The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

  • Jamborees without end

    Jamborees without end

    At any given time, one Nigerian official or delegation is to be found traipsing in a foreign country purporting to study how that country solved or is grappling with a particular issue, or its experience with a particular phenomenon.

    European countries used to be the destinations of choice, but any country will do these days, since the real purpose, usually, is to cash in on the obscenely generous terms of official travel.

    No coach please, and business class as a last resort.  Only the first class can begin to meet the                 discriminating taste of officials travelling at the public expense.  If a more opulent class were                   available –Super First Class say — I have no doubt that they would settle for nothing less.

    Then there is the travel allowance they call estacode, reputedly the most indulgent in the world.  It could be as high as $500 a night, depending on an official’s status.   So, the longer          the trip lasts, the more it profits the officials undertaking it.

    The package, I gather, usually includes an out-of-station allowance, to compensate for the hardship the trip is sure to inflict on the poor traveller, plus an extra baggage allowance to take care of all the stuff he or she is sure to bring back home

    These trips are not always to foreign climes, it is necessary to stress.  And there is never a shortage of pretexts.

    During the partial re-run of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti several years ago, a chieftain of the PDP and chair of the House Committee on Elections ensconced himself in the room where returns were being tallied, to advance the fortunes of sure his party’s candidate.  When challenged, he said he was there in his official capacity to perform “oversight” functions.

     I will not be surprised if, on being found fiddling with the locks on the vault of the Central Bank, the chairman of the House Committee on Banking said he was merely performing oversight functions as mandated by the Constitution.

    But I digress.

    As I am writing these lines, a source who is more often wrong than right, tells me that a Joint Committee of the Senate and the House on environment issues is preparing to travel to Inuit territory in the Canadian tundra to find out how the aboriginal people there are coping with their permafrost landscape.

    Why embark on a study conditions in arctic Canada when Nigeria lies in the tropics? I asked in stunned disbelief.

    “A stitch in time, you know,” he said. The Committee is moving proactively. Climate expert are predicting that weather patterns across with world will change so dramatically that Africa will be locked into the brutal cold of the Arctic winter, while the North America will be baked by the unforgiving tropical sun.

    And so, the Joint Committee, anticipating such a frigid future, will set out any moment from now for the arctic region to study conditions there and prepare Nigerians for their future environment.

    Mission accomplished, the Committee may well decide that a location half-way between the frigid Arctic and the torrid tropics is the ideal place for reflecting on their findings and writing its report.

    The report is likely to be forwarded to another committee which may or may not include any members of the House Committee aforementioned, for comment and criticism.  If the panel were to include one notoriously disputations fellow well-known in bureaucratic circles, the review will most likely eventuate in a fresh wave of trips to write the report, ending in the serene resort of Bellagio, in Italy, where there would be few distractions.

    Bellagio, you hear; not some hardscrabble town in Ghana where the House Committee on Health went to write its report so as to avert the disruptions caused by the epileptic power supply in Nigeria.  For, thanks to President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda,      the power supply is now no worse than that of Ghana.

    Even so, Abuja or the Mambila Plateau or Obudu Retreat is not Bellagio.   Jos is ruled out because of those grisly “Fulani herdsmen” visitations.  Lagos?  Too many distractions.

    In keeping with this jamboree tradition, a high-level Executive-Legislative team, led by no          less a person than the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy,           Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has just completed its mission in the UK and the United States  where it  held meetings with “Diaspora Nigerians” in London, Washington DC, New York, and Houston. The delegation includes, but is most likely not limited to the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance,  chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, chairman, House Committee on  Aid, Loans and Debt Management, member of the House Committee on Diaspora, member of the House Committee on Finance, and chairman, House Committee on Appropriation. Interactive sessions in the four cities, with invited professionals, were organized by the Debt Management Office, led by its Director-General.

    Purpose?

    To provide Diaspora Nigerians with opportunities for funding critical development projects back home. For good measure, the meetings provided the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and other members of the team an avenue to update Nigerians in the Diaspora on           the development of the economy, and the major achievements of the Transformation Agenda   of the Goodluck Administration.

    The meetings also reassured Diaspora Nigerians of developments in the country with respect to the Ebola Virus Disease and the government’s management of the situation.

    The context – or the pretext—for this trip would appear to be a World Bank report indicating that Nigerians abroad had remitted more than $10 billion home in the first half of this year, and that the second half could even witness a bigger volume of transfers.

    For the most part, these remittances were made to service obligations to relations and friends back home – pay school fees and delinquent rents, assist the living, bury the dead, and generally attend to the hard-luck stories that the next phone call from home is sure to relate in a way guaranteed to move you to head immediately to the nearest Western Union to wire money charged to your Credit Card.

    If there is anything left, the “Diaspora Nigerian” may trade in the stock market, build a house in the village over a ten-year period, or raise a mortgage to buy one in the city.

    This practice has been going on for decades and will continue as long as there are so-called Diaspora Nigerians with obligations to discharge back home.  No Executive-Legislative intervention was required to start it, and none is required to sustain it.

    The team that Dr Okonjo-Iweala led to London and Washington, DC and New York and Houston was preaching to the choir.  There is something to be said for that, to be sure. You court the choristers so that they do not migrate elsewhere.

    But this particular choir is not the type that migrates.  Though domiciled abroad, it is part and parcel of the Nigerian reality.   You do not need to make a round trip of 20,000 miles at a huge cost to an anaemic exchequer to preach to it.

     

     

     

  • When we can’t take care of little things

    When we can’t take care of little things

    Tragedies have a way of reminding us of our frailties. Indeed, no matter how much humanity can claim to have conquered the forces of nature, there are simply some things that are beyond him. In the circumstance, the best he can do is either to reduce the frequency of occurrences or mitigate the impact once they show up. One of humanity’s greatest lessons of adaptation must therefore be in his ability to learn from disasters, and to put in place, structured responses to when they occur. It is the absence of the latter that makes him different from lower animals.

    It is amazing how ordinary things come to remind us of how far down the nation is on the evolutionary ladder, so to speak. While yours truly has been doing some reflections on the state of the nation in recent time particularly our man-made disasters, this piece is actually prompted by the death of veteran journalist Mr Dimgba Igwe, penultimate week. Ten days after the passing of the journalist, everyone who matters have extolled the late journalist’s qualities as humanist, thorough-bred professional, an outstanding Nigerian and many more. Nearly everyone I have heard speak on the death somehow agree that his death was tragic as it was unfortunate. Whereas the closest to “inevitability” of his death was probable outcome(s) from the injuries suffered after being knocked down by the criminal now on the run, I haven’t heard anyone succumb to the fatalistic nonsense that his death was anything “decreed”. In all, there was a sense of admission that he was yet another victim of cold, indifferent and uncaring society.

    Accidents are of course, sometimes inevitable. However, death, in the circumstances in which he was alleged to have been killed, in a relatively busy neighbourhood, should ordinarily provoke deep, probing questions much of it about what we have become as a people. I hasten to say here that while the outpouring of outrage and grief, are in order, it comes to nothing without the larger society’s acceptance of moral culpability in its making. For while it was bad enough that an innocent man was knocked down in the course of an exercise to keep his body in shape, that the culprit could take to flight in such circumstances obviously says a lot about the state of our humanity, but even more about the urban jungle which we now live. Obviously, it starts from the onlooker programmed to indifference; the numb public who wouldn’t care that a fellow citizen was cut down, right down to the atomistic players in the half-way home described as hospices – all – including the larger society – must see themselves as principal casts in the long play that evinces our collective retrogression – our famed descent to the state of nature.

    As they say, there’s no need crying over spilt milk. Clearly, no amount of outrage will bring the dead back. However, if we agree that the society is served when appropriate lessons are learnt from tragedies such as that, we can begin at least to make some headway.

    The question is – are we ready to learn?

    If it seems any reassuring, the Inspector General of Police has assured the public of the “determination” of the police to arrest and prosecute the killer.  I say big deal. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on its part wants information from the public. Story, story…

    At the moment, the much we know is that the killer drove a Toyota Corolla car. Was the vehicle registered or not? None of the eyewitnesses claim to know and there has been no suggestion of anyone stepping forward to assist the police with vital information on the basis of which it might proceed with serious investigation. This unfortunately in the age of phone cameras and mobile phones. Save for the lone corpse in the morgue, the incident of September 6 may well have passed as a fiction. That’s how bad things are.  In the circumstance, Nigerians are left to wonder whether police assurances mean anything. It comes close to a classic Nigerian tale of citizen-indifference reproducing class inaction with the usual suspects – the police –tasked to play the magician.

    Where do we go from here? Tough question. Just as the culprit may never be found, we console ourselves that the tragic death and the equally tragic circumstances surrounding it are somewhat mitigated by a life of solid accomplishments. We are supposed to move on, hoping and praying as we are wont to do – that such occurrence never happens again. Just like that? That is what I call the big delusion – the idea that a problem will disappear by wishing it away.

    Moving on – I believe that we have a big problem in this country. Admittedly, the problem is a complex one. I have heard it said that the problem with Nigeria is leadership. While there can be no overstating the leadership dimensions of our problem, it seems to me also that the problem of follower-ship has been somewhat understated. I am not here referring to flashes of aberrant behaviour that is routine and commonplace, but rather the pervasive delinquency, which very much like cancer, now runs through the entire gamut of the normative order, particularly among the class described as followers. It’s seems now only a matter of time before anarchy is loosed upon us all.

    By then, the question of how to build a society of the future on a wobbly sub-structure of citizenship would be superfluous. It’s like seeking  to erect a 10-storey building on straw foundation – an impossible task.

    Clearly, omens are bad. The symptoms of the anomie are obviously as engulfing as they are unsparing. The deluded but now regular Jonathan-forever TAN-crowd now plaguing the nation with their rallies – stomping stadiums across the country may have just become the latest raw materials for the looming anarchy. As for a section of the student movement –NANS – giving President Goodluck  Jonathan administration, uncritical, unthinking and above all, unqualified endorsement for another term at a time one out every two youths are out there looking for a job, theirs’ at best is a catalyst to the coming self-help republic where everyone is on its own.

    Think it’s far fetched? Think again.

     

     

     

     

  • Why Boko Haram will fail

    Why Boko Haram will fail

    As one Nigerian town after another fell to Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast over the weekend, something continued to tell me that the days of the terrorists are numbered. You want to know why?

    As my attention continued to be drawn to the activities/atrocities of the Sunni inspired insurgency in Iraq called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS, I began to see the correlation between ISIS and BH (that is Boko Haram) and became convinced that the insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast will eventually fail.

    ISIS like BH is aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate in the territory under its control, but judging by the array of opposition to it, this will not be allowed to happen. Apart from the Iraqi government and its western allies, particularly the United States, the rest of the Arab countries are opposed to ISIS not just because of what it is, but also what its claims to be.

    The group is positioning itself as a defender of Islam, fighting the Infidels, but the Islamic world as represented by the Arabs is not deceived by this and is bent of destroying the group and whatever it stands for.

    That ISIS has not been able to make inroads into other Arab countries and the rest of the Islamic world shows that its cause is not Islamic but rather political. As a Sunni Muslim inspired insurgency, the group would probably have drawn immense support and sympathy from the rest of the Sunni Muslim world (the dominant group among Muslims worldwide) to its cause if that cause were to be in the interest of Islam. But it is not, hence the gang up so to speak to defeat ISIS by a coalition that is bringing Shia and Sunni Muslims together to fight terror. Ordinarily these two groups don’t see eye to eye, not to talk of standing shoulder to shoulder to fight terror.

    This is the same way I am seeing Boko Haram. That the group has not been able to get widespread support among Nigerian Muslims was an indication that it is not Islamic and cannot be Islamic. It is just a murderous political organization camouflaging under Islam to get support among those left out of the mainstream political arrangement in the northeast. And the earlier the Nigerian government knows this the better in its fight against the group.

    Looking at northern Nigeria, the most backward and least developed in that region is the northeast and the political elite, unlike in the northwest region have monopolized everything to the exclusion of the majority. And the lack of political plurality is not helping matters at all.  The northeast traditionally had never given in to Hausa/Fulani domination and this was exemplified in the second republic when the people went against the mainstream Hausa/Fulani party, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and voted for the party of one of their own, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim’s Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP). With that party they were able to express themselves and hold themselves and their leaders accountable.

    But the coming of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the present dispensation and its politics of total domination is stifling the opposition to such an extent that some would rather resort to anything or method to keep the PDP away. If truly a former governor of Borno state was behind Boko Haram at inception, it might just be a desperate attempt on his part to keep PDP away from his state. Even though this was no excuse for supporting terror, PDP’s policy of if you are not with us then you are against us and as such must be destroyed, is driving a lot of people into the hands of the devil in that region.

    If you look at the Arab world, you ask why Al Qaeda, Al Shabab and even ISIS are thriving. It is simply because they are the only avenues through which the people could express their opposition to their governments which have refused to liberalise the political space. And because the Arab leaders cannot legislate against or ban religion, people with dissenting views gravitate towards Islam and inevitably fall into the hands of religious extremists. This is the same mistake Israel is making in Gaza. By making life unbearable for the Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has inadvertently driven them into the hands the extremist group Hamas.

    In our fight against Boko Haram, the PDP as a political organization and the federal government that it controls must rethink their political strategy and allow the people the freedom to choose their leaders. This do or die politics will take us nowhere. It is a lot easier in the south, southwest in particular because there is a viable alternative to the PDP here if the party should force its way into power. But in the north where the only industry they have is government, if that government is imposed and not of the people, the reaction could be the Boko Haram that we are witnessing now.

    What I am saying here is that the solution to BH lies in both military and political approach to the problem. Win the people over with policies and programmes that would isolate the extremists in their midst. Programmes that would make terrorism unattractive; programmes that would be backed by robust military engagement that would ensure security for the people such that when they back out or give out the  insurgents in their midst nothing would happen to them.

    It is no point blaming our military for the setbacks suffered in the hands of Boko Haram in recent times. These are expected of a military that has been rendered impotent for a long time by a political elite that was just interested in protecting its interest or promoting its interest above that of the state. How come that a military that was able to fight and defeat a Libyan backed rebel forces in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 90s is suddenly unable to confront a ragtag insurgency back home few years after?

    Those who reduced our once fearsome armed forces into a mere bunch of Boys Scout over the years should share in the blame of the success of Boko Haram. But this does not excuse the mediocrity being displayed by the Commander-In-Chief and his troops in Bama, Gwoza and the rest of Nigerian territories being fiercely contested by BK forces. It is no excuse for our boys deserting to Cameroun under the guise of beating a retreat. This insurgency has been on for enough time for the government to have fashioned out and put together a robust military response to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians in that region. Like the Yoruba would say, if you take 20 years to prepare for madness, how many years are you going to use to exhibit the madness?

    If President Goodluck Jonathan has still not fashioned out how to fight Boko Haram by now or his plans are still on the drawing board, when is he going to do it? Getting our neighbours to join the fight is a right step in the right direction, but most important, is getting our military to be on top of the situation or showing enough willingness to confront the insurgency. This is when we will be able to get the support of the international community to fight Boko Haram. Everything must be done to get our soldiers trained, equipped and ready to confront the insurgency. ISIS is being decimated in Iraq by America’s airpower because the Iraqis and the Kurds are taking the lead on ground. The Nigerian military must be at the forefront and the world will back us. Boko Haram ust be destroyed and as I said earlier, something tells me the days of the insurgency are numbered.

     

     

  • An epoch is about to close

    An epoch is about to close

    The fear, entertained, in 1999 was that the military, having been in power for the last 29 out of the 33 years, would still continue to imperially dominate the political setting in the post military era which is – supposed to be a full civilian government.

    The dread was further reinforced and fortified with the election of General Matthew Aremu Olusegun Okikiolu Obasanjo a former war hero, as President, coupled with the imposition of the 1999 constitution- a corrigenda full of errors and imperfections, without plebiscite or referendum.

    Now 15 years after, that fear, seem to be vanishing and disappearing fast. As a matter of fact, gradually, the military seems not to be executors and projectors of   our political destiny. Civilians are pushing them to be mere onlookers and bystanders. A passage in our body politics is about to close. It is either the military do not understand anything about party politics or the civilians have outsmarted them.

    With the impeachment of Admiral Murtala Hamman Yero Nyako (rtd.) (72) as Governor of Adamawa State on July 15, only five Generals, elected under the new democratic dispensation, are now left on the political scene. I mean elected not appointed for we still have former military Generals around, on appointment.

    They are Muhammadu Magoro (rtd.) (73) representing Kebbi South in the Senate, David Alachenu Bonaventure Mark (rtd.) (66) the current Senate President, an Idoma Christian representing Benue South in the Senate, who incidentally was born in Zungeru in Niger State, David Jonah Jang (71), Governor of Plateau State, Gboribiogha John Jonah (60) deputy Governor of Bayelsa State and Muhammed Saleh (59) representing Kaduna Central in the Senate.

    Jang was Military Governor of Benue between1985-1986 and Gongola State (now Adamawa State) between 1986-1987. He is serving a second term as governor of Plateau State. David Mark was chairman of Abandoned Properties Implementation Committee for the former Eastern Region now made up of nine states after the civil war in 1969, member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, 1986-1989, Military Governor of Niger State between 1984-1986 and Minister of Communication from 1987-1990. He has been representing Benue South Senatorial zone for the past 15years.He was elected Senate President of June 6, 2007. Jonah deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, a naval Engineer from Nembewho was elected along with Governor Henry Seriake Dickson on February 14, 2012.

    General Magoro (NA435) entered our national consciousness in May 1985 as Minister of Internal Affairs when he announced the expulsion of many West Africans including Ghanaians from Nigeria under the Buhari regime. Over a million foreign nationals were affected by the expulsion. In 1971, President Kofi Abrefu Busia (1930-78) of Ghana drove out over one million Nigerians mostly Yorubas from Ghana due to the economic downturn in that country. Now that the economy of Ghana is down, we should not be surprised if President John Dramani Mahama(56) follows Busia’s example. Magoro had earlier served as Minister for Transport under the Military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1978 but was not a member of the Supreme Military Council then unlike his class mate Ibrahim Babangida (73).

    After the overthrow of Buhari’s government on August 27 1985 by Babangida, Magoro retired voluntarily from the army. He was later appointed the head of the Nigerian Railways and the Nigerian Ports Authority. He later became the chairman of Ocean and Oil Servicing Limited and the Chairman of Oando group in 2000, a Petroleum Marketing Company created through Privatisation of Unipetrol Nigeria Pl., in which Ocean and Oil Services bought a major share.

    Tragedy struck him on March 24, 1999 when his best friend who was the Iron Surgeon of the Buhari era and Military Governor of Borno State in 1978, Babatunde Abdulbaki Idiagbon (1943-1999) died suddenly in Ilorin after travelling from Abuja. Till today he is still mourning that tragedy

    By calculation, he may not come back as second term senator for personal reasons.

    Nyako was the pioneer governor of Niger State when it was created from Sokoto State by Murtala Muhammed in 1976. He served in that post until he handed over to Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe (74) who is from Abriba in Imo State, in December 1977.

    Military officers elected between 1999 but who have lost out include, Joseph Iorshnghar Akaagerger (58) Military Governor of Katsina State between August 1988 to May 1989. He represented Benue North in the Senate between 2004 and 2007. In the 2011 election having joined the Alliance for Democracy, he was defeated by Chief Barnabas Andyar Iyorchia Germade (66) by 229682 to 143978 votes.

    Muhammed Chris Alli was Military Governor of Plateau State from 1985-1985 and was Chief of Staff of Nigeria Army from 1993-1994. President Obasanjo appointed him Administrator of Plateau State and served between May 18, 2004 and November 18, 2004.

    Olatunji Idowu Ishola Olurin, (69) was Military Governor of Old Oyo State between September 1985 to July 1988. President Obasanjo appointed him Administrator Ekiti State between October 19 2006 and April 27 2007.

    Alabi Muhhamed Lawal (1946-2006) was appointed Military of Ogun State and served between December 1987 till August 1990. He was elected Governor, Kwara State and served from May 1999 to May 2003. He died in London on November 6, 2006

    Jonathan Babatunde Ogbeha (67) was the pioneer military governor of Akwa Ibom State from September 1987 to July 30, 1988. He later became the military governor of old Bendel State from 1988 to 1990. He was elected Senator Kogi West between 1999 and 2007.

    Olagunsoye Oyinlola (63) was appointed the military governor of Lagos State between December 1993 to August 1996. He was elected governor of Osun State in 2007 and served till 2010 when the Court of Appeal nullified his election on November 26, 2010.

    John Nanzip Shagaya (71) was former Minister of Internal Affairs. He was a member of Armed Forces Ruling from 1985 to 1989 before he became the ECOMOG field Commander and handed over to Tunji Olurin in September 1993. He was elected Senator Plateau North in May 2007 and served till 2011.

    Abubakar Tanko Ayuba (68) served as Minister of Communications between 1985 and 1987 after which he became the military governor of Kaduna State between August 1990 and January 1992. He was elected Senator Kebbi South between 2007 and 2011.

    Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyesigha (62) was elected governor of Bayelsa State in May1999 and served till December 2005 before he was impeached.

    Obasanjo was elected President from May 1999 and served in that post till May 2007. On April 2, 2012, out of frustration, he resigned as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling PDP. He is gallant abroad but in Nigeria his long years in the service of the nation and his party are hardly mentioned these days. Obasanjo has been turned to a non-persona grata, unacknowledged by the government that he made.

    Please don’t count out the Generals yet, as we all know Generals are fighters and a fighter knows many ways. He who fights and runs away, live to fight another day. We may not see the last duel of the Generals yet in the political scene.

    Past experience has taught us all never to underestimate the power and influence of the military and their spirit de-corps.

    No doubt a passage is unfolding in our political system. Either it is for good or bad, only time will tell.

    For years now our vocation was to blame most of our problems on the military. Now the civilians are gradually taking complete control of the political system, if the adventure fails, the civilian political class will have no other body to blame except of course themselves. The nation will not forgive or forget them. We can see developments taking place in other parts of the world. Why should Nigeria be an exception?

     

    • Teniola was a former director at the presidency. He lives in Lagos.

     

     

  • Annals of careerism

    Annals of careerism

    In late July 2010, some three weeks before the launch of Diary of a Debacle, my chronicle on military president Ibrahim Babangida’s duplicitous transition programme, I called up one of the nation’s most accomplished technocrats to confirm whether he had received my invitation to the event, and whether he would be coming.

    I had not talked with him since the NADECO years, when he was forced to take refuge in the United Kingdom. He was one of the most valuable political and intellectual assets of the exiled opposition.  His broadcasts on Radio Kudirat, delivered with quiet authority –the type you could not dismiss as the fulminations of a fugitive wanted back home to answer for the most abhorrent crimes – rattled the regime of the loathsome Sani Abacha  even more than the street protests challenging his maniacal rule.

    He had received my invitation but could not say for sure that he would attend.

    I had thought that, as one of the stalwarts of NADECO and the struggle for the restoration of democratic rule, he would be enthusiastic in taking part in an event that was going to bring together the pillars of the movement and provide a forum for them to relive the experience, reminisce about what might have been, and contemplate what lies ahead.

    But he did not sound enthusiastic.  Rather, he sounded distant, remote.

    I was aware that he had shown little if any interest in sharing in the spoils, such as they were, which resulted directly from NADECO’s titanic struggle against the dictatorship, and had withdrawn altogether from the political process, unless it was a national assignment requiring his technocratic expertise.

    But why would he now shun the company he once kept and revelled in?

    “Look, Tunji,” he said, “Is it right that those who tormented us at home and hunted us all over the world should now occupy positions of influence and eminence in our ranks?”

    He said it with a sigh.  You could almost feel his pain.

    And the person he mentioned as an example of a one-time tormentor turned chieftain was none other than Tom Ikimi, the rambunctious foreign minister of the odious regime of Sani Abacha. He was the regime’s international face, and what an unflattering face it was. I will get to that presently.

    With the return to some semblance of democratic rule, Ikimi roamed the political landscape until he found his natural home in the PDP. There, he had a falling out with Tony “The Grand Fixer” Anenih, his one-time godfather in the PDP.

    And then, Ikimi the reactionary and the scourge of June Twelvers switched camp to the ACN, home to the rump of June Twelvers and began sounding off as Ikimi the beacon of progress, Saul the tormentor transmogrified into Paul the Apostle without a road-to-Damascus experience.

    This was what the technocrat I was talking about found so discomfiting in the emergent politics,  so discomfiting in fact that he decided to withdraw entirely from the political process. And that was even long before the ACN tapped Ikimi to head its negotiating team in the merger talks with the CPC and the ANPP.

    To Ikimi, the whole thing was a game, a way of getting on.

    To be fair, he is not the only figure enmeshed in this game of politics without principle.  One of his colleagues in the Abacha cabinet used to ask “June Twelvers” in genuine puzzlement why they were so worked up when all that was going on was just a game. He parlayed into a family  business the fortune he amassed running unconscionable errands for Abacha and prostituting his considerable learning, and has been living in quiet obscurity since then.

    Then, there is Sani Ahmed Yerima, the governor who set off a religious ferment, the like of which has not been seen in the Sahel since the jihad of Usmanu Dan Fodiyo by proclaiming sharia law in Zamfara.  The last time we heard from him, he was fervently defending his marriage to a child-bride. He did not only decamp to the ACN, he even threatened to seek its ticket for the presidential race.

    To these political acrobats and their kind – please add Dr Bukola Saraki – one political party is as good as another, provided it helps you realise your ambition or offers you the best chance to get on.

    In keeping with this orientation, Ikimi saw his assignment as chief ACN negotiator as an escalator to the national chairmanship of the APC. And when the position went instead to Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, you knew that it was only a matter of time before Ikimi would explode with his accustomed biliousness and denounce the organisation he had helped build and the officials he has accused of blocking his ascent.

    As I see it, those who blocked his ascent did the APC and the progressive cause a good turn.

    What message would they have been sending to the party faithful, to Nigerians still traumatised by the murderous rule of Sani Abacha and indeed the international community that suffered Ikimi’s tantrums – what message would these groups have taken away from the designation of Ikimi as national chairman of the APC, and its public face as such?

    As Sani Abacha’s foreign minister, Ikimi was also the nation’s chief diplomat. But nothing about  him was diplomatic. Not his tailoring, which was gaudy, nor his deportment, which was brash and overbearing, not yet his tone, which was stentorian.  He came across as someone who would sooner challenge you to single combat than engage you in civil discourse.

    Sonala Olumhense, my Rutam House contemporary and syndicated columnist, once reported how, in an encounter with the Editorial Board of The New York Times, the editors had asked Ikimi how he could in good conscience serve as the international spokesperson for a regime that had put a price on the head of the Nobelist, our own Wole Soyinka.

    To which Ikimi had replied, with characteristic hauteur, “What is so special about the Nobel Prize? Anyone can win it.”

    That fatuous remark ended the encounter.

    Ikimi’s tenure destabilised the usually sedate foreign ministry. He set aside established practice and ran the place on the principle that anyone answering a Yoruba name had got to be a June Twelver and hence an enemy who must be defenestrated.  And he went about the task with gusto, armed with Abacha’s carte blanche.

    It is not for nothing that, during a public lecture in Lagos, Professor Gabriel Olusanya, then Nigeria’s ambassador to France, described Ikimi as an exponent of “area-boy” diplomacy, an “area boy” in Lagos idiom being the neighbourhood thug or troublemaker. Olusanya was too circumspect. He should have called Ikimi’s conduct in those days of infamy by its proper name: gangsta diplomacy.

    But the blame is not entirely Ikimi’s.

    Ikimi was a competent architect in private practice when former military vice president and fellow Esan, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, with Babangida’s connivance, planted him as the “newbreed” head of the National Republican Convention, one of the two political parties they had decreed into existence.

    When politics was politics and not a game Babangida devised to amuse himself and confound everyone else, Ikimi would have found it difficult to win election as deputy publicity secretary of a political party.  But there he was, starting his political career as the national chairman of the party that was “a little to the Right.”

    He made a hash of it. He could not give what he did not have then, and he cannot give it now.

    Oyegun, who was voted APC national chairman, is in every respect a more suitable person than Ikimi for that office.  He is brainy, suave, contemplative, sober, measured and well-respected. He is a consensus builder. He is not combative, but he is not afraid of a fight.

  • Much ado about N65

    Much ado about N65

    As far as winning arguments go, it seems highly unlikely that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would succeed in persuading the banking public of the merit of its latest decision to “re-introduce” charges on ATM withdrawals on “remote-on-us” transactions. A week after the new policy is supposed to have taken off, the debate has remained animated both in the electronic and the print media. Of course, the preponderance of the opinions is that the Godwin Emefiele-led apex bank has not only missed the track, but that is gradually taking the financial sector back to its old extortionist ways!

    Yours truly has carefully followed the debate. I must confess that it is one of those moments when emotions not only rule, but is expected to dictate public policy. And this is understandably so in a clime where service providers are at liberty to slap all manners visible and invisible charges on hapless, but unsuspecting patrons of products and services.  Nigerians are after all, only too familiar with extortionate demands by service providers of all sorts – even for services that were never rendered.

    Given that context, the harsh criticism not to talk of the resistance that has followed, are only to be expected. But then the issue is when such criticisms by those in strident opposition to what is essentially a value-added service are anchored on false premises – or if you like grave misunderstandings. I guess this is where those in the business of public commentary have the responsibility to help shed light on the issue.

    To start with, it is a measure of the changing landscape of service delivery that Nigerians are even debating the latest measure by the apex bank. Ten years ago, the debate would at been merely academic. And trust me – we wouldn’t be Nigerians without our claims of “expertise” even on subjects that many know next to nothing about!

    Secondly, it is indicative of how much the Nigerian consumer has come of age in terms of cost-consciousness and service delivery as a whole. But more significantly, the debate is reflective of the understanding of the dynamics in the sector in the last few years – a measure of how much ground the industry as a whole has covered in concrete, developmental terms.

    It is also a revelation of the vast knowledge gap that still exists in an industry on which the lives of every Nigerian have come to depend.

    To be sure, the CBN circular can hardly be faulted on the grounds of ambiguity: Effective September 1, the apex bank had stated that it would bring back “Remote-On-Us’’ ATM cash withdrawal transactions fee. The fee pegged at N65 per transaction was to cover the remuneration of the switches. It went on to state that “The new charge shall apply as from fourth “Remote-on-us’’ withdrawal in a month by a card holder, thereby making the first three “remote on us” transactions free for the card holders, but to be paid for by the issuing bank”.

    As for all ATM cash withdrawal on the ATM of issuing banks, these would remain at no cost to the card holder.

    Contrary to what many Nigerians prefer to believe, I do not see anything extra-ordinary in the decision of the CBN to re-introduce the “Remote-on-us’’ charges. If anything, I see the development as borne more of economic realism than anything else. As for the argument that the Bankers Committee had in its wisdom in December 2012 opted to assume the burden on behalf of their customer, this, I daresay, hardly qualifies as an argument. For nowhere in that decision was it remotely suggested that the services was free or cast in stone as it were; rather, the bankers merely opted to assume the costs perhaps in the light of the prevailing exigencies.

    More fundamentally, Nigerians should not find it difficult to understand the basis of the “Remote-on-us’’ charges. Think of it this way: a man walks up to an ATM of a bank where he does not operate an account and gets paid. Of course, value is transfered.

    Now, is it realistic to pretend that value was not delivered – and that no cost was involved? Would the transactions have been possible without seamless communication between the issuing bank and the payment bank? Shouldn’t the payment bank be entitled to the reward in view of the service rendered? And who should rightly bear the cost, the issuing bank – or the individual who enjoys the service?

    That, unfortunately is the present level of the the debate. Didn’t the scriptures say something about the labourers being worthy of his wages? Why should the bankers case be different?

    Let me state at this point that there is nothing unhealthy in the debate. Indeed, my wish is that Nigerians make a habit of questioning not just the quality of service dumped on them, but the quality of governance that they are afflicted with.

    Happily, more and more Nigerians are questioning the basis of a number of the spurious charges slapped on them. For instance, the other day, I issued four different cheques all totalling N600, 000 only to be slapped with a bill for exceeding the daily cash withdrawal limit. The explanation was that the fellows – not me – collected cash on the counter on the same day! How about that as punishment for daring to pay some poor artisans on the same day? Should Nigerians forget the customary fixed charge routinely slapped on them by the electricity companies even when they are not availed of service.

    I agree that progress can only come when citizens routinely take their service providers to task. The key is to be on the side of equity.

    And the man died

    On Saturday, a friend had called me to inquire if I had heard the news of the death of my former boss at The Sun, Mr. Dimgba Igwe. The friend would add that he was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver.

    How? Was he knocked down in a lonely alley? Were there no citizens around to rally for immediate help?

    I was later to understand that the first private hospital he was taken to could not help; the second was even worse as the best they could do was refer him to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) by which time it was already too late.

    Would he have died if prompt medical attention was given to him? We can only speculate. One thing seems clear though: the system failed him when it mattered most. This is most unfortunate for a man who spent his entire adult life seeking to make our country better. We shall miss him.

  • Decoding Mimiko’s Defection

    Decoding Mimiko’s Defection

    Newspapers feasted on the news that emerged early in the week of August of the impending defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). To those familiar with his ‘maradonic’ political antecedents and his seemingly uncontrollable appetite for betraying the cause(s) and objective(s) of any political camps in which he pitches his tent, the news that Mimiko – the only Labour Party (LP) governor of the hapless Ondo State – had concluded plans to dump his party for the PDP should not have been anything worthy of attention. But as the week progressed, the Nigerian reading public got to know that Governor Mimiko’s defection was the result of an “unforced error” on his path that necessitated an impromptu defection that he could ignore only at his own political peril.

    With a healthy dose of fresh facts from some dailies that “the Presidency allegedly compelled Mimiko” to defect to the ruling party or else, you knew instinctively that this ‘political maradona’ had probably attempted another dribbling that proved too costly for him this time around. The Nation reported that the chain of events that led to Mimiko’s decision was triggered by the alleged secret defection of his deputy, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, and the Senator representing Ondo South, Boluwaji Kunlere from the LP to the PDP without the governor’s knowledge. The paper further reported that Governor Mimiko issued his deputy a query “with a concealed threat of impeachment.” Rattled by the query and having watched his boss’ raw and undiluted Machiavellian political disposition from close proximity, Olanusi instinctively sensed the fate that awaited him if he did not act fast as Iroko does not take prisoners. So, he ran to his kinsman from Akoko in Abuja who is the Chief of Staff to the President, retired Brig. General James Arogbofa.  Arogbofa, probably due to his military training was able to smell blood from afar, in turn alerted his principal, President Jonathan that   Olanusi was being prepared for the slaughter to the gods that has always given Iroko that uncanny ability that the very same people he dribbles are the ones that always claps for him until after he had long walked away with the trophy.

    Arogbofa must have helped in removing the scales from the eyes of his principal, Jonathan. With the scales gone, the president flew off the handle and vowed to cut and make firewood out of Iroko this time. Also because of his own snaky nature, the president can recognize another snake in human clothing when he sees one. So, he “gave Mimiko an ultimatum to defect to PDP or he would make life unbearable for him.” It doesn’t get nastier than that.

    With this revelation, you knew that the fox have finally outfoxed himself this time. The Maradona has ultimately dribbled himself into a tight corner with no choice than to score his own goal for a defeat. After all, you cannot sell your franchise and still insist on calling the shots for the buyer and the remaining employees. In order not to lose face in the eyes of those still foolish enough to continue to carry his cans, Governor Mimiko was reported to have said that his decision to defect to the ruling PDP was informed by his desire to bring federal presence to Ondo State. I beg your pardon?

    I wager that Mimiko would rue the day his deputy was given that query because he probably least expected that the septuagenarian would be smart enough to scurry to the governor’s superiors in Abuja for his political salvation. More importantly, the governor probably could not have imagined Jonathan brandishing a big stick against him – his loyal poodle. I can take even a bigger bet that Mimiko’s intention was to continue to string along Jonathan until after the 2015 presidential election to see if the president would still retain his seat, and if he fails, would look for a soft point of entry from which to sneak quietly into the APC camp. This is a snaky attribute.

    I have argued before that Mimiko’s fraternization with any political party he finds himself may not necessarily be because of any deep-seated political conviction but his own political aggrandizement as exemplified by the amount of benefits he had extracted from Jonathan and his administration, even if he had to exhibit a despicable behavior that a sane, rational and averagely intelligent teenager would find nauseating, such as proclaiming that 16 was greater than 19. Governor Mimiko’s concern is not whether anyone or the political entity that assisted him to achieve his end-goal will survive. He probably harbours the opposite. His sole concern is a power-base of his own where he is the Lord of the Manor. It therefore should be noted that he cares very little – if any – for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) but will continue to identify with it as long as it is the party at the centre. He would have loved to grow and nurture his Labour Party at least in the South-west, just as Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu had nurtured a party that eventually formed a major plank of the country’s first formidable opposition party. Aside from being compelled, it is a smart political move for him to collapse the remnants of his party as it has failed in its mission to act as a bulwark against the progressive political class in the South-west.

    Governor Mimiko’s defection is good for the politics of the South-west. For a governor that depleted the huge political capital that he was freely given by the good people of Ondo State less than two years into his first term, but buoyed by the federal might and his vast experience in the art of rigging to have secured a second term, the defection is significant in completing the gathering of birds of the same feathers in their readiness to flock together. The heads of these flocks are already situated in most of the South-west states. However, one must also warn that these very strange birds carry a particular strain of the Ebola virus that can seriously affect the political health of their hosts and co-travellers alike. The choice is now crystal clear for the people of the South-west as to which group of birds their present as well as their future should be entrusted.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.
  • When TAN came to town

    When TAN came to town

    Nigerians should not be surprised at the multiplicity of groups springing up across the 36 states – all sworn to President Goodluck Jonathan re-election project. For those familiar with the coy ways of the minstrels of power, the long winding play going on; the feints, flanks and the manoeuvres; the grand pretences by those who covet the office so desperately they would rather remain there perhaps till kingdom come should not come as a surprise. Thanks to Abuja’s piggy bank which never runs dry, it is a question of time before Nigerians begin to lose count as groups merge, mutate and/or transform.

    However, we must give it to the undisputed leader of the moment – the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN). Irrespective of what anyone may think, or how repulsive their message might appear to be, the group has somehow managed to court public attention. Watching their activities in the last few months, I must confess that there is something intrepid – if hardly creative – in the activities of the group. That is of course permitting – although not excusing – the wild claims on prime-time television about the stature of their principal, putting him in the league of the world’s greats; or as has become increasingly common, the resort to outsize claims of achievement in the face of continuing state regression and failure.

    I do not think anyone would or should begrudge the group on their claims or even their current ambition to secure 10 million signatures for President Goodluck Jonathan either. However, like the deadly Ebola virus currently spreading like wild-fire leaving our typically ineffectual public health infrastructure reeling, what should bother us is whether law and morality can still hold in the face of intense saturation of the traditional and the new media by the gospellers of TAN. At this point, debates about the sources of the huge war chest which the group has deployed into action, is obviously, still superfluous.

    However, the question of whether the law is on their side or in their pocket, I believe that has already been answered by the group’s open defiance of the laws regarding the kick-off of the campaigns. With an impressive financial war chest to pull, the group obviously thinks little of the niceties of process – more so with the power and the institutions of the state so clearly behind them. We saw this at play at their debut national zonal rally for the South-east in Awka, the Anambra State capital; it was evident in Ibadan a week after. Port Harcourt would turn a climax of the orchestrated endorsements for the President – a signal that the Jonathan-for-second-term train is not only off the leash and revving at full throttle; it was coasting home to victory.

    For an investment, I do not think that things could have been better.  A total of 4,156,000 signatures for the President from the six South-south states, irrespective of how much was expended, considering how important Project 2015 is, ought to be worth every farthing. Hopefully, there should be enough time to find out whether or not the tally approximate the set of job-seekers asked to upload their personal details in the course of their search for an elusive job!

    Did I hear someone say scam?

    These are no doubt, interesting times. However, if you ask me, I will tell you that I have no problems with the group’s – or anyone’s – contempt for the law. Indeed, I have very little sympathy for the prey. Here, I am reminded of the beneficiaries of TAN’s 12 nights of bliss – an all expense paid trip to Brazil to watch the Super Eagles World Cup Group’s qualifying matches. Weren’t they assured by TAN that those memories would last a lifetime? What difference does it make that they returned to the dreary humdrum of an existence?

    Let me again be clear: I have no problem with TAN marketing their principal. My beef lies in their continuing exertions to distort the reality ordinary Nigerians daily face, and their mindless profiteering from the travails of their fellow citizens.

    While TAN is at liberty to frame the issues facing Nigerians anyway they deem fit, Nigerians are obviously entitled to asking fundamental questions about the state of their union; not least their well-being under the watch of their principal – President Jonathan.

    At issue is of course the impact of the so-called transformation agenda on the country and the people. Obviously the issue is best framed in terms of the following series of questions. First, is the country more united than it was four years ago when President Goodluck Jonathan took over? The question obviously bears asking given the presidency’s potential as a uniting force and given the President’s rather impressive pan Nigerian mandate of 2011.

    Nigerians are obviously familiar with the penchant by the administration’s hierarchs to hide behind statistics in their distorted accounts of economic performance. Nonetheless, it bears asking again: is the economy truly on course in an economy where manufacturing is virtually non-existent and where all manners of consumable items are imported?

    What about the prospects for the so-called inclusive growth? Are situations now better than they were four years ago?

    Away from the classy road shows, where are the so-called foreign investments in the absence of the pillars on which a truly modern, sophisticated economy can be built? Where are they – the sundry fly-by-night portfolio investors?

    What about the war against corruption? Can the administration truly claim to be winning the war?

  • How Sokoto empowers youths

    How Sokoto empowers youths

    Nigeria is one country that is richly endowed with abundant resources foremost of which is its large population of young persons.  The youths are the future of any nation and given the right guidance and training, they are potential nation builders.

    The global unemployment indices place Nigeria among the countries worst affected. So many efforts are being made to provide employment opportunities, but the number of youths especially graduates keeps surging. The problem, according to some experts, is largely due to the school curriculum which is not designed to make students job providers but job seekers. Vocational training is not part of what schools teach students in addition to conventional subjects.

    This no doubt has constituted concerns for governments in recent times and states are left with an army of youth who idle around. They not only idle away their time, they easily become tools in the hands of mischief makers. The restive nature of the youth and their propensity to be used as pawns has made governments to devise means of engaging them to be productive. Several programmes have been introduced for the youths to take advantage of.

    In Sokoto State for instance, Governor Wamakko came up with programmes to take care of the youths to give them a life-line to fend for themselves. What the governor did was to confront the issue aggressively. The programmes are run under the ministries for youth and sports, social welfare and poverty reduction agency.

    Governor Wamakko’s administration tackled youth restiveness through establishment of skills acquisition programme that has now afforded many youths gainful employment all over the state.  It is a project the administration pumped huge resources in the purchase of equipment for the training of the youths, and tools and cash to start them off in various trades.

    Now three more skills-acquisition centres which would train the youths in modern farming techniques including animal rearing and poultry have been established at the three senatorial zones in the state. Not only that, apart from engaging both males and females in these programmes, women development centres have been established in all the 23 local governments of Sokoto State to allow women learn trades while in their matrimonial homes. The initiative is geared towards training them in various trades and crafts for self economic sustenance under the youth empowerment programme.  On finishing their apprenticeship, they are equipped with tools and start-off funds.  The programme has recorded tremendous results. The first batch of over 150,000 youths were at the inception of the administration trained in shoe and  mattress making, repairs of solar lights, computer repairs, pomade and bag-making and other leather works. These youths were given enough capital to start on their own.

    Recently, about 200 youths were sent to Kadawa in Kano State to learn crop farming, animal husbandry and metal fabrication. After their graduation, they were given between N 50,000 and N 100,000 to start off their trades.  Equally too, 300 youths – male and female – were trained on barbing and plaiting.  Another 400 of them were also trained in perfume, candle, snacks, yogurts, meat-pie, doughnuts and egg-roll making. The government did not stop there; it established youth-friendly centres and assisted them with materials and tools for training and community development efforts.

    As part of the robust programme, only last Wednesday, the Ministry for Youth and Sports graduated 1000 in welding, plumbing and auto mechanic. This was in addition to an earlier batch of 5,750 that graduated in fabrication of cooking pots, stove-making, paint production and other miscellaneous trades.

    With this opportunities which abound in the state, youths have no reason to complain of unemployment except they are lazy and do not want to be self reliant.

    Another interesting development is the introduction of job opportunities in tree-planting and watering, sanitation, vigilante and crowd control. 1000 of them are being employed in the 23 local government areas.  200 more are to benefit from a public transport programme where they would be trained to operate computerized vehicles fitted with modern gadgets. The neighbourhood initiative programme has given employment to so many thousands in its first year while the second phase has seen over 2600 youths trained under the programme. The training is mainly in the area of first aid and neighbourhood watch services.

    Governor Wamakko, who is a teacher by profession, knows what it is to allow youths to be idle and to arrest possible restiveness amongst them. As a result he provided a befitting pastime for them in sports by renovating the Giginya Memorial Stadium, and provided sporting equipment.

    All these are targeted at creatively engaging the youths. Many youths now take advantage of the opportunities provided by the present administration to fit

    properly into the economy.  Opportunities provided in the rural areas also have helped to stem rural- urban migration as youths now combine farming and trading to improve their welfare.

    • Garba writes from Abdullahi Fodio Road, Sokoto.

     

     

  • Why always the Nigerian Football Federation?

    Why always the Nigerian Football Federation?

    Watching Italian international Mario Baloteli make his debut for Liverpool against Tottenham at the weekend one could see why the young man wanted to return to the English Premier League. His much hyped erratic nature and eccentricity is best suited for the English league where the fans like to hero worship.

    And probably for the first time in his turbulent career, Super Mario cut the picture of a happy man enjoying his game and Liverpool fans appreciated him, in sharp contrast to his troubled time in England the first time he came to the EPL to join Manchester City, a couple of seasons or so ago.

    His period at City, though better forgotten, will always be remembered by the message “why always me” that he inscribed on his inner wear when he pulled up his jersey after scoring a spectacular goal. Of course he knew why he asked that question and the fans knew why too.

    When I read yet another twist in the craziness going on in the house of Nigerian football called the Nigerian Football Federation, one was left with no other choice than to ask; why always the NFF. Between the time this piece was written and the time you are reading this, it is not unlikely that the situation at the Glass House as the NFF headquarters is called might have taken another turn for the worse.

    I wouldn’t want to bore you with the stories of the removal, reinstatement, removal and yet another reinstatement of Aminu Maigari, the embattled president of the Nigerian Football Federation. Maigari, undisputedly a cat with nine lives has been removed several times in recent weeks by his opponents, who in spite of strident denials, are definitely working out the scripts of their masters in government. But on each occasion, the world football governing body FIFA ordered his reinstatement citing illegally in the process.

    I have no sympathy for Maigari and the entire football house; they deserve what is happening to them. My worry and annoyance is the way they are turning themselves and indeed Nigeria into a nuisance before the global family of football. By now FIFA would have been tired of Nigeria and probably considering bringing down the hammer on the glass house. That would be nice; don’t you think so? Bring down the hammer and smash the glass house. But wait a minute; would that solve the problem?

    I don’t think so. And since beheading is not the solution to headache, may be FIFA needs to take another look at the laws governing the administration of football worldwide with particular focus on developing countries where the government is the one paying the piper and think it deserves to be allowed to dictate the tune.

    Just as it is with the larger society, especially our government, bad leadership is the bane of Nigerian football. We have selfish leaders all over the place who think only of themselves and self interest. And the selfishness is not restricted to the rank of NFF officials alone. Look at the Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi. He wants as much as N11 to N12million per month to coach the senior national soccer team. That to me is grotesque.

    While the jury is still out on whether Keshi has done enough for Nigerian football to deserve that humungous salary, I believe he has done his best and you cannot ask a person for more than his best. But the question is, is his best good enough for Nigeria? Or put succinctly, is Keshi’s best worth N12 million monthly? I doubt it and I say NO to it.

    To deserve the N12 million or so that he is asking for, Keshi would have to deliver a semi final ticket for the Super Eagles at the world cup on a consistent basis and the African Nation’s cup every three years. Did I hear you say haaa? A coach who wants to be taken seriously and earn top salary must deliver consistently at the highest level. Does Keshi have capacity to do this? I have a serious doubt.

    We wobbled and fumbled to the last AFCON Finals in South Africa where we won the cup. We all saw the deficiencies in that team but God gifted us the cup and those deficiencies were really exposed at the World cup in Brazil. Do I need to say more? And Keshi wants us to reward him with a N12million salary?  What kind of leaders are these for goodness sake? If the coach of Argentina could resign for failing to win the world cup even though he took his team to final match, why must we reward the failure that Keshi was at the highest stage in world football with a mouthwatering salary offer, when his more successful colleagues elsewhere are throwing in the towel for not meeting reasonable targets?

    And those who wants us to break the bank to pay Keshi are quick to threaten us that more mouth watering offers are waiting for him elsewhere are he will dump us if we fail to act on time. And I say let him go if he wants to go. They told us South Africa was chasing his signature, what happened? Shakes Mashaba got the Bafana Bafana job. They even mentioned Angola. If he is so sure of himself let him go there and shame his detractors in Nigeria by winning trophies including the world cup for that employer that is offering him that multimillion dollar contract.

    I hear that he is back again to tinker the Super Eagles. The truth is that we don’t need him again as he cannot take our football further than where he has taken it. My fear is that we may regress from where we are now that he is back. I suggest he be put in temporary charge while we look for a more technically knowledgeable coach that would play with the flair and swagger that Nigeria is known for and win trophies in style. We don’t need Keshi anymore the same way we don’t need Maigari and co, but in removing them, we should take the normal steps and avoid ridiculing ourselves before the world.

    I am sure no other FIFA member federation has received more warning letters from the world governing body than the NFF. If there is a desk officer at FIFA for each federation, the person handling Nigeria would want to go on leave any moment from now to avoid further headache as a result of the infighting in the house of Nigerian football. The question to ask I repeat once again is why always Nigeria? Why always the NFF? Can’t we put our house in order?