The Nation Newspaper

Category: Gabriel Amalu

  • Save Satellite Town

    After 59 years of existence as a country, Nigeria is supposed to be celebrating laudable legacies. But instead, she is bogged down by basic existential challenges. Unfortunately, some of these challenges are manmade, and unless we change the way we treat ourselves and our national assets, we may continue tottering on the brink, when our nation’s contemporaries are leapfrogging to conquer space.

    Last Saturday, while journeying to participate at the official visit of the Rotary District Governor of District 9110 Nigeria, Dr. Jide Akeredolu, to the Rotary Club of Satellite Town, a drive that should take less than twenty minutes from Festac Town to Satellite Town, in Lagos, turned into a nightmare, necessitating the abandonment of the vehicle I was driving at a filing station, after wasting hours behind trailers and articulated vehicles.

    As the Assistant District Governor, seconded to supervise the club, I had to ride a motorbike, to ensure my boss doesn’t get there before me. The District Governor on his part journeyed for hours trying to navigate his way to the venue. Without any notice, a major exit artery off the expressway into the Satellite Town was blocked by a caterpillar, forcing the governor to pass the exit-road leading to the venue of the event.

    While the service lane of the expressway from around Ojo barracks down to Festac 3rd gate, is a nightmare, the inner roads of Satellite Town is worse than a nightmare. It is hell on earth. All the inner roads are spectacles of craters and emergency ponds. Whether you are driving on the inner roads of the federal government owned estate or the nearby communities, you are bound to wonder whether that part of Lagos has been at war for decades.

    Embarrassingly, some of the nations that Nigeria rubbed shoulders with in the 1960s, after she gained independence from Great Britain have so much to show off each time they celebrate their independence anniversary. Whether in the economy, military, science or technology, many of them have made significant achievements, and some are rubbing shoulders with the first world countries in science and technology.

    If Nigeria cannot compete in science and technology, it should not be a laggard in maintaining motorable roads, which does not require much exertion. The present leaders should at least maintain the infrastructure developed when Nigeria had the resources from the oil boom, such as the Satellite Town. It should also worry about the public health challenges that come with motorist staying for hours on the traffic.

    If the federal government has abandoned the Satellite Town which it built, the Lagos state government and the local government that controls the area should not abandon the people in the estate and its environs. The level of neglect is so palpable that a visitor would think there is no government office within the estate. So, I was surprised that a local council area has its office within the estate, and yet the entire area is looking like a dungeon.

    But Satellite was not always like that. It was developed as an adjunct to the Festac Town built to host African Nations to the Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977, when our central bank was over flowing with foreign exchange. In a record time, the federal government built the famous Festac Town, where it quartered participants and treated them to a lavish party. Part of the benefit of the African party was arguably the best planned estate in Africa at a time.

    Since Nigeria was awash with petro dollars, the federal authorities decided to build an adjunct to that town. So, a smaller but equally well laid out town was built across the West African trans-highway leading to Benin Republic, which became known as the Satellite Town. That smaller town, though less sophisticated in planning and execution than Festac Town, hosts the Central Bank of Nigeria Estate and several other estates owned by major oil companies and other industries in the 1980s.

    It is inside these enormous housing estates and adjunct communities that the Rotary Club of Satellite Town is tucked in. As the District Governor Akeredolu noted during the club’s presentation of exercise books and grants to selected students of the Satellite senior secoundary and Navy Town senior secoundary schools last Saturday, the Satellite communities have the potential to host a large Rotary Club. But that is not the case, and there is no doubt that the decay of Satellite Town had affected the health of the club, founded in 1982.

    So, those who allowed the town to dilapidate have not only downgraded the quality of life in the estate, they are also denying the residents the benefits that could come from hosting a vibrant Rotary club with all the attendant benefits. To restore the lost glory, the federal government, owners of the major estate in the Satellite town must lead the way. They should be supported by the state and local council authorities, since the extensions have more or less interwoven with the original federal government estate.

    The local council authority should borrow a leaf from the Amuwo-Odofin local council, which maintains the inner roads in Festac Town, even though the estate is owned by the Federal Housing Authority, a federal government agency. A planned urban renewal program is an emergency that would do everybody a lot of good. Whether for the enhancement of the value of the huge investment in housing in the area, or the quality of life of the residents, or general public health, the three levels of government and the residents association should work together to renew Satellite Town.

    The Federal Ministry of Works, which behaves like an irresponsible landowner must mend its waywardness. While allowing the estate to become an eyesore, it still collects levies on transactions on properties it owns in the estate. It even collects development levy, yet there is no iota of development going on. Without equivocation, one can say that if those Africans who marveled at the   beauty of Festac and Satellite Towns when Nigeria showed off its economic prowess in 1977 and beyound should visit now, they will be ashamed at the level of decadence and backwardness of the estate.

    I urge all government authorities to emulate the Rotary Club of Satellite Town, led by Rotarian Vera Nwagu, who despite their environmental challenges, still find a place in their heart to engage in doing public good. Other public spirited individuals resident in Satellite Town and its environs must seek out where the club meets and join them. As one of the best managed international non-governmental organizations with enormous potentials, Rotary stands in good stead to show how to save Satellite Town.

  • Banditry pays

    The contradictions in the northern part of the country is escalating. Politically, the north has dominated leadership of the country for better part of Nigeria’s independence, and for some, under President Muhammadu Buhari, that domination is more entrenched. Those who argue as such, point at the political appointments as a confirmation of the agenda to dominate.

    While President Buhari’s minders would use the ministerial list, to contradict this point, it is disheartening that instead of the appointments helping to elevate the north, rather, it is stymied in deeper existential crisis. Unfortunately, the greatest challenge facing the region presently is no longer its political battles with the south, but rather the war amongst its constituent parts.

    The banditry by the so-called cattle rustlers may actually be a war between the indigenous Hausas and the wealthier migratory Fulanis. While it may be preposterous to theorise an organized rise by the indigenous Hausa against their more sophisticated Fulani masters, there is no doubt that the crisis is a manifestation of a deep schisms between the two cultures. Of course, apart from the rise of the more exposed Fulani in the political ladder, the itinerant Fulani is also doing better economically than the sedentary Hausa.

    The Fulani herder is a roving economy, with his control of about 100 to 200 herds. As scruffy as he looks, he is actually a mobile ATM, at least for the armed bandit, who could disposes him, of a few of his cattle. So, the Hausa talakawas who have been politically disposed since the 19th century and whom the modern criminality in post-independence governments have made even poorer, have resorted to a banditry economy of fleecing the Fulani of their cattle by all means possible.

    Last week, Governor Aminu Masari of Kastina State, in an interview with this newspaper put the ranging debacle in clearer perspective. Earlier, he had posed with a bandit wielding an assault raffle, perhaps to show those in the bush that you can keep your gun while negotiating with the state. But more scarily, the governor had said that in some parts of the north-west, there are criminal gangs whose sole agenda is to kill any Fulani in sight.

    In describing the challenge posed by the bandits in neighbouring Zamfara, the governor said: “we have what we call volunteers who are not even vigilantes. These volunteers went about killing any Fulani man, or Fulani woman they saw.” Yet, the apparatchik of state power at the federal and state levels are substantially in the hands of the Fulani elite. Yet again, many in the southern part of Nigeria strongly believe the Fulani have an agenda to overrun the entire country and dominate it.

    Perhaps, even if a few of them nurse such a grandiose ambition, it is reasonable to doubt their ability to actualize it. With their northern redoubt on fire, that may explain the downward movement towards the Niger-Benue trough and its environments. That may also explain the desperation to establish new settlements elsewhere, otherwise known as RUGA settlement. That may further explain the desperate plea by President Buhari to Benue people at the height of their confrontation with the herders that Nigerians should accommodate their neighbours.

    Regardless of one’s emotional disposition to the deep rooted existential crisis facing the country, there is the urgent need for what the inimitable essayist of this newspaper, Snooping Around, usually call elite consensus on minimal templates for governance. If this column has the ears of President Muhammadu Buhari, it is urging him to devote his second tenure to build consensus on national economy and politics. Those so-called kitchen cabinet who have been fingered as more interested in the 2023 succession plan, should look back to history and learn.

    Hopefully, the new Presidential Economic Advisory Council may provide new ideas on how to turn the economy around. Many have argued that the appointees have the pedigree, but it is the president who ultimately determines which way to go. Considering that the president prefers conservative economic policies, some commentators are wondering whether the president would be willing to accept the liberal economic policies that may emanate from the liberal economists that make up the team.

    Perhaps, the president has become a convert to liberal economic policies, seeing that his conservative economic practices have not yielded the expected economic boom. Assuming the new team can make any difference, most of their efforts will come to naught, if the political environment spirals into a tailspin, if the initiative to stoke the political environment succeeds. So, just as he has done in the economic front, the president needs a broad based political committee to proffer solutions to the political crisis confronting the nation.

    Such an approach would serve Nigeria better. As this column has severally argued in the past, those who really love President Buhari must help him to achieve some legacies, before he leaves power. That argument has become even more trenchant now, considering that in few months going forward, President Muhammadu Buhari would become what the Americans refer to as a lame duck president. He must therefore resist the effort of those who want to succeed him in 2023 and are trying to derail his presidency in their blind ambition to consolidate their hold on power.

    A serene political climate will also benefit his ethnic group, which he loves so much. If they have benefited exponentially, because of the special privileges he has as head of state, he should worry about their fate when inevitably he leaves power? So, a more pragmatic approach should be, to be seen to act more fairly in the distribution of political privileges, so that there would no serious backlash when he steps aside.

    More importantly, the approach to the war in the north is not sustainable. The nation does not have the capacity to keep borrowing to sustain an unending debacle. Even when the borrower is desirous to keep borrowing, the lender would at a stage refuse to lend anymore. Clearly, we are approaching that bend, and the earlier the political differences are tampered with to allow for economic revival, the higher the chances of Nigeria surviving the approaching tornado.

    Nigeria therefore needs a better handling of the war in the north-west and north-east. The indecorous rapprochement in the northwest is even more frightening. You cannot first further empower the bandits in the bush by paying ransom to them, and then ask them to disarm later. It is also silly to compare the raison d’etre of the struggle in the Niger Delta with the uprising in the north. Perhaps, it is such failure of strategic thinking that has afflicted the north more any other malaise.

  • Atiku’s Burden

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s camp is agog over his victory at the presidential election petition tribunal, which sat in Abuja. The panel of five justices of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Mohammed Garba delivered a unanimous judgment in favour of Buhari and his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    According to the judgment, the petitioners failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Buhari did not poll the majority of lawful votes cast in the 2019 general election, as declared by INEC, and so they dismissed the petition as lacking in merit. The first petitioner and the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court.

    While congratulating Buhari on the expected victory, we must wish Atiku journey mercy, if he insists on carrying his evidential burden to the Supreme Court. This column was never apprehensive of an upset in favour of Atiku at the tribunal; because the burden of proof that a petitioner at a presidential election petition tribunal must discharge to cause such an upset is a near impossibility, except the respondents condone or connive.

    So, even though Buhari may have thoroughly beaten Atiku at the polls, his victory at the tribunal is because the judicial process makes it nigh impossible for a petitioner to garner the kind of evidence that is needed to prove otherwise. With 120, 000 polling units in the country, and a manual recording of the election results, a petitioner to succeed, must tender election results in majority of the units in dispute and lead primary evidence that elections in those disputed units were in his favour.

    Considering the size of the country, the impossibility of producing enough willing INEC officials as primary witnesses, the gamut of documentary evidence that needs to be tendered, the technical inhibitions of the evidence act, the limitedness of time within which to lead the petitioner’s evidence, and the available opportunity for tentacles and delay tactics by the respondents, the proof required of the petitioner is herculean.

    In the petition by Atiku and his party, the smoking gun would have been the existence of a central server which would have the collated result electronically stored. While Atiku and PDP claim such a server exists; Buhari, his party and INEC claim it does not. Unfortunately, there is no incontrovertible independent evidence that such a server exist. The electoral act also does not provide for such a server and so for Atiku to prove that he won the election, he must tender election result sheets from the disputed polling units, before the tribunal, and that would be thousands of INEC documents.

    Real Also: ‘Why tribunal declined to rule on Atiku’s citizenship’

    Whether for his lawyers or the tribunal, the size of the documents that need to be tendered would be so overwhelming to glance at each of them, not to talk of examining them critically to determine the evidential value. The weight of the evidential burden required can crush the best legal giants, and perhaps they have crushed Atiku and his lawyers.

    One glaring instance is the tribunal’s finding that relevant INEC document that should be tendered by witnesses were dumped on the tribunal by the petitioner, instead of tendering each and every one of them through a primary witness, who in accordance with the evidence act, must either be the maker, or receiver, or if a public document, produced from the custody of the document keeper, in such manner as provided by the evidence act.

    With the huge gap in the number of votes garnered by the two presidential candidates as declared by INEC, the petitioner had a lot of work to do, to prove that he, instead of Buhari won the election. In reality, there will be so many polling units to lead evidence on the outcome of its results. Even if INEC becomes a willing witness for the petitioner, it will need to produce witnesses from the polling units who will render primary evidence about what they witnessed, and give evidence that either the result was manipulated or the process was marred by violence.

    This column not long ago, wrote on the two main legal systems, the inquisitorial and adversarial legal systems, and called for a review of our present adversarial legal system. Without prejudice to the Atiku versus Buhari’s case; the outcome of several election petitions and the difficulties associated with proving the petitioners’ cases reinforce the need to re-examine our legal system. This column again pushes for a national review of the adversarial legal system vis-à-vis the inquisitorial legal system.

    In the adversarial legal system, the judge stands aloof and allows the theatre of legal combat between the lawyers, and even when one of them is taking an unconscionable advantage of the loopholes in the legal system, he must never descend into the arena. On the other hand, in inquisitorial legal procedure, the judge proceeds to find the truth and achieve a judgment that approximates to his findings based on the facts presented by the parties, and the findings he is able to make and the conclusions arising therefrom.

    But importantly, while President Buhari may have his second term judicially reinforced by the judgment of the presidential election petition tribunal, he must swiftly move to secure a legacy for himself and our country Nigeria, by strengthening the electoral process. He can do so by ensuring electoral reforms to gift Nigeria some form of electronically backed voting system. The president should work with the national assembly to improve the electoral laws to allow the use of technology to make the election more transparent and secure.

    There is no reason why election results at all levels, should not be sent to a secure INEC server, from which indisputable election results can be retrieved. Indeed, election results at every polling unit ought to be transmitted electorally to a nearby server, perhaps one server for each state; and which servers will electronically feed a central server. All such servers must be treated as national assets and as such secured from any form of hacking or unlawful interference. While Atiku’s petition may not have served its preferred purpose, it has promoted the need for an INEC central server, from which independent election results can be procured.

    Of course, while Atiku may have lost this time, he must recall that it was such challenge which he now faces that candidate Buhari faced in the three elections he lost, and challenged at the election tribunals. The lesson for everyone, including President Buhari and his party is that what goes round, comes round. While they APC may believe in the sanctity of their victory, they should appreciate the challenge associated with election petitions under the prevailing judicial procedure.

  • Africa in crisis

    The two leading African nations, and perhaps her hope for economic renaissance, Nigeria and South Africa, are in a fight to finish. Unless they come to their senses, their old colonial masters and other international hegemonic agencies may egg them on, knowing that a destabilized Africa would be more easily exploited. Whether we talk of hegemony from the East or West, disunity between the two leading nations of the continent would expose black Africa to greater danger.

    The African promoters of the new Continental Free Trade States, who just got Nigeria on board, after much exertions would be wandering whether their efforts would pay. Unless reason prevails, if Nigeria and South Africa goes into an overdrive in the ongoing tango, the relatively significant inter-African economic activities between the two nations may become extinct. While Nigerian should not condone the abuse of her citizens, the two countries must stop the tit-for-tat, in the interest of Africa.

    The government of Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, must behave like a state authority, by calling on their law enforcement agencies to stop forthwith the xenophobic attack on Nigerians, and other Africans in their country, which triggered the crisis. They should learn few lessons from the West African experience. In the 1960s, Ghanaians chased Nigerians from their country, and in the 1980s, it was the turn of Nigeria to ask Ghanaians to go. Now Ghanaians are itching for a rematch, as Nigerians in that country are complaining of excruciating conditions handed to them by their hosts.

    In the West African debacle, the usual root cause of hate and xenophobic attacks is dwindling economic opportunities for the locals, after the initial boom that attracted large immigrants. So, while the people may be held responsible for the actual attacks, it is state officials who are responsible for the economic boom and bust, which cause the street wars. In South Africa, the natives have not gained the promised benefits of independence and they are visiting their frustrations on the immigrants.

    Clearly, the South Africa economy is contracting, and while foreigners may be the first line losers, unless there is a reversal, the entire country would eventually boil. The solution lies in increasing economic activities for the citizens and every legitimate resident. Instead of resorting to xenophobic attacks, which some misguided security personnel appear to be supporting, the country should tighten its immigration laws and general law enforcement.

    Agreed, some Nigerians have become nuisance in that country, such is not enough to tar every immigrant in the country. Instead of becoming international law breakers, threatening and maiming citizens of other countries living in their country, South African security agencies should deal with immigrants engaged in criminal activities. And as long as the law allow, deport such recalcitrant criminals to their home country.

    Clearly, the responsibility of ensuring that every person engaged in illegal activities face the law lies with the security agencies, not other law abiding immigrants. The world acclaimed oldest political party in Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) must realise that it is not living up to the high expectations of her citizens, especially the blacks who hoped for better life after the end of apartheid.

    Part of the challenge is corruption within the ranks of government officials. As Lew Kuan Yew, said in his book: From Third World to First: “It is easy to start off with high moral standards, strong conviction, and determination to beat down corruption. But it is difficult to live up to these good intentions unless the leaders are strong and determined enough to deal with transgressors, and without exceptions.”

    The Nigerian government has been more effective in controlling her enraged citizens. Interestingly, South Africa may be taking away from Nigeria, more than Nigeria is taking away from that country, because of South Africans’ high-end investments in Nigeria. But on the social level, South Africa has provided a haven for the teeming Nigerians looking for better economic opportunities. So, while the large corporations are making huge profits from Nigeria, selling to her about 200 million population, thousands of Nigeria migrate to South Africa daily to start small scale businesses.

    In a war without end, thousands of Nigerians, many of who have failed in their economic mission, and a large number of who engage in illegal businesses may be up for evacuation, to the embarrassment of Nigeria. On its part, South Africa would suffer huge financial losses, should Nigeria nationalize the huge corporations operating in her country. Again, because South African nationals are not in Nigeria in their numbers, the country can better manage the image-fallout of the ongoing crisis, unlike their compatriots.

    But regardless of who may have the upper hand eventually, it pays the two countries and the rest of Africa to quench the fire. In his book: Long Walk To Freedom, the immortal Nelson Mandela described an incident concerning the Soweto uprising while he was at the Robben Island prisons. The young men who took part in the uprising were jailed and some of them were brought to the prisons were Mandela was.

    According to the narrative, one Patrick ‘Terror’ Lekota, then a member of the South African Students’ Organization was attacked by his compatriots when he switched over to the African National Congress. A trial was set up in the prisons for his compatriots who attacked him, but the ANC encouraged him not to formally lunch a complaint or give evidence against them, because such will favour the apartheid regime, who wants division within the struggle.

    In the words of Mandela: “I wanted these young men to see that ANC was a great tent that could accommodate many different views and afflictions.” When South Africa needed the support of Nigeria and other southern African states, they got it. Indeed, Nigeria was reputed as a frontline state, and contributed immensely to the success of the struggle to free South Africa from the firm grip of the white supremacists, who entrenched the apartheid regime.

    It is most unfair not to remember the sacrifices made by Nigeria and other frontline states. Many top South African politicians studied in Nigeria under Nigerian government scholarship. Many others lived in Nigeria, and Nigeria expended so much and lost so much fighting to liberate the country from the shackles of apartheid. Nigeria went as far as nationalising the assets of Britain, her former colonial master to force the European power to renounce her support for the apartheid government.

    In the final analysis, while we must all condemn the xenophobic attacks, the permanent solution lies with making Nigeria and the other concerned states, viable economic entities, so that the citizens of those countries will stay in their country and earn descent living.

  • Award against Nigeria

    The palpable fears over the $9.6 billion dollars arbitral award against Nigeria, in favour of Process and Industrial Developments Limited – a foreign company, under the New York Arbitration Convention, is not misplaced. Nigeria has every cause to be afraid that her foreign assets could be seized by the judgment creditor, in fulfilment of the award.

    Notably, the federal government has vowed to deal with the officials who entered into the dubious contract, during the regime of late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. This column also urges the government to investigate the officials who did not take appropriate steps to defend the case, timeously during the arbitration.

    In an arbitration, where the tribunal is properly constituted in accordance with the arbitration agreement, any party who in spite of appropriate notice, fails to present its case, is bound by the arbitral awards. So, President Muhammadu Buhari while investigating those who negotiated the contract, should also find out if those who were supposed to defend our cause, compromised.

    After all, an arbitration is defined by learned authors, Ojomo and Orojo, as “a procedure for the settlement of disputes, under which parties agree to be bound by the decision of an arbitrator whose decision is, in general, final and legally binding on both parties.” Importantly: “the process derives its force principally from the agreement of the parties and, in addition, from the state as supervisor and enforcer of the legal process.”

    So, for there to be an arbitration both parties must agree to submit present or future disputes to a third party (private judge – arbitrator) whose decision will be final and generally binding on the parties. Where the parties duly submitted to an arbitration, are there grounds on which the parties can legitimately challenge the award? Of course, they are grounds, but the premise for a successful challenge is very limited.

    Orojo and Ajomo noted that as far back as the 1930s, there is limitedness of the grounds, for challenge. In Attah vs Amoah (1930) 1 WACA 16, the court held: “… it is clear that the trend of modern authority is to interpret the submission to arbitration so liberally that once an arbitrator has been selected, the parties must be assumed to have taken him for better for worse.”

    Continuing, the court further noted: “an arbitrator being something more than a judge, his arbitrament will require more to upset it than would suffice in the case of an ordinary judgment, and not until this fact is duly appreciated will the time and money spent on such cases as this be saved” (emphasis mine).

    Also, in Zermalt Holdings S. A. vs Nu-Life Upholstery Repair Ltd (1985) 275 Estate Gazette 1134, Bingham J. held: “as a matter of general approach, the courts strive to uphold arbitration awards. They do not approach them with a meticulous legal eye endeavouring to pick holes, inconsistencies and faults in awards and with the objective of frustrating the process of arbitration.”

    The learned judge went further to hold: “Far from it. The approach is to read an arbitration award in a reasonable and commercial way, expecting, as is usually the case, that there will be no substantial fault that can be found with it.” While the courts are generally circumspect about setting aside an arbitral award or arbitrament, they are general grounds, upon which an award can be set aside by the courts, if the necessary application is made timeously.

    Locally, section 28(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, provides: “The court may set aside an arbitral award if the party making the application furnished proof that the award contains decisions on matters which are beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration….” Furthermore, Section 30(1) provides: “where an arbitrator has misconducted himself, or where the arbitral proceedings, or award, has been improperly procured, the court may, on the application of a party, set aside the award.”

    Section 48, of the Act, which relate to International Commercial Arbitration and Conciliation, contains additional grounds. Such grounds include where the applicant shows that “a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity”; “that the arbitration agreement is not valid under the law which the parties have indicated should be applied, or failing such indication, that the arbitration agreement is not valid under the laws of Nigeria.”

    Other grounds include: “that he was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise not able to present his case.” While these general principles may apply elsewhere, there is a limitation about the court with the requisite jurisdiction to set aside an arbitral award.

    In Adwork Ltd vs Nigeria Airways Ltd (2000) 2NWLR (Pt 645) 415 (CA) 422, Justice Oguntade JCA, (as he then was) held: “If the purpose of the application (by the defendants) was to determine that the judgment debt had been paid, it constituted an abuse of process since the same question could be or was being determined in the United Kingdom proceedings. If on the other hand, it was a subterfuge to use the court of Longe J as an appellate court over the decision of the arbitrator in England, which I believe it was, my simple reaction is that Longe J has no such jurisdiction.”

    The challenge facing Nigeria, on this matter is enormous, since the courts with the jurisdiction over the matter are outside our shores, just like the arbitral tribunal and the laws that guided it. Clearly, the contract in question and the mismanagement of the arbitration, is a manifestation of one of the greatest ills of our country. Unfortunately, we see persons who have no requisite competences, get appointed to positions of authority, from where they put our country into peril.

    While the federal government is entitled to stake the blame against the previous regimes, for what may amount to criminal misconduct, they must concentrate their energy to seek remedial measures where possible. As Nnaemeka-Agu J.S.C., held in Commerce Assurance Ltd vs Alhaji Buraimoh Alli (1992) 3 NWLR (Pt 232), “The underlying principle is that parties to a dispute have a choice. They may resort to the normal machinery for administration of justice by going to the regular courts of the land and have their dispute determined, both as to the fact and as to the law, by the courts.”

    The learned Justice went on, “Or, they may choose the arbitrator to be the judge between them. If they take the latter course they cannot, when the award is good on the face of it, object to the award on grounds of law or of facts.” Our country needs the best legal hands to save our common patrimony from buccaneers.

  • Public assault

    The public assault meted against the former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, in Nuremberg, Germany, has exposed the peculiar challenges faced by politically exposed persons of Igbo extraction. Poor Ekweremadu, the political bounce he spent 20 years of guile and trickery in the peculiar slippery political environment of Nigeria to build has been perforated by a few IPOB zealots in far away Germany.

    Unlike in Germany and other western European countries, political protest in Nigeria has not matured enough for protesters to freely pelt their leaders with objects, to register dissent. So, while the German government is resisting pressure to haul in the protesters who manhandled Ekweremadu, the Nigerian government is putting pressure on the government to arrest and prosecute the boys who acted on behalf of IPOB. My worry is that in our country of copycats, there is the possibility that the Nuremberg maltreatment may become the new way to register political protest by youths in Nigeria.

    So, as Ekweremadu is left to lick his wounds, political elites, even from other geo-political zones, must weigh their options on how to deal with what may turn a malignant tumour for Nigerian elites. Of course, they should join the government to condemn the action of IPOB against Ekweremadu, and urge that necessary steps be taken to ensure that such style in exercise of the right of protest is discouraged by law enforcement agencies.

    Truly speaking, the easiest way to stem the burning anger of youths of our country is to ensure good governance across board. Those in authority must mend their ways, unless they want to bring the roof down on our heads. The level of corruption in our country is so unnerving that one needs to be sturdy in resistance to resort to self-help, not to be tempted to applaud the kind of humiliation meted out to Ekweremadu. Of course, not as a person, but as a metaphor for the frustration that governance in Nigeria has turned to.

    It is the same feeling of disenchantment about the way Nigeria is that the Buhari government taps into in its war against corruption. Interestingly, because Ekweremadu has been in power for so long, he has developed a cult of followers as well as a coterie of haters. While his followers are raising their voices to condemn the humiliation of their beloved, his haters are saying, the treatment serves him well, and is a notice to others that the day of reckoning is near.

    As Ekweremadu’s young political acolytes tried to salvage what is left of his famed invincibility in the state politics, when he landed at Enugu airport last week, the sense of forlornness in his eyes was too glaring to miss. While the young Turks stood guard for a photo shoot, their master’s eyes were so distant, apparently realizing that its joyous political life was dying. The eyes betrayed weariness and sense of failure as he failed to gingerly maneuver the land mines this time around, as he has done for 20 years in Enugu State politics.

    In a statement by his media aide, Ekweremadu excoriated Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB gang for betraying him despite his modest efforts to help secure his release on bail. Kanu accused him and other Igbo leaders of being responsible for Operation Python Dance, which the federal government ordered to deal with IPOB.  Sounding upbeat, Kanu has threatened to deal with other Igbo political leaders for their alleged role in bringing IPOB to its heels.

    While calling those who attacked him in Germany miscreants, Ekweremadu was forced by political exigencies to reply the allegations by Kanu, while advertising his achievements as the highest political officer holder of Igbo extraction. He cannot afford to ignore the miscreants, considering the harm they have done to his political image.  Exuding confidence at the Nuremberg treatment to Ekweremadu, Kanu has ordered his followers to arrest President Muhammadu Buhari and hand him over to Japanese authorities as he visits Japan. Of course, Kanu knows his supporters would be putting themselves in a harm’s way if they try such stupidity.

    But such is the crass insensitivity of Kanu’s IPOB, and the dilemma they foist on Igbo leadership in a Nigeria that is badly governed. While the majority of Nigerians are clearly disconsolate with the state of affairs, IPOB’S decision to challenge the corporate existence of Nigeria as the solution, strewn with land mines the political road of Igbo political elites, should they show them overt sympathy.

    To make matters worse for the Igbo political elites, in a Nigeria where their people feel so marginalized, the message of a new Biafra by IPOB resonates well, especially amongst the hoi polloi. It is that discontentment that Nnamdi Kanu exploits and Igbo leaders know that. To compound their challenge, their competitors from other regions know that local challenge exists, and would not mind to take advantage if the opportunity arises.

    Of note, Ekweremadu’s political opponents at the national level will be chuckling at his recent misfortune from the home front. After all, he connived with the former senate president, Bukola Saraki, to share the spoils of senate leadership between the majority party APC and the minority party PDP. They would be happy at his recent misfortune, and even amongst PDP, there are those who will privately be wishing him more misfortune, considering that he has enjoyed a roller coaster of joy for 20 years.

    In Enugu State politics, Ekweremadu has also managed to outwit those he formerly called his masters. His former boss as governor of Enugu State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, though in the same party with him presently, would not forget how he joined his successor, Sullivan Chime, to deal him a deft blow. Across the political divide, Chime, now an APC stalwart would be chuckling at the turn of events. There are also others in the state, who started with him, but whom he had outfoxed along the line, to stay at the top in the state political cadre, who will be happy at his misfortune.

    But regardless of how Ekweremadu’s enemies and friend-enemies may feel about his style of politics, it is important they work together to ensure three things. They have to agree on how to take appropriate steps to discourage the resort to self-help by the multitude of disenchanted self-exiles. Secondly, they have to stop the glaring mismanagement of public resources by those of them in public service. Finally, President Buhari must be discouraged from giving fillip to the marginalization of Igbos or any other group in Nigeria.

    Considering several encounters with Ekweremadu in the past, this column is not his fan, but it does not support his being violently abused.

  • Offence of treason

    The #RevolutionNow movement, championed by the presidential candidate of the Africa Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, appears to have melted like an ice cube flung into a flame. Could it be that Sowore overrated himself? Perhaps, he trusted his famed competences and followership in the cyber world, and thought that such can be translated into street followership.

    Running scared, the federal government post-haste accused him of committing the highest offence against public order. If Sowore had consulted a psycho-analyst before the #RevolutionNow, he would have been warned that President Muhammadu Buhari would not take chances with any potential threat to his government, when history blames his indifference for the palace coup, which the wily former President Ibrahim Babaginda masterminded against his leadership in 1985.

    Some historians claim that General Buhari was warned that a coup was brewing, but he ignored it, apparently waiting to see tangible signs – like mutiny or the movement of troops. But this time, the General may have panicked too early, and he has the freedoms enshrined in the 1999 constitution to contend with. In a democracy, protests and adverse opinions are seen as inherent in the fundamental rights, guaranteed by law.

    But seriously speaking, the charge of treason and treasonable felony are serious offences against the state, which is why they attract death penalty and life imprisonment respectively. In most democracies, the charge of treason is usually linked to a military invasion, either from within or from outside the country. In our political history, it was only under the military that treason and treasonable felony were routine, except of course the Obafemi Awolowo saga, which because of its political undertone crippled the first republic.

    So what are treason and treasonable felony? Section 37(1) of the Criminal Code, provides: “any person who levies war against the Sovereign, in order to intimidate or overawe the Governor-General or Governor of a Region, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.” Sub-section 2, further provides: “any person conspiring with any person, either within or without Nigeria, to levy war against the Sovereign with intent to cause such levying of war as would be treason if committed by one of Her Majesty’s subjects, is guilty of treason, and is liable to punishment of death…”

    Tightening the noose further, that relic of colonial legislation in Nigeria, provides in section 38 that: “any person who instigates any foreigner to invade Nigeria with an armed force is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.” With Sowore merely ‘whining his mouth’, as they would say in Nigerian street lingo, many are wandering how such theatrics could mutate to treason? But the government is not taking any chances in the media war, knowing the reach of Sowore’s internet warriors.

    In the media space, the federal government has gone ahead to accuse Sowore of having links with the disorderly followers of embattled leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik El Zakzaky and also of planning to team up with the separatist group, the IPOB – both organizations the federal government had banned as terrorist groups in controversial circumstances. So, with the dragnet linking him to IMN and IPOB, the federal character principle is maintained, at least in the court of public opinion.

    On treasonable felonies, section 41 provides: “any person who forms an intention to effect any of the following, that is to say: (a) to depose the sovereign from the style, honour, and royal name of the imperial crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or of any other of Her Majesty’s dominions, or from her style, honour, and name of Supreme Lady in and over Nigeria, or in and over any other country which has been declared to be under her protection;”

    Or (b): “to levy war against the sovereign within any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, or within any country which has been declared to be under her protection, in order by force or constraint to compel the sovereign to change her measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or in order to intimidate or overawe any House of Parliament or other legislative authority or any of Her Majesty’s dominions, or of any country which has been declared dominions, or of any country which has been declared to be under her protection.”

    Or (c): “to instigate any foreigner to make an armed invasion of any of Her Majesty’s dominions, or of any country which has been declared to be under her protection – and manifest such intention by an overt act, is guilty of felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.” Interestingly, the federal government has secured an order of a federal High Court to detain Sowore for 45 days, within which it will hopefully conclude its investigation and prefer the taunted charge of treason against him.

    In the days ahead, it will be seen whether the surrounding issues raised against Sowore will provide the prima facie evidence that will be required to proffer a charge of treason or treasonable felony against the embattled political activist. In Ajidagba vs IGP (1958) 3 FSC 5, the Supreme Court held that prima facie simple means “ground for proceeding.”  On prima facie case, the apex court held: “a prima facie is not the same as proof which comes later when the court has to find whether the accused is guilty or not guilty….”

    Again, in Ikomi vs State (1986) 5 SC 741, Nnamani JSC, held: “It is sufficient, if the depositions and statements attached to the information disclose a prima facie case against the accused person. The question ought to be this: from these depositions, is it probable that the accused persons are linked with the offence….” Referring to the role of the Attorney General, Coker JSC in Ikomi’s case held: “An Attorney General is not the Judge of the case but a prosecutor of the charge. His responsibility was not to decide the merit of the case but to ensure that the charge is not preferred irresponsibly, solely to embarrass, harass or prosecute.”

    But in what looks like a departure from the settled principles of Ikomi vs State, the Supreme Court in Abacha vs State (2002) FWLR (Pt.118) by a majority judgement upturned the concurrent judgment of the two lower courts. The apex court, per Belgore JSC held: “In the matter now at hand, there is nothing linking the appellant with the crimes on the indictment than suspicion.” While many believe the federal government have acted tendentiously against Sowore, it is the courts that will determine whether his actions fit into the definition of treason as alleged by government.               

  • Panacea for peace

    In a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria, there will always be conflict. While the country should develop the capacity to manage the conflicts as they arise; more importantly the leaders must seek the ability to minimize the incidents or causes of conflict. When conflicts are properly managed or prevented, there would be peace, and when there is peace the society prospers. So, developing the ability to manage or prevent conflict should be one of the trainings our leaders should be exposed to.

    A leader who does not possess the capacity to manage or prevent conflict will stumble from one crisis to another; unfortunately to the detriment of the people he or she leads.  In this enquiry, let us appreciate some of the key terms from different perspectives. Peace is defined as: “freedom from disturbance”, “agreement and harmony among people.” It relates to: “tranquillity, calmness, restfulness and quiet.”

    Interestingly, a former president of United States of America, Ronald Reagan, said: “peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” On the other hand, conflict is defined as “a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.” It relates to: “dispute, quarrel, squabble, differences of opinion.” Most of the conflicts afflicting Nigeria are political, but in recent times, we now have more of religious, cultural and social conflicts.

    On its part, conflict prevention has been explained as “a peace operation employing complementary diplomatic, civil, and, when necessary, military means, to monitor and identify the causes of conflict, and take timely action to prevent the occurrence, escalation, or resumption of hostilities.” Conversely, conflict resolution “is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.”  It is also defined as “Intervention aimed at alleviating or eliminating discord through conciliation.”

    There may be a dispute as to the number of ethnic groups in Nigeria, but there is no dispute that the number runs into several hundreds. Perhaps that explains the multi-layers of conflict that afflict the country, ranging from the minor to the more serious ones that threaten the corporate existence or foundation of the country itself. In definitional terms, “an ethnic group or an ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation.”

    To manage or prevent conflict in a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria and thereby engender peace, the panacea is simply “to do unto others as you will want others to do unto you.” But a more pragmatic process of ensuring that conflicts are prevented or managed, have been developed by Rotarians. It is called: “the four-way test.” According to Wikipedia: “The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do is a test used by Rotarians world-wide as a moral code for personal and business relationships. The test can be applied to almost any aspect of life.”

    It is made up of 24 words, and was developed by Herbert I. Taylor an American from Chicago as his ultimate plan to save a dying company Club Aluminium Products Distribution Company from bankruptcy, way back in 1930s. Taylor offered Rotary his 24 words when he became a director of Rotary International in 1940s and Rotary adopted it as a moral code for personal and business relationships. The test asks us to test every action, word or step by asking first: “is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendships, and finally will it be beneficial to all concerned?”

    Rotarians recite the four-way test at every Rotary meeting. In my humble view, it is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of Rotary to the world, because the 24 words are eternal guide to life and relationships. There is no doubt that the four-way test is a variant of the golden rule: do unto others what you would want them do to you. For Christians, and I believe Moslems and Animists may have a variant, Jesus Christ taught the golden rule in Matthew 7:12, when he said: “so in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

    In a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, conflict would be minimal if not completely eliminated, if leaders and followers regardless of ethnic membership relate with one another truthfully, fairly, with the motive to build goodwill, to encourage better friendship, to act in a manner beneficial to everyone within the community and even beyond.

    When an issue affecting persons of different ethnicity in the country arises, leaders and followers can resolve such disputes by simply applying the four-way test to the complaints, testimonies, presentations, accusations and disagreements. They can justly end the dispute by applying the four-way test in their decisions, judgments, resolutions and instructions.

    Of note, the four-way test can be used to eliminate fake news, which has become one of the new causes of conflict in multi-ethnic communities. For instance, those who forward volatile messages that could ignite ethnic passion should first ask themselves whether the content is true; whether it is fair to all concerned, whether it will bring goodwill and better friendship, and finally whether it will be beneficial to all concerned.

    Once the message does not meet the requirements, a person wishing to build peace or prevent conflict or resolve an existing conflict should not forward such a message. Pastors, Imams, Babalawos and other religious leaders can also apply the four-way test to the messages they deliver to their congregation. By applying the principles of the four-way test, messages which can ignite unruly passion will be eliminated.

    The four-way test of the things we think, say or do can also help to eliminate the scourge of hate speech in a multi-ethnic community. No doubt, any message which meets the four-way test cannot be a hate speech. To deal with hate speech, Rotary should offer our beleaguered country the four-test as antidote. Power buffs, like chiefs, obas, council and state government officials will provide efficient leadership by applying the four-way test in their relationship with members of the public regardless of their ethnic origin. It will help them treat members of the community equally.

    Applying the four-way test would help promote love and peace in a multi-ethnic community.   As Mahatma Gandhi said: “whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.” He also said: “The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” On his part, Albert Einstein said: “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Finally, as Mother Theresa said: “Peace begins with a smile.”

    Happy Sallah Nigerians.

  • Tears for a priest

    What could be the motivation for the gruesome murder of a Catholic priest? A catholic priest is relatively poor, does not own a business, and is never in contention for a contract, or advancement in critical sectors of the economy. A priest mainly dresses drab in his cassock, is unmarried and never in contention for the hottest bevies in town, and do not contend for titles. He owns no farm or pasture. So, why have priests become targets for herdsmen in Enugu State?

    Last week, Rev. Fr. Paul Offu, the parish priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka in Nkanu West Local Government Area, in Enugu State was gruesomely murdered by the herdsmen. A picture of the priest lying in a pool of his blood in an open truck should break the heart of any human being. A disconsolate Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Dr. Callistus Onaga, lamented: “if there are crop of bad herdsmen in the state they should be fished out and we will continue to live in peace with the good ones.”

    Why would the bad herdsmen be allowed to give bad name to all Fulani herdsmen in the country? Nearly two weeks to the murder of Father Offu, another Priest Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo escaped assassination in the same axis of the state, in the hands of the same bad herdsmen. To show their discontentment, over 200 priests in the Enugu diocese marched on the street, demanding that the murderers be apprehended to face the law.

    A bewildered Catholic Bishop of Enugu wondered: “why we get worried when our priests are attacked is that it shows the level of insecurity other Nigerians face daily.” He went on: “our priests are very much respected and honoured by the people (locals); so if these things can happen to them, what happens to the flock.” No doubt, the priests are revered by the locals in that part of the country even though occasionally you see cases of intransigence by a few. But to contemplate murdering a priest is an ignominious and unpardonable abomination.

    So, why would herdsmen whose primary business should be to tend cows, turn to gun-toting men, targeting those who they have nothing in contention with? As bad as it is, one can situate herdsmen attack on farmers, which is a war waged by bad herdsmen to forcefully gain access to food for their cattle. But how can one situate the gung-ho attacks by these bandits on helpless priests who own no farms, fields or any form of pasture that could be the target of a herdsman?

    Same last week, five persons travelling on the Benin-Sagamu expressway to Lagos to join their brethren at a conference of RCCG ministers were captured in a commando style, by the bad herdsmen. It was on the same route that the daughter of Afenifere leader was gruesomely murdered recently, leading to a national uproar. As I said on this page following that mindless killing that rattled the federal government, criminality is a regular feature on that unfortunate national artery.

    One wonders the motivation for herdsmen to bust onto a national highway, to shoot travellers or kidnap them? Ransom perhaps for the kidnap; but what is the motivation for the mindless killing of those who are not contending anything with the killers? I can hear readers saying, just to terrorise them. Well, yes, such acts of criminality fit into the definition of terrorism; but terrorism to achieve what purpose? Could it be to drive home a point that the terrorizers are ruthless and should be allowed their way elsewhere?

    While we ponder these queries, governments at all levels, especially the federal government which has control over the national security apparatus must wake up to confront these bad herdsmen and other criminals making life unbearable for Nigerians. As the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, whose pastor and church members were kidnapped asked: “As a father, how do you think I should feel to hear that five of my children have been kidnapped while on their way to attend the ministers’ conference?”

    Luckily, the police in Ogun State have reportedly found out the den of the kidnappers in the forest, and have rescued the victims. Also, it was reported that some suspects have been arrested. I hope they expose the sponsors and their gang. The named victims Chidozie Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okor Ohowukwe and Ibeleji Chidinma are lucky to gain their freedom, perhaps because of the pressure from the highly influential Pastor Adeboye of RCCG and the vice president, who is a pastor of the church, on the security agencies to free the victims.

    In Enugu State, where Father Offu was killed by the bad herdsmen, as I write, the federal government is yet to apprehend the murderers. With the vice president barely settling down from the trips he made in the south-west after the killing of Mrs Olakunri, who will the president send to appease the people of the state and the zone? Or is the death of Rev. Fr. Offu not enough to arouse an upheaval? Perhaps, like Stalin, the authorities may ask: “The Bishop! How many divisions has he got?”

    But the Reverend Father is a priest of the most High God, and the wrath of his father is a consuming fire. As the Bible said, ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.’ The bad herdsmen who have made priests in Enugu State an easy target are digging their graves, and would soon meet their comeuppance. In the meantime, the federal government must also deploy the drones to the south-east to expose the criminals giving President Muhammadu Buhari’s ethnic group a terrible profiling.

    The order by the president for the killers to be fished out must be carried out by the security agencies. No excuse should be acceptable to the people of Enugu State. The bandits who killed Rev. Fr. Paul Offu and those who shot at Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo must be fished out by the security agencies quickly, so that they can face the law. To delay is to expose the good herdsmen to the anger of the people, and the good herdsmen deserve to be separated from the bad ones, just like the grains from the chaff.

    The governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s promise to fish out the killers is reassuring. He should give a matching order to the leadership of Miyetti Allah in the state to fish out the culprits and hand them over to the police. They should know that failure to solve the dastardly murder of Rev. Fr. Paul Offu would do grievous damage to the relative peace in the state.

  • A new beginning

    The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on a visit to Anambra State recently, called for a new beginning in the relationship between the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the people of the Southeast. This column on many occasions, called for that rapprochement, arguing that the Southeast has no reason to put all her eggs in one weak basket, placed on the unbalanced head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose legs have been wobbling since 2015.

    In his remarks, published by his media aide, Laolu Akande, the vice president reminded south-easterners that President Muhammadu Buhari on two occasions he ran for the presidency, had as vice-presidential candidates, two eminent Igbo sons. One was Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, and the other was Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, and both of them were no minnows in politics.  So, when PDP agents say that historically President Muhammadu Buhari hates the Igbos, I wonder where they get their facts.

    The vice president also reeled out projects that the Buhari presidency has undertaken in the south-east, to include the on-going second Niger Bridge, completed Zik Mausoleum, Onitsha-Enugu expressway rehabilitation, electrification project at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and of course the social investment programmes very dear to the vice president’s heart. While the Southeast deserves more projects, this column commends those projects as potentials, a détente between the zone and the Buhari presidency could generate.

    The vice president also noted that Anambra State is one of the seven states that have two ministerial nominees. While the state has always had that privilege, perhaps because of her per capita contribution to the party, it is noteworthy that under the Buhari government, the special favour is maintained. Of course, the returning minister and former Governor Chris Ngige, is a juggernaut in the party.

    Going forward, what Igbo elites should do, is to work for the interest of the region in any party they are in, while not negating the overall interest of Nigeria. For instance, they should take a stand on the boiling issue of insecurity in the country, and push for amendment of the constitution to allow for state and local police authorities. While opponents of the ruling party are entitled to disagree with the party, it is retrogressive to associate membership of APC with sabotaging of the region’s interest.

    After all, the PDP government could not gift Nigeria any significant restructuring, while in power for 16 years. So, it is untenable to give the impression that APC’s inability to address the problem is because a Buhari who has an axe to grind with the Igbos is in power. Therefore, since the faulty national security structure predates Buhari, a bipartisan approach would be more productive that smear campaigns.

    While Buhari’s opponents can claim that insecurity has arguably worsened or has created a dangerous mutant under his watch, the solution would only come under a bipartisan approach to the challenges. So, instead of the Igbo elites wasting energy demonising their kit and kin who feel comfortable in the APC government, they should concentrate their energy in finding solution to the hydra-headed problems bedevilling the nation. As I have said, the fundamental challenges can only be solved via a bipartisan approach.

    So, abuse qua abuse, will not lead to the Promised Land, which the country badly needs to stave a total breakdown of law and order. With former Governor Rotimi Amaechi returning hopefully to the Ministry of Transportation, the new beginning should include, adding the Southeast to the Northeast railway, in the federal government’s railway modernisation programme. Cutting a deal on that major infrastructure project can only come via a deft rapprochement with the central government.

    The leaders of Southeast in government must therefore wake up and make hay while the sun shines. It is not fair to take the benefits due to leaders of the party in the zone, but fail to work to build the party in the zone and ensure the people benefit from the government. Luckily, the constitution ensures every state has a minister. The occupier of that coveted position must use the visibility conferred by it, to grow the party and ensure what is due to the state gets to it.

    In some states, there were protests over the re-nomination of former ministers. My home State Enugu, was one of them. The state chairman of the party protested that the party was not consulted before Geoffrey Onyeama was re-nominated for the new federal cabinet. While the president could choose not to consult with the party in making his choice, the chosen one owes a duty to nurture the party, as a representative in the cabinet.

    Even when the president is doing his final term in office, it is in his interest the party is sustained and if possible returned to power, if the legacies of the president is to be sustained. So, the survival of the party is as much in the interest of an outgoing president, as it is in the interest of a budding successor. Unfortunately, the drawback caused by the absence of cohesion amongst party officials in southeast states, is made worse by the failure of their representatives to use their visibility to promote the party.

    For instance, this writer severally called upon former Governor Rochas OKorocha to use his position as the only APC governor to build the party in the zone, but he squandered the opportunity. Now he is running from pillar to post, with neither party nor the people supporting him, as Governor Emeka Ihedioha is turning him and his family into an endangered specie in the state. While as Imo State governor, Okorocha was beclouded by an ill-mannered determination to foist his son-in-law on the state at all cost. As happens in such silly endeavours, he is left to lick his wounds, alone.

    One project that should also form a cornerstone of the new beginning, preached by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is the upgrading of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to full international status. Recently, the federal aviation authority reeled out the airports they are working on their landing instruments, and no mention was made of the only international airport in the Southeast. If Buhari’s government wants a cohesive country, it must disregard partisan detractors and ensure a fair distribution of national resources across the geo-political zones.

    Perhaps, it is good the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, is returning to government, most likely his former ministry. The action governor of Enugu State, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, must ensure a good working relationship with whoever emerges as Minister of Aviation, to contribute his quota for the Enugu airport to be upgraded to full international status by the federal government within the next four years.