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Category: Gabriel Amalu

  • Cross of COVID

    Cross of COVID

    By Gabriel Amalu

    As the world roils under the crushing weight of the coronavirus pandemic, Christians this week, journey with Christ to the Golgotha. Known as the holy week, it represents the most significant week in Christianity; a faith founded on the doctrine of the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection which took place about 2000 years ago. In 2020, COVID-19, has become a cross, for many families across the world.

    This week, the Church celebrated the Palm Sunday, without replicating the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. On that entry, the Jewish people celebrated Jesus, as the Messiah, throwing palms as he rode triumphantly on a mule, singing Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But few days after, the same people when aroused by the envy of their local leaders, chorused crucify him, crucify him, when asked by the Roman overlords what to do with Jesus.

    According to Rev. Fr. Ehusani of the Lux Terra Chapel, this week the Christian community celebrate the tremendous love of God that saved the world through the death of his son. He emphasised that it is love that transformed the violent death of Jesus into a good thing. As the world carries its excruciating cross of COVID 19, can the world find love in her suffering? Perhaps, charity can be a source of showing love to a world in pain. Even as we wait on God to once again show his love, we also hope the scientists would find a cure to save the world.

    But there was no person willing to save Jesus on his way to the Golgotha. He was abandoned to his faith, by all those he fed freely, those who received his miracles and heard his wise preaching. Even the closest of his followers abandoned him and ran for cover. Peter whom he gave the keys to his church, denied ever knowing him on three occasions. It was only John the beloved that followed all the way to the cross; and of course, his mother and some female disciples.

    Jesus rewarded the female diehards with the privilege of being the first to witness his resurrection. But before that, one diehard, Veronica, stood to be counted when it was very dangerous to associate with the condemned Jesus. The Bible tells of how Veronica went close enough to wipe the face of Jesus, as he carried his cross to Golgotha. That was a great act of heroism. Interestingly, there are modern Veronicas who push fear aside to do great things.

    Dr. Stella Adadevoh was a modern Veronica, during the Ebola epidemic. She stood to be counted. There are also many veronicas presently fighting the cross of corona virus pandemic. The Chinese doctor who raised the first alarm about the impending pandemic eventually paid the ultimate price. Several other medical personnel in the world, courageously waltz through the danger of COVID 19, and some have paid with their lives.

    In Spain, Italy and United States of America, the pandemic has been most merciless, like the Roman soldiers were on Jesus Christ. Sadly, the three countries account for more than half of the world corona virus cases. The pain and anguish have been unimaginable. Everyday people die in several hundreds, such that citizens do not even have the opportunity to mourn the dead, as countries are more concerned with safely burying the dead, so as to limit the level of infection to the living. In some South American countries, relatives abandon their dead relations, as the government is overwhelmed.

    New York has been the epicentre of the pandemic in US. Both the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, and the president of the country, Donald Trump, have been warning their citizens to expect an even more painful week ahead, as they predict a lot of deaths. While the death rate in the country are still below 6000 as I write, the leaders are warning that up to 200,000 persons may die from the pandemic. What a scary news.

    Perhaps this may be the first time in the history of United States that the life of their country men and women are being threatened, and the awesome machinery of the state while acknowledging the impending doom, appears helpless. Of course, the country’s medical personnel are working tirelessly to reduce the number of casualties, while the officials keep warning that thousands more will die. For Jesus, he knew on the way of His cross that death was imminent, but continued on the inevitable trajectory, in obedience to his father’s will.

    Luckily, our country is nowhere near such monstrous state of helplessness. Unlike New York, the reports on the level of infection in Lagos and Abuja have rather been a message of hope. While the curve has not flattened or deepened, the feared steep rise has not happened. Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos especially, bears the message of hope. If we continue on the slow rise for the rest of the week, Nigeria can beat her chest for managing one of the best containment programme, as even attested to by the United Nations.

    Going forward, the most feared type of transmission is the community transmission, which we understand refers to the transmission from community to community, instead of from identifiable individual to another. The fear is genuine, and even everything humanly possible should be done to avoid that. It is better imagined what would be the faith of our dear country, if like Boko Haram, COVID 19 prowls in the remote parts of the country where access has remained challenging. Our experience may become like what we see in some Latin American countries.

    Yet, like Jesus’s cross, the weight of COVID 19 has been most excruciating. Many countries have fallen economically, and unlike Jesus, many may never get up to the finishing line in the near future. Jesus fell three times, but each time, got up and persevered. At a stage, he was helped to carry the cross, and of course, both in the spirit of Easter and because of the pandemic, this is a time to help one another to survive the unfolding world tragedy.

    Like Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus to carry his cross, we have the big donors like Aliko Dangote, and other billionaires who have been doling out billions, to help the government carry the heavy and dreadful cross of COVID 19. There are also lesser mortals, who are helping their neighbours, friends and relations. While washing hands regularly and maintaining social distance is key, reaching out to help someone, is a cross we should all covert to carry. Happy Easter dear readers.

  • Nigeria in a web

    Nigeria in a web

    By Gabriel Amalu

     

    The agreement by the police and the department of state security (DSS), to enforce the administrative banishment of the deposed Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi, to Awe, in Nassarawa state, exposed our country as a feudal democracy.

    According to the midwives of this strange doctrine, it is in accordance with tradition that a deposed Emir, should be forced to go on exile. And pronto, security agencies created under the 1999 constitution (as amended), obeyed a command not within the contemplation of the constitution that created them. What a travesty of constitutionalism.

    So, if we may ask, which law is supreme in Nigeria? The 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, or the customs and mores of the constituent parts of the country? If it is the constitution, under what part of the constitution or laws derived therefrom, was the former Emir banished from Kano, and other parts of Nigeria to Awe?

    But if such an archaic custom is supreme, one can then ask, can a talakawa, depose and exile the supreme leader of the Kano Emirate?

    Perhaps our nation is trapped in the web of a feudal democracy? While the power elites answer modern titles like governors and presidents, and exercise powers donated as such by the constitution, they are at hearts, feudalists, and so acts as feudal lords when dealing with the electorates, who they treat as subjects.

    Could this conflicting mind-set be the reason why our nation is trapped in a web of underdevelopment? Could it be why, corruption is so endemic, as public officials see public funds as belonging to the chief executive, because he has custody of the funds in trust?

    While it is heartening that a federal High Court has granted an interim relief to the Emir, based on which the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El Rufai, sprang the Emir out from the illegal detention, if truly we are a democratic nation, those who gave the unlawful order, and those who obeyed it, should be sanctioned under the law.

    It should not be glossed over that despite the clear provisions of our constitution on the liberty of citizens, a so called Attorney-General, whether of state or federal, or even the president of the country or the governor of a state can unilaterally without a court order, order the banishment and detention of a citizen, without consequences.

    The provision of sections 35 and 41 are clear, and if an eminent citizen like Sanusi, can be treated with such indignity, it is better imagined how the rich and mighty treat the poor and lowly in our society, without consequences.

    Section 35(1) of the 1999 constitution says clearly: “Every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure permitted by law.”

    The circumstance upon which a person can be deprived of his liberty were listed in paragraphs a-f. Paragraphs (a) provide: “in execution of the sentence or order of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty”, (b) “by reason of his failure to comply with the order of a court or in order to secure the fulfilment of any obligation imposed upon him by law”, and (c) “for the purpose of bringing him before a court in execution of the order of a court or upon reasonable suspicion of his having committed a criminal offence, or to such extent as may be reasonably necessary to prevent his committing a criminal offence”

    The other three paragraphs deals with a minor who is apprehended for the purpose of his education or welfare; a person suffering from infectious disease, persons of unsound mind, drug addicts, or vagrants for the purpose of their care or treatment, and lastly, for the purpose of preventing unlawful entry into Nigeria.

    But for any of the aforementioned paragraphs, no person can lawfully be deprived of his personal liberty, as the Kano state government and her accomplices did to the former Emir, before the court intervened.

    Section 41(1) provides that: “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom.”

    Subsection (2) make a number of exception which in no way can be alluded to the former Emir, to warrant the archaic, obnoxious and repugnant tradition of restricting the movement of a citizen, without a court order, as the government did.

    Read Also: Sanusi’s deposition and martyrdom

     

    If not the state government, who gave the administrative order that citizen Sanusi should be restricted to Awe, in Nassarawa state?

    Are the culprits ignorant of section 1(1) of the constitution, which provides that: “This constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    ”? In sub-section (2) it further provides: “The federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provision of this constitution.”

    Indeed, as far back as the 19th century, Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States of America, in Marbury vs Madison (1803) 5 US 137, adumbrated on the supremacy of a written constitution, when he said: “Certainly, all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation….” Nigeria no doubt, falls within the contemplation of the dictum by his Lordship, the Chief Justice of a country from which we borrowed our presidential system of government.

    Here in Nigeria, Justice Nnaemeka-Agu, of the Supreme Court, in Imonikhe vs A. G. Bendel State, held: “A constitution is the organic law, a system or body of fundamental principles according to which a state, or body or organisations is constituted.” Confirming the constitution as the summon jus,

    Justice Kayode Eso in Kalu vs Odili, also held: “It is both a fundamental and elementary principle of our laws that the constitution is the basic law of the land. It is the supreme law and its provisions have binding force on all authorities, institutions and persons throughout the country. All other laws derive their force and authority from the constitution.”

    For this column, while the circumstance of the deposition of Emir Sanusi, deserves our sympathy, what is most scary is the capacity of a democratically elected government, to exercise the power of a despotic government, by banishing a citizen, without any court order. Unless we wean our country from such flagrant abuse of the summon jus, we will never become an egalitarian society.

     

    Muhammadu Sanusi versus the North — who finally blinks?  That nestles in the womb of time!

     

  • Ekweremadu on state police

    Ekweremadu on state police

    By Gabriel Amalu

    The flurry of meetings by governors of the southeast, south-south and northeast zones, to establish regional security outfits, akin to the south-west experiment, was predicted by this column. Last week, as the legislative assemblies in southwest states were simultaneously passing the security network bills, otherwise known as Amotekun, the governors of south-south met in Asaba, to plan a regional security initiative. Of note, the media projected the Amotekun laws as not authorising the bearing of arms by the security outfit.

    Each state will subsequently apply to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to authorise its outfit to bear arms. Of course, by the provision of the Firearms Act, Cap F28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, the IGP has powers to authorise the bearing of certain categories of arms, while the authority to bear more sophisticated firearms can only be granted by the president. So, the arms with which the various mutating security outfits will use to defend their states will depend on the discretionary powers of federal office holders, not law.

    Well, Amotekun, according to knowledgeable insiders may also rely on traditional methods, like charms and magic, to defend and ward off armed bandits, and kidnappers. I look forward to when eminent office holders, visiting the states in the region, would ask the regular police to hand over their protection to these security outfits relying on charms and amulets. Well, in fairness to the promoters of the zonal security network, the outfit will also gather intelligence for the police and other security agencies.

    But will the proposed state security outfits and the touted collaboration deal the needed heavy blow to the high level of insecurity across the states in the country? I doubt. While this column is not an authority in African mysticism, to gauge the efficiency of charms, amulets and magic; my father who worked with the correctional services, before fakes took over our everyday lives, (may God rest his beautiful soul) told me that such things were ineffective when government wants to enforce law and order.

    Going forward, a more plausible answer to the grave challenges of insecurity trying to torpedo our dear country, should be a further amendment of the 1999 constitution, the Police Act, and the Firearms Act, to allow a shared policing power between the federating units and the central authority. Why state governors are excitedly working hard to convince the people they govern that oranges and apples are one and the same, instead of demanding for powers to buy apples, which they know is what is needed by their people, beguiles this column.

    Perhaps, the art of governance includes playing the ostrich? Interestingly, the former deputy senate president, and the senator representing Enugu West, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has presented a bill seeking relevant amendments to enable the federating units – the states, share policing responsibility with the federal government. Except the governors are merely grandstanding about confronting the crisis facing them as chief security officers of their states, they should all latch on the Ekweremadu bill, to deal the challenge a heavy blow.

    Of note, sections 214, 215 and 216, of the 1999 constitution (as mended), which provides on the Nigeria Police Force, is very jealous of the creation of another police force. Section 214, magisterially provides: “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the federation or any other part thereof.”

    To completely emasculate and embarrass the federating units, section 215(4) first provides: “subject to the provisions of this section, the governor of a state or such commissioner of the government of the state as he may authorise in that behalf, may give to the commissioner of police of that state such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public within the state as he may consider necessary, and the commissioner of police shall comply with these directions or cause them to be complied with.”

    But in a proviso, the power seemingly donated by the constitution was desecrated. It says: “Provided that before carrying out any such direction under the foregoing provisions of this subsection the Commissioner of Police may request that the matter be referred to the President or such Minister of the Government of the federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President for his directions.” Such a nebulous provision, can be relied upon by the commissioner of police, for instance, when a state government wakes him up, that a village is under attack by herdsmen.

    To make this anomalous proviso secure and inviolable, subsection (5) provides: “The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.” So, while the establishment of an alternative police is unlawful, if the president and his IGP decides to make the governor of the state miserable with respect to use of the federal police in the state to maintain security of lives and property, the constitution provides them opportunity to lawfully do so.

    To put concrete on the emasculation of the federating units to provide reasonable security by themselves, the Firearms Act seals their fate. Of the three categories of firearms, referred to in sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Act, the governor cannot authorise the licencing of any. Section 3, which deals with category of firearms in the schedule part l, authorises the president to issue licence at his discretion, while section 4 which deals with personal arms, listed in Part ll of the schedule.

    It is with respect to the firearms listed in the Part lll of the schedule referred as muzzle loading guns, that the Commissioner of Police is expected to consult with the governor to issue licences. How the regional security outfits will use the muzzle loading guns to confront the bearers of AK-47, not to talk of the self-loading RPGs which has flooded our country is anybody’s guess. To compound the dire security situation, the ineffective security networks and absence of federal police in the remote villages across the country, makes the villages sitting ducks for the dare-devil criminals working to upend our country.

    Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State acknowledged his helplessness some days ago, when 51 indigenes of his state where mercilessly massacred by bandits. While his apology is appreciated, uncharacteristically, he didn’t offer a solution to the menace. Perhaps, apologies will now replace the condolences we have been used to getting from ineffective state authorities. To change the paradigm, the bill sponsored by Senator Ekweremadu, makes a lot of sense.

  • Season of atonement

    Season of atonement

    Gabriel Amalu

     

    Last week, the Supreme Court excoriated two amongst the foremost living Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Afe Babalola and Wole Olanipekun, for asking the apex court to review its earlier final judgment in the Bayelsa gubernatorial case.

    In the judgment, the court held that the All Progressive Congress (APC) resounding victory in the Bayelsa gubernatorial election that saw the emergence of Chief David Lyon and Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, as governor and deputy governor, were inconsequential because the deputy governor presented certificates with different names to INEC, and did not take appropriate steps to answer the discrepancies. Mr Degi-Eremienyo has however denied forging the certificates.

    As atonement for their jurisprudential sin, perhaps in the spirit of Lent (a period for fasting and almsgiving for Christians), the two learned silks were asked to personally pay N10 million each, to the three respondents sued in the matter. Of course, for the two legal giants, the penance is within their means to observe.

    Considering their status, what they may be regretting is allowing the politicians to lead them to sin. Like in the Bible, it was Satan that beguiled Eve, who in turn made her husband, Adam, to sin.

    Justice Amina Augie, who read the unanimous judgment of the full panel of the Supreme Court, was unsparing in denouncing the application made by the learned silks.

    She held: “I feel like shedding tears that senior counsel in this case would ever bring this kind of frivolous application during my lifetime.

    This court is not authorised and indeed lacked jurisdiction to review any judgment delivered on merit, more so when the applicants have not pointed out any accidental error or slip in the judgment.”

    She went on: “There must be an end to every litigation. It is settled that the decision of this court is final. This is final court and its decision is final for all ages.

    To do otherwise is to open a floodgate of litigation on appeals already settled by this court. There is even no guarantee that if these applications are granted, the other side will not come up with fresh applications for further review of the court’s decision.

    As I said, there must be an end to litigation to ensure certainty in the law.”

    Like Adam and Eve, who became afraid, after eating the forbidden fruit, when “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day”, the two learned silks must have been squirming in the air conditioned court, as Justice Augie took her pound of flesh.

    But while the two counsels may have suffered embarrassment for accepting the brief, there are some key issues that should worry all Nigerians, including the learned justices who were dispensing justice according to our law.

    First is, will a reasonable man say that substantial justice was done in the matter? In R vs. Camplin AC. 705 (1978), a reasonable man “means an ordinary person of either sex, not exceptionally excitable or pugnacious, but possessed of such powers of self-control as everyone is entitled to except that his fellow citizens will exercise in society as it is today.” I strongly doubt if the hypothetical reasonable man would accept the Bayelsa judgment as serving the ends of justice.

    But if I may mimic Cassius in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – ‘the fault dear Nigerians is not with our learned Justices, but in our laws, that our judgements sometimes do not do substantial justice.’

    Read Also: Supreme Court gets kudos for case review

     

    As I have argued strenuously on this page previously, the adversarial legal system we practice, do not allow the judges to go beyond the applications made by parties, and the argument proffered by their skilful lawyers, vis-à-vis the provisions of law (including what is commonly referred to as technicalities) to reach their judgments.

    For the Judge to go beyond the depositions and arguments in support will amount to a jurisprudential sin on the part of the learned Justice, and the atonement for such sin could include accusation of bias, descending into the arena, or outright accusation of incompetence.

    Of course, the atonement for sinning by a judge is more grievous than what the distinguished silks Afe Babalola and Wole Olanipekun are made to pay. For them, the baying public would readily ask for an orderly room trial by the National Judicial Commission, and then dismissal.

    As a lawyer and a trained mediator, but more as a mediator, let me hazard what the reasonable man would ordinarily look out for, in the Bayelsa case to achieve substantial justice. Did Degi-Eremienyo forge the certificates he presented to INEC?

    If he did, the judgment of the Supreme Court is satisfactory without much ado. If he didn’t and he was merely playing with several aliases in the certificates he presented, will the nullification of his candidature be a fair punishment for swearing a general affidavit, instead of petitioning the relevant institutions and taking steps as they demand, to authentic the results as belonging to one and the same person. Of course, the answer is NO.

    Another issue will be whether the ‘sin of the deputy’ should be visited on Chief Lyon, and the majority of electorate who voted for him to be governor? The reasonable man would ask whether Lyon was aware of the ‘infraction’ and sought to gain an advantage by it, to justify the faith that jointly befell the two candidates.

    With respect to the majority electorate, the reasonable man would insist they be given another chance to vote in their preferred candidate, as to do otherwise will foist the minority preference, over the majority.

    This writer has called for a review of our inherited adversarial legal system, in comparison to the inquisitorial legal system.

    Many of those who expected the judges to raise the questions I have identified as a reasonable man’s expectation for a fair outcome, in the courts’ judgement with respect to the Bayelsa State case may be rooting for the Inquisitorial legal system.

    According to Wikipedia, it is “a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case.”

    For many, similar sentiments would play out in the Imo State gubernatorial dispute where the Supreme Court allegedly did not bother about the mathematical incongruity of their judgement, since they relied more on what the parties presented, or inadvertently failed to object to, at the material time.

    This column will continue to canvass a more indigenous legal system, which will try to offer what the ordinary man in the street who is reasonable, will adjudge as substantial justice. In this season of atonement, is there a way the courts can atone for the disappointments of the ordinary man?

     

  • Learning from Rotary

    By Gabriel Amalu

    Each time, yours sincerely attend the District Team Training Seminar (DTTS), the annual training programme for District Rotary leaders, I get the feeling that Nigerian leaders need to attend similar training, to learn one or two management techniques. With the challenges bedevilling our country, the federal executive sometimes give the impression they are not on top of their game.

    So, could it be that appropriate trainings are not organised for those in charge of our lives, or is that the trainees are not putting to practice what they are taught? Apart from the security crises that is almost overwhelming our nation, there are failures in several other sectors. In the past few weeks, some users of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, have been exposed to excruciating punishment.

    Because of the absence of planning by the aviation sector managers, the necessary landing equipment at the airport are not in place, even when huge resources were reportedly budgeted for them. The consequences have been that some MMA bound airlines were diverted to neighbouring countries, and in some cases returned to base. Of course, the cost and logistical nightmare for the passengers are better imagined.

    Yet, a basic training programme would have provided the managers, the requisite skills to avoid the present crisis. For instance, a trainee under the DTTS can teach them that as the management, they ought to have a set of goals for each airport in the country (long and short-term); and that to efficiently set a goal, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, (otherwise known as SWOT analysis) that face each airport needs to be evaluated.

    A proper SWOT analysis, would have identified the present challenges faced by the MMA in advance, and a strategic plan put in place to avert the crisis. At DTTS, trainees are taught that leaders have to set down goals to align with the strategic plan. Such goals have to be shared, measurable, challenging, achievable, and time specific. The MMA management should have known the equipment that needed to be changed, the cost implication, when it should be imported, and when to initiate the process to meet the timeline.

    The trainee would teach them to set an action plan to achieve the goal. Who was supposed to do what to get in the equipment, starting with identifying the necessary equipment and the manufacturers, sending in the budget plan for executive and legislative approvals, making the order and initiating the payment, and putting in place the logistics plans up to the installation. Of course, the top management ought to monitor and evaluate progress of the action plan, and have contingency plans for any delays.

    If all these were done, those responsible for the failures at the MMA that has thoroughly embarrassed our country and caused untold hardship to travellers in the last few weeks ought to be held to account. It should be unacceptable to President Muhammadu Buhari’s government that the nation’s preeminent international gateway can be treated with such levity, by those in charge without any consequences. No doubt, many view the failures at the MMA as a signpost of what is obtainable in several other ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government.

    Another agency of the federal government that may need the type of training available at DTTS are those in charge of information management. Clearly, the recent outburst of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, debunking the fake news about the travel plans of the president, and reiterating the determination of the federal government to pass the social media regulation bill, is ill-timed. As the liaison between the federal government and the public, the honourable minister should concentrate on more important communications.

    For instance, Nigerians would be more interested to hear from the minister what the federal government is doing about the insecurity in the land. The people travelling through the MMA would want to hear apologies and explanations about the travelling crisis foisted on them and what the federal government is doing to avert such problem in future. Nigerians would want to hear the government policy on community policing and why it has taken so long and so many avoidable deaths to wake up the federal government on this project.

    Indeed, those in charge of the community policing project should avail themselves of a leadership training seminar, like the DTTS. Of note, the project has been in the offing far too long without any progress, unless the federal government is not genuinely interested in the project. Even with the prompting from the southeast governors, as an alternative to the regional policing model, there is no clear definition of the concept. Yet, a SWOT analysis would show that the present policing architecture cannot sustain security in our country.

    So, what is happening to strategic planning, as a tool of management, at the federal and state levels? At inception, the Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) held out so much promise when it came to power nearly five years ago. Many of the promises have not been meet, a fact which even the president has acknowledged. Perhaps, it is not late to commission a SWOT analysis of the top management of the various ministries, departments, and agencies of government.

    That would help the president and his men provide answers to the myriad of problems that are weighing our country down. One critical issue that requires an urgent SWOT analysis is whether to sack or retain the security chiefs. Even a critical evaluation of the goals set for them and how much of it they have achieved, could help the president appropriately make up his mind on whether or not they should be retained. Without a proper analysis, a wrong decision may be made.

    This column has severally argued that the Rotary type of orderly transition is worthy of emulation; just as well, the training programmes organised for its cadre of leaders. The recent DTTS organized by the next District Governor of District 9110 Nigeria, Rotarian Bola Oyebade, who would be in charge from July 1 to June 30, 2021, is to prepare the district leaders for the challenges ahead. A sizeable number of the trainees were similarly trained last year, before the present District Governor Jide Akeredolu, took over.

    Some, will still be trained again next year, when the District Governor Nominee for 2021/22, Remi Bello, would be in charge, and even more training in 2022/23, when District Governor Nominee Designate, Omotunde Lawson, would mount the saddle as the first female District Governor, for D9110 Nigeria. Such is the order in Rotary, and such is the continuous training for Rotary leaders that our bleeding nation can learn from.

  • Jokes on Imo

    By Gabriel Amalu

     

    This is not a great time for Imo indigenes, particularly if one is a politician, and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to boot.

    Admittedly, in other places, many politicians stand for nothing, and that reflects in the way they jump from one political party to another, in search of stomach infrastructure, apologies to former governor Ayo Fayose, of Ekiti State, who defended the phrase as the very essence of participation in politics.

    The joke is on ndimo, because of the way members of the PDP have been struggling to outdo each other in denying the sacked government of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, which they claimed few weeks ago was the best thing to happen to Imo.

    If the happening in Imo were to be a nollywood movie (many have claimed it is), the author could ingeniously return Emeka Ihedioha, to the Douglas House, just for the viewers to enjoy how the PDP turncoats would lick their spittle, and limp back with the floor strewn with their faeces.

    Portraying themselves as completely vacuous, the speaker of the state house of assembly, and the PDP members who had control of the house, in a fit of political chicanery, announced their mass defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC), the party of Governor Hope Uzodinma, returned by the Supreme Court, as the winner of the 2019 governorship election, in a verdict that has raised a lot of dust.

    Since the matter is back to the Supreme Court for a review, an onerous task, it is prejudicial to express any opinion on the matter.

    But while it is within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the laws of the land, it is remiss for those who ordinarily would be considered the leading lights of a political party in the Imo State House of Assembly, to only think through their stomach, without any regard to honour.

    The speaker, and his colleagues, has made a joke of the honorary title of honourable members of a state assembly.

    If honour is scarce amongst the former PDP members in the state House of Assembly in Imo State, why should our laws allow the badge of dishonour to be worn with pomp in a place ordinarily referred to as an honourable house? Of note, section 109(1)(g) provides: “A member of a state House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if – being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.”

    The section goes ahead to make a proviso: “Provided that his membership of the later political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

    On the face of the above provision, the aggrieved members of the PDP would have threatened the defectors with an action in court to declare their seats vacant.

    Indeed, it was reported that upon being confronted by a potential sack, the defectors recoiled and denied jumping the ship.

    While that recoil has not been openly confirmed by the defectors, the possibility of declaring their seats vacant is made more complicated by the provision of the constitution. Section 109(2) provides: “The speaker of the House of Assembly shall give effect to subsection (1) of this section, so however that the speaker or a member shall first present evidence satisfactorily to the house that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of the member.”

    The provision of section 109(1) in essence is supposed to be given impetus by the speaker of the house of assembly, who in the present instance in Imo State is one of the defectors.

    Even more interesting is that by some reports, all members of the PDP, except one, have moved over to the new ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Read Also: Ihedioha: Imo elders hail CJN’s, S’Court’s courage to review judgement

     

    So since the defectors are in the overwhelming majority, there is little likelihood that the provision of the law would be tested, how much more given effect by the speaker.

    But the wave of abandoning the recently sacked PDP government has overwhelmed the entire state, with the traditional rulers being the latest to invariably condemn their past endorsement of Emeka Ihedioha and leap frog to a new endorsement in favour of the new governor, Hope Uzodima.

    Before them were various state-based youth organisations, including the Ohaneze youths, who hailed the Supreme Court judgment and said that the new government was the best thing to happen to the state.

    Interestingly, the sacked Emeka Ihedioha-led government was hailed by these same groups and touted as the best thing to have happened to Imo State after Sam Mbakwe, the beloved second republic governor of Imo State.

    While this piece is not about which of the two gladiators, Emeka Ihedioha or Hope Uzodima, that is preferable, the concern is the absolute lack of principles by the turncoats.

    Of course, as I said earlier, while it has become common for elected officials to move from one party to another in this dispensation, I doubt if such wholesome abandonment of a party has taken place since 1999, in any other state.

    In the run up to the 2015 general elections, it was the so called new-PDP whose majority members at the National Assembly left their party in similar disarray and joined the APC.

    As expected, after bringing their former party to ruin, they attempted to do the same to the APC, but couldn’t. Thoroughly beaten by the weather, the ring leaders led of the rebellion, led by former senate president, Bukola Saraki, are back in the PDP, shell-shocked by their losses.

    Perhaps the Imo State APC should be wary of the PDP members who couldn’t even wait for a proper burial of their party’s governorship tenure in the state, before discarding their mourning garments and offering themselves as brides to the party.

    Even if they will serve the immediate need of orgasmic release, their haste to jump ship depicts them as dishonourable, and there is no greater danger than hunting with unscrupulous members in the same boat.

    While the losers lick their wound and the winners their lollipop, there is the need to use the laws to curb the ambition of dishonourable members of the legislative assembly.

    Without doubt, the people of Imo State are represented in bad light by the inordinate ambition of the members of the state house of assembly, who jumped ship without scruples.

     

  • Let there be light

    By Gabriel Amalu

    As Nigeria in a pre-creation stage, just as the earth “was without form, and void” at the beginning of time? Perhaps high-minders or idealists would say of course; what with the violence and brigandage that is now a daily occurence in our country. But even the optimists are beginning to doubt the grounds of their optimism, with the carnage going on across the country. Now kidnappers after collecting huge ransoms, go ahead to decapitate their victims, as happened recently to Michael Nnadi, a Seminarian at Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kaukau, Kaduna.

    For reasons we may never be able to fathom, the Kaduna kidnappers are a special bread. They delight in killing even when huge ransoms have been paid. The other time they took a mother and her two kids, murdered the mother, and released the motherless babies, after collecting ransoms from the traumatised medical doctor, husband and father.

    So is Nigeria, at the beginning of creation, when according to the Holy Bible, “darkness was on the face of the deep?” Many would argue that literally and figuratively, Nigeria is in darkness. With the national grid, failing intermittently, electricity has become scarcer than essential commodity, as experienced during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first incarnation. Where it possible, Nigerians would have been forced to queue up for a ration of electricity, as in the days of yore.

    The gospel reading, Matthew 5:13-16, last Sunday in Catholic Churches was particularly instructive, as it talked about the importance of light. Jesus called His disciples, the light of the world, urging them to give “light to all in the world.” Rev Fr. Melvis Maiyaki, who preached at a Mass yours sincerely attended used the excitement that electric light brings, to illustrate the qualities Jesus envisages for His disciples. Perhaps, Nigeria needs leaders who can bring light to our blighted country.

    Without light, poverty endures. The barber idles away, even as the pepper grinder turns a loafer. Darkness entrenches laziness. But the country is too poor to promote laziness. So, like Jesus’s disciples, let the light so shine that Nigerians can have the opportunity to do good works and earn decent living. When federal government promotes the ease of doing business, to attract businesses, the starting point should be regular power supply. Without regular electricity, doing business would never be easy.

    This is particularly so for small scale enterprises, which cannot afford private power generation schemes. The crisis of unemployment would dramatically come down, if there is regular electricity supply. So let there be light, if we hope to put the youths roaming the country to work. Even the touted agricultural revolution may come to nought if the farm produce cannot be processed further. While awaiting the big companies to convert tomatoes to puree, families should be able to boil theirs and store them in the freezers for months.

    Small scale companies would also be able to convert yams and other tubers to flour, and sell. Cooperatives would be able to buy meats and fish in big quantities and members will buy at cheaper rates and store in chillers. Water, soft drink and beer sellers would make bigger sales, even pepper soup joints would boom with light. Night crawlers would operate more smoothly.

    Regular power supply would make Nigeria the preferred destination for investment in West Africa or even Africa. She will be “a city set on a hill (which) cannot be hid.” China became a world economic power because of cheap labour and availability of modern factors of production, like electricity. No manufacturing company would rate Nigeria a preferred destination, if electricity is scarce, even though she has the advantage of cheap labour workforce. But to take full advantage of the cheap labour, electricity has to be available.

    Going forward it is strange that the Buhari presidency which has shown courage in fighting other endemic national problems like corruption is shying away from confronting the menace of electricity challenge in our country. I dare postulate that the challenge posed by poor electricity supply in Nigeria, is as debilitating as the impact of corruption on our national life, if not more. After all, corruption feeds on poverty, and the greatest contributor to poverty in modern times is arguably the lack of electricity.

    With electricity in rural communities, learning is cheaply available. A child could drink from the fountains of the greatest teachers on earth through the use of tablets. He or she could read the most impactful books, and ask questions and get answers like the privileged in cities. Education becomes cheap if there is regular supply of electricity. The same with food. Without regular electricity, the school feeding programme cannot be sustained in the long run, because the food vendors would regularly run at a loss, if they have to keep buying a day’s need daily.

    Of course an educated and well developed child, is a panacea against corruption. As Apostle Matthew said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” So electricity would reduce political corruption and financial corruption. For instance, which well-educated child would agree to be a political thug? That is why Governor Ganduje of Kano is educating the Almajiris. Electricity could make it easier

    Education is also a liberator. It is an antidote to fanaticism, one of the modern scourges of our country. If it doesn’t cure the purveyor, it will cure the receiver of the evil of fanatical believes. With information at the touch of bottom, information would damper fanatical tell tales. Electricity will also help disseminate information on mass media, and that would help improve the quality of health care. Medical consultation on video is helping to save lives. Even the campaign against Lassa and Coronavirus needs electricity to spread and save lives.

    The gains of regular supply of electricity is immeasurable, so let there be light. Indeed, Genesis 1: 4 says: “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” What is keeping Nigerian leaders from seeing that the light is good? Or better still, why has Nigerians leaders refused to give what is good to the people? After all, many of them budget huge sums from our common patrimony to ensure constant supply of electricity to their homes and offices.

    There is an urgent need to revisit the power privatisation programme of the past regime, so that those with the technical know-how could get in to give Nigerians light. Also, there is no sane reason why we should have only one national grid. So, let there be light in the minds of those who could give Nigerians light.

    • email: gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com 07056004456 (Sms only, please)

  • Minimum expectations

    By Gabriel Amalu

     

    There are minimum expectations from those in charge of our affairs, at the federal and state levels, but it appears we are in a season of great disappointments.

    From President Muhammadu Buhari, the nation expects answers to the insecurity in the land, while from the governors, the workers are asking for minimum wage. In a parody of Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, the minimum expectations are not being met.

    Last week, the president himself admitted as much. He said he was ‘taken aback’ at the resurgence of insecurity in the land, and his opponents and concerned Nigerian have lampooned him to no end, in a manner likening him to Pip, the lead character, in Great Expectations.

    Pip had his ups and downs, and despite the opportunity to learn to become a gentleman via the support of a roguish benefactor, he could not meet his great expectations, including gaining the affection of Estella, when he wanted it most.

    But Buhari shouldn’t be Pip, because he still has time to deal with the insecurity monster threatening to upend our country, and as a retired General, he is considered to have the capacity to deal with it.

    For many, taming insecurity in the land was why he was elected in the first place. The President must therefore not fail in the primary reason for his election and re-election. For this column, the President’s challenge is applying the same medicine, which is glaringly ineffective.

    Last week’s brouhaha in the National Assembly, is a pointer that even among Buhari’s admirers, they expect him to buckle up.

    The senate president who hails from the epicentre of the resurgent insurgency confirmed as much by his remarks, even though he did not ask for the president’s head, unlike the minority leader in the senate. For the two chambers of the National Assembly, it is time to say good bye to the service chiefs, who have overstayed their welcome.

    While clearly the service chiefs, who have reached their retirement age, should be allowed to go home and rest, I doubt if new security chiefs would be expected to deal with the other internal insecurity in the other parts of the country.

    As I argued last week on this page, the present federal government must come to tms that the present security architecture is not working, and unless necessary changes are made, the president should not be ‘taken aback’ if the entire country is suddenly engulfed in crisis.

    And the reason for the severe insecurity across the country is partly because the policing structure is grossly ineffective, and you cannot be applying the same medicine that is not curing an ailment, and wishing the sickness will just disappear.

    To make matters worse, it appears the feared Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA) or Boko Haram, are getting fresh funding, as they are reportedly getting access to new weaponry, even as our country’s capacity to keep fighting is getting overstretched with the unending war.

    So there should be concerted effort to deal with the internal security challenges in other parts of the country without involving the army, so the army can concentrate their efforts in the northeast. That is where the need to restructure the policing architecture comes in.

    If states and local governments that have the resources are allowed to establish their own policing architecture, albeit with clearly defined limited powers; to a large extent, insecurity in other parts of the country could be dealt with. That relief will allow the nation’s military concentrate in the northeast.

    With the benefit of hindsight, it is hoped that corruption is not part of the challenge causing the resurgence of insecurity in the country. Every day we are assailed with allegations of grand larceny by officials of the past regime.

    Just like the Sani Abacha loot saga, cases of looting of our common treasury under the past regime, continues to surface every day. Most repulsing are cases where the officials convert monies meant for arms purchase to buy houses and exotic cars.

    While everything humanly possible should done to recover the looted funds, Nigerians pray that similar acts of banditry is not going on under the table presently. The recent allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that corruption is alive and thriving under the present government should not be dismissed with a wave of hand.

    Apart from getting elected to fight insecurity, the other reason why President Buhari was elected is to fight corruption, and to a large extent there are evidences that past corruptions cases are being unearthed and prosecuted.

    Even Buhari’s fiercest critics would agree that reasonable successes have been achieved in the fight against corruption. But, the president should also worry, whether similar acts of corrupt practices as happened in the past are being replicated by those serving in the present government.

    If it is happening then the war against insecurity in the land will not make progress, after all, a prolonged war can become veritable avenue for corrupt enrichment; just like in the past. So, this column hopes that on the two fronts, the president will meet the minimum expectation.

    On their part, the new minimum wage is the minimum expectation from the state governors. According to media reports, some states, including the centre of excellence, Lagos, have started paying the minimum wage from last month.

    The states which are yet to agree on the modalities for payment with the labour unions are being threatened with strike by the workforce. They should not wait for workers to down tools, before they do what the law provides. More importantly, the minimum wage is truly minimum.

    For this column, there is no excuse to delay the payment of the new minimum wage, considering the cost of living in the country. The excuse by some states that they cannot pay is not tenable, because it doesn’t reflect in the life style of those in the corridors of power.

    They all live well, while the workers, especially those at the low level cadres are living in penury. So, if truly any of the states can’t pay, it should reflect in the lifestyle of those in charge.

    One minimum expectation President Buhari has failed to deliver, is the rescue of Leah Sharibu, the lone Dapchi girls left behind, after other were released by the Boko Haram.

    Our great expectation that President Buhari would secure her freedom has further been dampened by the searing news that she has been raped and made a mother by the leader of the sect.

    Perhaps, her ordeal will remain one of the greatest tragedies of modern Nigeria. With the government failing Leah, I pray for the mercy of God on her.

  • Tinubu as nationalist

    By Gabriel Amalu

    The controversy generated by the response of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, to the proposed Western Nigeria Security Network, otherwise called Operation Amotekun, was expected.

    After all, it is the exclusive police powers, which Malami’s employers have wielded, albeit inefficiently, that the southwest governors are proposing to contract.

    But interestingly, instead of joining the fray on the southwest side, the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for dialogue between the federal government and the southwest governors.

    This column which has in the past 10 years advocated for the orderly decentralisation of police powers in Nigeria, agrees with the preeminent leader and politician.

    That is the way we must go, otherwise those controlling the levers of power would wake-up one day, to confront a total breakdown of law and order in the country.

    The Amotekun debacle is a pointer, and as should be clear to everyone, any effort to shoot down the outfit by fiat, could spiral out of control because the people are tired of waiting for an ordered decentralisation that law and order dictates.

    Significantly, few days ago, the President General of Ohaneze, Dr Nnia Nwodo, speaking on African Independent Television (AIT), was blunt in his claim that the 1999 constitution was foisted on the rest of the country by the military wing of those who won the civil war, arguing that it was skewed to favour their fancies.

    While his assertion appears incongruous to the reaction of the AGF to the southwest which ranks amongst the victors in the civil war, it is becoming crystal clear that the quasi-unitary constitution we operate needs tweaking.

    Interestingly, the states in the middle belt of the country have met since the birth of Amotekun to chart the way forward with respect to the debilitating insecurity in the region.

    One of their resolutions is the commitment to establish a regional security outfit. No doubt, Benue, Taraba, Gombe and Plateau in the middle belt of the country are under the siege of armed bandits, and a collaborative effort on security amongst the states could help.

    Of course, the south-south part of the country is permanently on the boil, partly because of the surrogate fights over the mineral oil in the region. S

    o, if there is any region that needs to collaborate on security, the states are in the south-south. And so whether as Egbesu or by whatever name it may be called, a regional police may soon rise in the region, or if they cannot agree, as a group, separately in the individual states that make up the region.

    As succinctly argued by the protagonists of Amotekun, there is already regional police and para-military agencies in the northwest and northeast of the country by way of Hisbah police and civilian JTF.

    Their argument being that what is good for the geese is good for the gander, unless of course, we are living in an Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal than others.

    They are seeing Amotekun as the solution to the massive insecurity in the region, and that is why they reacted very emotionally to the diktat by the AGF.

    So, when the AGF Malami barks as the governors of the southwest region take steps to set up a quasi-police structure to protect those who live within the southwest states, from the grave insecurity plaguing the country, the AGF is concerned that the enormous police powers of the federal government, which he works for, is further whittled down in the region.

    Read Also: How to resolve Operation Amotekun impasse, by Tinubu

    But, willy-nilly, those powers are already whittled down, by none-state actors, like the armed herdsmen, Boko Haram, and other organised criminal entrepreneurs.

    Without further hesitation, the federal government must latch onto Asiwaju Tinubu’s mediatory advice to address the ineffective policing structure in the country.

    Any strong-arm tactics of trying to intimidate sub-regional governments looking for solution to the security problem will further create doubt about the neutrality of the federal government, especially because of the crisis of confidence generated by what many perceive as the double standard of the federal government in handling the herdsmen-farmers crisis in the country.

    Of note, the northwest where the president comes from, and where the herdsmen dominate, is also exposed to severe insecurity. Indeed, there are also clashes between the herdsmen and farmers, even though the causa belle may be different.

    So, the scourge of insecurity is so high in all parts of the country that finding a common solution should be top priority. But instead, we see political skirmishes, while the insecurity monster plaguing the country raves.

    For this writer, without the enablement of the law, that would allow Amotekun to legitimately bear arms, investigate crime, arrest and prosecute offenders, the on-going effort may not yield the desired result. So, the call by Tinubu for dialogue is strategic.

    Of note, Kenichi Ohmae, in his book: Mind of the Strategist, wrote: “What marks the mind of the strategist is an intellectual elasticity or flexibility that enables him to come up with realistic responses to changing situations, not simply to discriminate with great precision among different shades of grey.”

    Thankfully, it is the southwest which helped to create the Buhari presidency that initiated the quasi-regional police; otherwise the federal government could have labelled it an insurrection and moved in the military to disperse the launch.

    With the great legal minds the region parades, other Nigerians are waiting for the model law that will be enacted to sustain Amotekun, and give it a fighting chance to deal with the armed banditry that plagues the region, without amending the constitution.

    As stated by Ohmae: “In business as on the battlefield, the object of strategy is to bring about the conditions most favourable to one’s side, judging precisely the right moment to attack or withdraw and always assessing the limits of compromise correctly.”

    It will be historical if the political alignment between the southwest and northwest that gave birth to the present political dispensation could negotiate a change of the nation’s police architecture.

    So, instead of declaring war against the governors of the southwest for forming a regional security network, the AGF should seize the opportunity to advise the federal government to initiate a historic dialogue over the nation’s police architecture.

    As John Maxwell, wrote in the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: “How do leaders earn respect? By making sound decisions, admitting their mistakes, and putting what’s best for their followers and the organization ahead of their personal agendas.”

    Perhaps, for the country to make progress, the time to return Nigeria to the pre-civil war federal principles has come.

  • Never again

    By  Gabriel Amalu

     

    In the 50th anniversary of end of the Nigeria civil war, those campaigning that our country should never fight another civil war surely has my support. After all, the saying that he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches is true of all times.

    Yours sincerely come from that part of the country, which fought and lost in a civil war, and is constantly punished as losers. Losing the civil war has its lasting consequences, never mind the slogan of no victor, no vanquished, which the winner, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, promoted after the war.

    This feeling of despondency overwhelms many of us losers, each time we travel across the River Niger Bridge at Onitsha during the Christmas period.

    The agony associated with the road travel is usually excruciating, and yet that is a journey majority must make. Perhaps, it is a purification rite for the travellers; even as it seems a renewal of the cycle of punishments for daring to stand up to a leviathan federal government, back in the 1960s.

    And for those who control the levers of power at the centre, it could be their opportunity to put the children’s teeth on edge, for the sour grapes their fathers ate.

    You may call them sadists if you like, but the cruelty may actually be a favourite meal, which they enjoy. This year’s drilling may have been actuated by the closure of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, and the opening of the Asaba Airport, thereby increasing the number of road users crossing the red sea at Christmas.

    No doubt, the old River Niger Bridge has become the eye of a needle, and the road travellers, the camels struggling to pass through the eye of the needle. According to Jewish lore, the eye of a needle refers to the man-hole like entrance doors to the city of Jerusalem.

    With its fortified walls, the tiny entrances are created to protect the city from invaders. So, when any person travelling with a loaded camel gets to those difficult entrance points, the traveller has to dismantle, offload the camel, so it can cross on its knees.

    Of course, the traveller would one by one cross the goods to the other side, each time of course stooping to make the cross. After getting the goods to the other side, the traveller would re-load the camel again, before the journey can continue.

    Knowing how gigantic the camel is, the process of cajoling the camel to cross on its knees can be better imagined. Such is the cruelty driving across the River Niger Bridge during the Christmas period poses to the people, and yet they have borne the indignity for the past 50 years.

    So, I support the eminent Nigerians who recently organized a conference in Lagos, to discuss the tragic events of the Nigeria civil war, between 1967 and 1970, which they titled: Never Again.

    The roll call included Chief Emeka Anyaoku, professors Wole Soyinka, Pat Utomi and Anya O. Anya, and many others. They graced the event to discuss what can be done to ensure our country don’t experience such human tragedy again.

    Perhaps, because some main characters in the tragic events that led to the war are still alive, Nigerians are yet to dispassionately discuss the actions and inactions that led to the war.

    Again, perhaps because the war still provides opportunity for some to whip up sentiments and gain some form of political advantage, such beneficiaries still prefer that the issues surrounding the war is buried in a gigantic conundrum of emotions, devoid of facts.

    While this piece is not intended to point fingers, it is important to ask whether the conditions that led to the war are still permissible in our polity, 50 years after.

    Many would say, there are, with little hesitation. Indeed, Yusuf Alli, the Managing Editor, North, of this paper, wrote last Sunday that feelers from the presidency confirms that the laudable and constitutionally legitimate undertaking of the southwest governors to provide security for lives and properties of the people in the region was declared illegal, as a fallout of the civil war.

    Real Also: Fifty years of unheeded civil war lessons

     

    According to his sources, there is the fear that if such security arrangement is allowed, agitators in the southeast may use similar regional security structure to further their objectives.

    No doubt, Yusuf’s finding is plausible, because there are several similar foolish decisions by those in power that feed the discontentment against the kind of federation we operate. One of such, is the refusal to build the second Niger Bridge, until now.

    Hopefully, President Muhammadu Buhari is about to change that epic tragedy. If Dr Chris Ngige is to be believed, and we have no reason to doubt his sincerity, the second Niger Bridge is 40% completed; and the funds for the remaining construction work is already earmarked.

    But as the present federal government works to end the half a century second Niger Bridge foolishness, should we continue in other foolishness that has held our country down? Could it be that the only reason why Nigeria is locked down with an overworked centralized police is the fear that state police could give impetus to southeast agitators to further their cause? Could it also be true that the only reason why the eastern ports have been underdeveloped is because, the agitators could also use it to import arms to further their objectives?

    Furthermore, could it also be true that why the Akanu Ibiam International Airport has remained international only in name, is because a truly international airport could be abused by the agitators? Still again, could the fear of the agitators be the reason, why many mineral rich states across the country are as poor as church-rats, while the federal government owns all the minerals through a dubious legislation? Yet again, could the federal monopoly of essential utility like electricity, railway, amongst others be out of fear of the agitators?

    Fifty years after the unfortunate civil war, the scarecrow of Biafra should abate. Those who have feed fat from the tragedy should give peace a chance, and allow Nigeria to return to the part of sustainable growth.

    The present challenges would not go away, unless, we apply time-tested principles of modern governance, and such cannot happen when decisions are overshadowed by foolish prejudices.

    Of course, instead of asking for a pseudo-police outfit to tackle the insecurity in southwest or any other part of the country, the state governors should ask for state police.

    President Buhari, should be persuaded to say never again to the malcontent that led to the Nigeria civil war, and one immediate way is to allow state or regional police, by whatever name called.