The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • ‘Our Girls’; CBN Gov: ‘Up Naira, Down Interest Rates’; National Conference and party funding

    ‘Our Girls’; CBN Gov: ‘Up Naira, Down Interest Rates’; National Conference and party funding

    Our Girls’ are still missing since April 15, though 14 have escaped. The death toll since then from the Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen is over 1000 human beings! What manner of country will we leave for our children?

    We mourn Dora Akunyili and the late Emir of Kano and all those murdered by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. It seems Lamido Sanusi has had his life’s ambitions fulfilled. First Bank big-shot, introduced to President Yar’Adua as a ‘Northern’ candidate by First Bank chiefs, flamboyant and queried Governor of CBN and now is it 57th Emir of Kano. Congratulations. What does it mean for Nigerian true federalism? We have seen the man behind the Emir’s mask. Can the new Emir control his herdsmen?

    Is the new CBN governor Emefiele, ‘just another CBN Governor’ or a ‘Great CBN Governor’? How he spends our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) money must be our concern. The number of people in poverty depends on the currency exchange rate. Devaluation forces many more people to earn ‘less than a dollar a day’. Improving the naira lifts many out of poverty. Does anyone in banking understand this equation? ‘Just another CBN Governor’ will yield to banking greed, ‘stability’, high interest rates and naira collapse. A ‘great Nigeria-loving CBN Governor’ will see poor Nigerians engaged in struggle, working hard with self-help banking -‘esusu’ and ‘ajo’ – for rents, school fees or generators to operate business. A Great CBN Governor will strategise to ‘UP NAIRA, DOWN INTEREST RATES’ and reverse the 40 year fall of the naira, one naira a week or a month. In five years we could be back at 1981 and N1:$1 or at least Abacha’s 1997 and N88:$1 with no loss of ‘stability’.

    A Great CBN Governor should force banks to make money available for the hard-working masses by reducing the interest rates to single digits. Is he going to sacrifice the naira for ‘stability’ –an excuse to devalue the naira but not appreciate the naira?

    To properly stimulate entrepreneurship and business in homes across Nigeria, access to single digit interest rates is essential but interest rates are kept high by CBN and banks which make billions quarterly. Can they be changed? All Nigerians deserve access to the low interest single digit breaks being selectively offered to the textile industry, agriculture, Nollywood, aviation and  industry ‘waivers’. Strangely, there is no special interest rate for medical equipment. The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), with an annual budget of N300m could easily set up a single digit interest rate bank ‘NMA Bank’ with N100m/year-a billion in 10 years. In fact Nigeria would not need these unfair ‘favoured negotiations’ if all interest rates were 5-9%. Selective interest rates are wrong. For all, or, for none.

    Nowhere do we see the Non-Sovereign 2014 National Conference N-SNC discussing the institutionalised corrupt funding of political parties at a time when governance is increasingly ‘by extortion’ with gangster-like Internally Generated Revenue machinery. This is seen on streets, at traffic lights and in LGAs where ‘uniformed and mufti thugs’ terrorise  the roads with primitive nails-in-stick barricades, often fake ID cards and outrageous demands for original receipts for luggage and radio licence etc. The police checkpoints have been smuggled back on the heels of the tinted window crackdown, the Boko Haram terror and yet we want international tourism! We are fully aware that most political parties and their agents extort with ridiculous fines and fees and rates, intimidate through uniformed agents, inflate contracts by 30-100%, sell posts, and create fictitious contracts- all corruption.

    So let the N-SNC address and solve the corrupt funding of political parties as a weapon against corruption which will reduce the cost of governance by up to 30% and make the naira buy more books in schools, more kilometres on our roads, more equipment in our schools and hospitals and more sports equipment.

    Until and unless Nigeria tackles funding of political parties there will be no serious reduction in government corruption.

    Congratulations to Nigerians for the excellent decisions by the N-SNC to insist on cancellation of any ridiculous pension and severance pay scams or schemes for National Assembly (NASS), Governors, Commissioners and State Assembles. Collectively we have saved billions. How greedy can a politician get? The N-SNC must ensure that LGAs also become part-time councillors. Politicians should have proper jobs as well as serve the people.

    However, the ‘ONE HOUSE SOLUTION’, the second half of the people’s ‘NASS Survival Strategy’ did not scale through and it is a flagrant failure of the N-SNC delegates to heed the people’s voice for a merging and collapsing of the two houses, Senate and House of Representatives, into one smaller house was thrown out. Everyone in Nigeria except the serving and retired senators and representatives knows that Nigeria cannot afford to bleed cash to cover the cost overruns, the SAP, ‘Salaries And Perks’, and Constituency Allowances in billions demanded to be controlled by NASS members. There is nowhere else in the world where mislabelled ‘dividends of democracy’ like sewing machines are bought with the government money.  It is wrong. How dare they boastfully distribute the ‘gifts’ when the money used belongs to the people?

    From all parties NASS members appear greedy self-styled ‘distinguished and honourable’ people. Repeatedly they have turned out to be ‘undistinguished and dishonourable’ and far too full of senatorial and honourable importance. Nigeria has first-hand experience of NASS workings and corruption. One NASS house is more than enough trouble for Nigeria.

     

  • COMMENTS

    COMMENTS

    For Olatunji Dare

    Re-MAY 29, Not yet “Democracy Day”. I have been a constant fanatical reader of your weekly “At home abroad” series. You are a Prophet because majority of views has come to pass. I will refer you to the wise saying of Sir Winston Churchill “It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best, ‘You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary”. Ride on sir, God is your strength. From Comrade Esan Ajibola, Ayedun Ekiti.

    The English essayist,Thomas Hardy,posited in his book ‘Under The Greenwood Tree’ that, “You do not blame others for singing a   song you wrote about yourself”. The President Jonathan kleptocratic Junta have sang it’s own sonorous nunc demitis by using the facade of a Gestapo Police (Mr Mbu,CP-FCT) to ban rallies in Abuja over the  CHIBOK GIRLS.lt is now clear that they need some tutorials on the rudiments of Democracy before they resort to more outrageously weird Idi Amin, Sani Abacha and Hastings Kamuzu Banda-like strategies in checkmating freedom of speech and liberty in Nigeria. From Chief Bobson Gbinije,Mandate Against Poverty(MAP), Warri.

    Re-May 29: Not yet “Democracy Day”.  No matter the deficiencies, we have been able to trudge and move on, democratically. Journalists could and have been bashing the governments and some Individuals without arrest and molestation! What all of us should do is to shun ethnicism, politicisation of write-up albeit against their non-favourites, make merits in all ramifications, Nigeria’s logo. MAY 29  or Democracy day, it is clear that we are no longer in a Military rule. Almighty God will help to ‘panelbeat’ our wobbles, ameen. From Lanre Oseni.

    Re- ‘May 29: Not yet “Democracy Day”‘

    It is politically idiotic to ritualize the observance of “Democracy Day”… In my view, it is hot air that has gone cold, and vaporised!  The Nigerian genre of democracy beggars belief, as a huge fraud! Anonymous

    Democracy at l5, we progressed in corruption that is our setback in development, despite the resource at our disposal.it is very unfortunate. From Chika Nnorom      

    You have carefully itemised the ills of Nigeria’s democracy. June 12, to me, is the Democracy Day of Nigeria. From David-West b david, Yenagoua.

    May 29, Democracy Day is in the imagination of those who are mis-ruling us. The real Peoples’ Democracy Day is June 12 and one day it will manifest. From Ola Michael, Egan Lagos

    No, Mooyiwa; Fani-Kayode can’t possibly be broke. Rather, he is worried about the terrible dimension of the EFCC case against him, especially regarding the strong rumour that the meeting at the Villa convinced him that he might be jailed soon. How else do you explain, after saying such horrible things about Jonathan and his govt, that Fani-Kayode  will suddenly make a U- turn?- Anonymous

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    John Kayode Fayemi (JKF) is a leader others will wish to be there own. The ball is on the court of the citizens of the Fountain of Knowledge to choose light or darkness. JKF is the man come June 21. From John Anya, Enugu Nigeria.

    If democracy, as you were even able to observe, is like a plant that needs to be cultivated, tended and nurtured first, to be of effect for the growth of the society, then it is wrong to assert, as you did, that May 29 isn’t yet Democracy Day. The date in question is observed as the day power changed hands from khaki to civilian government, after so many years of military rule. It is not celebrated as the day Nigeria attained perfection or her destiny in democratic govanance. Which is why we still have the large army of unemployed youths, epleptic power supply, bad roads and so on in the land. And these I believe will still be phased out with time as we join hands to make the democracy what it should be, for the common good of us all. That we can freely express our opinions about the goverment today and still sleep in our homes, or even take the governmet to court and obtain justice are good indications that democracy is already in place. From Emmanuel Egwu  

    It would have been very wrong and quite unacceptable for anybody to have attempted to stop the protest inspired by the criminal abduction of the Chibok girls, which has atracted demonstrations from virtualy all sections of the country and beyond. The protest which, of course, should have some logic is aimed at arousing the government to action for the release of the innocent girls. And having achieved just that by swooping on the government to work, a continuous protest unabated in the circumstances, one should be right to think, not only will make it lose steam somewhat, but tends to constitute a big distraction to the government in its action plan. Beyond that, the situation on ground is one that some hoodlums and Boko Haram might equally cash in on to cause more harm to the people. Misleading though the goverment name-calling might be,further protest in this direction,all considerd,may not be producing the desired result if allowed to continue unrestricted –From Emmanuel Egwu.   

    Sir, about Ekiti elections. It would be a tragedy and a misclassification of massive proportion should for any reason Governor Fayemi should lose. It would be a great blunder by Ekiti electorate. It is unthinkable to have Ekiti return to the era of ignorance, ineptitude, chaos,thuggery, killings and misdirection. Anonymous.

    We are Ondo Based-Ekiti Students across the institution in the state, we all registerd in our different Local Government in Ekiti, our Hope Still on John Kayode Fayemi. Anonymous

    Just because the president came to Ekiti yesterday there is mayhem in Ado Ekiti as a result of state sponsored attacks I hope your correspondents will visit the scenes where two people has been killed already, this is food for thought. Anonymous

    In normal climes,going by the many beautiful things said and written about Governor Fayemi and his unprecedented transformational administration of Ekiti State for the past 3years now,even the hottest contender of his job in the state forthcoming election would have simply backed down,knowing how it would only amount to chasing an illusion going to compete with a man of such uncomon records for transfomational democracy.But then, here is Nigeria. Of course, if Jega were to live up to the man of integrity we use to know of him and his officers inspired by his examples in the conduct of the election,Fayemi winning landslide no doubt would have been a forgone conclusion.For there is no way the learned,noble and appreciative people of Ekiti State would have voted otherwise especially knowing the unimpressive antecedents of Fayose,the former governor  of the state – From Emmanuel Egwu

    For Adegboyega

    It is a pity that our leaders are frustrating young Nigerians seeking knowledge. There is nowhere in the world where knowledge seekers are frustrated and you expect development. The earlier we know our stand the better for us. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

    RE: Hungry for knowledge. Lack of solutions to increase in fees in the universities, leading to student unrest and ASUU/NASU strikes, stem from the university authorities, government and the students. The FG, states provide less funds due to corruption tendencies, unreduced personal enjoyment; the university authorities have no option than to jack up the amount to make life more comfortable for students. Rather than see reason in that, students believe that protests are common commodity as resolution. The resultant effect of fee reversal is graduates’ low quality and un-employability. From Lanre Oseni.

    Only God knows where our education sector is going, in spite of the resources at our disposal to make education affordable for the citizenry;, it is very unfortunate that governments are not living up to their billing to make education available for the less- privileged. Nigeria is blessed with resources but bad leadership is our major problem. We don’t know the rationale behind Wike still being in charge of the education ministry, with constant strikes in the institutions without his finding a solution to the problems. I appeal to the Lagos State governor to reduce the school fees of LASU in the interest of the parents. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

    Your article in The Nation newspaper of Sunday June 8, Nigeria’s tertiary education crisis in perspective didn’t capture the ASUP strike that has been going on for about 10 months. Sir, is it a form of discrimination? From Fabiyi Ademola, Ebonyi (ASUP FPE, Chapter).  

     

  • The Emir is dead; long live The Emir

    The Emir is dead; long live The Emir

    I was a pupil in class seven in then Kukah Senior Primary School located between Sabon Gari, where we lived, and Fagge in Kano, when he became Emir of Kano on a beautiful clear day on October 22, 1963. The memory of his coronation at then Festival Stadium (now Sani Abacha Stadium) inside the city wall was etched in my mind because of the circumstances that surrounded his ascension to what, without doubt, was and probably remains the most powerful emirate in the North and one of the most powerful in Nigeria.

    Nominally, Kano Emirate has been number four in order of precedence after Sokoto, Borno and Gwandu. But with a population even back then of over 5.7 million, it was the most populous in the region. It was also easily the wealthiest, as reflected in its exports of ground nuts – remember its famous groundnut pyramids? – cotton and tobacco, worth nearly £18 million, according to Professor Alhaji Mahmud Yakubu in his 2006 book, Emirs and Politicians: Reform, Reactions and Recriminations in Northern Nigeria (1950-1966) . 

    The emirate’s wealth also reflected in the salary of its most powerful emir, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, Alhaji Ado Bayero’s half brother and the grandfather of the new emir, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Alhaji Muhammadu earned a then princely annual salary of £12,004, more than double the salary of the premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sokoto, at £4,800. He had succeeded his father, Alhaji Abdullahi, in January 1954, following the father’s death.

    The road leading to Alhaji Ado’s ascension in October 1963 began with the “abdication” of Alhaji Muhammadu on March 28 of the same year, following an administrative enquiry into the finances of the Native Authority (NA). As the most powerful emir in the region, the charismatic Alhaji Muhammadu, who also doubled as a leader of the Tijjaniya sect in West Africa, had a very close and cordial relationship with the premier. This, however, did not seem to have extended to the premier’s ministers and other subordinates who saw the emir as overbearing and arrogant.

    The opportunity for these disaffected subordinates of the premier itching to take the emir a peg down came when the salaries of the NA staff fell in arrears by a month early in 1963, something unheard of in those days. The NA applied for a loan from the regional government to tidy things over and was granted. But this led to tremendous pressure on the premier to probe the NA’s finances. Eventually he bowed and appointed Mr. David Joseph Mead Muffet, a Special Duties Officer in his office, to head the enquiry panel.

    Predictably, the panel found the emir guilty but he was allowed to “abdicate” on a pension to the sleepy town of Azare in Bauchi emirate. He eventually died on April 5, 1991 in Wudil, near Kano, where he had been allowed to relocate to by the first civilian governor of Kano State, the late radical politician, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi.

    Upon Alhaji Muhammadu’s abdication, he was succeeded by his cousin, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa, whom, in any case, the colonialists had preferred for the emirship when Alhaji Abdullahi died in 1954. The new emir reigned for only six short months. And so less than a year after we had gone as pupils of Kukah Primary School to witness the coronation of Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa at the Festival Stadium, we trouped back again to witness that of Alhaji Ado.

    Before he became emir he had been elected a member of the Northern House of Assembly in 1954, one of the youngest. He resigned in 1957, the year I entered Tudun Wada Junior Primary School, and became Wakilin Doka, head of the Native Authority Police. At that time, two of my uncles, one of whom is still alive, were in the police. That, plus the frequent visits he often paid to a neighbourhood in Sabon Gari where he had friends, gave us a distant occasional glimpse of the dashing young prince destined to become one of the longest reigning traditional rulers in the country.

    As the story is often told, his ascension couldn’t have been more fortuitous; he had merely returned home from his station in Senegal as Nigeria’s ambassador on a condolence visit over the death of Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa when he was reportedly told he had been chosen as the next emir.

    That ended his career as a diplomat and started one of the longest and most successful reigns of any traditional ruler in Nigeria. For, in the 51 odd years of his reign, Kano not only consolidated its status as the commercial capital of the North, it became the most cosmopolitan city in Nigeria, next to Lagos, the original capital of the country before the movement to Abuja. It could even be argued that under him Kano became even more cosmopolitan than Lagos because not even the country’s former political capital, and still its commercial capital, could boast of two civilian governors – Alhaji Sabo Bakin Zuwo, a Nupe, and Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, a Babur – and many more commissioners and senior public officers, who were first and second generation settlers in the city. Incidentally, Malam Ibrahim’s father, Shekarau, was a chief inspector in the NA police at the time Alhaji Ado became Wakilin Doka.

    Naturally, his reign was not without its moments of crises, the most serious of which was the mass killings of Igbos, which started in Kano and spread to other parts of the North in 1967, riots that eventually led to the country’s civil war which ended in 1970 after three years. It must have been a truly trying moment for the emir, some of whose closest friends were Igbos, most notably Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, then a brigade commander in the city.

    It took the uncommon courage of the emir, along with Colonel Muhammed Shuwa, who had led a group of officers, to confront the mutinous soldiers in the barracks to bring an end to the riots; initially the soldiers had refused to disarm after they had been rounded up from the township into the barracks and ordered by Shuwa to disarm. It is not hard to imagine the carnage that would have occurred if the soldiers had stuck to their guns.

    Again in 1981, a political confrontation with Governor Abubakar Rimi led to widespread riots as a result of which the governor restricted the traditional homage paid to the emir by his village and district heads for a long while. In 1984, the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari imposed a travel ban on him and his close friend and confidant, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, for travelling to Israel at a time Nigeria had no diplomatic relations with the country.

    More recently the emir had faced at least three assassination attempts, the most serious of which almost succeeded but for one of his body guards who took the bullets in his attempt to shield his master. This was in the January 13, 2013, attack on his convoy by elements suspected to be members of Boko Haram, of whom he had been highly critical.

    The emir faced all the crises stoically and survived all the assassination attempts to live to the grand old age of 83.

    As one of the most powerful and longest reigning traditional rulers in Nigeria, he served the country in various capacities, among which were as chancellor, first, of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and then of University of Ibadan.

    His death in the early hours of Friday June 6, came as a great shock to Nigerians, especially as he had just returned from a medical trip abroad and had held court shortly after to receive homage from his chiefs and well wishers. He has left behind a worthy legacy that will keep his name alive for a long, long time, if not for ever.

    May Allah forgive his mistakes, reward his exertions and grant him aljanna firdaus.

    And may his grand nephew, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who has succeeded him, live long enough and be guided by Allah to take the tumbin giwa to even greater heights as one of the most accommodating cities not only in Nigeria but in the world.

     

  • The Devil’s alternative

    The Devil’s alternative

    It is most apt today for this column to open with the timeless saying “Those who the gods want to destroy, they first make mad”. Otherwise, how would someone describe the unpalatable development that has been going on since the early hours of last Friday across the country? Last Friday, the Nigerian press came under a coordinated assault by security agents who had laid ambush for the daily newspapers on the highways and distribution centres. The assault bears all the trappings of the dark days of military dictatorship as soldiers claiming “orders from above”, intercepted, seized and, in some cases, destroyed newspapers on sight.

    According to reports, soldiers who laid ambush at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, confiscated copies of the The Punch, The Nation, Daily Trust and Leadership, while , in some cases, wrappers and cover pages of The Punch were damaged. In various statements issued after the early morning rampage, Leadership reported that soldiers intercepted and destroyed copies of the day’s publication at the Kaduna toll gate. The Nation too saw its vans ambushed in Abuja, Benin-Warri Road, Port Harcourt, Kaduna-Kano Road and Nasarawa-Jos Road. In Benin, Edo State, soldiers stormed the Nigerian Union of Journalists Press Centre to disrupt activities as they stopped vehicles, hunting for some national dailies. And this is still an ongoing thing.

    Giving excuse for this brazen travesty, Chris Olukolade, major-general and Director of Defence Information, DDI, attributed the ugly development to a “routine” security operation.  According to him, the military was acting on an “intelligence report” that “materials with grave security implications” were being moved across the country “using the channel of newsprint-related consignments”. And in spite of public outcry, the DDI has vowed that this uncivilized operation will continue until the Army is satisfied. Satisfied that the papers are ruined?

    The excuse given for this action appears not only hollow but very shallow as well. Assuming that, indeed, there was any intelligence information that incriminating materials were going to be concealed and transported by newspapers’ distribution vans across the country, the honourable thing, in my opinion, that could have been done would have been to get in touch with the managers of the newspapers and put them on notice. This, nobody did. Instead, they chose to enact a satanic plot to throw the newspapers, their distributors, vendors and advertisers into unnecessary pandemonium leading to loss of revenue. Of course, that was uncalled for, more so, as we have not been told that anything incriminating has been found. The whole exercise is suspect.

    By the nature of their job, journalists have remained faithful to the Nigerian people by sticking out their necks every day to hold government accountable to the more than 180 million descendants of Homo sapiens that, incidentally, form the largest concentration of the black race anywhere in the world. That, indeed, is the job of any journalist worth that name. Although, like any other profession, particularly in this part of the clime, there may be some bad eggs here and there, a greater majority exist who can stand their own anywhere in the world. Basically, the press exists to serve the people, not the government or any of its agents. That is why when government buries its rickety skeletons, it is the duty of the press to exhume them and showcase them as exhibits before the court of the people. It is regrettable, however, that right from independence, through all the period of military interregnums and civilian rule (or misrule), journalists have always had security agents bloodying their nose for having the audacity to uncover the many evils being perpetrated against the people.

    With all that have been going on in recent times in the country, what is happening now is symptomatic of the fact that, once more, the cycle of anomie is returning even in a worse dimension. Rather than face the “Axis of Evil” encapsulated by Sambissa forest and rescue our innocent young girls who have been turned into sex slaves, hewers of wood and fetchers of water, our security agents have adopted repression of the press as a deliberate policy to muscle opposition to their lethargy and misrule going on in the country at all levels. When the vocal and irrepressible journalist, Dele Giwa, was assassinated on October 26, 1986, almost 28 years ago, the nation was gripped with shock and disgust, especially because of the novel fiendishness of the device employed to silence him – the parcel bomb. That was the first clear indication that Nigeria would become a more violence-prone nation in the foreseeable future. That future is already here.

    From the inglorious, locust years of the late General Sani Abacha’s tyranny, when bombs literarily planted by his security goons exploded everywhere like Christmas bangers, to the present day, it is as if it has become an accepted norm to use bombs to settle political scores in the country. What this signposts, to borrow a line from one of the lyrics of Wyclef Jeanelle Jean, the Haitian-American hip hop artist, is that Nigeria “is in trouble, really big trouble”. But unlike Wyclef’s plaintive cry for someone to help him call 911, Nigerians have no one to call to rescue them from the brutal terror of state agents, who are always eager to go on the prowl to hunt real and imaginary enemies of the state. Consequently, the country has now been turned into one huge war zone without defined battlefronts. Whether in the North-east, North-west, North-central, South-west, South-south, South-east or what have you, crooks, miscreants and other agents of darkness, full of demonic intent, are reaching out to everybody – man or woman, young or old. Even innocent children usually insulated from such inhuman treatments by conventions are now vulnerable.

    It is as if our politicians do not appreciate the enormity of the problem confronting the nation today. The economy is still marooned in the dead zone, and unemployment among the young educated Nigerians has reached an intolerable crescendo. When this cheerless news is combined with the many social maladies afflicting the country, you end up with this sort of prevalent dangerous situation. A young, vibrant and significant segment of the population is feeling betrayed, ignored, abandoned and very angry indeed. And violent crimes, which we now witness, provide an outlet for them to ventilate their anger, make a statement or a living as the case may be. With a decrepit security forces whose structures creak in every joint, every day brings fresh reminder that, in this country, you are simply on your own in respect of security, just as in virtually every other thing. Nobody is safe anymore, not even high officials of government who are provided with all manners of security.

    It is no longer in contention that the military is in tatters, no thanks to the many years of military dictatorship and the rapacious corruption that came with that era and subsists till date. The depth and breadth of the rot has been amply demonstrated by its lacklustre performance so far in the war on terror and terrorists now threatening to overrun the country or at least a section of it. Nigerians are scandalised by the shallowness and cowardice of most of the officers and their amazing capacity for fibbing. Nothing explains this more than a recent submission by Mark Welsh III, a United States general and US Air Force Chief of staff, who said that the Nigerian military is becoming afraid of engaging the Boko Haram insurgents. He said this while testifying before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to him, “We’re now looking at a military force that is, quite frankly, becoming afraid to even engage”.

    The stage seems set for the total subjugation and emasculation of the press. But come to think of it, I don’t really know what now remains of the once great country that used to be called “the Giant in the Sun”! Everything has been turned upside down and inside out, and now the iron boots are getting prepared to march on our collective psyche. As this is going on, the blunders and plunders continue unabated while the hope of a glorious dawn continues to dim like a receding star.

  • Joseph Mbu again!

    Joseph Mbu again!

    A lot of Nigerians only became aware of the name, Joseph Mbu when the man operated as the parallel governor of River State.  But before he got the pink slip and was forced out of Prot Harcourt, brother Mbu was a Deputy Commissioner in Anambra State, I think, at the time when the then governor, Chris Ngige was bundled into the boot of a very small car, whisked off, and was locked away for a moment or two in an audacious Igbo-made coup.  A few years later, Mbu reared his head as Police Commissioner in Oyo State.  There, he led the team that sacked the palace of one Ashipa in a most humiliating manner.  Mbu claimed that he was enforcing a court order in the Alaafin versus Ashipa faceoff.  The Ashipa lost.  To this day, the Ashipa chap has not fully recovered.

    So, no, Mbu did not turn up in River State with the kind of CV that would make any state executive overjoyed.  Shortly after he arrived Port Harcourt, and without any prompting, Mbu forcefully declared that he would not be pocketed.  That was the first signal that the man was sent to Port Harcourt to do a hatchet job.  And it didn’t take too long at all before the script unfolded, with our ubiquitous First Lady casting herself – not for the first time – in the Director’s role.  The rest is unpalatable history.

    But before Commissioner Mbu departed River State, Governor Rotimi Amaechi lost the rest of his hair.  Mbu also ensured that the House of Assembly became an arena for inelegant kerfuffle – with broken heads and broken egos thrown in for good measure.  He made sure that state legislators with distended bellies laid prostrate on a well swept road at least a couple of times.  And his final act was to set free the thugs that were used for these and other nefarious enterprise.

    So when a couple of weeks or so ago organised thugs surfaced at Unity Square in Abuja wearing t-shirts that proclaimed “Release our Girls” and then proceeded to smash up the chairs and other logistics of legitimate peaceful protesters, with plenty of police officers at hand, grinning from ear to ear, everyone looked in the direction of the Police Commissioner.  You just knew that if there was going to be unpleasantness introduced into the whole colourful, dignified, and peaceful protest in Abuja on behalf of the missing Chibok school girls, it was going to come via Joseph Mbu.

    That is what the man does.  He appears to know no convivial or positive way to carry out his duties.  For him, it’s all about malfeasance, repression and heavy-handedness.  After the all too convenient introduction of a rival protest group of hardened thugs, Mbu declared that dangerous elements were about to hijack the protest.  Then he proclaimed, “Protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect.  As the FCT police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness.”  In banning the ‘bring back our girls’ heart-warming protests, he said, “People have been protesting over a month now…when you continue to do it persistently, it becomes a nuisance to the government.

    Maybe we should just tell him: Over 200 innocent school girls abducted by criminals for more than 50 days with no end in sight is more than a nuisance and is far more embarrassing to the government.  Wild-eyed male thugs intimidating mainly female peaceful protesters and smashing up their chairs and equipment while the police look on with gleeful eyes in the presence of the international media is a damn sight more embarrassing for the government.

    Naturally, the organisers of the protests headed to court and, thank heavens, saner voices prevailed and Mbu’s ill-advised ban was rescinded.  I don’t know why some people insist in portraying Nigeria as a jungle, as an uncaring space.  And I don’t know why or how Jonathan has somehow mastered the art of stealing defeat from every situation.

    The other time, when things got too tight for Joseph Mbu, after he’d realised that he had been used and was about to be dumped, he rushed off to the press and plonked down for some sophomoric and weepy salutation ads to congratulate his boss, the Inspector General of Police for being on the job for two years.  Following the reversal of his haughty ‘bring back our girls’ protest ban, and realisation that he might be sidelined again, God only knows to what Mbu might resort to starve off another possible shuffle down the road.  It won’t surprise me if the IGP comes home one day to find Royal Fathers from his place waiting for him in his sitting room with their game faces on – that is after he might have driven past two brand new, half nourished cows (advert space don’t come cheap) tied down in his front yard.

    As Police Commissioner, Mbu ought to concentrate his effort at this time to providing effective security for Abuja rather than consolidating his reputation as government ‘go to’ guy when there’s a dirty job to be done.

    In the meantime, if I were Bala Mohammed, the FCT Minister, I will start a rigorous regime of fasting and prayer, preferably on Fridays, until Mbu packs his bags and muskets and hits the road again.

     

    • Egbejumi-David writes from Lagos

     

  • Why Ekiti 2014 is important to Nigeria 2015

    Why Ekiti 2014 is important to Nigeria 2015

    Regular readers of this column may recall that several months ago I announced that reactions to this column should be no more than 300 words to have any chance of getting published in the column. I am sorry I am breaking the rule so soon, but I believe the significance of credible elections in Ekiti and Osun raised by the author and the clarity of his thinking justifies breaking the rule. I should, however, declare that the author, Chief Emenike, a veteran journalist, publisher and politician, is also a close friend.

    Next week, God willing, I will publish some of the other reactions to my article.       By Ikechi Emenike

    Ace columnist Mohammed Haruna’s piece on Governor Kayode Fayemi’s chances at this month’s polls in Ekiti State provokes a closer look at the man’s inner motivation for seeking another shot at the Government House. How does Dr Fayemi view the essence of his mandate? What does it mean to serve the people?

    Anyone in doubt about the meaning of “service to the people” should visit Ekiti State and engage any of the 25,000 beneficiaries of the social security scheme for the elderly. Every month, each senior citizen (over 65 years old) of this small South-western state receives a stipend of N5,000 from the state coffers to help cope with the ravages of old age.

    Token though it may appear, the stipend is a life-saver for many senior citizens cut off from the state-run pension scheme, having not been on the public sector’s payroll in their more productive years. They all have Dr Kayode Fayemi, who only received the keys to the governor’s office less than four years ago after a protracted, bitter fight to reclaim a stolen mandate, to thank. The social security scheme is only one of Fayemi’s practical demonstrations that governance is about touching people’s lives. “Remove service to the people from my mandate and I would humbly tell you that I have no business in politics” is one of his insightful statements.

    Now the man who eminent academic, Prof. Akin Oyebode, says has done virtually all he promised before the last election is asking for another term, to ring-fence, as it were, his people-driven programmes and make them the norm in Ekiti State. Any visitor to Ekiti today would attest that the people are eager to, with their votes, demand for four more years of Fayemi. The billion naira question, however, is: will Nigeria’s now thoroughly discredited electoral system redeem itself and allow the people’s will to prevail? I shall return to this vexed question shortly.

    A practised strategist, Fayemi has approached the House of Assembly to back up the social security scheme by ‘locking in’ the benefits for the people by law, much like the UK’s National Welfare Scheme which has remained untouchable since 1945 in spite of numerous efforts to scale it back or scrap it outright.

    He is a campaigner for the sustainability of sound projects. His administration has assiduously worked to clear the backlog of projects it met and in so doing, completed many road projects that were only 20 per cent done when Fayemi took the reins of power. He would be the first in the state’s 18 years of existence to treat government and governance as a continuum. “Government projects”, he says, “shouldn’t be considered personal projects”, which many an egotistical leader believe they are.

    Dr Fayemi’s solid record as a civil society activist and board member of such organisations as the Open Society, Justice Society and Baobab for Women’s Rights would not permit him to be less alive to the people’s cause. The scholar in him blended with the street activist in the troubled days of the Abacha dictatorship. Fighting on the side of the people, Dr Fayemi was instrumental to the success of the opposition’s soft weapons of communication, such as Radio Freedom/Radio Kudirat that exposed the junta for the callous power usurper that it was. His encounter with such pan-Africanist leaders as Ethiopia’s the late Meles Zenawi impressed in him the moral imperative of leadership of service and people-driven development agenda.

    When Dr Fayemi prioritised the upgrading of infrastructure, education, agriculture, gender sensitivity, the social sector and governance in his eight-point agenda for Ekiti’s development, he was merely building pro-people policies like his mentors did, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo included. He is on record as the first governor to endorse the Freedom of Information Bill and the first to publicly declare his assets alongside his late deputy. All these he did while maintaining an open-door policy, meeting the people on their turfs and welcoming dissenting voices with his now familiar gap-toothed smile.

    Will the people of Ekiti remember Dr Fayemi come June 21 when they return to the polls?

    Methinks they will, just as they have imprinted in their minds, the N5,000 stipend for elders; the N10,000 allowance for the 5,000-strong Ekiti Volunteer Corps members; the Samsung Centre established to promote ICT in the state; the enhanced pay/allowances for teachers in rural areas and how this has helped to lift the state’s school certificate success rate from 22 to 70 per cent; the YCAD programme that engages some 20,000 youths in viable commercial farming…The list is endless. Even his main rivals agree that he has performed, just as they shamelessly think up other means to ensure the people’s will does not prevail.  One says that whatever Fayemi has achieved would not count in the elections, proclaiming that “we must remove him”.  He is relying on thuggery and rigging.   Another simply snapped: “So what?” But that one’s ship is sinking.

    Try as they may, it is hard to see how the people of the Land of Honour will not queue behind a man who has been so faithful to his promises, come June 21.  While Fayemi speaks of and works towards a future of transparency, good governance and prosperity, Ayo Fayose evokes retrogression, a fall-back to the bad old days of brigandagethe intelligent citizens of Ekiti would rather forget. In a sense, Ekiti 2014 may indeed turn out to be a contest between the past and the future.

    Regrettably, in these climes things are not as straight-forward as they should be. I now return to the question of the fairness of our electoral umpire.

    Last week, in devoting his popular column to the forthcoming Ekiti general election, Haruna posited that given his antecedent, Governor John Kayode Fayemi should ordinarily secure his second term quite easily.   Like earlier commentators, the veteran journalist is worried about the role of INEC. He joined several other previous commentators to urge INEC to use electronic card reader for the election both in Ekiti this June and Osun in August. None of the parties is objecting (at least publicly) to the use of this device that is meant to weed out ghost voters and ensure transparency and fairness in the elections. The commission stands to lose nothing if it bends to this consensual demand.  To say the least, INEC’s silence on this popular clamour is very worrisome.

    INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega needs the Ekiti and Osun elections more than he is willing to admit. He came to office with so much goodwill following the woeful performance of his predecessor, Prof. Maurice Iwu.  Four years into his tenure, he has virtually dissipated that goodwill on the platter of shoddy performance.  He wobbled during the 2011 general elections, fumbled with the Ondo general elections and failed in the Anambra polls.  At each turn, he presents bags of excuses even as he promises to umpire a better 2015 general elections.  But any discerning observer would note that Jega’s voice is no longer as firm as it once was.

    Fortunately, Ekiti provides a unique opportunity to begin a sorely needed redemption.  If the electronic card-reader, as all stakeholders demand will assist INEC, prudence demands that it should be adopted.

    It is also important for the INEC chairman to put aside his three-piece designer gowns for a workman’s gear and personally deliver on Ekiti.  That is called leadership by example. His mere presence would check some of his recalcitrant and venal officers and place him smack at the centre of the action.   Since 1999, INEC has been unable to deal with recurring complaints about shoddy distribution of electoral materials. The worst case was in the recent Anambra governorship election where materials meant for some local governments simply developed wings.

    Jega would be well-served to lead a team of his top 16 commissioners to Ekiti and assign to each a local government for the purpose of distributing materials while the chairman himself takes charge of the central distribution centre in Ado-Ekiti and does the hand-over to the electoral commissioners personally and publicly, starting from 6am prompt. The process of distributing these materials should be broadcast live to enhance the credibility of the process and secure authentic real-time documentation of events, which may aid future forensic analyses. That done, electoral officers across the country and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s election processes will watch and learn from the boss how sensitive electoral materials are to be handled.  Well executed, Ekiti 2014 will cause Nigerians to be less cynical about the conduct of the 2015 general elections.

     

  • ‘Our Girls’ ‘Mubi; Psychologists and terrorists; Political gifts; Federal might Vs State right

    ‘Our Girls’ ‘Mubi; Psychologists and terrorists; Political gifts; Federal might Vs State right

    Our Girls’ kidnapped in Chibok are still missing in action since April 15. The media reports show that there is far too much political hot air and malicious accusations across politics since the kidnap. All this political manoeuvring could be curtailed and concentrated towards ensuring the safe release of ‘Our Girls’. In spite of their abhorrence of ‘western education’ be sure that Boko Haram is reading the Nigerian press and must be laughing to their stomachs in the Sambisa Forest. The evil ones must be very happy with the altercation between the political parties. This is exactly what Boko Haram want –to fragment the polity. Just this last Sunday there was another bombing of a football viewing centre in Mubi, Adamawa claiming between 18 and 40 lives. The Nigerian public is sickened by the pettiness of cheap political gimmicks surrounding Boko Haram’s horrific activities. Certainly the terrible ‘Our Girls’ issue is a security and political issue. But more importantly, it is also a traumatic personal issue to all Nigerian families especially the parents. They will be daily disgusted by the disgraceful political bickering displayed in the media. We are ashamed and are shamed as a nation by these outbursts which must be stopped. This is the time for unity, one voice and one motive –to get ‘Our Girls’ back.

    The psychologists when they are employed in the military will tell us about the psychopathic and megalomaniacal profiles of the Boko Haram leadership and the meek and fearful or blackmailed or paid follower-ship willing to put on armed vest and blow themselves up for religious fanaticism or hatred of other people, their religion and even their tribe. Most fanatics you cannot change. They have to be dealt with, confronted and defeated militarily, socially and politically. Can they be negotiated with?

    Many Nigerians would really like to see any negotiation with someone who wants females to be treated like dirt, wants a ban on western education and has planned and executed the strategies which resulted in hundreds being blown up, shot and kidnapped. There are of course many other Boko Haram idle ‘follow-follow’, rent a crowd hangers-on with no ideology who will need reorientation, re-education. Our psychologists must plan and speak out now to prevent a bloody tomorrow from our youth by reducing the youth becoming terrorists and potential Boko Haram members tomorrow. How do we today take actions to reverse the train of events which creates a Boko haram person in the future? Current assessment results in the belief that Boko Haram is the result of a complex evil mix of place, lack of opportunity, background, political thugs declaring their independence of political masters, political failures, religious bigotry, western education failures, the Libyan war and weapons spilling into the Sahara and Sub-Sahara and the ready receptacle of social insignificance and political incompetence at LGA and State level where the millions meant for development, especially of the youth, are stolen every single month.

    Every effort must be made to make today’s’ path of youth development smooth so that they will not be attracted by the rumoured $3000 per recruit, or intimidation to join Boko Haram et cetera. He who steals from children and the youth should be fearful of God’s pronounced judgement.  Good full rounded education including exposure to good books, role models and sports equipment must be in every school.

    The huge wage bill of political officeholders allows them to ‘give away’ generators and sewing machines and scholarships. Is this not government money? All that should stop; the money trail cut and re-routed through normal government channels. Name one country where the political office holders dish out such items. They are not dividends of democracy but demonic demonstrations of a misguided democratic experiment high-jacked for personal financial gain. Does Obama’s wife dish out free bags of potatoes? For every bag of rice, generator, exercise book, motorcycle the political donor keeps much more back. It must be stopped.

    The federal government has created a new group to man the federal highways particularly in Lagos. Is this another effort by federal to undermine Lagos?  The question is ‘when will the federal government see itself as servant and guardian of all and work complimentary to the efforts of each state in helping the citizens to survive? The federal government should not destroy selected states because they are not from the ruling party. Young men in a brand new uniform will not add value to the traffic in Lagos. They may just harass citizens. What the federal government can cunningly do to win the hearts and minds of the citizens is to repair, replace and pay contractors to do those decayed roads so boastfully called federal roads.

    It is sad that the true federalism of our founding fathers, a ‘true partnership between federal and state’ appears to be totally lost by the arrogant, selfish post-militarised federalists of today. Abuja federalism is the problem with Nigeria. Has the Non Sovereign National Conference 2014 lost the battle with the false federalist elite on true federalism? Instead of supporting states, federalists often usurp states actions. The politically greedy federal ‘anti-state’  stand on the budget, waterways, federal highways and mining in states must be countered if Nigeria is to survive as a happy, not master-servant, country. Enough of the unpopular boxing match ‘Federal Might Vs State Right to life!’ let us all run side by side.

  • The cyber frontier in crime

    The cyber frontier in crime

    The advent of mobile phones in the early 2000 brought great relief to Nigerians. However, the revolution in communication also brought with it some pains as some unscrupulous Nigerians quickly cashed in to peddle their nefarious trade – fraud. This was followed by the e-mail, a communication system that has now relegated the old system of posting letters to the background. E-mail is faster; with the speed of electrical current you get your message across and also receive a response within minutes or even seconds. But, as it is, it is as if the more the growth recorded through technological advancement, the more sophisticated the criminals around becomes. Hardly will a day pass without you receiving five, 10 or more scam messages on your Blackberry phone, all designed to make you fall a “Mugu”, the underworld term for foolishness.

    On December 19, 2013, I had my first raw deal with these crooks. I was in my house in Lagos sleeping when, at about 1:30am, I opened my eyes and saw my blackberry beeping. I quickly reached out to it. What I saw jolted me. My bank in America had sent me a mail to the effect that there was an “unusual activity” on my small account. Apparently, some smart alecs had cloned my Debit Card and were on a spending spree that night in far away New York city. I quickly called their information desk, which immediately put a lien on the account. Though the bank promptly did a refund and changed my card within a week, I am sure the whole thing originated from Nigeria and I seriously suspect someone who is very close to me as the brain behind the scam.

    That was not all. Five months later, precisely on May 1, the crooks were at it again. This time, my e-mail account was hacked. This was purely a criminal act aimed at extorting money from people on my contact list, a commonplace occurrence in today’s digital world. Ordinary criminals with advanced to minimal computer know-how and time to spare can, in the comfort of their homes, rake in millions of other people’s hard earned money with the use of a simple computer and an internet connection. It is a reality of our world today.

    In this case, a generic message was sent to everyone on my contact list, explaining that I was stranded in Rome with financial difficulties that a thoughtful loan of 950 Euros can fix, if the recipient would only be so kind. These messages went out at around 2.00am while I was fast asleep, with no difficulty, at my home in Lagos, Nigeria. The following morning, I was woken up by endless calls from friends who had received the message, much to my surprise. Little did I know that more surprises awaited me from the cunning cyber-criminals.

    Promptly, the password was changed and the security questions reset, but it did not end there. Incoming mails had been cunningly re-routed to another email address set up solely for the purpose of this particular attack on my privacy, as I found out. My e-mail account is “dagekameh@yahoo.com” but mails had been set to be forwarded to “dagekarneh@yahoo.com” without even being retained by the original account. Attempts at signing into the compromised account proved abortive and may not have been possible but for the measures put in by Yahoo in such cases. It took answering security questions that were set back in 2009 to prove to the Yahoo mail service that the account was indeed mine, because it had been completely taken over by the criminals.

    It literally took hours to purge my account of the attackers’ imprint, and measures are still being taken to ensure that nothing else has been compromised. A large amount of mails in my inbox were lost however. It later became clear that this was the modus operandi of these cyber criminals who operate from multiple locations around the world and have syndicates spread across continents. The account activity log showed that the breach originated in Netherlands and the operation somehow shifted to South Africa in a matter of minutes where the larger part of it took place. For these people, it is obviously a full-time job considering the kind of delicate, victim-specific operations they carry out.

    Although Nigeria will make many lists of countries where most cyber frauds originate, there are worse countries on those lists like Egypt, Ukraine, Malaysia and even the United States (U.S.). It is a global phenomenon. The credit card rings are serious, and every financial institution in the world is a potential target. This, however, is a tip of the iceberg of cybercrimes, cyber-terrorism, espionage and cyber-conflicts in the modern world. Like in the physical world, where clandestine activities are not only carried out by criminals looking for ill-gotten proceeds, governments all over the world and other players are also involved in some of these activities on the internet.

    Indeed, modern warfare has expanded into cyberspace. A big example is the group known as the “Shanghai Group”, which is said to be an arm of the Chinese military that has targeted U.S trade and critical infrastructure, collecting data discreetly through electronic means. U.S gas pipelines access, its power grid and companies like Coca-Cola have been reported to have been victims of this group. The U.S itself has been involved in Cyber-warfare. In collaboration with Israel in 2010, it developed a malicious software called “Stuxnet” and launched an attack on Iran’s Uranium enrichment program. In 2013, the U.S also joined a cyber-terrorism group called “Anonymous”, in league with South Korea, to attack “critical websites” in North Korea, including the state-owned network station.

    As cyber-criminals and terrorists are on the increase, countries around the world too are raising cyber-warriors to protect themselves and, it must be said, attack others. Even in the midst of this international cyber-warfare, there are yet groups of hackers whose scope of activities cannot be determined but have attained global fame for their successful activities against all levels of organisations and governments. An outstanding example is the Chaos Computer Club in western Germany that hacked into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) network in the United States and remained undetected for three months. Its “Trojan Horse”, which is a malicious computer programme, was able to access over 135 computers across Europe. It is currently acting as a kind of non-governmental organization. In February, it filed a criminal complaint against the German government, accusing it of complicity with the U.S National Security Agency and British intelligence in spying on German citizens. The group also requested Edward Snowden, now famous (or infamous) U.S whistleblower, to be allowed a safe passage as a witness.

    In a world where countries now sponsor “Trojan Horses” and collect confidential information secretly, in addition to the activities of criminals looking to make a quick buck and non-state players like “Wiki-leaks”, one only wonders where African countries are positioned on this new frontier. Currently, Nigeria still imports 90% of software used in the country and the 100 plus IT companies in Nigeria mainly engage in integration, maintenance and customisation services for commercial packaged software for public institutions, banks, and energy and telecom companies. No recognizable government’s interest in developing an airtight cyber-security unit to protect government information and the privacy of citizens. Where are our cyber warriors?

    Nigerians who have picked up expertise and show promise in cyber security are picked up easily by foreign countries or have joined the criminals that have ensured inclusion of Nigeria on the least of countries with the most computer fraud cases. In saner climes, these individuals would be found, rehabilitated and drafted into the government efforts, where they exist, to protect the information of its citizens. On the new frontier of cybercrimes and terrorism, it appears that information is the currency, weapon and the target, and as such, its protection becomes the only concern. Now that banks, mobile communications companies and the government have stepped up efforts to collect information on users and citizens, the question is: Have they stepped up efforts to protect this data?

  • A protest and its politics

    A protest and its politics

    Imagine if there were no relentless #BringBackOurGirls protests, the unfortunate 276 Chibok schoolgirls whose story has captivated the world would have long been forgotten – another statistic in an brutal insurgency which government informs us has claimed 12,000 Nigerian lives.

    Imagine if the hashtag activists and the local and foreign media had not stayed on this case, the Chibok girls would have disappeared from the radar of national discourse to be replaced by politicians jostling for 2015 ascendancy.

    Who, for instance, remembers that a few months ago 19 job-seeking youths perished after a badly-bungled Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise? One or two weeksof outrage and a country used to Boko Haram killing hundreds for fun, quickly returned to business as usual.

    In some other land someone would have taken responsibility for the scandalous exercise and done the decent thing by resigning. In April, South Korea’s Prime Minister, Chung Hong-won, quit over the ferry tragedy in which over 180 died. He offered his resignation over criticism of the government’s handling of the sinking of a passenger ferry.

    Announcing his departure, Chung said the “cries of the families of those missing still keep me up at night”. The right thing for me to do is to take responsibility and resign as a person who is in charge of the cabinet.”

    Both President Goodluck Jonathan and his Minister for Interior, Abba Moro, consider it a light thing that 19 Nigerians are killed by the acts of omission and commission of government officials. That is why no one has been called to account.

    All over the world whenever a politician or government is caught up in some damaging scandal or controversy, their desire is that the issue quickly disappears or that the media would lose interest. Sometimes they get their wish as something more newsworthy breaks and the media moves on.

    But it doesn’t always work that way. Occasionally the public is transfixed by an issue and once the press sinks in its teeth it doesn’t let go easily. When that happens, those on the receiving end quickly resort to blaming imaginary enemies for their errors of judgment.

    The Chibok schoolgirls saga is one such matter that is not going to disappear from the front pages irrespective of what the president, his party or the military think of the #BringBackOurGirls protests and those they imagine are driving it.

    Nothing will please the president and his party men more than if the protesters disappeared from Abuja parks where they have been keeping the plight of the girls alive in the world’s consciousness. Their persistence is so un-Nigerian given that we are a people blessed with conveniently short memory. We hardly fight for anything – especially if the process would cause us pain.

    That is why a succession of rulers who understood our psyche never took our “uprisings” over petrol price hikes and sundry matters seriously. They always took the cynical position that in a mere three days people would run out of steam. As hunger pangs begin to bite the ranks of the would-be “revolutionaries” will start to crack. In these instances mass poverty in the land became a tool in the hands of the rulers.

    Now that the hashtag activists have refused to stop making government uncomfortable with their protests, the tried and tested Abuja formula is to use thugs ostensibly exercising their own right to protest to muscle out the original demonstrators. That was essentially what played out last week when a bunch of clowns parroting the narrative of the government set upon #BringBackOurGirls protesters.

    After Oby Ezekwesili’s group decided to march on Aso Villa with the campaign to free the girls, President Jonathan headed off a potentially awkward confrontation by sending his Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a couple of others to tell the protesters that they had better address their demands to Boko Haram.

    It was also not surprising to find Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alexander Badeh, addressing very supportive “protesters” last week. The very friendly bunch he spoke with bore banners singing praises of the military and denouncing its critics. It all lines up perfectly with the narrative emanating from Defence Headquarters which views every unflattering portrayal of its handling of the war in the North East as part of some dark conspiracy.

    To top it off, everyone from the president to very senior figures within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have reverted to the old line that the insurgency was not only manufactured by the opposition, the undying global #BringBackOurGirls campaign was another sinister maneuver by the ever resourceful All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Information Minister, Labaran Maku and Senator Ita Ennang have suggested, incorrectly and mischievously, that the protests have been led largely by members of APC. They also claim that they only happen in states controlled by the opposition!

    The other day I noticed Mrs. Maryam Uwais, wife of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, speaking for the campaigners. That clearly means she’s picked up an APC membership card unbeknownst to many! There are lots of decent Nigerians backing these protests and they should feel offended by this attempt by desperate Abuja politicians to dismiss their genuine concern for these innocent children who are in their second month of captivity.

    In any event, being a member of the APC does not strip a Nigerian of his constitutional right to protest. Since the ruling party insists on pushing this ludicrous line, I would suggest they start their own global #Boko HaramReturnOurGirls campaign. That will put APC in its place, give Jonathan a good night’s sleep and make Abubakar Shekau drive back to Chibok to deliver the girls posthaste!

    First Lady, Patience Jonathan, obviously ventilating what the thinking in the corridors of Aso Villa was, famously set the tone when in the early days of the protests she warned demonstrators to “keep it in Borno State.” Unfortunately for those who would like the protesters to disappear even when the Chibok girls have not returned, the dog has long bolted from the kernel.

    This thing can no longer be contained by the usual crude strong arm tactics or by demonising the opposition. The powerful human story of these girls still trapped in the grip of an unstable terrorist has become an international cause célèbre. The only thing that will end the protests is the safe return of the girls. Those who say we should direct our protests to Boko Haram just don’t get it.

    As terrorists the group has done its ugly bit by snatching the girls. It is the responsibility of the government to protect Nigerians and to bring the girls. The buck stops at their table and it is to them that our demands will continue to flow. The direction of the calls for action can only be reversed once the government says it has ceded its constitutional responsibility to the sect.

    License to torture

    It’s been a long time since I looked with such anticipation to getting my picture taken. In the age of the selfie you would think that a snap or two would be no big deal. But this was no ordinary photograph. I was rushing to a Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) office on Lagos Island to get my visage “captured” as part of the final phase of the long process of renewing my driver’s license.

    I had heard horror tales from many who had managed to snag the new license, but nothing prepared me for the sight that greeted me that wet morning. My heart sank as I entered a hall where a tense crowd of between 200 and 300 persons was anxiously waiting for proceedings to take off. Helpfully, the official directing affairs assured that some of us might be there till 8.00 pm!

    As the process chugged along slowly, I tried to make sense of the seemingly chaotic comings and goings – convinced there had to be method to what was unfolding before our collective eyes. Predictably, it didn’t take long for frustrations to boil over.

    The longwinded official was having a hard time controlling a bunch of obdurate Nigerians who wanted to be served immediately. But even the more amenable were getting irritable because they had been coming and going, and today did not look like it was going to end well.

    At some point, a bunch of us were asked to return later in the afternoon. I dashed across town only to return to be confronted with a crowd that had only marginally shrunk. By this time some were already cursing a country where nothing works – wondering why they had to spend days just to get a picture taken.

    When it was 4.00 pm a group of us were informed that it was in our best interest to return the following Monday. Shoulders drooping we trooped out dreading the prospect of another day going through the same process.

    There is something dreadfully wrong with the way the driver’s license is currently being processed. It is crying for urgent reform. Whatever it was designed to achieve, it is also resulting Nigerians being treated in way that is akin to torture. Valuable man hours are being wasted on the process and it doesn’t have to be so: except if we are being told that making the process cumbersome is an end in itself. FRSC help!

    Rebasing revisited

    I am one of those who took a positive view of the rebasing of our GDP – an exercise that saw Nigeria overtaking South Africa as the continent’s largest economy. That said I refuse to get carried away and join those who now think we are a rich country because a handful of individuals own private jets.
    Perspectives like this one by British Member of Parliament, John Redwood, might help. In a blog not too long ago, he said: “We have recently learned that following a recalculation of GDP for Nigeria, it emerged last year as Africa’s largest economy with a GDP of $509 billion. It overtook South Africa in terms of total output, but still remains a long way behind in per capita income given the much greater population in Nigeria.
    “What should give us pause for thought is how small this output still is for a country of 170 million people. It means Nigeria’s output is still lower than London’s, with just 8 million people. It should put our criticisms of the UK economy into context, and reminds us how much more there is to do to tackle poverty in other parts of the world.”

  • ‘Our Girls’; late Dr Iwatt of ASUU and UNICAL- catch killers; Learn from India’s Politics

    ‘Our Girls’; late Dr Iwatt of ASUU and UNICAL- catch killers; Learn from India’s Politics

    Perhaps houses built with ill-gotten loot and seized from kidnappers in Anambra, Lagos and elsewhere should not be destroyed as punishment but made into ‘Government Houses’ to be used as maternity homes, orphanages, hostels or even given to victims or sold outright and the funds used to repay those families of victims for the money extorted under duress. Nigeria has a housing deficit of 17million houses. Two wrongs do not make a right.

    ‘Our Girls’ are still being searched for in the Sambisa Forest. Since April 15, more than 600 people have been killed by Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and increasing political violence and campus attacks. We have millions of refugees and thousands suffering the collateral damage of the bombs of war including damage to eyes and ears like ruptured eardrums. Then add psychological problems like loss of a relative, fear, sleeplessness, insecurity, hypersensitivity to noise and darkness and abnormal response to sight of blood.

    The 22 year old British student Elliot Rogers’ killing of six people in the USA highlights the need for parents to take more interest in their children’s activities. He was reported by the family to the police who gave the all clear. He was able to acquire four weapons for a killing spree. What is the relevance to Nigeria? Remember Murtalab, the underpants bomber, was also reported by his family to police. In addition we have many students who are armed members of secret campus cults which regularly cause violence, including the broad daylight killing of Dr Godwin Iwatt, a lecturer in Microbiology, University of Calabar (UNICAL). A researched ‘ASUU National Annual Campus Violence Register’ would make grim reading and probably outdo ‘Campus Casualties’ or ‘Campus killings’ worldwide combined.  Are such killings ever solved? Many years ago in University of Ilorin, a lecturer was murdered in his house. I met his son some years later. Was there support from ASUU? How much is the ‘ASUU Violence Support Grant’ to victims and their families? There have been how many victims since then. In America even though they have the murderer in the mortuary, the investigation is on-going at each of the points he fired at people, a total 12 crime scenes in all, cordoned off for forensics. In Nigeria do we even have cordoning-off tape? That would be a big contract! What is the level of CID/Forensics in Calabar? Was Dr Iwatt’s office cordoned off for forensics or just cleared of his blood for the next potential victim to take his place?

    Perhaps there is shortage of lecturer’s rooms in UNICAL and ‘anyway –e don die, so wetin again?’ Dr Iwatt was upright and UNICAL’s University Examiner. Was he killed for those reasons? ASUU local and nationwide should nosily repeatedly and consistently demand the solution to this ASUU murder or it will be open season on ASUU lecturers nationwide. ASUU does not apply enough strike and encourage enough press coverage to guarantee the safety and security of its membership. ASUU needs new departments concentrating on and articulating progressive ideas on several areas including the ‘Comparative Safety of ASUU members by Campus’’, ‘Comparative Research Grants at home and abroad’, ‘Comparative Quality of Education Review’ etc.  ASUU should go to the press for the assault and murder of its members. Killing of teachers is not ‘Ok’ whether they are in university or in secondary school or the 167 teachers murdered so far by Boko Haram. In UNICAL, the focal population is small, university administration computers are available with photos and other vital data on all students who could be immediately and remotely involved for a photo-parade to identify the murderers. He had been attacked repeatedly. Will our police interview all the students, isolate 50 suspects for lie detector tests and ‘whereabouts on the day of the attacks and the murder’ alibi checks? All university security services should have credible information from informants and embedded moles on most cult members. ‘Show me your friends…. ’.  Each suspected student should independently write down his top 10 friends and movements during the previous 10 days and by elimination and cross-checking alibis, the culprits will stand out.  It will take police-work. Cults are not new but that does not mean that they cannot be overcome. Investigating police must also remember that cults often invite ‘foreign cult members’, mercenaries, to act on their campus.  Every year the list of the wrongful dead grows on campuses worldwide and especially in Nigeria. Their murderers go on to graduate, do NYSC and take their place in the country’s government and university system. Simple statistical averages will tell us that, over the 40 years of mutant cultism in universities, some lecturers, professors and even VCs with murky pasts must have maimed and even killed in the past. Simple statistics show that some politicians now sitting in high political office and pontificating had to be associated with thugs and organisers of political mayhem. People like Daramola, Funso Williams, Uncle Bola Ige and a thousand others ‘dead from politics’ did not murder themselves. There is probably blood, direct and indirect, on many representative and senatorial hands.

    The Indian elections are yet another lesson for our politicians, INEC and citizens in planning for and playing the political game, election campaigning and voting. In spite of the numbers it was noted for the lack of political violence. Contrast this with Eastern Ukraine massive violence and obstruction from ‘Pro-Russians’.