The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Bafarawa’s waterloo

    SIR: The 2015 elections have come and gone. Winners have emerged while losers are licking their wounds. The summation is that truth has prevailed because Nigerian masses have spoken and loudly too. The outcome o the election is a rebirth of Nigeria which came about from the determination of the masses who defied all odds including refusing inducement from the PDP political jobbers to assert their rights.

    In Sokoto, the election is a loud statement of dissent against ex-Governor Attahiru Bafarawa who has refused to accept that Sokoto people have completely forsaken him. Before now, three elections were held between 2007 and 2011 during which on each occasion he was vehemently rejected. His refusal to accept the verdict of the people as the fate he deserved for his maladministration and tyranny against the people, their cherished traditional institutions and revered symbol of the caliphate, Sultan Maccido further infuriated them. It is fool hardy for the PDP and President Jonathan to believe that Bafarawa has any electoral value or wields any political influence to turn the cart against the people of Sokoto.

    PDP stalwarts failed to appreciate the fact that Wamakko injected life into the comatose PDP in Sokoto in 2006 leading to its electoral victory in 2007. The fortunes of the party in the state improved tremendously when former President Obasanjo through the promptings of other elders of Sokoto convinced Wamakko to join the party. Wamakko finally left when the impunity in the party continued unabated. This was despite several overtures to the party leaders and President Jonathan himself urging them to turn a new leaf by addressing the glaring problems within the party.

    The PDP didn’t care a hoot when Wamakko and his likes left. Rather than see the exit of Wamakko as threat to its dominance in terms of positions at state and National assembly, it went shopping for Bafarawa to check mate Wamakko and deliver Sokoto to it. The bickering within the party in Sokoto after Bafarawa joined did not send any signal to them to the impending disaster that awaits the party.

    Now the question is that since Bafarawa and his cohorts have succeeded in deceiving President Jonathan and his party leaders and so couldn’t deliver Sokoto, what else can those hired writers and columnists such as Amanze Obi write about Bafarawa and his seeming political clout? Jonathan’s reliance on Bafarawa to deliver Sokoto to him is part of the overall problems that led to his dismal performance in the Presidential election because he placed his hopes on lightweights, including some garrulous characters in other parts of Nigeria who have received excellent press reviews and phantom analysis. In reality, these so called big fishes have since been consigned to the dustbin of history in their various places for betraying the confidence of the people.

    It is obvious that Bafarawa had to lose because he faced fierce resistance from Sokoto people who have openly and in private expressed their dislike for him. With the resounding beating and overwhelming rejection of Bafarawa and his cohorts, his promise to retire is the best option otherwise he should be prepared to slug it out now with his very junior ones who are the symbol of new Sokoto that is the dream of all.

     

    • Mohammed Kabir Hassan

    Sokoto Democratic Front, Sokoto.

  • Healing the troubled polity

    Healing the troubled polity

    SIR: The bane of Nigeria is inept, egregious, and rudderless political leadership rooted in corruption, visionlessness, religious bigotry, and ethnic hatred. Nigeria has never been led by its best and first eleven. Until 1999, democratic governance was interspersed with military regimes as the brasshats and jackboots would overthrow civilian government. Those military leaders believed themselves to be messiahs on redemptive mission. But they ruined Nigeria instead of putting it on the path of national development. PDP, which is touted as the largest political party in Africa, boasted that it would lead the country for 60 years; it maintained a suffocating stranglehold on Nigeria for 16 unbroken years. And the PDP leadership of Nigeria deepened corruption in the country. Political leaders who governed the country on the platform of PDP failed to tackle the vexed issues of youth unemployment, corruption, and lack of infrastructural development. Their bumbling and egregious leadership of Nigeria caused disaffection among us.

    While APC leaders were busy mobilizing grassroots support, President Goodluck Jonathan was fiddling and engaging in the perpetration of inanities until the APC political tsunami swept him away from office. The internal crisis that bedeviled PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan’s inability to entrench internal democracy in the party are some of the reasons that contributed to his loss of the 2015 presidential election.

    But, the 2015 presidential election has brought to the fore the ethnic hatred and religious intolerance that characterized Nigeria since its inception. We are suspicious of the motives of one another, and fear that the ascension to the loft of power of a man whose ethnic and religious backgrounds are different from ours would lead to the political subjugation of our own ethnic group. Have we forgotten that the Boko Haram group stepped up its acts of terrorism when Dr Goodluck Jonathan became president in 2010? And the cause of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war was partly due to the ethnic hatred and suspicion that existed in our country, then.

    Rtd General Buhari is the President-elect, now. It behooves him to see the whole country as his constituency, and unite Nigerians who are antagonistic of another owing to their ethnic and religious diversities and prejudices. The existence of national unity as well as cohesion is a prerequisite for the economic and technological advancement of a country. A country at war cannot make any progress as anarchical situation undermines political leaders’ developmental initiatives.

    More so, the reduction in the global price of crude-oil has the potential of throwing our economy into a tailspin and recession since we have a mono-economy that is based on crude-oil. It is imperative for us to diversify our economy. In the past, when we had regional governments, huge revenues accrued into the coffers of the government from the export of our agricultural produce to other countries. But we neglected agriculture when crude oil started yielding more revenue to us than the exportation of our cash crops to other countries. And I urge the incoming president to govern the country based on democratic ethos and principles. Again, he should urgently tackle the issues of insecurity of lives and property, infrastructural deficit, and youth unemployment.

    Nigeria’s greatness lies in its diversity. Now, it is high time we healed our troubled political polity.

     

    •  Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi,

    Anambra State

     

  • Seven tips for the President

    SIR: As a bona fide Nigerian with deep passion to see this country change and make appreciable progress, I am giving seven tips to the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari for serious consideration.

    If this nation must truly change and transform to the country of our dream, the bulk of the work lies on the President. He must be the change he wants Nigerians to be. Aldous Huxley said, “No social stability without individual’s stability”. No leader can give what he did not have. Our president must lead by example, not by precept. If he wants Nigerians to be following due process, he must show us by practical example. If he desires to see citizens who are law abiding, he must also be law abiding. If he wants transparency and accountability in both public and private sector, he must set the pace. It becomes pretty easier for people to follow an exemplary leader than a leader who preaches a thing but his body language is saying something different.

    Secondly, the president should work toward the independence of the judiciary and strengthening our legal system to make it more effective. When our judiciary is free from the control of the executives and every Nigerian, irrespective of their position, is subject to the law, many things that have not been working hitherto will begin to work. One of the banes of this nation is impunity; a truly free judiciary will wipe this out.

    Thirdly, a new tax-regime should be put in place in Nigeria to boost the income-generating ability of the government in the face of dwindling oil revenue. Nigerian may need to borrow a leaf from UK and US. When every Nigerian (business people, professionals, artisans, politicians as well as corporate institutions) begins to pay appropriate tax, the government will make more money than what we are currently making from oil. The government will thereby have enough money to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people and Nigeria will become better for it.

    Fourth, the government should diversify our economy to agriculture. The best economy in the world (U.S.A) has agriculture as her mainstay. Nigeria has better comparative advantage in agriculture than oil. Every part of Nigeria will be better off if we develop our agricultural sector. It will generate more money and employment more than any other sector. Better still, it has a brighter future than oil because agricultural products are inevitable for human and industrial survival. Oil may dry up, and nations are developing alternatives to oil such as biofuel, electric and solar automobiles, engines and aircraft etc.

    Moreover, the President should establish a culture where he personally supervises government projects and programmes. He should not rely solely on his aides and cabinet members who might have compromised and be feeding him with half-truths. This has led to the failure of many past administrations.

    Sixth, he should reduce the cost of governance in the country and also plug wastage in our public sector. Unnecessary overseas trips, frivolous allowances, bogus celebrations etc. should be stopped. Modesty should take the place of extravagance.

    Finally, he should beware of sycophants and political jobbers. They have ruined many previous administrations. He should surround himself with credible people and technocrats.

     

    • Adedayo Adebayo

    Gwagwalada – Abuja

  • To whom much is given

    SIR: To whom much is given, much is equally expected; there seem to be a thin line between love and hate. It is doubtful whether President Jonathan appreciated these. The outgoing president assumed power in 2011 on the back of a near pan Nigerian mandate. Indeed his was a mandate brimming with goodwill. But very sadly, the president quickly frittered it away in a most prodigal manner.

    I’m not sure any other president (including the president-elect) enjoyed as much support from ordinary Nigerians as President Jonathan did. They saw him as coming from their constituency and were prepared to stick out their necks for him. During the illness of late President Yar’Adua when an unconscionable cabal sought to hijack power, while the political elite mostly temporized, considered their personal interests, it was the masses that marched on the streets forcing the adoption of the so-called doctrine of necessity that made him acting-president.

    It was the same masses that largely put aside ethno-religious differences and massively voted him as president in 2011. When during his inauguration speech he promised not to let Nigerians down, the people were over the moon with delight. Alas, hardly did he settle into office than he forgot his pledge. Besides his meager leadership talent, a major cause of President Jonathan’s fall is his disdain for the ordinary Nigerian people while seeking the embrace of power cabals.

    The first obvious manifestation of this was in the January of 2012 when he forced ordinary Nigerians to bear the cost of fuel subsidy fraud perpetrated by elites (some within his circle) in the form of fuel price hike. He went further to run mostly a government of cabal by cabal and for cabal. Thus he dashed the people’s hopes. Quite logically, their massive goodwill turned to massive resentment. He was destined to be punished for his shabby treatment of the people. It was on the back of the popular resentment that the APC skillfully rode to power.

    It is now over two weeks since General Muhammadu Buhari was elected president. The president-elect will be assuming power on the back of equally massive goodwill, but also resentment. Many will be wishing that his government fail and may work assiduously towards that end even if only to have the chance to say, “I told you”. This makes his case even more challenging. He is also clearly expected to better the performance of the man who was dethroned for his sake. To do this he must learn from the mistakes of the outgoing president and avoid them like Ebola. At every time, General Buhari must remember that his mandate is not courtesy of any powerful individual or cabal but an army of ordinary Nigerians who not only canvassed support for him on the streets and social media, but also braved the elements to cast and protect their votes for him. It is to this category of citizens that his first duty lies.

     

    • Nnoli Chidiebere,

    Abia State     

  • Pipeline security and ex-militants

    SIR: As the euphoria of the Presidential Election douses, the APC must be aware of the enormous tasks ahead in bringing the chant of ‘change’ to reality because the expectations of Nigerians are very high as regards what the in-coming dispensation will bring to the table in terms of formulation of policies and their implementation.

    Meanwhile, one of the problems militating against the peace of the country is unemployment and it will do the image of General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) administration good to take analytical look at the situation, immediately he is sworn-in on May 29, in a bid to reducing unemployment to the barest minimum. One of the options he should exploit to tackle the problem of unemployment is the issue of security of our petroleum pipelines across the length and breadth of the country.

    Instead of the contract awarded to Oodua People Congress (OPC) and other ex-militants, the GMB administration should employ more personnel into Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other relevant security agencies as a means of creating employment for the teeming unemployed youth. By this, the government would have also taken care of the problem of securing our petroleum pipelines and other government properties against vandals. It will go a long way in achieving the administration’s electoral promise of creating close to a million jobs in its first year in office.

    On the other hand, the government should procure required equipment and weaponry needed to the personnel of the corps to function effectively well.

    Handing over the surveillance and security of our petroleum pipelines to militant groups, be they ex- or current militants, can never be said to be the best option in solving the problem of pipelines vandalism and other related offences in the country. Instead, it will lead to a situation where weapons will be in wrong hands and this will constitute security threat to our society in the long run.

     

    • Saidi Salami

    Itire, Lagos.

  • Open letter to Adamawa State governor-elect

    I wish to use this medium to congratulate you over the victory of being elected as the new Governor of Adamawa State and as a member of my peer group, having shared certain things in common such as being born in the same year (1963).

    Also, if I am not short of memory, we finished secondary school in 1983; you attended the Government Secondary School, Hong, while I attended Yelwa Government School Yola.

    Therefore, it is quite imperative and ideal for me to write you this open letter to intimate you about the decay in almost all spheres of life of the state and for you to have a clue of the enormity of problems confronting the state that requires your full attention of the problems in order to do something.

    Adamawa State, you would agree with me, is the most relegated and backward in the whole of the federation with no visible sign of development, especially the state capital. And also, there is the need for you to pay attention to the Adamawa Urban Planning Development Authority through the acquisition of the modern sweeping machines to keep the state capital clean and acquiring of vehicles.

    The civil service needs a complete overhaul. This can be done by giving full attention to the welfare of civil servants through payment of their salaries on time and other incentives such as leave transport grant, annual increase etc. Also, the state secretariat should be rehabilitated through the construction of the roads leading to the complex.

    As a businessman, you should explore the abundant mineral resources by inviting investors to come and invest. This can help the state tremendously by not only depending on the federal allocation. You can empower the people, especially the youths through the opening of industries by the government.

    You should extricate yourself from godfatherism, and avoid nepotism as Adamawa State is the most complex as the people usually told the leader what they want him to hear and the other way round of what he wants to hear.

    Avoid booby traps by selfish politicians, so as not to fall inside, as it is common in Adamawa State with many examples abounding. Take any indigene of the state as your own as you are the governor of all and not the APC only.

    You should form your cabinet with credible people, who can deliver and not corrupt ones that can put you and your government in total mess as things would not be business as usual with General Muhammadu Buhari as president. You should ensure pragmatism in leadership as sycophants may invade your administration to lure you into taking decisions that may adversely affect your political sojourn and ultimately lead to your downfall, if care is not taken.

    Take constructive criticisms well, as it would enhance greatly the success of your administration. You should also strike a balance in whatever action you may take for good governance. Beware of political hawks. They can do great harm than good to you.

    Putting your act together before you are sworn in on 29 May, 2015, would no doubt put you in better perspective for good governance, so that the people who elected you can enjoy the dividends of democracy.

    May Allah guide you as you begin the journey to build a new, virile Adamawa State devoid of acrimony in whatever form.

     

    By Usman Santuraki,

    Santuraki Close,

    Jambutu, Jimeta-Yola.

  • Let’s focus on renewable energy

    Sir, IN 2008, I had the rare privilege of visiting the Warri refinery in Delta State. What I saw stunned me, particularly as several administrations before this one had often grappled with issues related to power, energy and how this affects our life as a nation. I was also very surprised that for several years, millions of naira that were being allocated for turn-around maintenance, TAM, of those refineries were monies being used to refurbish a magnificent edifice of what can be termed scrap metal.

    I was also to find out that these refineries were indeed sold but because of the affection that our people have for those old pieces of metal, that sale was reversed. Yearly, those big sums of money are still being spent on turn-around maintenance even though we import fuel and pay subsidies to those who import refined fuel.

    Sir, I don’t think it makes sense to continue to dole monies to a group of faceless people for the TAM of refineries that have not turned around our economic fortunes. What Nigeria should instead focus on today, is not to concentrate on these refineries. We should focus on investing very massively in the area of renewable energy, and this is simply because many countries today are discovering that cheap energy can be harvested from a rich variety of sources and these sources – the sun, water, wind, and biomass – are in abundance in Nigeria. Apart from that, our greatest customers like the United States have stopped buying oil from us and all of this is within the context of the diminished importance of the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries, OPEC, influence in regulating the worldwide production, import and export of oil.

    Already, the focus of the incoming administration seems to be on reducing the pump price of fuel. It should have not. It should be thinking of downsizing and creating a ministry of renewable energy development.

     

    By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku

    Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ

    Benin City, Nigeria.

  • Ndigbo: My people, my people! 

    SIR: I believe the above slogan, ‘my people, my people’ is peculiar to no other person but the present amiable governor of Imo state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. This is one Igbo man who over the years has seen himself qualified to be the president of Nigeria. Despite being unsuccessful in various attempts, he has shown an attitude of one who is not just aspiring to be the leader of just a tribe in this country but one who will one day be remembered as a national leader.

    The choice to lead a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), which is seen as an Igbo party to the All Progressive Congress (APC) proved this point. He doesn’t want to be a tribal champion. Though not successful in the outings for the presidential ticket in the APC primaries, one thing is sure; he wants history to reckon with him for something more. I see a man who wants to do more for his people and country.

    Nigeria, which is still struggling to be a true nation in the midst of so many ethnic groups and affiliations, does not need leaders who care more of their tribal origins to be at the helm of affairs. It will only polarize us more, increase tension and take us back to the dark ages of tribal wars and conflicts. We can’t afford to make the mistakes or tread the path of our founding fathers, who at their time thought having parties representing their ethnic groups would make us better forgetting we were more than Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba.

    The just concluded election that brought in General Muhammadu Buhari will be seen as an alliance between the north and south-west against the South-East and South-South. The south-south obviously voted massively for the incumbent, which I think is a problem. The Igbo as it were have always cried that it has been marginalised in the present dispensation but when you look closely, Igbos have been the cause of their woes. Our people have refused to look beyond personal ambition by focusing on the big picture called Nigeria. From the results of the elections, no Igbo politician under the APC was able to secure a seat in the Senate as at the time of writing this piece.

    This just means that the post of the third person in the political hierarchy that would have gone to an Igbo man/woman since the north-west and south-west have taken the first two will now go to another geo-political zone. It then means that elective positions have eluded the Igbo and we would now be compensated with political appointments. Does this mean there are no Igbo politicians of goodwill that their people can confidently give the mandate through their votes? Does this also mean we have no Igbo who can be tagged as a progressive with the clout to garner votes of his people?

    I am a proud Igbo but first I am a Nigerian and I believe every Nigerian should speak this way. The diversity of our roots has made it such that we try to consider the ethnic affiliations in choosing some of our political leaders that everyone can be well represented and development coming to every part of the country.

    The Igbo, I will say, have been myopic except for a few who see themselves as more than just Igbo leaders but national leaders hoping to be remembered by history as such.

    Our democracy is improving and the outcome of the elections has proved just that. It will be a thing of joy to see that the third largest ethnic group, which I am a part of, will one day, take their place in deciding the future of our great country. We just must be part of this history that is being made in our democratic process. My heartfelt prayer is that the younger generation of not just Igbo extraction will act differently across the country.

    I love Nigeria as a Nigerian and as an Igbo I would like to contribute to the greatness of Nigeria that will in turn affect the Igbo and every other ethnic group.

     

    • Emeka Azubuike

     (eurekamagazine.com.ng)

  • Defectors on the prowl

    SIR: It is mass exodus indeed! Is Nigeria heading for a one- party system? Are opposition parties being swallowed by the wave of CHANGE blowing across the country? What kind of opposition would the leftover be?  These are questions that kept erupting in my mind since the dismantling of PDP’s wing from the centre recently.

    For there to be a robust and healthy political environment, opposition must exist to keep the government in power on its toes. This country did not enjoy this since 1999 until the emergence of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which swept the southwest in the 2011 general elections.

    A glance at history has shown that cross carpeting or defecting from one political party to another has become synonymous with our politicians who dump platforms which bring them to power at the slightest provocation or when their ambitions could not be realized on such political platforms. Monetary inducement and ethnic considerations are also some of the reasons for political cross carpeting right from the pre-independence era through the First Republic to the current Republic.

    Nigeria recorded its first political carpet-crossing when several of the defunct Western Region House members of National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe decamped to Action Group (AG) led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1951, giving AG control over the House and causing the leader of NCNC to beat a retreat to his ethnic base, the then Eastern Nigeria where he formed the ruling government.

    During the Second Republic (1979-1983), Chief Akin Omoboriowo, Chief Fagbamigbe, Senator Lai Joseph, all of  the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) defected to National Party of Nigeria NPN). In the end, Chief Fagbamigbe was gruesomely murdered while Chief Akin Omoboriowo, former Deputy Governor of Old Ondo State only escaped being hacked down by whiskers courtesy of the protection extended to him from the federal government, as he had to relocate to Lagos, the then Federal Capital.

    In the Second Republic, Senator N.N. Anah of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) headed by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, defected to National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The first major political carpet-crossing in the Fourth Republic was by the then Vice President to Chief Obasanjo, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who defected to the defunct Action Congress (AC) in 2007 at the peak of his political battles with his boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Also, Senators Wahab Dosummu and Musuliu Obanikoro, Seye Ogunlewe and late Funsho Williams, all defected or cross-carpeted from Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    One can clearly deduce that the motive behind cross carpeting has parochial and not necessarily to serve the downtrodden. It is obvious here that the masses’ plight has never been the concern of some of these political prostitutes we are parading in Nigeria. APC should beware of them!

     

    • Sunday Alifia,

    Ibadan, Oyo state

  • Fight against breast cancer

    SIR: There are many survivors of breast cancer today because of early detection, which is the best prevention from dying of cancer. The least we can do to fight breast cancer is to create awareness amongst parents and schools, especially among young girls.

    Here are some roles you can play to help fight this disease: Be aware of the disease; know the symptoms and signs of breast cancer: Always visit an health care professional if you notice anything unusual lump and encourage your family and friends to go to the doctor to get a breast check to rule out the possibility of having breast cancer.

    Every person should know the symptoms and signs of breast cancer for the purpose of early detection. If there are no symptoms, regular screenings are always important. Your doctor can check for breast cancer before you have any noticeable symptoms.

    Let’s avail ourselves of these information and avoid the emotional and physical anguish of cancer, not to mention the huge financial cost and possible fatality in most cases just because the disease was diagnosed late.

    • Esther Ndubuisi wrote in from the Department of Mass Communication, Kwara State University