cent), which has positive implications for developmental projects. Furthermore, among the top priorities of the administration, as shown by the budget, Infrastructure has the lion’s share of 21.2 per cent, followed by Education with 17.2 per cent, and Health with 10.7 per cent.

    Fayemi plans to spend N9.9 billion on roads, saying that intra-township roads in the state’s three divisional administrative headquarters, including Ikere, Ikole and Ijero, would be built with street lights installed, and all ongoing road projects would be completed by next year. Water projects would get N2.4 billion, while N2.163 billion is budgeted for the rehabilitation of General Hospitals and Comprehensive Health Centres.

    In line with the budget’s focus on empowering rural dwellers, the Fayemi administration is set to grab the headlines with yet another innovation, with his promise to create a new ministry to address poverty reduction and facilitate rural development. The state’s rural communities can look forward to improved living conditions when this promise is fulfilled.

    The governor’s track record of delivering on his electioneering promises provides reasonable grounds for optimism that he will sustain the tempo of development in Ekiti in the second half of his term, which will likely work to his advantage in seeking re-election. And, to his credit, he has been able to quieten the opposition with the sheer force of his electorate-friendly performance. It is remarkable that he has so far managed to escape damaging political mudslinging, and his opponents are hard put to find a chink in his armour.

    In truth, the Fayemi administration has so far been scandal-free, particularly concerning official corruption, which remains the bane of many political office holders in the country. He has ascribed this to his mission to reclaim the people’s trust based on “competence, creativity, reliability and transparency in public funding in all that we do.”

    With about one year to go to the 2014 Ekiti governorship poll, which is a long time in politics, the odds are that, with more endorsements of Fayemi rolling in, as is likely in the countdown to the event, he will be pre-eminently positioned to clinch a deserved re-election.

     

    • Adewale writes from Ado-Ekiti

     

  • Adetiloye : Fare thee well

    Adetiloye : Fare thee well

    The death of Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye marks the end of an era in the Anglican Communion of Nigeria. Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye became a Bishop at an early age. He was in his late 30s, when he became a Bishop several decades ago. His meteoric rise in the church caught the envious eyes of many people including his clerical colleagues. He was a cerebral Bishop who applied his reasoning faculty to the work of the church. The church to him was not just the buildings or churches and cathedrals but the people. In this regard, he believed in Christian Evangelism all over the country and particularly to the Islamic North. He challenged the tradition established by the British colonialists that Christian evangelization of the Islamic North was forbidden. Archbishop Adetiloye was able to mobilise men and resources for the establishment of Anglican Missionary Dioceses in the North and in other parts of the South where the Christian religion was not being properly preached. He was an organisational man and he believed in structures. The creation of the office of the Primate as the head of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria was his making. He subsequently became the first Primate of Anglican Communion in Nigeria.

    He began as a liberal cleric when he was young but he later tightened up the doctrine of the church of Nigeria and frowned on sexual and moral laxity among communicants. He was intolerant of the Western practice of homosexuality and lesbianism and he believed in the old time religion and biblical doctrine against same sex unions. When he was Archbishop of Nigeria, he promoted young people into bishoprics and embraced the idea of graduate priests and even priests with higher degrees. At a point in time, he wanted this writer to become a Reverend gentleman. He was not totally against the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria as many Bishops are to today. He frowned on loud music during church worship and was rather committed to the old mode of songs and hymns rather than the loud music characteristic of the Pentecostal movement. I remember sometimes in the late 1980s when the Fountain of Faith of which I was a member in the Anglican Church on Montgomery road, Yaba donated a set of musical instruments and drums to our church in order to stem the tide of migration of young people into the Pentecostal churches. We called on Archbishop Adetiloye to commission the musical instruments. When the professionals we hired struck a loud note, the Archbishop nearly had a fit and instructed that the sound of the music be kept to the barest minimum.

    During his time, he encountered subterranean opposition of those who were uncomfortable with an upcountry man lording it over clerics in Lagos. Archbishop Adetiloye had a great social life and was very comfortable with people and he made friends easily with low and high in the society and was a patriotic Ekiti man who loved the rustic lives of his people and celebrated the immense educational attainment and achievements of his people. He epitomised the great qualities of the Ekiti man especially the commitment to transparency, excellence, honesty and courage. He spoke truth to power when it was necessary especially during the Babangida and Abacha days and he was earmarked for elimination during the Abacha days. He knew this but he still spoke the truth. He trusted the Lord for protection and the Lord protected him. In crisis he embraced the doctrine of liberation theology and like one of his younger colleagues, Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi of Akure he was prepared if needs be to die as a tribune and champion of suffering humanity.

    He retired to Ekiti, his home state after he had served out his term as Primate of the Anglican Communion. He was recognized and celebrated by the state which named the events centre of Ado-Ekiti, Archbishop Adetiloye Hall. If there was any holy man in Nigeria, Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye was one. Being a Christian does not mean one will not have problems. Saint Paul of Tarsus had a thorn in his flesh. Adetiloye was not above having his own thorn but God was gracious to him and he was not overwhelmed by any problem. Our Lord Bishop will be highly missed by many especially those who are used to his advice, ministration and prayers. Our Lord Bishop has gone to join the saints triumphant and I have no doubt that our Lord Jesus Christ will reward him.

    I will never forget his homily during the burial of Professor D.F. Ojo, the famous Physicist from Igbole in Ido-osi Local Government. The atmosphere was sad and sombre even though Prof Ojo was not a young man. When the Archbishop saw the long drawn faces, he lightened up the atmosphere by telling us how he had advised the dead man to stop smoking to no avail. He said Prof Ojo told him man must die or be killed by something. The Archbishop then turned his gaze to the casket and said “Ojo; cigarette has killed you oh”. He said this in the Ekiti tongue and the whole church erupted into laughter. The Bishop was such a great preacher who knew what to say at the appropriate time. He touched the lives of many and whomsoever he touched changed for the better. It is apportioned for man to live for a certain period of time and afterwards the holy book said there will be judgement. Vox Populi Vox Dei says the Romans and because man has born witness to Adetiloye’s good deeds, God will receive the Lord Bishop into his glory.

     

     

  • What Nigerians expect of Buhari and Tinubu

    What Nigerians expect of Buhari and Tinubu

    Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC boss expressed his anguish during a two-day summit of Northern Development Focus Initiative (NDFI) in Kano last week. He was troubled by the fact that the 19 northern state governors and the 414 local governments have nothing to show for the N8.3 trillion that accrued to them between 1999 and 2010.

    On the contrary, Ahmadu Bello and his team, with an annual budget of N44m which is less than what a local government collects today maintained law and order and ensured effective security of life and property, built Ahmadu Bello University, Ahmadu Bello Stadium and NNDC conglomerate in addition to well paved roads, etc.

    But what Ribadu like many of us seem to have forgotten was that Ahmadu Bello, like Awo his counterpart in the West, made those giant strides using their political parties, the Northern Peoples Congres (NPC) and Action Group (AG) not just as tools for the mobilization of the masses of their people for electoral purposes but also as participants in the policy thrust of their administrations. The political parties of the first republic, apart from serving as channels for recruitment of political leadership, were modernization agents.

    They had taken a cue from Herbert Macaulay’s Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) which he introduced in 1923 as a response to Hugh Clifford 1922 constitution with defined objectives of seeking a “municipal status for Lagos, local self government, compulsory primary education, non discriminatory private economic enterprise and Africanisation of the civil service.”

    In the same manner, the foundation of NPC was laid by educated and dedicated northern youths, first, through the Bauchi General Improvement Union and Youths Special Circle of Sokoto in the mid- forties. Both metamorphosed into Jam’yyar Mutanem Arewa, Northern Nigerian Congress (NNC) in June 1949 through the efforts of Dr. A. R Dikko and D. A .Rafih. The main objective of NPC as stated by Dr. Dikko, its first president was ‘fighting ignorance, idleness and injustice’ in the northern region’.

    The AG, nurtured by Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Bode Thomas, Anthony Enahoro, Adekunle Ajasin and other young educated elites of the region was inaugurated in August 1950. Besides its unstated purpose of reducing the influence of Zik in the West, it had a well articulated manifesto which promised free education, free health, and full employment among many others.

    Political parties of the first republic were created as agents of modernization by dedicated youths who had their eyes on history as against what obtained today where we have gangs with garrison commanders engaged in squabbles over the sharing of our common wealth among its members.

    The travails of our party system as modernising agents started with the onslaught of the military. Ill-informed and ill-trained Ironsi and Gowon banned the parties because they could not just understand that they were in fact index of political development.

    Babangida tried to create political parties in the image of the military. But because they were government creations in name but orphans in reality, Tony Anenih of SDP found it easy to trade off his party’s victory while Tom Ikimi of NRC settled for the position of a foreign affairs minister. Both opted for short term advantage.

    Abacha came up with, the UNCP, CNC, NCPN, DPN and GDM which late Bola Ige described as five fingers of a leprous hand. Ige was proved right as all the five so called political parties adopted Abacha as their presidential candidate even before he publicly declared his interest.

    The PDP emerged from the G-34 during General Abubakar’s 11-month transition program. But it was soon hijacked by retired soldiers and their contractors. Using vicious military tactics, PDP was able to easily infiltrate AD and ANPP leaving each to behave like a woman with three husbands.

    What Buhari, Tinubu and their colleagues are being called upon to do is not just an inauguration of party to win an election. That job has been made easy by PDP’s self-inflicted damage. All the new party needs to do is to celebrate the credentials of all those who are today fighting over the soul of PDP starting with Obasanjo, followed by other vicious leaders like Tony Anenih, Ahmadu Alli, Bamanga Tukur, Bode George.

    Nigerians have already known through judicial pronouncements the invidious role of Anenih ‘the Fixer’ in the states and federal elections between 1999 and 2007. The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts only last week declared that Anenih, the newly appointed chairman of Ports Authority, must appear before it to answer some questions regarding his role in the alleged N20 billion road contract scam.

    Before then there was the suppressed Heineken Lokpobiri Senate transport probe report which alleged that from 1999 to 2009, some N645 billion was spent on 4,752 kilometres of road; shortchanging the government to the tune of N49 million on each kilometre of road purportedly constructed.

    Ahmadu Alli has often been trailed by crisis. As chairman of PDP, he was alleged to have nominated his son and wife for board positions. As chairman of PPRA, he and the current minister of petroleum presided over the theft of about N2 trillion by some of the over 140 independent oil marketers they appointed.

    Goodluck Ebere Jonathan is a harmless man PDP leading light imposed as president, sacrificing in the process their party’s constitution. He is as a result said to have sold Nigeria to PDP whose other name has become ‘corruption’. Former World Bank Vice President for Africa Oby Ezekwesili, who was Education Minister in the Obasanjo administration, has just alleged that the PDP administration of Jonathan squandered $67billion reserves left by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Government spokesman said it was only $43.13billion that was left. Amidst the war of figures, the one thing government has found difficult to do, is account for either of the figures.

    Nigerians can therefore take the right decision if as Chief Bisi Akande recently put it, ‘the Independent National Electoral Commission will provide a level playing ground whereby due process will be adhered to.. and if the security agencies will be fair and impartial and will reject advances that could taint elections’.

    What Nigerians want from Buhari and Tinubu is inauguration of a modernising party in line with what obtained in the first republic and elsewhere in the developed democracies. The challenge before the two and their colleagues is to replace the current political parties moulded in the military image, with garrison commanders as party leaders who supervised the squandering of N8.3trillion in 10 years by the 19 northern state governors and something closer to that by their southern counterparts.

    Achieving this noble objective calls for a sober reflection on the parts of the main actors. Apart from Buhari’s rigidity and offensive image of ‘blood, dogs, monkeys,’ he seems to have started well by cancelling an elaborate 70th birthday bash Nigerians know he could ill-afford on his own, but organized by those who would have used public funds.

    What these times call for are men with eyes on history; men who would emulate the federalists Hamilton and Adams, the Republicans Jefferson and Madison of USA of the 1790s, the British enlightened elite that established parties as modernizing agents after the Britain reforms of 1832, their French counterparts who did the same after French revolution of 1789 and the Japanese leaders after the Meiji Restoration of 1867.

    Buhari and Tinubu have the goodwill of Nigerians. They are both blessed with educated, dedicated youths and professionals who look up to them to provide leadership so that they can jointly write their names in gold as they map out a better future for our children. This task is not unattainable.