Category: Hardball

WHY did the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) announce resumption of train services on the Abuja-Kaduna route today, when security is still a big issue and the vast majority of kidnapped victims of the train attack two months ago are still in captivity? It wasn’t well thought out.

The corporation has had a rethink, and will not resume services on the route today as scheduled. The most important consideration now should be bringing the captives back, which may well have influenced the latest decision. NRC spokesman Yakub Mahmoud said a new date would be announced.

The corporation appealed to the relatives of people held hostage “to be patient and cooperate with the corporation and the security agencies as the Federal Government is exploring all possible ways and means to ensure the safe release of their loved ones from captivity, soonest.”

The tragic terror attack on a train on the Abuja-Kaduna route on March 28 was a result of poor track security.  Gunmen blew up a section of track. The NRC said there were 362 people on board. Sadly, eight passengers were killed, 41 injured, and many were abducted. The NRC had suspended train services on the route.

The corporation, in a statement, had said the “safe rescue” of the captives “is a top priority,” adding that their relatives should not “misconstrue the resumption of train services, as abandonment or nonchalant attitude of the government towards their plight.”

The affected relatives and the general public needed more than words of reassurance, and demanded action and results.  It would have been difficult for the corporation to operate on the route in the circumstances, as the relatives of the captives accused the corporation of insensitivity.

The allegation of insensitivity is bad for the corporation’s image. The spokesman of the relatives of the captives, Dr Abdulfatai Jimoh, gave a damning account of the NRC’s role, saying its MD, Mr Fidet Okhiria, “has not met any relatives of the abducted passengers since this incident occurred.”

He added: “We made several attempts to meet him but all our efforts were to no avail. We submitted the email addresses of leaders of our group… for the purpose of starting the situation room, but it has been one excuse or the other as nothing has been done in this regard.”

Bringing the captives back should come first. This cannot be overemphasised.  The Federal Government should put first things first.

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike is not on best of terms with workers. He was recently called out by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership at the national level as contravening the famous maxim that charity begins at home.

Wike is a notable benefactor of causes outside of his state, but he is allegedly neglecting to give workers in his state their entitlements. NLC President Ayuba Wabba, in a letter penultimate week to the Rivers helmsman, accused him of ‘withholding’ salaries and pensions of Rivers workers in violation of duly signed agreement whereas he is playing Father Christmas outside of the state. Among others, he is alleged to have denied eligible civil servants promotion while also refusing to implement salary and pension increments in the state. Besides, salary arrears of civil servants who did not receive February and March 2016 salaries owing to the aborted 2016 biometric verification have not been paid, same as pension arrears and gratuities of Rivers retirees, thus exposing them to unimaginable pain and trauma; and neither have death benefits of deceased workers been paid to their families. The congress expressed shock that the governor has not paid terminal benefits of retirees for the past seven years despite Rivers being one of Nigeria’s richest states, comparable to Lagos. It also lamented that two years after reaching a Collective Bargaining Agreement with workers and pensioners, the state government had reneged on honouring the pact. Wabba wondered why Governor Wike would donate money to other states when workers in his state were not being paid. “The gale of donations to different causes has not escaped the attention of hungry workers and pensioners in Rivers, who watch as their state adorns the robe of Father Christmas to other states while their salaries and pension are withheld,” he said.

The Rivers government has not publicly responded to the NLC letter. Meanwhile, it is estimated that Wike has given out more than N7billion to other states since he became governor in 2015. Only last month, he donated N200million to victims of violence in Kaduna State. Early 2021, he donated N500million to support rebuilding Sokoto Central Market destroyed by fire, and last February he donated N500million to Bayelsa State Medical Science University. He also committed N5billion for infrastructure upgrade at Yenagoa campus of the Nigeria Law School, for which Rivers has been rewarded with a campus of the school in Port Harcourt that is currently under construction. Truth, however, is: whatever image Mr. Governor aims to cultivate with offshore benevolence utterly lacks genuineness without domesticating same at home.

Some people and their moves are never what they posture as. Where their moves smack of cowardice, you get spins projecting these as valiant acts of gallantry. Those were the vibes over the last weekend from the camp of Federal Attorney-General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami.

Few hours after he was hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari to a valedictory session along with nine other Federal Executive Council members, the minister pulled his ambition to run for the Kebbi State governorship and stuck with his ministerial job. Following a rash of bids by members of his cabinet for political offices in the forthcoming 2023 poll, the President had given political appointees – notably cabinet members – up till last Monday to resign or forfeit their electoral ambition. It was on that basis 10 cabinet members, among whom Malami prominently featured, were hosted by the President in a valedictory session on Friday. Shortly after, news emerged that the minister had a change of mind. “I have not resigned as the Attorney-General of the Federation but have only withdrawn from the Kebbi governorship race,” he said in a terse message to Vanguard newspaper. The newspaper said Malami confirmed the development Saturday morning while not giving a reason for the sudden rethink.

The change of mind was curious, however, because the minister was a high profile contender for the Kebbi governorship. After months of speculation, he formally joined the race on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform on 28th April and submitted his N50million nomination and declaration of intention forms to the party on 11th May. He had said he decided to run for the office owing to pressure on him by supporters. At a forum in Birnin Kebbi, APC executives at ward and council levels pledged their support for the minister, and shortly after some of his associates received exotic car gifts in what was widely perceived as softening the ground ahead of the APC governorship primary. Obviously, however, Malami had hoped to hold onto the ministerial job while pursuing his governorship ambition. Only that the presidential directive put paid to that.

Spokesperson for the minister, Umar Gwandu, at the weekend said the minister’s withdrawal from the governorship race was an act of patriotism. “The decision is not only a demonstration of altruism and patriotism but of contentment, self-control, placidity and decisiveness in problem-solving at a time shrouded with confusing and competing stimulus. It is a commendable posture worthy admiration coming from a paragon of virtue,” he explained. Some patriotism!

Russia President, Vladimir Putin’s troubled North Atlantic Treaty Organzation (NATO) dream is peaking into a nightmare.  As he battles to keep out Ukraine, Finland and Sweden are warming up to join.  It’s strategic defeat from the Ukraine war, even while the guns still boom.

Anti-NATO sentiments fired Russia’s rather rash invasion of Ukraine.  Russia’s invasion, which started on February 24, presumed Ukraine would roll over, the Volodymyr Zelenskyy regime would fall in days; and Ukraine’s “neo-Nazis” (in Kremlin-speak) would be carted to Moscow in chains and ultimate disgrace.  Costly delusion!

True, Ukraine does suffer fearsome civilian casualties and fair military ones; and an Armageddon-like destruction of its cities and infrastructure.  But the underdog has grabbed global admiration — and it’s not just because of the skewed manner the partisan Western media have branded the war.

Indeed, David versus Goliath-like, Ukraine has scored spectacular battle successes, though it would appear more like the voice of Jacob cohabiting with the hands of Esau!  Still, Russia has itself to blame for blundering into a bully war, when it ought to have kept its sword of Damocles hanging, preserving its military mystique, which Ukraine’s has all but tested — and near-shattered.

Yet, it’s the double whammy of Finland and Sweden, two Nordic neighbours now mulling a joint application to join NATO, that should give Putin splitting, strategic headache.

Especially galling is Finland, which shares a 1, 300 km border stretch with Russia.  Between February 24 and now, pro-NATO public opinion has surged to a record 75%.  Sweden’s has been less dramatic: it has risen from 50% to 60% NATO approval.

The cause: if Russia could invade and destroy co-tribal Ukraine in such a cold-blooded and cavalier manner, what might it not do to its Nordic neighbours — because it could and get away with it?  NATO then to the rescue!

Sauli Niinisto, Finland President, grabbed his phone and told Putin so.  The Guardian of London quoted Niiniisto as saying the call was “direct and straightforward”.  It was also “calm and cool … The surprise was he took it so calmly.”

Though lower Russian cadres had resorted to nuclear sabre-rattling should the Nordics dare, Putin himself was reportedly much more sober: NATO membership, Putin warned, “would be a mistake, since there is no threat to Finland’s security.”

He can tell that to the marines — or even better, to the Ukrainians!

The 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scheduled for last Monday in Southeast centres was rescheduled owing to the sit-at-home order hobbling the geopolitical zone. The Monday sit-at-home was ordered by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which later called it off, with the order yet being enforced by unidentified persons despite repeated assurances by state governments in the zone that normalcy could reign.

Candidates slated to write the Computer-Based Test (CBT) that began on Friday, 6th May and was billed to continue on Monday, 9th May, had their exam shifted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB). Agency reports cited JAMB sources saying the exam was shifted in view of the sit-at-home order. Some centres gave advance notice they would not open on Monday. “We want to play safe for the safety of the candidates as possibility of non-vehicular movement may be experienced and hinder smooth transportation for candidates who will come from far and near for the said examination,” Ngozi Nwude-Nduka, the administrator of Integral Development Consult, a CBT centre in Awka, Anambra State capital, was reported saying as she advised affected candidates to reprint their examination slips to know the new dates for their examination.

In certain places, even JAMB offices were locked up with only few security staff on duty. The News Agency on Nigeria (NAN) reported some candidates saying they weren’t pre-notified and had gone to their centre only to learn the exam had been shifted. One candidate recalled that because there was no commercial vehicle available, the father took him and a friend in his car only for them to meet the CBT centre shuttered. Another candidate lamented that it was highly risky venturing out on Mondays, and that JAMB should have pre-notified them of the change in examination timetable rather than allow them take that risk.

Considering the unhinged operation of sit-at-home enforcers, it was understandable why JAMB would rather err on the part of caution by shifting the Monday exam. But that was a golden opportunity for helping to restore normalcy to the zone sacrificed. There were reports of students writing the West African Examination Council exam trekking long distances to sit for the Food and Nutrition paper owing to non-availability of public transportation; but the exam held. Governments of Southeast states should have ensured the right environment for the JAMB exam to likewise hold towards defeating the rogue order that has defied revocation by its original author. It was an opportunity missed.

Many lobbyists for Igbo president would caper and tingle at the reported endorsement of their dream by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Afenifere Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

Those lobbyists should chill.  For one, Obasanjo pushes nobody’s cause except his own.  Beyond the “Igbo presidency” veneer of his reported quote, the essence was an umpteenth dry-cleaning of his deeds and misdeeds in office.  If sojourners for “Igbo presidency” would offer him a free platform to ventilate, he would grab it with fulsome thanks.

As for Baba Adebanjo, his is ego-tripping.  The old man has democratic rights to his opinion, which Hardball respects.  But to think he speaks for anyone beyond himself and probably the rump of his withering Afenifere would be delusion pushed too far.

That, however, is not to say the Igbo have no right to clamour for the Nigerian presidency.  They do.  It’s the way they go about it that they should check and re-check.

The Igbo bid has hardly entered fresh thresholds beyond playing the victim and fulsome bragging.  None of the two is any vibrant persuasive tool.

The prime victim tool is the claim that only the Igbo, among Nigeria’s three majority ethnics, have not tasted the presidency — true.  But the stacking of cards in this victim’s tale tries to cover the dynamics of huge Igbo benefits under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, where they were prime princes, instead of the picture of the beggarly orphans they now paint.

Unfortunately, those sunny days under PDP limit the Igbo chances now, if regional realpolitik was to decide.  Of the PDP 16 years in power, the South took the slot for almost 14 years (Obasanjo: eight; Jonathan: six) and the North, under the late Umaru Yar’Adua, less than three years.  Yet PDP, not the ruling APC, would appear the Igbo brightest chance!

Then, the bragging and exhibitionism: while that could bolster intra-ethnic pride, it would appear a clear no-brainer to others outside Igboland.  In any case, that the Igbo man has the magic wand that other ethnics don’t have is not borne out of governance in the South East.  Of all the Igbo governors, only David Umahi of Ebonyi is well and truly transformative.  Abia’s Okezie Ikpeazu is among the worst anywhere.  So, where is that magic bragging coming from?

While Hardball empathizes with the Igbo push, their elite must find better ways to push their dream.  You can’t be doing same things and expecting different results.

People are not the only ones threatened by escalating insecurity in the country’s Southeast region. Cows are too. Mysterious assailants, on May 8, bizarrely targeted and set ablaze a truck transporting cattle on Ezinifite-Uga expressway in Aguata local government area of Anambra State.

A viral video showed the truck in flames, and some cows jumping down from the vehicle. There were about 40 cows involved.

Police said they received a distress call on “suspected arson and cruelty to animals by gunmen,” and rescued one Mohammed Lawan of Taraba State, and others, who were conveying livestock. They arrested a suspect in connection with the attack, and said only the front of the truck was affected by fire.

It’s unclear who the attackers were, and why they carried out the attack. The attack on the vehicle conveying cows was a new low in attacks by gunmen in the Southeast.  The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) seems circumstantially implicated in this attack.

The proscribed separatist group is fighting for an independent “Biafra land” made up of the five Southeast states, including Anambra State, and parts of the South-south region of the country.

Insecurity has worsened in that part of the country, since last year, following the arrest and detention of IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing trial for alleged treason and terrorism.

In January, the group had said in a statement issued by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful: “Fulani cows are banned in Biafra land starting from April 2022. Those in the animal husbandry business must switch over to our native cow without delay.”

IPOB had initially attracted attention, in October 2021, with a statement that showed its plan to regulate cattle business and cow meat consumption in the Southeast.

Its head of Directorate of State (DOS), Mazi Chika Edoziem, had announced a ban on the rearing and consumption of “Fulani cows” in the Southeast states, saying the ban would take full effect six months after the announcement.

According to him, “From that date no more Fulani cows shall be allowed into Biafra land for any reason, not for burials, title taking, weddings, etc.”  He added that only cows bred in the territory would from that time on “be consumed and used for all ceremonies in Biafra land.”

People had wondered how the group intended to enforce the cow ban.  It already had a bad record regarding enforcing its bad ideas.

The truck burning may well be one of the group’s enforcement methods. Law enforcement should investigate the incident, and enforce the law. It’s absurd to wage this kind of war against cows.