The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • NDDC’s hefty imprests

    NDDC’s hefty imprests

    By Hardball

    Acting Executive Director, Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, was in the news recently denying making the claim that Senators got N20million each and House of Representatives members N15million each as Covid-19 palliatives from the intervention agency. He was responding to a challenge by the Senate to prove that allegation or otherwise retract the claim and tender a public apology.

    In his press statement joinder to the Senate’s demand, Ojougboh plied a treatise on his personal values and political career – including his mission to the NDDC and the Niger Delta region broadly, saying with his experience in politics he held the NASS “in the highest esteem and will not undermine nor denigrate its integrity.” He slammed the contested claim as “dubious, malicious and infantile lie (showing) how low people can go to bring harm to individuals and cause disaffection among people and between institutions.” Significantly, he did not once reference his original statement that might have been misunderstood; he only refuted the narrative that NDDC paid out the alleged sums to legislators.

    Well, he was right in material detail. In the interview he had with Vanguard Newspaper published on 1st September, Ojougboh was not reported saying the intervention agency gave the alleged sums to legislators; his quoted words were: “In the National Assembly, each of the senators got N20million, while House of Representatives members got N15million for Covid-19 from the National Assembly.” His subsequent press statement left it unclear whether he was repudiating the entire claim or merely denying the source of the alleged payouts.

    Another issue from the interview was Ojougboh’s defense of N51 million monthly imprest for the office of Acting NDDC Managing Director and N18million for his own office, against criticisms by NASS. He was reported arguing that the monies were not personal but for the agency’s operations, saying: “My MD feeds 100 policemen every day; and in Port Harcourt as an executive of NDDC, you need security more than anything…When they are sending these policemen, the instruction is: feed them, cater for them. That is what is in the letter the police hierarchy sent. So, people are talking about N51million of imprest for the MD; it is security vote, not for his personal pocket. Myself, N18 million; it does not go to my account, it goes for security and other expenses and it is retired.”

    But N51million monthly imprest for whatever purpose boggles the mind. It translates to average daily miscellaneous expenditure of N1.7million, and that is handsome cash even to maintain a country’s army. This is not counting the N18million (N600,000 daily) for Ojougboh’s office and imprests for other top officials of NDDC. The monies that apparently go on imprests in NDDC would make a profound difference if deployed to developing the Niger Delta.

     

     

     

     

  • Trump-eted bluster

    Trump-eted bluster

    Hardball

    Want a living primer on crass presidential bluster, with galloping bad grace?  Check out US President Donald Trump!

    Now, let’s bring that home for full impact: imagine a President Muhammadu Buhari calling an Eti-Osa local government chairman names; and the chair returning the crap, telling the president to go drown at Oniru Beach, in the near-by Atlantic?

    Or the president, during the electioneering for the 2019 polls, cynically mangling the name of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, just because the opposition candidate was challenging for president?

    Or even, horror of horrors: the president, standing on full presidential dignity, ranting his supporters could vote twice — a clear electoral crime — just to, in blind panic, bad-mouth mass mail balloting, forced by COVID-19 exigencies?

    But first, this caveat: whatever happens in the American electoral space, Hardball would normally regard as Afgahnistanism: that media term that decries sounding off on matters that little concern — or impact — your local readership or audience.

    Still, when a sitting American president, in a fear-induced bluster, brazenly suggests his supporters could vote twice, for whatever reason, then it becomes something else.

    For starters, America prides itself leader of the so-called free world.  For another, ahead of the next electoral cycle, the “saner climes” ensemble here might start bleating “double voting is democratic”, and pleading justification from Uncle Sam himself, the glorious global police of democracy!

    That would be lose-lose, for the abnormal then becomes “new” normal.  That holds prime destabilization danger for fledging democracies, like ours, with rather weak institutions, after decades of disastrous military rule.

    But driving Trump’s bluff is his tragic refusal to take responsibility, on COVID-19, now a Trump electoral nemesis, with almost 6.2 American cases and 186, 000 deaths.

    Again, imagine COVID-19 Nigeria today, had Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, adopted the Trump bluster, knowing full well Lagos was the first Nigerian COVID-19 epicentre?

    To be sure, America had New York as its first COVID-19 vortex, as Lagos was Nigeria’s.  Again, State of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, sprang into action, like Lagos’ Sanwo-Olu.

    But instead of Trump to rally the US Federal Government and show leadership, he downplayed the pandemic, with an eye on November 3.  But now November 3 looms, yet he finds himself clutching at straws!

    First COVID-19 would vanish, according to Prophet Trump.  It didn’t. Then ace Medic Trump serenaded hydroxychloroquine, as new magic drug.  It fell flat.  After, Saviour Trump touted the convalescent plasma therapy, as triumphant “breakthrough”.  But “inconclusive!”, countered the scientific community.

    Now, a president, at the end of his wits, appears pressuring to rush out a vaccine, well ahead of November 3, as a last-ditch effort.  But again, virulent dissent from experts who should know, saying such a rush could undermine trust in the vaccine!

    Whoever wins on November 3, America will endure the Trump trough for decades to come.  It’s the latest gripping horror movie, on how reckless leadership sinks empires.

  • Matawalle’s justice

    Matawalle’s justice

    Hardball

    Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle has every reason to be bitter with reckless drivers, particularly those fellows in questionable physical and mental state huddling behind the wheels of articulated vehicles and who, now and then, wreak distressing carnages on Nigerian highways.

    Only last week, a truck from the fleet of BUA Company lost control and plowed into three vehicles near Fegin Dan Marke community on Funtua-Gusau road. That mishap, which occurred shortly after Governor Matawalle passed the point en route the state capital from Abuja, left 16 persons dead and several others injured. Though it wasn’t officially confirmed, the victims were reportedly supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on hand to cheer the governor on his way from Abuja. Upon receiving the news before reaching Gusau, Matawalle returned to the scene to oversee conveyance of the dead to the morgue and those injured to the hospital. He directed that families of the victims be immediately contacted and ordered all his staff to gather early the following day for a befitting burial of those who died. The governor equally declared a three-day mourning in honour of the deceased. Road safety agents blamed the mishap on speeding and wrong overtaking.

    At the weekend, Matawalle led members of the state Executive Council and BUA Group management on a condolence visit to Emir of Gusau Ibrahim Bello, during which time he disclosed plans for an executive bill that would stipulate the death penalty for any reckless driver who kills on Zamfara highways. The governor was reported saying: “Any reckless driver that causes the death of people in the state would be compelled by law to pay compensation for lives lost before he faces the death sentence.” He added that his administration would introduce speed limit gauge on highways, weight measurement on trucks and drug tests for drivers to forestall rough and reckless driving.

    The governor’s beef with reckless drivers is perfectly understood; it is the same feeling towards operators of articulated vehicles who haul unlatched containers that frequently tip over and kill hapless citizens in Lagos. But the death penalty for accidents is sheer overkill, besides being a contradiction in terms – since the death penalty is typically reserved for the highest level of premeditation, whereas accidents are essentially inadvertent. Moreover, the idea of compelling offending drivers to pay compensation for lives lost before facing capital punishment seems like what is called double jeopardy in conventional jurisprudence.

    Fatalities from irresponsibility of drivers are reprehensible and deserves stiff retribution. But care must be taken not to trivialize capital punishment and turn Nigeria into a gazetted abattoir. Matawalle should concentrate on delivering the promised safety precautions on Zamfara highways rather than waste taxpayer-funded man-hours on producing a monster legislation.

  • Ganduje’s signature

    Ganduje’s signature

    Hardball

     

    KANO State  Governor Abdullahi Ganduje can’t wait to sign the death warrant of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, the 22-year-old singer sentenced to death by hanging, for “blasphemy,” by a Sharia court on August 10.

    “I will not waste time in signing the warrant for the execution of the man who blasphemed our holy prophet of Islam,” the governor said, perhaps self-righteously, during a meeting with clerics at the government house in Kano on August 27.

    “Lawyers just told us that the case could go up to the Supreme Court. So if that happens, I will not waste time in approving the verdict right away. And the second issue is, if the victim did not take up the case to appellate courts, I will not waste time to give the approval for the execution. I will not take more than a few minutes to accept the verdict,” Ganduje said.

    He is obviously unmoved by the opposition to the controversial verdict in some quarters. The criticism that execution is an extreme penalty in the circumstances doesn’t make sense to him. “What the court did is absolutely right. And we support it completely,” he said.

    The Kano Upper Sharia Court had found Sharif-Aminu guilty of “insulting religious creed” based on a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March. The Islamic musician’s song was said to have elevated Senegalese Sheikh Ibrahim Niass of the Tijaniyyah Muslim sect above Prophet Muhammad.

    The singer had gone into hiding, and protesters had burnt down his family house. The Corps Commander General of the state Hisbah Board, which is charged with the responsibility of enforcing Sharia, Dr  Sani Ibn-Sina,  said the organisation  had stopped protesters that gathered at its headquarters from taking the law into their own hands.

    This suggests that the governor toed the line by supporting the verdict. But his position demands more than robotic conformity. He is the governor of a secular state in a secular country.

    This death sentence yet again raises fundamental issues about the operation of Sharia, or Islamic law, in a multi-religious but secular country such as Nigeria where the Islamic system of justice operates in 12 Muslim-majority states in the northern part of the country alongside a secular justice system.

    Ganduje, though a Muslim, is nevertheless expected to rise above religion in this matter, considering the country’s overriding secularism, and constitutional provisions protecting rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and expression.

    His enthusiasm about signing the Sharia-based death warrant calls into question his understanding of his position as a secular governor.

     

  • Hefty cost of a loose tongue

    Hefty cost of a loose tongue

    “E don beg me,” Fela once said of the judge that jailed him for controversial currency charges.  Though Justice Okoro Idogu, the jurist, denied begging anyone, the Fela quip thrived in the streets — “e don beg me!”

    Loudmouth Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK), who the other day verbally assaulted a reporter on legitimate duty, is finding out the hard way that begging is no speedy way to forgiveness.

    Twice FFK has begged: first cynically; and a second time, much more remorseful.  But the harder he begs, the farther he seems to locate forgiveness, from a media lobby slow to fury, but extremely hard to placate.

    What a price to pay, for a loose and rampant tongue! Poor FFK!  He would wish he had bridled his tongue!

    But exactly how would he have done that?  When FFK started strafing poor Eyo Charles, for asking the “satanic” question of who was “bankrolling” FFK’s Cross River State tour, the loquacious one felt it was yet another opportunity to freely traduce, as he usually does, in his toxic speeches, media articles and social media posts.

    That Daily Trust Reporter Charles, and his gathered colleagues, kept a supine quiet, with some even mumbling apologies, energized FFK and goaded him to new recklessness!

    Not a few have flayed those reporters for their scandalous timidity and long-suffering.  But other have demurred, saying those who duel with lunatics give folks no choice but to doubt their sanity.

    Still, it is clear the joke is on FFK.  For starters, even after his disgraceful railing and ranting, he started apologizing to his own entourage for his “short fuse.”

    Then, next day, he claimed his advisors had asked him to apologize to the reporter.  After a subsequent media walkout, FFK apologized again.  So the self-described “former minister” and rich “lawyer” suddenly discovered his Queen’s English and forensic skills couldn’t compel media attention!

    But the FFK fiasco only mirrors the vacuity of the Nigerian contemporary political elite.  What’s FFK’s brand equity, or even perceived reputation, that state governors would queue behind one another, expecting FFK to pay “state” visits, inspect projects, pass judgments and address press conferences, with all the bravura at his haughty disposal?

    What value do his sponsors feel he would add?  And if they ran into a ditch, what rescue effort could FFK muster?  Just to answer a simple question — who is bankrolling your trip? — see how hubris has buried FFK!  As our people say, with that pidgin street lingo: “bad market”!

    Hardball just hopes FFK and his ilk have learnt their bitter lessons.  The media, placid and long-suffering, could be a very good servant.  But never think of a more dreadful master — for it’s the equivalent of a rapid relay of near-invisible foes, blitzing you every passing second.

    Want to know how that feels?  Ask FFK!

  • Ghana must stop!

    Ghana must stop!

    Hardball

    Hostility against Nigerian citizens in Ghana has been a recurring decimal, and it’s time for that country’s authorities to make amends towards permanent redress. The clamour now isn’t that shameful (yes, let’s own up) xenophobic battle cry of ‘Ghana must go!’ of the 70’s. There has been an ironic role change, and it is that Ghanaians should stop their underhand aggression against Nigerians who from indications are being pressured to go from their choice country of residence.

    Nigerian entrepreneurs in Accra came under fire again lately as Ghanaian officials locked up their shops, allegedly on account of their being in default of requisite codes. President of the Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji, said an inter-ministerial task force went round to identify shops owned by Nigerian traders, demanding evidence of business registration, tax payment, resident permit, standard control and Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration. “Most of our members do not have the GIPC registration because it requires one-million-dollar cash or equity and they gave us 14 days within which to regularise,” Nnaji added inter alia.

    It seemed apparent that Nigerians were being singled out for heavy hand. A viral video of a Nigerian shop owner who said he registered his business way back in 2007 showed his shop being pin-pointedly locked up amidst bustling commerce in an area of the capital city. He protested vociferously that he pays his taxes, has his resident permit and other papers, with documentary evidence prominently displayed in his shop. Amid his protestations that they were not asking for those documents, Ghanaian officials were seen enforcing the closure of his business, telling him blandly he was operating illegally. They had no answer to his assertion that he had all his papers except the $1million requirement, which he asked them if they themselves could muster, yet they proceeded to enforce the closure.

    Nigerian government subsequently outlined a concert of measures by which it would get redress for affected citizens. Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said besides conventional bilateral engagements with the Ghanaian government, Nigeria may head to the ECOWAS Court for a lasting solution. He also didn’t foreclose the option of reciprocity if diplomacy fails.

    Meanwhile, we must note that recurrent attack on Nigerian traders in Ghana is part of a larger picture of anti-Nigerian sentiments in that sister country. Only in June, a building within Nigeria’s diplomatic mission in Accra was bulldozed by non-state actors, but with no immediate intervention from state agents. It took diplomatic engagement to contain that situation. Now it is government agents dealing heavy hand on Nigerian traders. It sucks that there is latent ill-will against Nigeria running so deep in Ghana, and Ghana must stop the animus.

  • Stubborn rival

    Stubborn rival

    Hardball

    From the look of things, the public has not heard the last of the rivalry between Joe Igbokwe and Jude Idimogu concerning the position of Igbo apex leader in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State.

    Igbokwe, Special Adviser (SA) on Drainage and Water Resources to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Idimogu, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Oshodi/Isolo Constituency II, are still not on the same page regarding the question of the Igbo leadership position, contrary to the impression given by the chairman of Lagos APC, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, that their conflict had been laid to rest.

    After a meeting with the two rivals, Balogun was quoted as saying: “With my intervention in the matter, the party has resolved that both of them should work together as brothers and bring their supporters together so that they can work together for Igbos in APC in peace and harmony.

    “With the situation of things, Joe Igbokwe will be the apex leader of Igbos in APC; while Jude Idimogu will be the deputy apex leader… he must be ready to work with Igbokwe who has been in the party longer.”

    Igbokwe’s comment after the peace meeting was in line with the party chairman’s clarification. “The party leadership has settled the issue and I don’t think there will be any crisis again,” he said.

    But to go by Idimogu’s account of the meeting, there is no peace yet. “It is not true that Igbokwe was recognised as apex leader,” he declared.  According to him, the party chairman “said both of us are leaders recognised by the party and we should work together. He did not mention anything about Joe Igbokwe being the apex leader.”

    Idimogu added:  “If Joe Igbokwe is saying that he has been recognised as apex leader, he is entitled to his opinion… I told the party chairman that I never gave myself the position of apex leader. It is my Igbo community leaders that gave me.

    “As long as they have given me apex leader, I will answer the title because they not only gave it to me, they even issued me a certificate to back it up. Nobody is dragging that with me.”  Does he understand the party’s stance?

    The party chairman needs to further clarify the party’s position on this issue beyond doubt, even though he had stated it clearly enough.  It is a question of party supremacy and party discipline.   A good party man should respect his party’s position, pure and simple.

  • Saint Abbo

    Saint Abbo

    Hardball

     

     

    You know it already: Senator Elisha Abbo has been acquitted by a court of law of the charge of slapping a defenseless woman in an Abuja adult toy shop; a suit brought against him by the police over that incident has been dismissed. A magistrates’ court in Zuba, Abuja, cleared the 41-year-old lawmaker representing Adamawa-North in the Senate on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform of two counts of criminal use of force and criminal assault. Magistrate Abdullahi Ilelah upheld a no-case submission entered by Abbo, saying the police failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he assaulted Ms. Osimibibra Warmate. Though it’s been some weeks since the verdict was handed down, it still rankles.

    A video made public by Premium Times on 2nd July, last year showed Abbo savagely slapping Warmate inside the sex toy shop for allegedly calling him ‘a drunk.’ The incident was reported to have occurred on 11th May – barely three months after Abbo became senator-elect and a month before he was sworn-in on 11th June. Whereas the victim filed an official complaint with the police that May, the authorities failed to act until the video emerged, triggering intense public outrage. In his initial response to the video, Abbo alleged that it was edited to twist the narrative against him. Soon after though, he issued a teary-eyed apology to his victim and the Nigeria public, which many took to be an admission of guilt.

    Now the court has ruled that the police did a shoddy job of prosecuting the case. “The evidence and exhibits tendered do not disclose a prima facie case of the alleged crime of criminal force and assault against the defendant (Abbo). The prosecution’s case centred on the oral evidence of PW1 (Warmate) and the two discs contained a CCTV footage of the incident and alleged video clip of an apology from the defendant,” Magistrate Ilelah said, ruling that the public apology by Abbo did not equate to admittance of guilt.

    Unless the police appeal this verdict and do a more thorough job of prosecution, Senator Abbo is off the hook on technicalities, leaving the brazenly brutalised victim shortchanged of substantial justice. While the police deserve blame for shoddy prosecution, the verdict as well highlighted the injustice of placing technicality before the substance of law. Worse, this verdict may foreclose other avenues of redress for the victim, like the Senate’s internal probe of the incident by an ad-hoc committee. Although the Senate in plenary received the panel’s report last year, it suspended deliberation on it in view of the case in court. With the court verdict, there seems little it can do now.

    Hardball says even if Abbo is scented by legal technicality, he can’t shake off his stench in public opinion.

     

  • FFK: Uncivilised

    FFK: Uncivilised

    Hardball

    Foul language is inexcusable among civilised people.  It is unsurprising that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, also known as FFK, a former minister of aviation, attracted deserved knocks for using foul language against a journalist at a press conference in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, on August 20.

    After FFK’s week-long “extensive guided tour” of Governor Ben Ayade’s projects in the state, the organisers had invited the media to hear his report. Of course, he praised the Ayade administration.  FFK “spent over one hour speaking highly of Gov Ayade,” according to Eyo Charles, the Daily Trust reporter who covered the event.

    When it was question time, the reporter said in his account, “I asked, ‘Sir, please you did not disclose to us who is bankrolling you…”  The reporter was not prepared for his reaction.  FFK thundered: “How dare you ask me such a very stupid question?  I know that you, a hungry-looking, brown envelop journalist, you are sponsored to ask me such an insulting question. You can look into my eyes and ask me such a demeaning question! I cannot take that!

    “I am a very rich lawyer, who has been in government; who has been detained many times by governments.  I have a very rich background. How can you ask who is bankrolling my tours of the states. It is very insulting, and I cannot take that. You are very stupid.  I know your publishers; I will call them in the next few minutes. You have to be fired. I cannot answer any more questions from you or from any other reporter. This conference has ended. I have a very short temper…”

    The video of this uncivilised response to a journalistic enquiry went viral. FFK’s unacceptable display of self-importance drew unsparing public criticism.

    Then FFK offered an apology. “I met with my advisors,” he said, as if he had needed a lesson on how to behave with civility and use language like a civilised person.

    “I hereby withdraw the word ‘stupid’ which I used in my encounter with a journalist in Calabar. I have many friends in the media who I offended by losing my cool and using such words. I hereby express my regrets for doing so,” he said in a statement.

    Hopefully, FFK has learnt his lesson. It is inexcusable that he had reacted to a journalistic question in an uncivilised manner. But beyond his interaction with journalists, he should learn to avoid using offensive language which portrays him as uncivilised.

  • Ebora’s centennial dreams

    Ebora’s centennial dreams

    Hardball

    The Ebora Owu, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is dreaming centennial dreams — and after that, the beloved of God would give God the permission to call him home!  Isn’t sweet?

    Well, if you’re readying your angry pen to strafe Obasanjo at his passage, as Obasanjo mocked the late Buruji Kashamu even before hitting the grave, better hold your fire!  The one who said he was at the “departure lounge” not so long ago just declared “departure” was now suspended — at least for 20 years, in the first instance!

    Jollying with Oba Sabur Bakare, Jamolu II, the Agura of Gbagura, Egba, on his first anniversary on the Gbagura throne: the Ebora declared: “I will be here to celebrate your 20 years anniversary with you, whether I am invited or not.  By the time I also partake in celebrating your 20th anniversary with you, if God wishes he can call me to come and meet him in heaven because I know by that time, I will be above 100 or more.”

    The Ebora with God Almighty in paradise, and VIP seat reserved!  Can you beat that?  Kole Omotoso, in one of his novels, quipped about not able to “afford the arrogance of the saved”, who have a comprehensive insurance cover in the higher Being!  What would you call this: the celestial arrogance of the Ebora that boasts a comprehensive cover in Olodumare?

    Meanwhile, the old man, 83, hugged media headlines, diving merrily prostrate, at the foot of the far younger royal!  The paparazzi loved it and clicked away!  Though it’s not often you see an Ebora dive on all fours, it’s not the first time this Ebora is pulling that stunt, at the foot of younger monarchs.  It’s Obasanjo’s new humility in his winter years, after all the bumbling arrogance of youth — about time!

    But that was not all: the hitherto father and founder of modern Nigeria, who hardly could bear his Yoruba essence during his high power years, military or civilian — for the love of darling Nigeria, of course — now makes a pitch for Yoruba unity!

    Hear him: “If we are united, there is nothing we can’t do in Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole”!  Yeah, yeah, yeah, Nigeria just had to be there!  But Yoruba as first point of reference?  The great Zik of Africa must be chuckling in his grave!

    Why?  Because Zik it was, who Obasanjo savaged in Not My Will, his post-military head of state memoirs: that he crashed from Zik of Africa in his heydays, to Owelle of Onitsha in his winter years.  But pray, what does Obasanjo’s neo-Yoruba solidarity amount to?

    Beam on, Blessed Zik!  Didn’t our elders say what a child couldn’t see high up on a tree, the elder easily glimpsed, even while reclining in his seat?  Beam on, Zik!

    In frenetic latter-day humility — contrived or real — and latter-day foray to annex community value, Obasanjo has acted every hurtful word he scripted on Zik, in his callow memoirs!

    But back to the centennial dream.  A rather defensive Obasanjo, faced with furious flak at his coarse comments on Buruji, had told anyone to write whatever they damn well pleased, at his own death.

    All these centennial-prostrating stunt could well be the Ebora high drama to make all those sizzling to pay Obasanjo, in his own Buruji coins, swallow the chill pill!  The Ebora moves in mysterious ways!