Category: Hardball

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar just let go a rather revealing — if disturbing — Freudian slip; that defines his politics as rather opportunistic, if not outright toxic.

He let it out that President Muhammadu Buhari’s newly released ministerial list was timed to blot, from public consciousness,  the Shiite violence, and its attendant killings.

Atiku was so sure of the presidential motive by the list.  Could Atiku too, as president, have been that Machiavellian, adopting the Soyinka-esque quip of the end justifying the meanness?

An out-of-government Atiku, “pissing” poison inside from outside, just for his political benefit, even comes out more worrying.

Does Atiku get a big kick from bad news, where people perish and there is cry and anguish, just because it enhances his political chances?

That appears the sense of his press release, which suggests that he gets a kick from news of violence and disasters, of anguish and suffering, of blood and gore, so long as it de-markets whoever is in office and gives Atiku a shoo-in to steal in.

What would happen to the polity were everyone to be like that?  That would mean perpetual plotting and back-stabbing for power.  It would be a neo-Hobbesian state, where life — and governance — is nasty, brutish and short.

That same cynicism would appear to drive Atiku’s attitude to the Fulani demonization hysteria.  He is Fulani but his own is a funereal quiet over the whole crisis.  Better a loud silence that any word that could prove politically incorrect, in a desperate push for president?

Better: let the Fulani be roasted.  So long as it shackles the incumbent and enhances the possible access to power, it’s all well and good.

Politics and governance are basically about people and their welfare.  Any ambition that treats both as a cynical means to an end is scandalous and should not be encouraged.

That is what Atiku’s release on the ministerial release suggests.  It is nothing but toxic politics.  That will lead neither the former Vice President nor the people he hopes to lead any where.

Prof. Ango Abudullahi’s Northern Elders Forum (NEF) just upped the ante — Fulani herders, battered, pummelled and demonised as unfazed crime champions of southern (read South West) forests, should leave the South and come home, up North!

Nigerian unity, the body quipped, should not be at the expense of the prized lives of herders; even as irate southern voices also growl that their farmers’ blood, allegedly being spilled by the rampaging herders, is not worth the expense of eating cow.

It was extremists’ clash and counter-clash.  The good thing though, was that moderating and saner voices came slamming the return home diktat.

The President told the herders to ignore the NEF call.  Surprisingly, that was one call the coterie of southern cynics and extremists didn’t feast on, as latest evidence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s “nepotism”.  On that, all appears quiet on the southern front.

The Southwest governors have also weighed in: banish the thought; the herders stay!  Hardball has so far not picked up any whispering campaign, ridiculing these governors as effete house Negroes to the Fulani super-master — not yet, any way.

Both Abuja and South West capitals have earned commendation for those restraining voices.  NEF’s was a dangerous challenge that echoed, all over again, the catastrophe of 1966, which climaxed in civil war.  Both Abuja and the South West governors have rightly slammed it.  It was the correct, noble and patriotic thing to do.

But again, that brink shows the roaring danger of ethnic profiling.  Even if “Fulani herdsmen” were guilty of all the South West forest crimes adduced to them — highly unlikely — the NEF challenge proved that everyone, guilty or innocent, could play by ethnic blazes.  It’s all a question of felt ethnic insults for that conflagration to flare!

That’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow any one any good.  That is why sane and moderate voices must always take charge and dominate.

The principle of “banning” herdsmen from specific localities could apply to all spheres of life.  That could put, in jeopardy, every Nigerian working outside his native area.

But that might just be the least of the crisis.  It could easily snowball into targeted ethnic killings and counter-killings, since the driving force appears ethnic incense, not aversion to crime.

The Federal Government and South West governors have done well to shrug off the danger.  But the next step must be identifying the criminals and openly make them pay.

Again, it goes without saying that the unity of purpose that weakened the NEF call is also needed to go after the criminals, and make South West forests safe again.

The people on their part must be wary of demagogues, pushing their personal loathing as collective ethnic ire.  People should decry criminality, no matter where the criminal comes from.

That way, South West forests will be safe and secure again, without assailing the pride and ethnic consciousness of others, by wholesale dubbing them criminals without proof.

When crisis breaks, people start making threats.  True threats, most times, are no more than aggressive complaints to express fear; and desperate hopes that the subject of discomfort vanishes.

Or it could just be fear, expressed by threat; just like a dog that growls not because it is brave or fearless or formidable; but because it is impressed and suppressed by white fear, and barking is its last form of defence, as psychological protection.

But it is at the juncture, when everyone loses their heads, that the wise and the introspective step back from the brink and think through the problem.

The provocation of the moment roars: go ahead smash everything!  But cold reason also cautions: you could have the might to smash and prevail.  But you could also pick some injury that could mock your perceived strength.  Worse: you could get smashed, even if your plan was to smash!

So, at that juncture when cold reason moderates mad anger, the introspective choose restraint, no matter the anger; and seek to fix the problems, in a win-win situation.

That is what is missing in the current security crisis.

For weeks, if not months, the bellicose have asked the Fulani, herdsmen, bandits and all, to be expelled from their area.  To be sure, nothing is wrong to call for the expulsion and punishment of criminals, tormenting the host community.

What is wrong is when that request is framed to assume a sweeping, universal hue, tarring every Fulani in sight as bandits, as robbers, as kidnappers, as general scum, richly deserving everyone’s hate.

That way, it under-stresses the crime and instead condemns the whole stock, in very dangerous ethnic profiling.  That breeds counter-nationalist pride and counter-desperation, also fuelled by irrational passion.

That pretty much explains the Northern Elders Forum, NEF’s call for all the nomadic Fulani herders to head back North, with their cattle in tow.  Unlike the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), NEF, with all due respect to its members, boasts little record of restraints, when everyone is losing their head.

It has further confirmed this trait, with its diktat to herders; and the not-so-hidden threat that Nigeria can’t be kept together at the expense of herders’ lives — the same herders the scowling host communities in the southern belt accuse of heinous crimes!

That just shows that no part of the country has a monopoly of threat.  Neither does any side hold the monopoly of violence.  But then, name one country where threats and violence have helped anyone?

Yes, threats are the forte of the lunatic fringe; or at best the emotionally impaired.  Such action can only lead to avoidable catastrophe.

Which is why there should rise a nationwide coalition of the reasonable and introspective, to form a reasoned mainstream; and banish all the lunatic voices to the fringe.

This security crisis Nigerians can sit down and tackle.  Humans have the inherent capacity to solve and surmount problems.  That is why they are not animals.

So, enough of these threats and counter-threats.  It’s all ill wind that blows no one no good.  Let the voice of reason prevail.

Father and son beheaded?  Was it olden days tribal war?  And in 21st century Nigeria?

According to The Nation of July 15, Chief Sunday Obite, the clan head of Ebom village, alleged that belligerents from the neighbouring  Usumtong village, both in Abi Local Government area of Cross River State, on July 13, beheaded one Oti Ato and Sunday, his son.  The victims even had a third generation of their family, the grandson, who nevertheless escaped with gunshot wounds.

“The man and his family were harvesting cassava when they were attacked by Usumtong people.  The grandson, who is receiving treatment  in a hospital at Itigidi, following the bullet wounds he sustained while hiding in the bush, said he saw the people cutting off his grandfather’s head from his hiding place in the bush,” Obite volunteered.  How gory!

But that wasn’t even the worst: “They even made the wife, Eliza Oti, watch while they beheaded her husband and son; and asked her to inform her family.”  How bestial can folks be!  Is the Law even alive in that community — or was it slain too, in that savage communal bust-up?

The local arm of the Nigeria Police assured it is.  Said Irene Ugbo, the Cross River Police spokeswoman: “We are aware of the killing.  The commissioner of Police has deployed men there.  Community leaders have been invited to meet the commissioner for further deliberation.  At present the area is calm.”

You can be sure it is!  Hardball will encourage the Police to involve the two communities to put in place lasting peace.  Without peace, clearly, there can be no development.  So, everything must be done to bring back the peace.

But a critical factor for peace is justice.  So, right now, the police should ensure justice for the slain.  So, first thing first: ferret out the offending felons, that took the life of fellow citizens with such goriness and barbarism.

The security personnel that helped to recover the headless bodies, said to be three, should also help to arrest those who litter their land with abomination and visit such hideouts trauma on fellow citizens, no matter the provocation.

Besides, the point should be made, and sternly too: never must it be tolerated that harvesting cassava on your own farm is tantamount to a death sentence.  That was what the ill-fated Oti was doing, with his family, when the Usumutong alleged killers struck.

The police, in record time, should round up those involved in the crime, do thorough investigation, and charge the suspects to court to face justice.

It should never be allowed that citizens’ lives are taken with such murderous impunity.  The alleged criminals must be found and punished fast.

who killed Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of the National leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti? Reports say “gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen” killed the 58-year-old woman on July 12 in Ondo State.

Police spokesman in the state, Femi Joseph, said: “Three vehicles were ambushed by gunmen at Kajola on the Benin-Ore Expressway around 2pm. One woman named Funmi Olakunrin was shot but died before our men could take her to the hospital. The woman (deceased) was travelling in a Toyota Jeep. One man in another Toyota Camry Car was abducted by the gunmen. Our men have rescued seven men travelling in the commercial bus belonging to Young Shall Grow Motors Limited. We have begun search for the man that was abducted and to get the hoodlums.”

But spokesman for Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said:  “We have confirmed the death of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, (daughter of our leader, Chief Fasoranti). Eyewitness accounts say she died of gunshots from Fulani herdsmen who shot her at Ore junction in Ondo State earlier today. She was coming from Akure when the armed Fulani herdsmen came from the bush to attack her and other vehicles. Her domestic staff in the car with her also sustained gunshot wounds. This is one death too many and a clear we-can-take-it-no-more death.”

This killing is yet another case that shows the high level of insecurity in the country. It heightens the controversy over the Federal Government’s plan to implement its herders’ settlement project, called Ruga settlements, which has been suspended.

A kidnapping in May had corroborated information that Fulani herdsmen were engaged in other things in the country’s South-west. An orthopaedic surgeon at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof Olayinka Adegbehingbe, was kidnapped on the Ife-Ibadan Expressway.

Adegbehingbe had said: “The Federal Government needs to invest more in security; we need to know the identity of people coming in and going out of the town, state and the country at large. The people who abducted me were Fulani herdsmen and they had four guns and multiple rounds of ammunition as well as other weapons.” He paid N5.045m before he was freed.

Whether or not Olakunrin was killed by herders, the killers must be found by the police. The herders’ question remains unresolved and compounded by instances of violence attributed to them. Olakunrin’s killing is an additional reason why the authorities should tackle insecurity with greater seriousness.

Nigeria bash Bafana-Bafana!  Eagles chop banana-banana!  What devastating pun!

It was the aftermath of the Nigeria-South Africa showdown, at the current African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.  Flush with a giant-killing victory against homers and seven-time champions, Egypt, the social media was ablaze with South Africa running Nigeria ragged, as they did Egypt.

Suddenly Stuart Baxter, the Bafana-Bafana boss, suddenly became the acclaimed master of beguiling and crushing tactics. The majestic dash-and-press, that silenced the mighty Mo Sallah and sent the Pharaohs home early, was awaiting Odion Ighalo; and maybe the audacious master of nutmeg, Alex Iwobi.

For sure, after the Egypt conquest, the match was for Bafana to lose.  It’s time to silence the uppity West Africans for good, and confirm Uyo — Bafana’s 2:0 defeat of Nigeria, in own backyard — was no fluke.

But on the day, it was another story.  Ighalo, tall, big and muscular, and co-highest goal grabber (with Senegal’s Sadio Mane, with three goals) was no more than a decoy, bearing down on Bafana’s harassed defence.

While Baxter was cocking his “Republican Guard” guns at Ighalo, Gernot Rohr, the Nigeria manager, unleashed his smart, laser bomb, Samuel Chukwueze, on Bafana!  Before you could mutter Baxter, Bafana was in blind panic!

By the way, “Republican Guards”, “smart, laser bombs” — remember those terrible and foreboding images out of Operation Desert Storm, the first of the two hideous America-Iraq wars?  While Saddam’s supposed elite Republican Guards were arrayed, waiting for conventional battle, America’s latest smart bombs had finished the job!

Nigeria versus South Africa was the triumph of superior tactics on the day; making your players play to their strength and natural technique, backed by unassailable mental strength.

South Africa came in, wanting to run, and run, and run; hoping in the end to dazzle, rather than muscle.  But they found themselves muscled and muzzled, by a Nigerian midfield duo of Etebo and Ndidi, who cut off almost all Bafana raids, before they ever got into the final third.

Bafana planned a raid, powered by race and pace.  But the Eagles shut down any race; and Bafana found selves in a tight brace.

On the other hand, the Eagles surged: the trio of the mercurial Iwobi, Chukwueze and Ahmed Musa orchestrating the dangerous moves, putting Ighalo the decoy at the ready — who knows?

Rohr triumphed in this game of wits, though no thanks to his boys’ waywardness and wastefulness, they should have buried the match, long before Bafana got their video assisted referee (VAR)-assisted equalizer.  But that wouldn’t matter since Troost Ekong, the big one-half of the Nigerian famed “Oyinbo wall”, came teasing in the winner, when it was too late for Bafana to come back.

Another fine win over South Africa, chaffing under a rather overwhelming head-to-head statistics: six losses, five draws and only two wins, out of which only one was competitive, the other being a friendly contest.  And for records too, in AFCON, Nigeria made it 3:0 — three straight wins.  Over Bafana, the West Africans reign supreme.

So, if exalted ball fans on Twitter screech Eagles chop banana-banana, maybe they have a point!