The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Fayose: Backing the wrong horse

    Fayose: Backing the wrong horse

    A first encountered Ayo Fayose quite a few years ago through a mutual restaurateur friend in South London.  I think the man was known as Oluwayose back then, and I think he worked mostly as a cab driver around town.  But even then, there was a certain energy, a certain swagger about the chap.  He was ambitious and talked big.  Sort of reminded me of 50 Cents: Get rich or die trying.  The next I heard of Fayose, he has turned up as Governor of Ekiti State – home of PhD holders.

    But things quickly went south for Fayose in Ekiti.  He and the PhDs didn’t quite see eye to eye.  He was also accused of being rude and uncouth, a no-no in a place like Ekiti.  There quickly followed ugly rumours about mindless corruption and the existence of a killer squad.

    Things began falling apart in 2005 when Obasanjo arrived in Afao, Ekiti to commission a poultry farm.  Obasanjo’s moustache twitched indelicately; the former President, a successful farmer, complained that he couldn’t smell the usual fragrance peculiar to poultry farms the world over.  Turned out Fayose was pulling a fast one.  Just the day before, Fayose had hurriedly put up a few chicken cages.  Then he placed some chikens he had hired from a farm in Ibadan in those cages.  Obasanjo, not known for being overly subtle, promptly yelled out that Fayose should check himself and fear God.  He also advised Fayose to leave the poultry business entirely to private firms and individuals.

    Shortly after that, Fayose’s friend, one Gbenja James, and a former aide, Goke Olatunji were arrested.  They were nabbed for their involvement in what was known as the Ekiti State Integrated Poultry Scheme for which over N1.4 billion had been expended.

    That was just one case of blatant corruption, but that poultry scam was nothing compared to the fraud Fayose allegedly pulled off in Ekiti with local government funds.  Despite Obasanjo’s initial reticence, Fayose and his Deputy were impeached and got kicked out of office in 2006.  EFCC corruption charges are still hanging over Fayose like the Sword of Damocles.

    It is incredible therefore that it is this same Fayose that has now been resurrected, dusted off and chosen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be their candidate in the upcoming Ekiti gubernatorial poll slated for June.  In a party primary election conducted on Saturday March 22, by none other than Peter Odili, Fayose emerged overwhelming winner.  It was a PDP-style landslide.  Of the available 477 votes, Fayose got a whopping 462.  The other three contestants managed to scrape-up only 11 votes between them.  One contestant, Mrs Ogundipe got just one vote.

    The choice of Fayose is a head-scratcher for me.  That he was even allowed to participate in any credible political party’s primary was a surprise.  I fear the PDP could be up to something again.  I would have thought that a party in central government that doesn’t control any state in the South-west would see the coming governorship election in Ekiti as one in which to put its best foot forward.  I thought the PDP would be a little more serious about its ambitions in Ekiti, especially as 2015 looms.  What am I missing?

    Throughout his time as governor, Fayose exhibited a character and behavioural trait that were unfit and unacceptable for high office.  Alas today, a few people in Ekiti look back on Fayose’s three years as productive ones.  They weren’t.

    Rather unfortunately, it has become common practice in Nigeria for all major political parties to cheat during elections.  The biggest rigger always wins unless the courts step in to save democracy’s blushes.  The last time around, it took an almighty battle before the usurper governor, Segun Oni was thrown out.  Things got so tough, the previous Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ayoka Adebayo evaporated from her duty post and went on the lam.  She claimed that some people wanted her to do things against her will.  In the end, Iwu and the PDP had their way.

    Across the track, Iyiola Omisore is getting ready to become the next governor of Osun also on behalf of the PDP.  Omisore has done it before: He won an election as a Senator of the Federal Republic whilst on prison remand on a murder charge.  Perhaps there’s a method to what ordinarily looks like the PDP madness.  After all, this is realpolitik; it is certainly not about some bucket-load of PhDs in one thing or the other.

     

    • Egbejumi-David writes from Lagos

     

  • The Nigerian Agenda

    The Nigerian Agenda

    When President Goodluck Jonathan dropped the hint that a national conference was in the offing in October, last year, the whole country erupted into a frenzy of debates. Many thought it was a tall ambition. They, therefore, spared the President no chance at all. To them, it was impossible. Others viewed it differently. To this other category of people, it was worth a trial. Both groups then went the whole hog to canvass their positions, but the President did not blink, he stuck to his guns.

    First, he set up a consultative forum of eminent and not-so-eminent Nigerians. Their mandate was to gauge the pulse of the people, collate their opinions and see the desirability of holding the conference in the second quarter of the year. Though there were some stumbling blocks on its way, the committee toured the six geo-political zones of the country in a record time. Everywhere it went, the scenarios were different. When the committee was done with its consultations, it presented a report to the President in which it assured him that the consensus of people was that they were willing to dialogue.

    Pronto, the President, through Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President and now the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, quickly puts modalities in place. The result was the inauguration of the 492-man conference inside the hallowed hall of the National Judicial Council Secretariat in Abuja on Monday, March 17.

    The conference started with great optimism but there was also skepticism among discerning Nigerians who were not so sure that the exercise could produce the desired result which would allay the fears of the citizenry about the political acronym called Nigeria. This stems from the fact that there appears to be a conflict within and among the ethnic nationalities that were corralled together 100 years ago in the political definition called Nigeria. Since then, this ethnic conglomeration has flourished under the atmosphere of mutual suspicion and sometimes disdain for one another.

    In the last two weeks, series of events bordering on muscle-flexing and playing to the gallery have punctuated the conference as various speakers, one after the other, scheme to foster hidden agendas. Come to think of it, the trend of events is not entirely new in an exercise such as this. History is replete with several examples where diplomatic discussions have dragged on for several years, over several round-table conferences, before the desired breakthroughs were achieved.

    The country recently celebrated its 100th year of nationhood. What used to be Southern and Northern Protectorates were woven together in a holy wedlock (or is it unholy?) by the British-born Lord Frederick Lugard. In 1960, the country became independent, free from the clutches of British imperialism and with a new Constitution. That singular event did not come overnight. It was preceded by three conferences at Lancaster House in London in 1957, 1958 and 1959 before the actual Independence Conference, where Sir Ahmadu Bello, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, all now late, finally put pen to paper to seal the union that produced Nigeria.

    In 1963, the constitution was amended but it later followed an unpalatable path as it was being gradually and systematically destroyed by the vaulting ambition of some of the dramatis personae of the country’s evolution. When late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola broke pact with Chief Awolowo of the Action Group in the early 60s, since he needed the then Federal Government to protect him against Awolowo and his group, he literarily signed away so many things to the northern oligarchy.

    Therefore, since July 1966, the constitution of the country has always been a North-dominated constitution. Gradually, the North has moved from being one-third of the country at Independence, to six out of the 12 states decreed by General Yakubu Gowon (retd.), who became the Head of State in July 1966. From then on, it has moved gradually until late General Sani Abacha made the North 19 states out of the 36 states of the country in 1996. The old Western Region got eight states, while the old Eastern Region got nine states. What this means is that the north has assumed control over more than 50% of the country, leaving less than 50% to the rest of the country.

    For many years, whatever the North said became law. Now, ever since, this is the first time that the country is discussing. Hitherto, the military had dominated the whole period with the North always having the upper hand in everything and every coup in the country. What I believe is subtly playing out at the ongoing National Conference is the fear of the North that the South might treat them the way they had been treating the South all this while.

    In several conversations I had with some of the key delegates at the conference, across the country last week, it was clear that the climate of mutual suspicion, distrust and mistrust pervading this conference is so thick that it could be sliced with a knife. This is simply a manifestation of the old and archaic belief that one section of the country is superior to the others. The truth of the matter is that, in the reality of the present-day Nigeria, that assumption is no longer tenable as it is unacceptable. It is no longer “what we have, we keep”. This conference should afford each side of the divide the ample opportunity to state what they want. It is now left to the moderators, who are men of excellent pedigree, men who have distinguished and acquainted themselves creditably in their various professional careers, to pilot the conference successfully and steer it out of rancour and unnecessary acrimony.

    It is on record that when the issue of voting pattern erupted, the moderators quickly came to the rescue by constituting a balanced committee of 50 wise men to pave way for a compromise. Initially, the South wanted 66 percent votes to constitute a simple majority, while the North stuck to 75 percent as proposed by the President. After much consultation and arguments for and against, the North conceded 5 percent and came down to 70 percent while the South moved up by 3 percent or so. It will be good enough if they can reach a compromise on 70 percent. Like a Yoruba adage says: “Oju lasan ko la fi ngbomo lowo ekuro,” meaning “it is not easy to extract palm kernel from palm fruit.”

    So, for the Lamidos of this world and his ilk, we must all bear it in mind that we are living together in the same country. It is the responsibility of all of us to preserve and protect what we have. That was why probably the President said so much at the inauguration of the conference that the only agenda should be a “Nigerian Agenda,” not a Northern or Southern agenda. Whatever may be our desires, and I suppose they are reasonable ones, we should endeavour to canvass our positions without issuing vague threats; we must negotiate, we must be flexible, and we must concede where necessary.

    The North would have to realise that it can no longer force anything, just any concoction, down people’s throats. Let us accept the reality that history and sociology conferred on our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural existence, which we must guard jealously in order to preserve the bond of nationhood that binds us together. This is because in our diversity lies our strength as a nation and that is if we are able to rise above primordial and or clannish interests.

    Above all, all the delegates at the conference should take cognisance of one thing: “hungry and angry boys” are out there waiting restlessly for the outcome of this jaw-jaw. Therefore, let us stick to the rule of commonsense and avoid plunging the country into a needless vicious circle of conflict and bloodshed. Let us remember that the greatest wars in history ended up on a conference table where binding decisions are taken. At the end of the day, deaths and destructions that usually accompany all devastating wars become regrettable features of our lives. I think we can do without that in this country.

  • Agodi Museum; CBN cheap loans; ‘Masterminds of Mass Murder’: Soka/ Sambisa Forest Terrorists

    Agodi Museum; CBN cheap loans; ‘Masterminds of Mass Murder’: Soka/ Sambisa Forest Terrorists

    Welcome to the New Agodi Gardens compliments of Ajimobi Oyo government –Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Government could make this different from Gardens and Parks, GAP, in Nigeria which are empty of intellectual stimulation. Government should put money into and encourage the developer to put a new, big, different ‘Agodi Inspirational Exhibition/ Museum’ with ‘shock and awe’ material from major research institutions. To challenge Ibadan visitors and residents, the developers and government especially the Ministry of Science and Technology could invite for display projects from students, creative artists, the 80 departments in University of Ibadan, the 30 in UCH, Polytechnic, IITA, CRIN, FRIN, NISER, NIG-Sat and Corporate Ibadan like Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Zartec, etc in education, health, photography, sculpture, technology, history, culture fisheries etc.

    So Odein Ajimogobia, has reiterated this column on March 12 ‘Too many geriatrics and too few 30-50 year olds’ at the 2014 Non Sovereign ‘snooze’ National Conference. Students should calculate how many delegates are over 80, 70, and 60. Are we cursed, mumu or just blessed with good humour in the face of a permanent failure to succeed inflicted by our now geriatric leadership? Have they no shame, still seeking the spotlight in the economic and electricity darkness they caused?

    Since 1966, years of religio-ethnic aggression rammed through by military fiat has been met by an increasing religio-ethnic defence, sometimes suicidal, just like in any lethal football game. Jonathan is not a geriatric and did not choose over 380 of the delegates. So he is not guilty of religious bias if indeed there is any. Let the Sultan ‘send forth emissaries’ to examine the states and other ‘biased’ constituent bodies. Complaints at the religious bias in many pre-Obasanjo past government appointments and in several including Lagos State for 40 years have always fallen on deaf ears. Token posts to the few ‘outsiders’ without power were the ‘keep quiet and shut up’ lot of most Nigerians while religious/ethnic zealots, under the protection of the religious/ethnicised military and prostituted political classes, warped the federalism to suit themselves. They now seek to preserve that criminally warped state of the distorted nation. They thus created the very reason why a National Conference is so essential now- to right the wrong federation imposed upon so many Nigerians ruining their future for years. Interestingly many traditional rulers have major military affiliations and are centrist, or unitary-federalist, false federalist, in nature as they benefit from federal and even CBN handouts if they are in the favoured religio-ethnic class.

    So are we beyond the redemption of even a geriatric dominated Non Sovereign National Conference, the old brigade from all corners of Nigeria, all with religious, traditional, political, baggage? As younger citizens, they led us blindly to the perdition of maximum corruption, a 17,500% fall in naira, maximum power darkness and maximum high interest rates in the world and worst education scores and even maximum Boko Haram? But rich from eating Nigeria, their families all have mansions and billions! As snoozing old men are they threatening to donate a piece of Nigeria to Cameroon? This, even though history lessons in school taught us Adamawa’s Emir is from a three percent minority which invaded Adamawa. Is that correct? Hardly an example of democracy 100+ years down the line.  Why should such people want change in ‘status quo’ in spite of glaring failures?

    The events at CBN show us how CBN was run under the military and even under Sanusi with largess being distributed largely to the favoured with a few drops to others as camouflage. Today’s Nigeria is founded on, and flounders on and sufferers from, yesterday’s fraudulent ethnic politics and policies. If we had decentralised electric power or railways 30 years ago, where would power be now? How can we be ruled by people who say ‘No, you states cannot have rights to power, roads, railways, phones or waterways’? Are we slaves in our own country? Yes, there are very bad and greedy people in every state stealing the local budget. But even that does not negate federal evil and ‘secret agendas’ perpetrated with local collaborators in every state.

    Are we cursed by no or low power since 1978, high interest rate forever, lower value of the naira from $1:N1 in 1980s to $1:N173+ on parallel market, high unemployment plus the worst statistics in the world? New CBN governor: ‘Whose side are you on?’ CBN celebrates stable inflation rate but at murderous cost to the people. The banks miraculously declare 20-75% increase in profits as poverty bites. The ‘false stability’ is like ‘false federalism’ and kills business and people through high MPR, interest rates 25%, high sterilised funds in CBN and falling naira with more dying Nigerians- dying for jobs at NIS and from ‘No cheap loans’. CBN has killed more people and businesses than Boko Haram. Surprisingly, CBN knows the value of ‘cheaper’ loans which it gives to selectively ‘stimulate’ textile, aviation, Agric and Nollywood industries. The market trader and everyone also need cheap loans. When will interest rates come down? When all Nigerians are dead?

    The Soka Forest terrorism is similar to the Boko Haram terrorist camp in the Sambisa Forest for ‘Masterminds of Mass Murder’. We need routine mass police and local DPO surveillance and counter-measures. Elsewhere a man carrying 18 heads was picked up. Do police investigate or coordinate the investigation of the hundreds of ‘common man’ kidnappings yearly in each state? What forensics exist in Nigeria?

  • Reforming ‘Oshiomhole police’

    Reforming ‘Oshiomhole police’

    As a local resident and typical of one in the hinterland of Edo State, I always watch Edo Broadcasting Service, EBS, the state government owned media outfit especially at 8pm, to monitor government programmes and polices, special announcements such as job vacancies and opportunities. I need to be informed, to avoid being deformed and more so, to track and monitor the governor on his electoral promises.

    On this particular Wednesday, I watched Governor Adams Oshiomhole as he addressed the excesses of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA). If anyone needed evidence that the cup of the agency that has long acquired the sobriquet of “Oshiomholes’ police” by reason of their highhandedness and impunity was finally full and running over, this would be it.

    The intention behind the creation of EDSTMA was certainly noble. Trust, Nigerians when it comes to obeying simple rules, regulations and instructions; we are never there except an extra-ordinary measure is employed to whip us into line. Tuke-tuke or bus drivers in Benin City are a typical example: never patient, always in a hurry oftentimes veering-off the lane to face on-coming traffic.

    In Benin, it is commonplace to find motorists, both private and commercial, drive against traffic and beat traffic lights. In fact, statistics say in every 100 vehicles that passes a traffic light, 80% of this number violate the red light rule. Oftentimes, it is not because the drivers lack education on road signs and traffic rules but rather evidence of the thriving culture of impunity and brazen disregard for law and order.

    It is against this background that “Oshiomholes’ police” is best situated. Unfortunately, theirs too became a case of curing impunity with impunity. Ifeoma Okoronkwo, a lecturer at the Department of Philosophy and Religions, University of Benin would capture the dilemma this way: “the interpretation of traffic rules by many of these officials is suspect….This is even made worse by the fact that Benin is now one huge road construction site….They can improve on their activities by simply being honest and friendly in their interactions with Benin City drivers”.

    Is anyone worried about the flagrant display of wares/goods by traders on walkways around mission road, Oba market, New Lagos Road by new Benin market area? What of the indiscriminate parking of vehicles along the major roads which constitute bottlenecks to free flow of traffic?

    This is what the “Oshiomhole police” – EDSTMA’s – is all about; to help reduce the horror caused by reckless driving in the state.

    This would partly explain the stiff resistance from the motorists and other road users. The truth is that the job of this agency is not one to be admired, fancied or coveted. And as one would imagine, the agency was not without its own internal challenges; some unpatriotic elements unfortunately found their way into the agency with the result that it became a bye-word for incivility. Indeed, the agency, until the intervention of Governor Adams Oshiomhole was fast developing into a monster. They would harass, intimidate, coerce and embarrass. Oftentimes, some over-zealous officers would attempt to wrest the steering wheel from motorists in a bid to effect arrest of traffic offenders. Crude and unconventional means were deployed to track their victims.

    Today, Governor Oshiomhole has risen to the challenge posed by the operations of the agency. Now, workers know that it is not business as usual particularly with the coming of Commissioner Orobosa Omo-Ojo, into the transportation ministry. I watched him caution officials against unruly and uncivilized means in the discharge of their duties on commuters.

    For Governor Oshiomhole, it is a case of constant admonition on the officials to be civil in dealings with traffic offenders even when an offence has been committed. Said he: “we must be civil in our methods. We must wear a smile while being firm on the issue. The important thing is to keep our eyes on the ball…You must not extort, you must not criminalise innocent people, and you must not let offenders go after extortion. If anybody beats the red light, you must arrest the person, no matter his status. If it’s the governor or deputy governor, you must arrest and interrogate him. The only person exempted from the red light rule is the President or Vice President, when they visit, in which case the road will be blocked for their easy passage”.

    While further charging them, he would note: “if you can stop and interrogate the governor for beating the red light rule, no other person is bigger in the state that you can’t stop. Anybody that contravenes the red light rule, stop him and detain him for at least two hours. Many innocent people have been crushed because someone wanted to contravene the red light rule. This must stop.

    As for their deplorable methods, the governor was unequivocal: “I speak the minds of Edo people when I say that many people have been victims of your very crude and harsh traffic management methods. When you misbehave, as some of you do, people in anger dismiss you as Oshiomhole police. I have no police. In fact, I am one of the few, who have spoken out against state police. I am commended for so many things, but not so many people have commended me for this particular intervention, even as you have come into existence to help control traffic.”

    Edo people are unanimous on the need to assist Governor Oshiomhole in the cleaning of the agency’s Aegean stable.  The governor has restored our confidence that government works for the benefit of the people and for the general good. He has also shown that he is that leader who will act as an agent of positive change as exemplified by his polices and programmes.

    With Oshiomhole, the feeling that development and progress is anathema or alien to Edo State has finally been laid to rest. The proof is in the monumental and landmark achievements and strides in infrastructure and human capital development recorded in just over five years of his government.  Now, more than ever, we need to assist the administration to succeed and to leave a lasting legacy. We are all involved or else we may all become victims of our undoing. To the extent that the agency is also a window – a mirror – into the activities of the government, it must constantly shun and avoid everything that could bring government into disrepute in the course of its duties.

    • Onaivi sent in this piece from Igarra, Akoko Edo local government.

  • A president playing dangerous politics with Boko Haram

    A president playing dangerous politics with Boko Haram

    The last time we met on these pages two weeks ago, I concluded my piece that morning by putting the burden of solving the Boko Haram “riddle” (my own word) on the leadership of the Muslim North, specifically on the new Minister of Defence, Lt-General Aliyu Mohammed, (retired), a veteran spymaster and a former army chief, and on Col Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, retired, the current National Security Adviser to the President.

    “On his part,” I said, “the new army chief should know that if, along with the National Security Adviser to the president, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, a scion of the Sokoto Caliphate, he cannot solve the, admittedly complex, riddle of Boko Haram which has done so much damage to Nigeria generally but more specifically to the North and to Muslims and to the image of their religion, then the Muslim North will have no one else to blame but its leaders, both secular and religious.”

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s angry reply over the weekend in Bauchi to Governor Murtala Nyako’s charge in far away America that the president is incapable and/or uninterested in solving the Boko Haram crisis – that is if, according to Nyako, the man is not himself outrightly complicit in complicating the crisis for political gain – has got me wondering if I have been fair and sensible in shifting even the immediate burden of solving the crisis from the president to his lieutenants, and through them, to the entire leadership of a region.

    Of course the ultimate burden of solving any national problem lies with the country’s president; the buck, as they say, always stops at the table of the boss. However, there is also a lot his underlings can do to help him solve a problem. It was to that extent that I put the burden of ending the Boko Haram scourge on his two security chiefs.

    But then the president’s angry remarks last Saturday, March 26, during the Peoples Democratic Party’s North-East rally in Bauchi strongly suggests a frame of mind that is more interested in playing politics with Boko Haram than in ending its terror. With such a frame of mind, it will not matter much what his subordinates do to help their boss do his job satisfactorily of securing the nation.

    No doubt Governor Nyako’s paper during the March 17-19 symposium in Washington DC, USA, on the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East at the instance of the Unites States Institute for Peace, to which all the 19 governors of the Northern State were invited, was highly provocative. “The security situation we are facing,” he said in the course of delivering his paper, “…could be sponsored by evil minded and over-ambitious leaders of government and society for political gains.” Of course, he did not name names but it needed little or no imagination to guess those he was pointing his fingers at.

    As if to remove any doubts about those the governor presumably had in mind, the president chose the occasion of his party’s rally in the main theatre of the Boko Haram insurrection to reply him. I solved the terror problem in my home state, Bayelsa, when I was deputy governor and then governor, so Nyako and other Northern governors accusing me of incompetent leadership should go solve their own Boko Haram problem, the president said, in effect.

    “All what they put on their bodies,” the president reportedly said in his peculiar English and simplistic logic, apparently referring to the Boko Haram ragtag army, “is not worth N10, but they carry rifles and bullets worth more than N250,000. Somebody gives them food so that they can kill.

    “You ask how we build this army of unemployed and unemployable youth? The Federal Government does not control primary education; it does not control secondary school education, and a governor has been on seat for nearly eight years and we have people in that state that can’t go to secondary school. You say bad leadership? Who is the bad leader? Is it the Federal Government? I made sure that every state has a university. That is the responsibility of the Federal Government and I have done it.”

    The president is right, damn right, that governors – and I must say that includes himself when he was one, as can be seen from the poor primary and secondary enrolment figures of Bayelsa – have been almost criminally negligent of their responsibilities to provide primary (through Local Governments) and secondary education in their states.

    However, the president was wrong to blame the states alone for their negligence. Part of the blame must go to the Federal Government for cornering so much revenue for itself from the Federation Account (55% or so) that states seem to lack enough to attend to even their more basic responsibilities in such areas as education, health and basic infrastructure.

    The president was also wrong to think poor primary and secondary school enrolment is the main cause of Boko Haram. It is not. The Boko Haram army may be ragtag but its main recruits are not small kids who won’t go to Western schools. On the contrary, it recruits mainly from youths who have been to such schools but have become totally disillusioned with a system which they can clearly see is more interested in producing a few billionaires than in raising millions out of poverty. The president may not be essentially responsible for such a system but he has not helped matters by the wilful way he has, for all practical purposes, refused to do anything about so much waste, corruption and scandal that has surrounded his administration.

    The president was also wrong to claim he solved MEND’s terror problem in Bayelsa. He did not and could not. As governor, he had no control of the police and the security forces. As he knows all too well the credit for that goes mainly to his boss, the late President Umaru Yar’adua for his amnesty programme for Delta militants, and partly to himself as vice-president, who, as the son of the soil, helped to oversee the execution of the programme.

    The president’s apparent misdiagnosis of the Boko Haram problem clearly suggests he is more inclined to playing politics with it than in trying to solve it. There have been, at least, two evidence of recent to support this thesis. First, is the reckless manner in which his party’s spokesman, Mr Olisa Metuh, has been attacking the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, labelling it an Islamic party with a “janjaweed” ideology, as if it is a crime to be a Muslim in this country. Indeed, he has said worse by accusing the party without a shred of evidence of being the sponsor of Boko Haram and no one seems to want to call him to order. On the contrary, he seems to enjoy at least the tacit support of his party’s leadership.

    Even more telling than Metuh’s recklessness has been the president’s loud silence on the unmasking in February of his Senior Special Assistance on Social Media, Reno Omokri, as the brain behind a highly dubious attempt, through a Word document using a funny sounding alias, Wendell Simlin, that tried to link Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to the recent increase in Boko Haram violence in Borno and Yobe states. The discovery that Omokri was the real author of the document has yet to earn the man even the mildest rebuke, never mind a sack.

    It all reminds one, doesn’t it, of the charge by Mr Henry Emomotimi Okah, since jailed in South Africa for his alleged role in the October 1, 2010 fatal bombing of Eagle Square during the Golden Jubilee of Nigeria’s Independence, in an affidavit he swore to in a court in that country, that he was contacted by the presidency to prevail on the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to withdraw its statement claiming responsibility for the bombing so that it can be blamed on some Northern politicians, notably General Ibrahim Babangida, former military president, who was initially in the running for the 2011 presidential election.

    Said Okah in his affidavit, “During the morning of 2 October, 2010, I received two SMS from Mr Tony Uranta…The SMS were sent from Mr Uranta’s number +2348075407801.

    The first of the two SMS stated; – “Ask J.G to withdraw statement.” (J.G being Jomo Gbomo the spokesperson for MEND). The final SMS sent at 10h28:32 am states; – “The government will blame on Northern elements.”

    Okah has since claimed that his refusal to co-operate with the presidency was why the Federal Government leaned heavily on the South Africans to secure his imprisonment.

    In that same affidavit Okah claimed that “On the day of the bombing of 1 October, 2010, I received a call from Mr Moses Jituboh, the Head of Personal Security to President Jonathan, who solicited my assistance and continued cooperation with President Goodluck Jonathan towards shifting blame for the bombings to the North of Nigeria. He assured me in this meeting that President Goodluck Jonathan was determined to ensure that political power never returned to the North which Mr Orubebe described as parasites. To achieve this, President Goodluck Jonathan would pretend to do only one term in office and once entrenched, he would insist on a second term.”

    Okah’s affidavit may sound like the desperate act of a dog in a manger, but his claims seemed to have been borne out by subsequent events, including former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s now famous open letter to the president reminding him that he had promised to do only one term during his campaign for the 2011 presidential election.

    With a record like this, it is hardly unfair to suspect our president of being more interested in playing politics with the Boko Haram scourge than in bringing it to an end. In which case nothing his subordinates do will, in the end, make any difference in helping him secure the country and its citizens from terrorism.

  • Lamido Adamawa and the secessionists

    Lamido Adamawa and the secessionists

    The stool of the Lamido of Adamawa is one of the most respected in Nigeria. But in many parts of this country – especially the southern extremities – its present occupant, Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha, is largely unknown. Last week at the National Conference in Abuja, he introduced himself in spectacular fashion to a countrywide audience.

    Called to comment on the voting formula by which decisions would be taken at the confab, he veered off on a riff threatening to ship his ancient kingdom off to Cameroon if certain trends he had noticed were not quickly checked.

    The outrage that greeted his tirade had as much to do with the fact that he deviated from the matter at hand, and went off on a tangent, as much as it had to do with him openly threatening secession. Some have even come down hard on conference chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi for allowing the Lamido to vent his feelings in such a manner. But that would be failing to acknowledge that the chairman’s options for shutting him up were limited.

    Traditional rulers are by nature conservative. They are more likely to speak like diplomats rather than be caught lobbing verbal bombs. In that wise, I was slightly surprised at the sentiments ventilated so openly by the Lamido. Again, his comments seem to go against the grain because secession is not an agenda that most would associate with the North.

    If anything, the region and its people have often been painted as the section of this country most desperate to retain Nigeria as a going concern. Its leaders are always to be found pressing the notion that the unity of this country is non-negotiable.

    Even the Boko Haram insurgency that has devastated the North East is not so much about breaking away, as it is about overthrowing the existing secular order and imposing a radical Islamist agenda on the country as a whole. Neither Abubakar Shekau nor his predecessor, Mohammed Yusuf, has ever indicated any desire to merge with Niger, Chad, or founding some theocratic Eldorado on the dunes of the Sahara.

    Down south, it is a totally different picture. Chaffing from years of perceived dominance of the power structures by Northerners, you would find plenty of would-be secessionists roaming the three zones.

    Even if you want to dismiss them as comic sideshows, you cannot ignore the fact that the spirit of Biafra lives on in the South East. It is what has kept an organisation like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra alive for 15 years.

    So successful has the separatist franchise been that it is now giving rise to copycats and spin-off groups like the so-called Biafra Zionist Movement. Their main claim to fame so far has been the harebrained attempt by 50 its machete-wielding cadres to storm the Enugu State Government House with the intention of hoisting the Biafran flag. The misadventure ended with gun-toting policemen killing one of them and putting the rest to flight.

    A few kilometers down the road in the South-South zone, the likes of Asari Dokubo keep warning us that if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected in 2015, the region would pull out of Nigeria taking its crude oil along. Empty threat? May be. But the fact is that is the thinking of influential individuals who have in the past taken up arms against the state, and have warned that they would not hesitate to return to the creeks in pursuit of their objectives.

    At some point the birth of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) was linked to a separatist sentiment that flowered briefly in the aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola. But over the years the South-West has drifted towards to a consensus that some form of self-government within Nigeria wasn’t such a bad proposition.

    That has forced the once fiery and feared OPC to rebrand itself as a socio-cultural organisation that today limits its activities to providing protection and settling communal conflicts.

    This background shows that in today’s Nigeria there’s no paucity of the desire to separate. What is shocking is our capacity to live in denial and that remains a huge part of the reason why the country is not working.

    We head into conferences like the ongoing one saying the country’s existence as one country is not up for debate. But stopping our ears with cotton wool would not address the frustrations of the secessionists.

    We need to put such matters front and center of the discussions so all sides can decide once and for all whether it is more attractive to split peacefully – in the manner of the old Czechoslovakia; or whether we should make more of an effort at working out a formula that enables us to live amicably as one unit.

    Everything so far points to the fact that we are at best two countries – or even worse 10 or 20 countries rolled into one. We are so divided by religion that no amount of national conferences would end the rivalry between Christians and Muslims. That much is evident from the protest march to Aso Villa led by the Sultan of Sokoto to protest alleged marginalisation of Muslims in the make-up of delegates. Such is the depth of feeling over the issue.

    We are so divided by religion to the extent that a band of killers doing business under the Boko Haram banner would not rest until it has brought everyone under its dominion.

    Parts of North Central Nigeria are still seething on account of religious differences. It is so bad it is almost like India and Pakistan at independence. The only difference is that there are no clean dividing lines to separate the followers of the different faiths. The intermingling of Christians and Muslims is as complex in the South as it is in the most unlikely parts of the North East and North West.

    We are so divided by a sense of regional identification of North and South that mirrors the old British Protectorates welded together by Lord Lugard. Today, that same split is playing out in Abuja in the showdown over voting formula – the North insisting on three-quarters and the South on two-thirds majority.

    Fifty-two years after independence most people are more locked into their religious and regional identity as Northerners and Southerners, Christians and Muslims, than they are as Nigerians. Until we can deal with how these disparate peoples can relate in an artificial concept called Nigeria, we would continue to flush billions down the drain in so-called national conferences.

    It all begins by facing the fact that the sentiments expressed by the Lamido are things people mutter about in their homes every day. Such matters ought to be on the table in any conference that would truly address our national question.

  • Recycled leaders and sleeping delegates

    Recycled leaders and sleeping delegates

    Our condolences to the family of retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Hamma Misau, a delegate at the ongoing National Conference who died last Thursday at the National Hospital in Abuja. Misau was 67 when he passed on.

    He became the subject of widespread caustic comments after photographs of him asleep during a session of the confab went viral. The publication of the pictures stirred some individuals with an anti-democratic temper to attempt to gag media covering the conference. And that from persons charged with charting the course for a new Nigeria!

    All week I have had interesting exchanges around this business of some of the more elderly delegates feeling the strain and nodding off in the course of discussions. Someone wondered why the some of the same names who had been in the mix from the 60s and 70s – and have contributed to turning the country on its head – are the ones we are looking up to for deliverance.

    My position is that there is place for the older delegates because of their institutional memory. Their experience and knowledge is vital in this sort of exercise. I noticed for instance that in responding to the Lamido of Adamawa’s secessionist threat in a newspaper report last week, elder statesman Chief Olaniwun Ajayi began talking about something that happened in 1947!

    Some people may see recycling of gray-haired leaders going on, but my perspective is that there’s nothing wrong if some of those who contributed to messing up Nigeria are made to clean up the mess they created.

  • New states? Not again!

    A report in The Nation last week spoke of pressure on members of the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review to create new states. Already, as many as 57 requests are pending before the legislature.

    As I understand it some elements within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency see this as some sort of trump card that could give them an edge in national elections next year.

    Whatever may be the selfish calculations driving it, the push for new states is nothing short of scandalous. The bulk of the existing 36 states are insolvent. Most of them cannot pay workers’ salaries. Lots cannot survive without the monthly hand out from the Federation Account.

    The performance of these entities has exposed the limit to which state creation can be a tool for developing the country. Much of what passes for development activities begin and end in these one-street state capitals.

    This is not just about the ingenuity of governors in imposing more tax burdens on hapless citizens in the name of generating internal revenue. It is about the fact that the cash from the center cannot carry the lumbering bureaucracies and expense outlets that would come with the so-called new states. All reasonable people should oppose this nonsense.

  • Beyond Boko Haram: Countering the greed/extremist ideology

    The deaths of more than 16 young applicants who died in Abuja and other venues during the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS recruitment exercise is a mirror of dysfunctional leadership and government. The tide of greed and inequality unleashed by the ruling elites through their selfish system of capitalism is the root of the nation’s top problem. It is therefore important for the ruling elites to stop extracting undue leadership milleage out of the peoples misery and poverty. However, the most serious struggle facing our generation is bad leadership values, corruption, the struggle against terrorism, and violent extremism which are forces for disorder and conflict. Nigerians value diversity, moderation, tolerance and pluralism, freedom of speech, religious freedom and good living condition. Against these values the ruling elites, terrorist and other extremist groups see and use the masses democratic ignorance as a vulnerability to exploit. The ruling elites are corrupting the tenets of democracy just as the Boko Haram are decontextualising Quranic passages thereby distorting the tenets of Islam. They rely on the fanciful doctrine of abrogation to promote violence using extreme religious interpretations of the Sharia Law to justify killing innocent souls and suicide bombing.

    The Quran elaborates the right to life, respect, equity, justice and liberty, the right to acquire knowledge, to work, the right to basic need and to privacy. The global struggle is that when extremist and especially terrorist values go unchallenged, according to Alexandra Downer, a former Australia Minister for Foreign Affairs ‘more and more people, mainly young men, risk being recruited … This is happening in the Middle East, it is happening in South East Asia and is happening in Western countries.’ Nigeria is not an exemption hence, the challenge is that extremist ideology demand a joint campaign because silence or siddon look – a sign of submission is not an option in such a time as this when Nigeria is heading towards a bleak future through extremist cultural values. Beyond Boko Haram is therefore a call to counter the extremist ideologies and narratives in Nigeria before it is too late.

    The activities of Boko Haram insurgents in Northern Nigeria and its ideology is more or less what is called the terrorist narrative shaped by the writings of Islamists like the Egyptian militant Sayyid Qutb that ignores the authoritative mainstream views of the Islamic world. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have also crafted an ideology shaped by the terrorist narratives which is sharply at variance with Islam’s emphatic renunciation of aggression and violence. The argument is that Islam is under attack from the West and that the only way to unify the Islamic world which is divided is by eliminating all Western influence vehemently especially in Nigeria. The aim is to pursue with total commitment as a religious duty, hence, slaughtering of innocent people has become the order of the day especially in the North East of Nigeria. Terrorism is now alternative and legitimate tactic for Jihad due to their lack of military and technological means. The condemnation and rejection of this ‘nihilistic terrorist ideology and murderous methods’ of Boko Haram by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and other Muslim leaders needs to go a step further. This is because ‘the terrorist narrative does still seem to strike a chord in many Muslim communities and its does win recruits,’ coupled with the poverty ravaging most of our communities. The Muslim leaders need to unwrap and counter the terrorist narrative/religious mantles Boko Haram is using as agents of insurrection to spread their ideology because they indoctrinate passive sympathisers to commit different atrocities.

    The Boko Haram and other extremist/militant groups in Nigeria are capitalising on the corruption, injustice, lack of economic and democratic freedoms in the country thereby drawing ‘strength from the natural tendency of people to turn to religion (or ethnic affiliations) in times of change and uncertainty.’ Generally, most Nigerian are uncertain about the leadership and the performance of Government hence, greed and extremism breeding in such uncertain contexts are less than ideal. It is argued that ‘the virtue of democracy is that where there is a capacity for people to offer alternative plans to improve lives extremist ideology becomes less appealing.’ The challenge is ‘if there aren’t alternatives, people will stray to the extremist ideology because extremism offers a simplistic kind of utopian ideal.’

    Extremist ideology not only indoctrinates passive sympathisers including the Almajiris (migrant students), and jobless youths negatively, it also empowers the active political and religious players to promote their economic interests. Nigerians are becoming more religious day by day but this does not translated to responsibility and integrity. People now use and see religion that ‘offers simple, utopian solutions to complex problems, a method that has attracted recruits to radical causes down through the ages.’ In a nation where democracy is just about elections without manifestos and accountability, extremism will flourish as the order of the land. Kidnapping is now a demonic and extremist challenge in Nigeria. Human life is now a major trade in Nigeria on the altar of ransom payment or killing, and atimes both together. The pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement recently invaded Enugu State Government House and successfully hoisted the flag of the Republic of Biafra. The Ijaw warlords and Odua Peoples Congress are not resting over the 2015 election. The greed and extremist tendencies in Nigeria are becoming a cancerous wound that need an urgent approach. A well develop democratic system is about the checks and balances to prevent leadership abuse and unending looting of the nation’s commonwealth. Democracy in Nigeria has been captured by the ruling elites hence no judiciary independent, no security, and oppression is breeding extremism and militancy all over the country. Just as Boko Haram is becoming, more or less, a political masquerade and weapon with religious piety, other extremist/militant ideologies are protestant politicians with cultural undertones and agendas.

    The challenge is how to overcome extremist narratives politically, socially, and religiously. According to Arthur Koestler who wrote about the burning of Berlin’s Reichstag in 1933, an event which gave rise to Nazi Germany, ‘we said that if you don’t quench those flames at once, they will spread all over the world …’ The flames of greed and extremist narratives are all over our beloved country and urgent action must be taking as we approach another season of election. As a people, we must arise and promote common values, accountability, love for others, leadership as a service and peoples-shaped democracy. If the only thing the on-going Confab would achieve is to confront the greed and extremist ideologies and defend peoples-shared values, let it be, rather than just another assembly of 492 tongues ruling elites and political godfathers. The paradox is that some of the ruling elites and political godfathers with a whooping 12 million naira for the 3-month duration of the Confab uses the jobless youths and vulnerable masses to win elections and there after abandoned them. The idle hands later become a serviceable hands for extremist practices. Who is fooling who in Nigeria? A visit to some towns and villages outside the state capitals and local government headquarters in Nigeria will show the depravity and depression average Nigerians are going through on daily basis without any hope of tomorrow. It is only in an insane society that the flagrant display of stolen and ill gotten wealth is acceptable.

    Nigeria is blessed by God but ‘jinxed and cursed’ by the few greedy ruling elites exploiting the human and natural resources for personal gain. According to the NNPC, Nigeria lost 109.5 barrels of oil in 2013 but our ruling elies are now flying in state-of-the-art private jets. God has blessed us with creative, strong, intelligent youths coupled with good weather and the best crude oil (Bunny Light) in the world but today, Nigerian youths ranked among the top unemployed youths in the world. Our man-made problems may be solved by man if we obey God’s commandments. The fate of our country is in God’s hand but we must do our part by repenting and using our challenges as opportunity to overcome the menace of Boko Haram and also counter other extremist ideologies and narratives. Nigeria’s problems is not beyond Nigerians because the masses are the decisive element of their common destiny. Our peace and prosperity is not in separation or disintegration but in our peaceful coexistence, justice, and discouraging flagrant display of stolen and ill gotten wealth. God bless Nigeria.

     

    Very Rev Dr Deji Okegbile, Nigerian Methodists Chaplaincy, United Kingdom/Ireland.

  • NIS: Extermination, not examination

    NIS: Extermination, not examination

    In the wake of the hullabaloo that greeted the unfortunate death of more than 19 applicants at the charade recently organised by the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, I reached out to Evelyn Abiodun, my niece, who participated in the event at the National Stadium, Abuja. Below are extracts from her account of the tragedy:

    “Exams into Nigeria Immigration Service holds (sic) Saturday, March 15, at 7am in your preferred exam state. Come along with a comfortable fitness wear” was what we were told. Harmless message, so it seems, but with unexpected consequence.

    The day before the ‘exercise’, Friday, March 14, I set out early to get all the necessary requirements ready. The preparation included shopping in the market for a pair of white shorts and shirt, white socks and running shoes. I also went to a government-owned hospital to obtain my medical fitness pass. I had arranged all my credentials, read up some past question papers and headed to bed with my alarm set for 4am the next day.

    “At 3:50am, earlier than my set alarm time, I was up from my bed, as I couldn’t put my head to rest from revising and envisioning how the day would look like. I was ready at exactly 4:45am, waiting for the taxi I had hired to come and pick me up at 5am (which cost me more than I would have paid anyway). I took off for the venue of the exercise, National Stadium, Abuja. In my excitement, I was already wearing my sport wear in the taxi because I couldn’t afford to be late or sloppy as a result of not being properly dressed before the exercise would take off.

    “On getting to the venue, my head stopped thinking for a while. I was startled by what I saw. Thousands of people were already at the venue! What! At 5:30am? What were they all doing overnight? Watching the clock tick all night? Or they just woke up earlier than I did? I thought that was shocking, not until I waited 10 more minutes to see troops pouring in. And it wasn’t even 6am yet! Then, the reality of how the day would look like kept sinking into my head. I was beginning to panic at the sight of the crowd alone. It then dawned on me that this must be the jungle for ‘the survival of the fittest’ – although many people didn’t seem qualified to me (they were so old, I could have sworn they were my grandparents’ age-mate).

    “As the day went on, at 7am, there was no more air to breathe, even in an open space. I was suffocating many times, as well as the rest of us. Hungry and confused, (I didn’t have breakfast because I thought we were actually going to do a fitness test), I walked around, assessed people, listened to their conversations; at least, I thought, to console myself that the crowd might actually reduce, as I saw many people who didn’t meet the requirements and there could be other reasons to disqualify many. I saw a good number of pregnant women and nursing mothers. What were they doing in this kind of exercise?

    “We were tossed around like ‘zombies’ most of the time. Walking and running around, whichever direction the crowd was going, even if we didn’t hear any firsthand announcement from the officers present. Yet, there was no sign of us actually getting into the stadium and we were drying up under the sun like damp clothes, with the officers watching helplessly across the gates. We waited and kept the hope of getting into the stadium, but no sign, not even a simple address from any of the officials present. Like marooned people, we were left alone and confused for hours!

    “Sometime around 12noon, to my greatest astonishment, I saw people climbing over the gates to get in. Suddenly, we were all struggling to climb the gates together; it looked to me like it might be the only way into the stadium anyway. Men and women struggling to climb and jump over the gates; it was a jungle indeed! As I tried to squeeze myself through the squash, then I noticed they had opened a small gate on the other side. I began to change my direction towards the gate instead. But that was also not an easy way to go, as it was tightly guarded by the crowd of people trying to get through. Many sustained all kinds of injuries in the process of struggling, but I was lucky to have made it in one piece.

    “Having finally made it through the squash, what next? We were told to sit according to our qualifications – higher degree holders were to sit upstairs and the rest to sit downstairs. I made my way upstairs and noticed all the seats there were as dusty as a desert. The usual struggle was not as bad as it was downstairs. I got my seat cleaned and sat down, awaiting the next call. We’ve been seated for more than one hour now; I was thirsty, hungry and tired at the same time.

    “I later went down to get something to eat and drink. The prices of refreshment had astronomically increased! Gala (usually N50) was sold at N100; Nestle bottled water (usually N100) sold at N200; pure (sachet) water (usually N10) was sold at N50. The most ridiculous of them all, a pack of jollof (white) rice with no meat and obviously no flavour was sold at N300! Why? N10 pencil was sold at N50, for those who didn’t come with their writing materials. Some people thrived on the suffering of others and were making cool cash on the spot. So sad!

    “As we sat, we noticed ambulances going in and out. People were being rushed into ambulances. Some of them had sustained serious injuries, while some had lost their lives in the midst of it all. May their souls find rest. That was the saddest point of the day for me. We still sat there for hours; no sign of anything going on at the venue. Everybody got impatient and frustrated at the long silence and lack of empathy shown to us. I mean we were out to look for job and not to be treated like refugees.

    “In no time, the anxious crowd started doing things to keep themselves busy. Some of the applicants entertained us with performances on the tracks – parades, football matches (sachet water bags were turned into football), running competition, funny kung fu practices and so on. I was sitting up there, clapping and hailing them (out of boredom). But as I watched people perform, I came to a realization: we actually do have many wasted talents in this country. If people could be so creative and entertaining, why on earth are these talents not adequately trained and utilised?

    “About 4pm, when everyone was tired and many had lost hope (including me), the examination kicked off. As if the wasted hours were not enough insult, the examination was the biggest of them all! The question papers could barely go round (of course, the crowd was more than the number of papers they brought in); the questions comprised 30 objective mathematics questions only. There was no supervision or rules guiding the exam – you could actually discuss the answers with the next person and just anyone around you who knew the answer. In fact, you could answer your phone calls while you write. Everywhere was noisy and rowdy. In short, it was my greatest point of discouragement because it was obvious to me that the examination was just a cover-up.

    “After I had submitted my paper (only God knows what I did in there), I left for my house, looking like I just got out of a mud fight. On getting home, I didn’t even have the energy to speak with anyone as I went straight to bed. As I lay there, I thought to myself: ‘Was it really an examination or extermination?’