The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Electricity Tariffs reduction as Greek gift

    IR: President Goodluck Jonathan’s desperation knows no bounds. How can a government reduce electricity tariffs for private companies’ services or is it a lie that the electricity sector has been privatised? What an election gimmick!

    Recently NERC told Nigerians that electricity tariffs would be increased

    from June 2015 because of the free fall of the naira that is not commensurate with the current economic reality. What informed this deceitful move from the federal government?

    It is an indisputable truth that Nigerians all over the nation are crying out and complaining bitterly about high tariff for a nonexistent service through the supply of power by these private electricity distribution companies despite the purported trillions of naira expended by the government, which has rather turned Nigeria into one huge ball of darkness.

    One is aware that because of the clamour for change, this government

    in misreading the mood of the nation came up with fake palliatives including reduction in the pump price per litre of petrol from N97 to N87. But the reality of the situation is that except in Lagos and Abuja, in most other states, the pump price per litre of petrol is above N100 and for some weeks now, fuel queues resurfaced again; so who is fooling who?

    Nigerians should not, as the general elections draw nearer, fall for Greek gift because they don’t last long.

     

    • Nel-jumi,

  • Many ‘virtues’ of patience

    SIR: Nigerians are getting to know why Rivers State has become a killing field. The last time, it was when the campaign train of the opposition All Progressives’ Congress (APC), landed in the bustling town of Okrika only to be confronted by hoodlums. By the time the dust cleared, one policeman was killed while several APC members and one television reporter were seriously injured. The hoodlums, who attacked APC members in Okrika, like similar attacks across Rivers state merely acted out a well-crafted script. Okrika, as if we need to remind ourselves, is the hometown of Nigeria’s first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Does it matter?

    It does, considering the fact that at a recent campaign rally in Calabar, Mrs. Jonathan, in her characteristic waddle, mounted the rostrum and, in a hate-filled voice ordered that henceforth anyone caught shouting ‘change’ should be stoned! The first lady’s diktat came at a time the word ‘change’ has become the most popular word in Nigeria.  As well as being the slogan of the APC, ‘change’ has become a word members of the fumbling ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, now live in morbid fear of. Mrs. Jonathan is reputed for her tantrums since ‘luck’ catapulted her to Abuja but it seem that this time around, her mouth took her far!

    Mrs. Jonathan deserves our pity but, heck! What manner of mother figure would order people to be stoned for espousing opposing views? A mark of the pity Nigerians have for their first lady is the usual recourse to dismiss her tantrums or, at worse, parody her off-the-wall remarks. Her recent call to arms does not depart from her well-known tantrums. But even at that, two reasons make it imperative to caution Mrs. Jonathan since those who should do so have either decided to abdicate their responsibilities or turn the blind eye. One, it was foolish tantrums that just earned another profane first lady, Mrs. Simone Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, a twenty-year jail term. Another long spell awaits her at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. To avoid a similar fate, Mrs. Patience Jonathan will do well to begin to pray earnestly against election-related violence and learn to keep her genocidal tongue in check!

    Secondly, Mrs. Jonathan has further sullied the lack-lustre campaign of her husband by her call to arms and the few level-headed but non-committal allies of the president must be hugely embarrassed by the first lady’s gracelessness. This is for the simple fact that her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan, is a willing signatory to a peace accord. Or, does the first lady know more than Nigerians think she knows? In any case, these are unsolicited pieces of advice and it will be delusional to even imagine it will make any appreciable impression on the first lady or those close to her! Reason?

    Discerning Nigerians thought that Mrs. Jonathan learnt a lesson or two from her sloppy performance in the aftermath of the abduction of more than two hundred school girls in Chibok. Strangely, the first lady’s initial response to the abduction story was dismissive; she only introduced a comic angle to a serious matter when she burst into tears in front of television cameras. Like Kema Chikwe and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, both senior cabinet members in the Jonathan presidency and several men and women of the moment, Dame Patience later passed off the abduction as political gimmick by the opposition! If anything, her unprecedented order that opposition politicians be stoned suggests that the first lady missed the lessons of her Chibok debacle.

    Nigerians never had the misfortune of having an occupant who took the office to embarrassing heights as it is being done today! A mark of un-preparedness of Dame Patience for the role was her wrong-headed and misplaced agenda to promote the welfare of Africa’s first ladies and female presidents when she could have used the office to promote the welfare of excluded and vulnerable women and children in Nigeria.

    Judged by the way she has executed her office thus far, it remains a mystery that Nigeria’s first lady has neither presided over cabinet meetings nor appeared at the head Nigeria’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly! Mrs Jonathan occasionally assumes some of her husband’s official responsibilities. This should not be a problem for a woman who, due to her excessive love for her husband, can order his political opponents to be stoned!

    Of course, government should institute a Hall of Fame for the likes of Mrs Jonathan. A first lady who instructs people to stone political opponents deserves to be worshipped! In fact, her name should top the list of those to be so honoured! In view of her order that those who opposed her husband should be stoned, the virtues of patience and hard work are lost on Madam Patience.

     

    • Abdulrazaq Magaji,

  • Is PDP edging for the abyss?

    SIR: The dirty happenings in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot bring about a new era in Nigeria’s political landscape. Having lost many of its

    top members to the opposition parties with the dramatic exit of PDP’s first presidential flag bearer, Olusegun Obasanjo, being undoubtedly one of the biggest blows to the party. Yet again, greater shocks could emerge in the long run as many more politicians are likely to decamp. But whilst a lot of Nigerians believe it is over for the PDP, it is possible that nature has presented an opportunity for us to rid ourselves of the very cycle of politicians who have led us to this pitiable state.

    The issue of corruption is behind the fast evolving collapse of the PDP. Many of its defected politicians have accused the PDP of breeding corruption and encouraging injustice. In a bid to woo voters, the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), cleverly devised a very appealing slogan, “Change”. It is true that Nigerians want “change”. But the people in APC should be prepared to guarantee real change when they get to power, otherwise, the whole essence of this electoral struggle would have been defeated.

    Coming back to the PDP, one cannot deny that it still remains a formidable party. The recent events in the PDP are indications of a great purge. The party is being sanitized and its system is gradually opening for credible thoroughbred individuals to participate in its politics in future, not this near general elections. As the case is, the PDP is presently searching for members to cover for its loss.

    And as Prof. Wole Soyinka puts it, “…we cannot continue this cycle of repetitious evil and irresponsibility”. We must not be saddled by the same set of people if we want to prosper.

    When Plato wrote, “until Philosophers are Kings or Kings are Philosophers, leadership will never be right,” he meant to say that until self-developed individuals become leaders, nothing will work. Nigeria deserves credible people as leaders.  As regards Obasanjo’s exit from the PDP, I would take that as good news for Nigeria because political godfathers have proven to be major hindrances to our national prosperity.

    Nigeria needs credible individuals who would rise to the pedestal to move the country to the First World. As a nation, we must make the best use of this opportunity in the political space and bring in the new face of

    Nigeria’s politics. But can President Jonathan and the PDP provide the opportunity for the new set of Nigerian leaders? We must be patient to find out.

     

    • Prince C. Ifoh, B. A. Hons. Prince Ifoh” <prince.ifoh@gmail.com

  • Patience Jonathan’s excesses

    SIR: I am compelled to write this because of the excesses of Nigeria’s acclaimed first lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan regarding the aspiration of her husband for second term. She threw the first salvo sometime ago in the heat of her campaign for the re-election of her husband, when she condemnably mocked the people of the north saying in pidgin English; “we don’t born shildren, throw dat shildren to the street, we are not like the other side”. Then, Mrs. Jonathan had the audacity to call the major opponent of her husband for the presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari, “brain death”. This is clearly uncultured for an African woman, to insult another woman’s husband.

    Recently, in Edo State, she said; “we must get second term”. This statement by the first lady shows the desperation of her getting a re-election for her husband at all cost. Mrs Jonathan needs to realise the fact that politics entails decency in all ramifications and not gutter language especially at this trying moment for her husband’s second term bid. She also needs to weight her language and the kind of words she uttered especially in campaigning for her husband.

    The basis for the vituperations she is pouring left, right and centre does not augur well for the re-election of her husband, who is facing his toughest political journey. The harsh words that she is pouring can ultimately do great damage to the aspiration of her husband. She needs to exhibit high moral sense in soliciting support for husband in this great contest of his life.

    Mudslinging cannot play any vital role in her quest to still be called the first lady of the nation. What should preoccupy her now is how to do damage control. Denigrating others by mama peace in the course of securing base for her husband cannot take her anywhere. Though, she has freedom of expression, she ought to exercise it within the dictate of decency as a first lady that is expected to show genuine concern rather than insulting the sensibilities of the people.

     

    • Usman Santuraki,

     Santuraki Close, Jambutu Ward, Jimeta-Yola.

  • Soyinka was right on Jonathan

    SIR: It was certainly inevitable that President Goodluck Jonathan, who has, to all intents and purposes, abandoned restraint, would trudge on, like a pilgrim bound for doom. He had to keep chalking up more outlandish blunders until they were sufficient to transfix the Nobel Laureate. The law of inertia, valid in a physics lab as in the corridors of power, had Jonathan for a victim.

    Tyranny always had a humble beginning – like promiscuity. One instance of violation stealthily grows in fits and starts, to a consuming routine. And the virgin moves from a first timer to an addicted returner to the forbidden. You have it when the shy, demure mien gives way to a self-assured, dismissive I-Don’t-Give-A-Damn look. Professor Wole Soyinka just had to do it. The man would have died in him if he had chosen convenient dumbness in this dawning dictatorship. Soyinka was alive – alive to his duty as citizen and patriot. He had to rebuke this modern Nebuchadnezzar.

    Before, when Jonathan was starting off with seemingly little infractions, we largely excused them as evidences of his fallibility. Those acts of mischief counted, for sure, but were not considered symptomatic of dictatorial tendencies. But the Jonathan of this day has become a threat to the country, inspiring anarchy in the sensitive realms that cannot bear attack. So, Soyinka did the right thing, calling the tyrant, a tyrant. Without the correct christening, Jonathan would be no less ruthless and malevolent – after all, the WS of a bygone era had rhapsodized that a rose called by another name would smell as sweet. But it was very important to name Jonathan properly.

    In pronouncing him Nebuchad-nezzar, we do not hallow his name. Rather, we say, we will reference him only with the repulsion we feel for the oppressor. We still remember this President was so ashamed of one of his names, he buried it. It remained a classified secret until he recognised that the dormant name had potential electoral value. Then, he promptly resurrected it and instructed that it be appended to his other names, to convey the notion of consanguinity with the East. That was how an approaching election compelled an Azikiwe impostor to introduce himself.

    As in that election, this impending one is also introducing another Jonathan to us.

    And what you can see is the Nigerian politician at his debauched best. He was capable of dispensing smooth talk until he faced the dire prospect of a challenging election. When he perceived that there is a real possibility that a fair contest could throw him off the seat, he made a clever decision to cease relating to his faculty of sanity. That is why he has gone into overdrive, battling to avert this portent that is reasonably worse than biological death. Of course, any shortcut to that end is fair. This flagrant desperation to complete a total conquest of the political space, which is setting the nation on the edge, is rooted in his insecurity. Jonathan nurses a fervent conviction that his re-election rests squarely on his use of state sanctioned terror. So far, his biography is replete with interventions of good luck. He senses that he may have exhausted his credit of fortune and needs to create his luck. His discretion tells him that fate has already given him the power to secure his power.

    In his reading of the scriptures, Nebuchadnezzar’s command and terror over Babylon and beyond must have struck President Jonathan as power as it ought to be. But the strictures of a democratic context, he acknowledged, would not permit him to mimic that fairy bogeyman. So there came the thought that this country of Nollywood might feel indulged to see him acting Nebuchadnezzar, unscripted.

    We needed Soyinka to do it. It seemed that we were unwilling to admit that the tally of all we have seen sufficed to prove that a dictator now reigns. How many more feats of impudence would Jonathan need to enact to qualify? Soyinka, the accomplished man of letters, answered the question, ‘’ is Jonathan the dictator, or should we look for another?’’ He traced the pattern of Jonathan’s trajectory and removed all doubts.

    Soyinka’s rebuke could call forth an interlude of reflection. But trust the career sycophants of Aso Rock to dilute the censure’s effect and press Nebuchadnezzar to show his iron fist more often. In the bubble where Nebu lives, a word of caution is hard to come by. Not from a wife who is a terror in her own right.

     

    • Emmanuel Uchenna Ugwu

    @emmaugwutheman

  • The war against Boko Haram

    SIR: Africa’s leadership deficit is hitting Nigeria hard. The country, ab initio, was scheduled to hold her general elections for presidential, governorship and other elective political offices in February, 2015. But, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) used the Army to shift the election for six weeks, claiming a renewed determination to wage intensive war against the Boko Haram terrorists so as to demonstrate that he is able to defeat the terrorists.

    Why he did that? It must have been because his arch rival, General Mohammadu Buhari, promised to crush the Boko Haram when he gets to power. Currently, Nigerian Army is said to be routing Boko Haram, and taking back the areas occupied by Boko Haram. Yet, many questions are begging for answers. At the end of six weeks, hostility against Boko Haram is expected to cease, so that Nigeria can hold her elections. What happens to the Boko Haram remnants and suicide bombs? The Yoruba say when you cut a live snake into two; the other half can be furiously harmful. A witch dies and you are rejoicing; aren’t you oblivious that the daughter left behind by the witch can bewitch your children?

    The foregoing explains the quality of persons ruling Nigeria. The situation has been worsened by overt sinister efforts of external predators that benefit from the war waged by Boko Haram against the country. Basically,  the western imperialists iclude America and Britain, not forgetting to mention Asian Tigers like China and Japan, amongst others that sell war equipment to “Nigeria”. We have just been told that Japan gave a –deceptive- award to a Nigerian Pastor for campaigning against Boko Haram. Did that Pastor go to war against Boko Haram, or he is just a rabble-rouser?

    Otherwise, it is not surprising that it was a Pastor who got rewarded for campaigning against Boko Haram. GEJ professes to be a Christian, and after he truncated rotational presidency to become Nigeria’s President, the impression was created that Boko Haram terrorism arose because GEJ is a Christian. That is typical of how Christianity and Islam are used to create confusion in Nigeria.

    The Senate and House of Reps are said to be praising the Army for successful attacks against Boko Haram. But, have they reflected on suicide bombs, and what happens after the expiration of the six weeks’ war? They don’t, because what matters to them is that they are the most rewarded legislators in the world. Nigeria’s situation is not different from Somalia and similar places where there is endless crisis. Nigeria lacks leaders who can engender peaceful co-existence, a la Nelson Mandela. The current leadership is making terrorism inevitable. Terrorism is not a universal reality; it does not exist in Botswana, Senegal, Ghana, etc. Nigeria’s omens are bleak.

     

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, PhD,

    University of Ilorin.

  • The collapse of governance in Ondo

    SIR: Customarily, an iroko tree is reputed in the African culture as enjoying a pride of place among other trees in the jungle. Akin to the uniqueness of an apple tree, an iroko tree is cherished, and well treasured by Africans for several reasons. The revered tree is highly rated for symbolising selflessness, uniqueness and leadership prowess, among others. It is often said, that when an Iroko tree talks, all other trees bow.

    Dejectedly, in Ondo state, we have a Governor, Rahman Segun Mimiko, who nicknamed himself an Iroko; but he is completely the opposite of all the virtues ascribed to an iroko tree. A recap of his political journey to office will suffice: On 19th February, 2009, Mimiko became the governor of Ondo state through the efforts of the progressives’ coalition and in a treacherous manner, it didn’t take more than three months before he dispensed with all the people that God used to enthrone him despite the evil efforts of the Abuja based ruling party men to scuttle his victory.

    True to his character, today, Mimiko dines and wines with the same Abuja men that worked against him at the detriment of most of his real benefactors.

    Educationally, Mimiko is a failure. He was only able to build three mega-primary and secondary schools in the past six years while within three years, former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, renovated 112 secondary schools. In Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has marvelously built about 20 mega schools across the state. Although Mimiko established a University of Medical Sciences in his native Ondo town, but the existing state owned Universities, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba (AAUA) and Ondo State University of Technology, Okitipupa(OSUTECH) are yearning for financial rescue to function optimally.

    Seven years after its establishment, OSUTECH has not produced a graduate. Under the supervision of Mimiko, AAUA retrogressed from being the first best state university in Nigeria to seventh best (NUC, 2015). In the area of infrastructure, Ondo State has the worst road network in south western part of the country. Excluding the federal highways, a majority of the

    state-owned roads are presently in a state of disrepair. Five years after the dualisation of Ondo township roads were flagged off; the project

    is still begging for completion. As I write, the dualisation of Akure-Isinkan-Ondo road started by the administration of late Olusegun Agagu has not been completed.

    Also, three years after, the dualisation of the five-kilometer Owo township road is still at 40 per cent execution stage. Without being immodest, let me expressly say that Mimiko has not completed 50 kilometers worth of roads since he was inaugurated as governor! Furthermore, the number of abandoned projects throughout the state calls for concern. Till date, the construction of the Akure township stadium started by the late Agagu’s government is far from being completed. The multi-billion-naira Akure Dome project flagged off by the governor himself four years ago has been abandoned.

    The dualisation of over two-kilometer Arakale road has not been duly completed. Mimiko’s much-publicized Fountain Water at Alagbaka has dried off. The maternity center built and packaged by Mimiko as Abiye Motherhood Hospitals is now a glorified consulting centre yearning for drugs and personnel. Majority of the market stores Mimiko claimed to have constructed across the 18 Local Government areas have been taken over by weed and rodents.

    It is also trite that none of the companies and factories inherited by Mimiko are functional. Arigidi Tomato Company has not produced tomato paste despite the claim of N1billion injection from Ondo treasury. Oluwa Glass at Igbokoda is daily rusting away with no intention by Mimiko to resuscitate it. Okeluse Cement Factory has gone moribund. Okitipupa Oil Mill resuscitated by Agagu government has closed down. Our State, despite earning the highest allocation from the Federation Account in South West, unfortunately, boast of the highest number of youth unemployment (National Directorate of Employment, 2015).

    Most of the civil servants that vigorously campaigned for him in 2012 are now wallowing in regrets. Their salaries are no longer being paid as at when due. And for having the effrontery to confront the deceitful hegemony of Mimiko, 28 workers of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo was sacked in November 2012.

    Mimiko’s publicly known ideology is inconsistency/betrayal as he has moved from the Alliance for Democracy (AD), to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); to the Action Congress, (AC); to Labour Party (LP), and now back to the PDP. Mimiko has a long history of betrayal. He has the singular unenviable record of betraying all the political leaders who at one time or another assisted him in his political sojourn, especially since the 4th Republic.

    In conclusion, as the 2015 general elections gathers’ momentum, one’s advice to the peace-loving and good people of Ondo state is to shine their eyes. The only panacea for rejuvenation of our state in all ramifications is to get Mimiko and his accomplices out of power by all lawful means. The Ondo State of today is not the one we desire.

     

    Lateef Raji,

    Ondo Renaissance Group (ORG)

     

  • Governor Amaechi must read this

    SIR: Dear Governor Amaechi, although your tour of duty is on its twilight days, you are still the incumbent governor of Rivers State; hence, you need to read this. Port-Harcourt could become another ‘environment-friendly’ city if the planners of the city prudently worked at it. Great towns in the world from Australia (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney) -New Zealand- Canada (Calgary, Vancouver) – Finland are credited among some of the best places on earth to live a happy life only for the reason that the planners worked hard to make it so.

    Port-Harcourt, sir, has numerous exposed manholes on its pedestrian walkways from Rumuogba, Artillery, Rumuola, Aba Road and Rumoumasi among others. These open holes are dangerous death traps when it rains torrentially and at night; due to the bad drainage it is hard to make out an open hole from land on a flooded walkway or at night on a poorly lit road.

    I am shocked, that the authorities at the state’s works ministry have not deemed it necessary to cover these holes or force the contractors who did these slapdash work to do so and further blacklist them. I counted more than ten exposed ‘manholes’ recently from, the beginning of the new Rumuola link road, off Stadium road, leading to Rumuola.

    A visitor (my friend) into the town the other day was unfortunate on a rainy day. He walked on a walkway and fell into a ‘manhole’ but was lucky to have been saved by proactive passersby. It is easy to conclude that many more mishaps are happening unrecorded per diem as I write and the city planners can do well by covering all of these exposed manholes for the safety of the people. Another drift which may ruin this city if not regulated is the high rate of prostitution in housing neighborhoods. Whilst it is true that this line of work is as old as man, it can at least be controlled. It is unfitting to have this business run side-by-side where people live, from theGRA to other concentric inhabited environments.

    The side effects on children where this vocation are practiced are many: boys may become misogynists and little girls may plan taking it as a future occupation. Government, police, landlords can help to regulate this. For instance, do landlords have licenses to run strip tease parlours in a suburban environment? The street where I reside has a strip tease parlour.

    In developed climes, this activity is in selected commercial zones. Government reserved areas in the past are places that are quiet, with well planted trees, where you scarcely interface with neighbours and have for company the breezy serenity of the environment and the whispering clatters of birds.

    The Port Harcourt GRA today deserves an award in contrast for the reason that it is occupied by noises, debauchery, chaos and the setting of hotels in a domestic environment and one wonders how full of pride, children who live there nowadays are, like the ones I knew in the days of yore that were. Again, those in charge of enforcing environmental laws must not do that forcefully and discourteously. At times, you may be halted by gun-wielding policemen right on the road and directed into the waiting arms of government vehicle sticker enforcers who will stay out of sight in their vehicles waiting for the day’s prey. State and local governments should devise ways to correctly make people acquire government’s sticky label – not by harassment and impoundments with the full support of law enforcement agency. Business persons are supposed to be cossetted to stay in the state to pay taxes and not harangued daily out of the state by various agencies of government.

    Many people have given second opinions about the hellish experiences that they were subjected to at major round-about by touts who act as traffic controllers but are fortune hunters in camouflage and they will guide you into a trap after which they will ask for huge sums of money for beating traffic. These exchanges most times end in fisticuffs. Touting needs to be banned if this city is to be accredited as an environment-friendly town. The noise pollution from businesspersons who deal in music at strategic junctions is so distressing – because the sound of music blared to attract customers is always tuned to the maximum level and there seem not to be any agency nearby to curtail this menace.

    The government should plan the city very well enough so as to have a shopping and entertainment zones, central markets, relaxing spots, to be set up in selected scattered-far-flung centres of the town and not in residential quarters. Reference must be made to the revival of the Port Harcourt wild life zoo, the upgrading of Oyigbo settlement from the current status of a squatter-settlement with no roads, foul stench from badly managed waste disposal system, to a decent neighborhood.

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Statesman, not dictator

    SIR: A statesman is a friend to truth. He has a soul that is sincere in action and faithful with untainted honour. A statesman broke no promise, served no private end and gained no title…and lost no friend- apologies to Alexandra Pope. This great man reminds me of one of my research works on the role of a statesman in a given society. A statesman could be seen as a politician; a

    diplomat or other notable public figures but should not under any condition be seen as a tyrant.

    How do we link up the role of an ideal statesman to what is happening in our political environment? I have also come to understand in the course of this piece that a statesman is a noble fellow full of bedrock of principles; a moral compass; and a visionary to the core. He is one that build bridges and consensus with no intention for mischief.

    But do we have statesmen in Nigeria? If the answer is in affirmative, then, where are they and to whose interests do they represent? Of course, we have several elder statesmen across the six geo- political zones in the country but for the purpose of this piece that is centered on the recent political happenings, permit me to narrow it down to one elder statesman in Ota, Ogun state, ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo.

    In the last few months, the country had watched enough of Nollywood drama and political tornados emanating from comments and actions of this elder statesman. It is no longer news that we have one powerful ex- General-turned ex-civilian president who sees himself as a god that must always be worshiped and adored. To him, Nigeria is still under his control. One cannot but be disturbed when a past president behaves as if he is still a sitting president. That is abusing his statesmanship status. However, there is nothing wrong if a former leader and statesman choose to identify with the popular tide on issues but such should be done with altruistic motive. Is this the case in the current outbursts of the retired former president? Will he not disappoint on this current adventure?

    For God’s sake, Obasanjo, being a former president like any other past heads of state, do not need any formal introduction, anywhere, before being noticed. Unfortunately, this is not so in this country. One can only hope that Obasanjo will still remain a true CHANGE crusader after the general elections. A true statesman shouldn’t arrogate power to himself. This is the greatest lesson for any genuine statesman.

     

    • Sunday Alifia, a Political Analyst lives in Ibadan, Oyo state.

     

  • Memo to Minister of Education

    SIR: It is a great honour to write you on this day. I understand the pressure of your work and kindly accept my commendation on the good work you have done so far to liberate the educational system from total collapse.

    I am writing you this to correct an impression or to put certain facts straight with regards to your declaration on the 7th of February, 2015 before the postponement of the general election. You reportedly said that there will be no election break for students, as the Ebola crisis has eaten into the academic calendar of the Nigeria institution.

    One could recall that during this period, educational institutions in the country were still in session and one of them closed down due to the crisis. It is however bewildering what informed your current position and one wants to ask why you have decided to use that as a yardstick to stop students from going home to exercise their franchise.

    It is on that note that most people have decided to put it straight to you that it was an attempt to disenfranchise the youths especially those in the higher institution from voting. Findings have shown that about two third of the Nigerian youths are in one higher institution or the other and most of them travel far from their place of origin to another place to acquire this knowledge. Without giving them election break, it means you are trying to stop them from exercising one of their civic rights or responsibilities to their fatherland. In other words, denying them the right to vote for the leader of their choice.

    The honourable minister, one hopes you understand that it is your duty to allow every Nigerian youth vote, without tempering with his or her franchise. It has remained a fact that the youths in any society are the major participants in voting for a leader that will positively affect their lives. With a heavy heart, this writer is calling on you to have a rethink and possibly allow for the students to go home and participate in the general elections now that there is still time for you to do that as the elections’ dates come closer.

    We pray that God will continue to uplift you in your line of duty and give you the ability to make the right decisions at all time. God bless you; God bless the Ministry of Education, and God bless Nigeria.

     

    • Cathrine Tazamu Danladi

    Mass Communication, IBBUL