The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Case for security in Sanga L.G. Kaduna State

    SIR: Insecurity has risen to a level of profound concern in the country and the resultant death toll is comparable only to the civil war. The North, needless to say, is worst affected by the horrendous state of insecurity especially due to the seemingly intractable Boko Haram insurgency. However, the states of Plateau, Nassarrawa, Benue and Taraba have been scorched by a no-less deadly attacks resulting into massive grisly killings and destruction perpetrated by armed marauders suspected of being Fulani nomads. Equally, not a few communities in the Southern Senatorial area of Kaduna State have suffered similar callous attacks with devastating consequences. The attacks are always methodically accomplished. To all intents and purposes, the communities in these areas are under siege.

    Various attacks have been successfully executed in the past. However, the massacre of September 2014 rudely awakened the world to the threat against the very existence of the people of Sanga L.G.A in Kaduna State. In the wake of the massacre in Fadan Karshi, Ungwan Ganye and Karshi Daji, the military was deployed to hunt down the perpetrators and as well provide security. The semblance of calm and normalcy that prevailed due to the presence of security ensured the gradual return of residents but there was a perceptible diminution of the security operatives as the number of returnees grew. A peace building initiative was launched with the different ethnic groups as well as the Fulani community in attendance. It did restore some measure of confidence in the area. However, the shocking release of suspects not least some persons many victims accused of being accomplices no doubt still rankles. The people of Sanga L.G.A enjoyed an uncomfortable peace until few days to the 2015 when mystery gun men attacked the Tattaura community resulting in the gruesome death of 10 persons. Just before the dust of the killings could settle, another harvest of deaths were recorded in Ungwan Dauda. It was a revolting scene of massive human blood and lifeless bodies. An outcry that resulted almost snowballed into a sectarian crisis which was swiftly quashed by the small number of military officers. The tragedies did prove the peace was clearly the calm before the storm.

    There is no telling the communities on the hit list of the armed marauders as the New Year begins. Already, life is somewhat tricky for residents especially with their source of livelihood in ruination. Going to their farms is to all intents and purposes like walking on a thin ice. Many of their produce are laying waste due to fear of venturing to the farms. They are apparently helpless in the face of the new heights that the insecurity has reached in the area. The atmosphere in Sanga L.G.A is patently clouded with gloom and despondency. The communities in the area are obviously sitting ducks on the strength of the absence of the wherewithal to defend itself against the well armed marauders. Their hope of security and protection is pinned on government which holds the statutory responsibility. It behoves the government to station a rapid response team to attend to the exigencies of insecurity in the area. The issue of justice is paramount. The people are forced to feel that the perpetrators are well protected by their promoters ensconced in government.

    The security of lives and properties should be dealt as an emergency before it begins to take a religious trajectory. It is gradually been accepted that many of these attacks are attempts at deracinating or depopulating the original inhabitants. The states that have contiguous boundaries with the Local Government needs to work closely with the Kaduna State government in tackling the insecurity. It is common knowledge that the killers move in and out of the communities along the boundaries. The restoration of normalcy is what the people of Sanga Local Government Area are craving for. For many of us, the attack on the communities of Tattaura and Ungwan Dauda few days shy of the New Year is a dreadful presage. The government needs to map out effective strategies to check the mindless massacre.

     

    • Abachi Ungbo,

    Barnawa, Kaduna.

     

  • Buhari/Osinbajo: Yes they can

    SIR: The fastest way Nigerians can save, change and make Nigeria great is for everyone of us to begin to practice and promote politics of nationalism, patriotism, national unity, service to humanity,

    religious tolerance, principle, conscience, morality, as well as see that we condemn politics of ethnicity, tribalism and religious fanaticism because despite our diverse ethnic groups we are one people, one nation, one destiny.

    I have observed that at work, school, church, mosque and even in sports/entertainment and NYSC

    we are one but once politics is mentioned every Nigerian becomes ethnic, tribal and religious fanatics both at local government, state and national levels.

    The time has come for us to see ourselves as one entity called Nigeria; we should also demand that government provides us with the basic necessities of life which are shelter, children’s

    education, potable water, good and adequate food, health care, good roads, employment and a decent wage, good public transportation, security of lives and property, electricity and reasonable comfort.

    Barrack Obama’s “change” will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the change we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Pass this message to your friends and family members colleagues at work, church, mosque, school e.t.c

    Nigeria will be up and doing only when citizens like you and I wake up and think accurately in carrying out our activities in the interest of Nigeria.

    Buhari/Osinbajo have what it takes to save, change and make Nigeria great.

     

    • Feyisetan  Akeeb Kareem,

    Lagos

  • Petrol price: Nigerians seek not yet repose

    SIR: The announcement of the N10 reduction of premium motor spirit (pms) pump price on Sunday night triggered a buzz on notable social platforms like twitter, facebook and BBM.

    It is a laudable achievement on the part of the federal government, albeit belated and not exactly impressive when putting other crucial factors into consideration. The price of crude dropped to $50 per barrel well over five months ago, at present in the U.S.A, a gallon of P.M.S which was sold at $3.50 now sells at $1.57, that is almost 45% reduction and we say we are oil-producing ?

    Nigerians need not be reminded that when President Goodluck Jonathan came in, he met the pump price at N65:00 and consequently jerked it up to N97:00 under the ruse of subsidy removal amidst loss of innocent lives.

    This reduction smacks of a Greek gift, a Trojan horse to be precise, what with the election 27 days away. It is an ill-timed, unfiltered, crass seduction of our sensibilities. President Jonathan wants my vote so he conveniently throws N10 in my face which I’ll most likely pay heavily for come June; a badly timed political move indeed. Quoting from Robert Greene’s “Art of Seduction” which says familiarity is the death of seduction. The electorates have seen enough to make us wiser.

    However, a few questions bother me. By what indices did NNPC arrive at the N10 reduction in the pump price? Is the Federal Government still paying subsidy? Did the Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke just awaken from a six-month-deep slumber?

    Only one thread out of a thousand can go through the eye of a needle.

     

    • Adelayi Adediran. O. D,

    Ondo State

     

  • When Fayose and PDP play God

    SIR: When I was growing up, my father, a frontline educationist, narrated a lot of masterpiece stories that I am yet to forget. Once upon a time, he told us in one of the ancient tales of an African king who ruled powerfully over his land, he wielded his power beyond imagination and had the ultimate decision on who will stay in the land or leave his territory. He even projected who has the right to live or die. Eventually,  he prophesised that all his subordinates and aides would die before him. But unfortunately he died in his sleep the same night and left all his aides, subordinates and every member of his kingdom behind. This is how fate can choose to position itself, as no one has control over death and life miseries.

    Looking at the advertorial on the cover pages of two of the Nigerian national dailies on Monday, January 19, I was quick to remember not just my father, but also his parables where the one narrated above readily came to mind.

    The advertorial sponsored by the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose depicted a situation where everyone that has ruled Nigeria from the North-western part of the country died while in office. The advertorial went further to warn Nigerian to choose between ‘Life and Death’, with a Bible verse to corroborate the statement!

    In fact, not few Nigerians have condemned the advert, but that has not addressed the question of who exactly owns life or power to live in Nigeria. Is it the Almighty God, the ruling PDP or by extension, the sponsor of the advert- the ever over-exuberant Governor Fayose?

    To the best of my understanding, the power to live or die eternally rest with God. Most importantly, in Yoruba land, the part of the country where Ayo Fayose hails from forbids anyone to wish his fellow man death. It then becomes not only unconventional but also very outrageous for anyone to think about death for a political stakeholder at this critical period of our political history.

    I waited eagerly for 24 hours for the ruling party to dissociate itself from the advertorial, so it can really confirm a bit of trust some Nigerians still have in the sensibility of the ruling party, but alas! It never happened.  The bottom-line is that Nigeria as well as Nigerians do not deserve the kind of politicking the nation is witnessing right now. The logic has moved beyond being friendly to a contest of hatred, acrimony and bitterness. This is no way a pointer to a free and fair election devoid of pre, intra and post elections chaos, violence and controversy.

    It is a good thing that the principal contenders signed a peace pact with the electoral body, to ensure a violence-free election, but the fact still remains that principal actors, leading political parties and their supporters cum sympathisers must eschew any form of utterance and position that will instigate the people to result to violent action or create issues that will promote irresolvable controversies.

    While the media should be wary of becoming an unsuspecting tool in the hands of every mischievous politician, the major political parties must as a matter of urgency call its people to order, encourage a level-play field for every contestant where peace and justice can reign.

     

    • Adesina Adetola

    Ikotun, Lagos

  • Season of Mutually Assured Deceit (MAD)

    SIR: It is easy to know when elections are coming in Nigeria. All manners of odd debates and funny posturing are always there to announce to you. If it is not about religion, the debate would have ethnic colorations or some other pedestal sentiments that easily penetrate the minds of the gullible (a large chunk of the Nigerian electorate is perceived to belong here).

    Nigeria’s electioneering periods only depicts moments of Mutually Assured Deceit (MAD) between the politicians and the Nigerian electorate. The signs are everywhere across the country these days. You get all manners of promises and reference to achievements that only exist in the imagination of the campaigners. And the audience completes the cycle by pretending not to know that the flaunted scorecards and messages of hope merely hints at more days of dashed hopes.

    When a sitting lawmaker comes to seek re-election, and all he has to show as evidence of ‘judicious’ use of his mandate are numbers of borehole sunk; the amount of money spent in purchasing WAEC forms for candidates; number of youths he bought Okada for; and the number of burial or marriage ceremonies he attended to spray money, without any mention of his activities as a legislator, we don’t need any other reason(s) to sack him with our votes. That (his basis for seeking re-election) serves as proof that he does not understand the mandate of his office, and so lacks the requisite capacity to function there. Unfortunately, those things are what most of our lawmakers (both in the National Assembly and states Houses of Assembly) present to their parties to secure fresh tickets. Some of them would, sadly, ride on that crest to a fresh term as lawmakers.

    One new fad is the proliferation of emergency philanthropists. We now have more ‘foundations’ through which ‘kind-hearted’ Nigerians offer to attend to some of our many self-inflicted social deprivations. But we only get to know the real motive when the sponsors present themselves for elective positions shortly after the foundations’ inauguration. Most of the initiatives creep slowly, but steadily into the public awareness with the mission to ‘bring smile’ to the faces of the people within specific communities. They truly make some intervention. But the supposed showers of humanity are extended to shore up the sponsor’s credentials for electoral campaign. They dry up as soon as they (the sponsors) fail to secure tickets to seek elective positions, or shortly after losing elections if they ever got the ticket to fly the flag of their political party.

    February election will be the fifth since we began the current democratic experiment some 16 years back. So, Nigerians must realize that we have been beaten more than enough numbers of times. There is need to demonstrate some level of wisdom as we exercise our franchise this time around. We must look beyond the surface in deciding who gets our votes in this round of elections.

    Despite plunging the nation to perpetual state of mess through their many irresponsible acts, Nigerian politicians have always made ‘good’ use of the electioneering periods to prepare the ground to further deny the nation and its people the well-deserved better days. This is made possible by their packaged lies which are dished out at campaign grounds and through other means to sway unsuspecting members of the public into their side. They have their way most of the time because many Nigerians easily fall for sentiment than looking at issues with open minds.

    February provides us with another opportunity to decide our future. Thankfully, democracy avails us the right of choice. That right, however, comes with the responsibility to think through all the messages that struggle for our attention at this moment. Nigeria can only be great if, as individuals, we decide to reject the temptation to be part of the Mutually Assured Deceit (MAD) that has tormented us as a nation for this long.

     

    •Jide Jegede,

     

  • Why the hubbub over Buhari’s certificate?’

    SIR: Does a degree automatically make an individual a great leader? If it does how come Winston Churchill with no academic degree and with poor results in high school but armed with a military training could mobilize his countrymen and western allies to end the second world war, better yet, he was able to rise up to become prime minister of the United Kingdom, and authored many books and even won a Nobel Laureate in literature?

    If it does, how come late Alhaji Sabo Bakin-Zuwo with barely formal education, a man who could scarcely speak the English language could defeat an incumbent governor of Kano State in the 1980s, the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi who was, well-educated and sharp?

    If it does how come Nigerians see statesmen with various graduate degrees that still find it challenging to read speeches they did not help prepare with superfluous intermittent breaks leading many a people to question the authenticity of their degrees?

    Nigeria today has gone to a most pitiful level of decadence where advisers do not properly guide statesmen to concentrate on issues based electioneering. We have quickly forgotten that the presidential system requires hard work and only people with vision are chosen as advisers.

    It appears that our country has gone out of control and we haven’t learnt anything from the civil war that should make us live forever in peace just the way great aspiring nations have done in recent history.

    If Alhaji Shehu Shagari could grant a presidential pardon to Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as a sign of national reconciliation, why can’t the political class leave General Muhammadu Buhari be, get down to brass-tacks and engage in politics of issues not Jibber-Jabber to move our country forward?

    Tunde Thompson a moment ago as reported in the media has chosen to forgive the general for his detention during his reign and even advised well-meaning Nigerians to do same for peace.

    Would our degree-certified politicians and their bogeymen stop the politics of character assassination in our body politic?

    It was Winston Churchill who said and I believe it is true that, “sometimes it is not enough to do our best; we must do what is required.”

    What is required for our country, to lift us out of lassitude is not diversionary campaigns by raising a certificate war-cry against the general, what is required is not to have politicians divert and pull the wool over the eyes of a trusting follower-ship, what is required is not scape-goating clowning around.

    What is required for nation building are leaders with vision, countries are as great as their leaders. Nigerians need foodstuffs and good governance and accountability and not words.

    We ask for leaders who can provide us with security, so that we all can travel across all space without fear, for Nigeria can never be great if she cannot provide internal security as well as security around her borders. Leaders who can banish ethnicity and indigene-ship, so bad that people at festive seasons in states other than that of their forebears say that they are travelling home.

    Ironically, most of these persons were born in these states, pay taxes there, that notwithstanding, the systemic discrimination prevents them from being assimilated into these states and this happens all across the country. They can vote for indigenes but cannot be voted for.

    The armies of degree qualified politicians and their lieutenants have let us down by not campaigning on issues, not seeing their opponents regardless of gender, language or religious link as one indivisible Homo sapiens and build into the Nigerian consciousness the concept of kindness and charity which is truly lacking at the present time.

    If they mean well to stamp out ill-will which has been with us since independence, then they must learn to see members of the opposing parties as people who hold different views and not enemies.

    The problem with Nigeria has always been that of a visionless political class and this explains significantly why we are not united.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • New Nigeria of our dream

    SIR: We are into the final lap of what must be the most hotly contested general election in our nation’s history and one that many would consider to be a pivotal moment. To many, the match is between the incumbent the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC). To some the choice is between General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) and Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), whilst to others it is between maintaining status quo or change.

    This election is not about PDP or APC. Why? For usually in any contest, the winner is the one with the better skills, strategy, funds and luck even. But in an election, the winner or loser is decided not by the contending parties but by the audience or in this case the voters. For in a democracy, we, the person more literally, have the power to decide who wins or lose, who to serve us as our government and who to serve us as the opposition for the next four years. This election is really about us, the voters, being able to exercise our democratic right to vote in a free and fair election.

    If you are still undecided or unconvinced if you should vote, let me offer some reasons why you must vote in this election.

    It isour duty as responsible citizens. Choosing not to vote is like a family member who chooses not to take out the trash in the house but then complained about the stench, or who chose not to participate in the decision-making process of repainting the family house but gripes about the colour chosen. We lose our right to complain about the state of affairs in this country when we choose not to vote when we can.

    It is where everyone is truly equal. It doesn’t matter if you are the Senator or a labourer, rich or poor, young or old, male or female, as long as you are a Nigerian above 18 years, with no criminal record and are of sound mind, you have one vote each. That is the beauty of democracy; everyone is truly equal at the ballot box. In this way, in a functioning democracy, this system ensures that the rights of the masses are protected and the rich and powerful cannot exploit the system to their advantage. If we don’t realize this fact and allow the rich and powerful to buy our votes or to bully us into voting for them, then we don’t have a democracy.

    It is the only way to hold government accountable. Perhaps we are where we are as a nation is because we have given the keys of power to the same group for the past 16 years and they have gotten drunk with power to the point that they don’t feel the need to be accountable to us anymore. We need to remind them who are the real boss in a democracy.

    We are voting for our children, for a government that would carry us into the next four years.  If we are dissatisfied with the way our country has been managed and believe that things should be better, then this is our chance to vote for change. The choice is for us to make, save the future generation or be part of a failed generation. Even the incumbent president has admitted the fact that his own generation has failed, possibly he meant the PDP generation of leaders, which will surely be judged right come February 14.

     

    • Comrade Ahmed Omeiza Lukman,

    Kiev, Ukraine.

  • Why not a non-rigging accord?

    SIR: The just signed non-violence accord by various political party candidates towards 2015 elections would ordinarily appear so warranted and highly commendable if it hadn’t also come vividly as an old game of taking Nigerians for simpletons. The camaraderie so beautifully painted with the snap-shot of the broadly smiling top contenders, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, would seem good enough to send us all to sleep with our fears totally dispelled, if we were never taken for a ride before.

    The history of Nigeria is however replete with stories of electoral deceit, manipulation and bare-faced rigging that were usually wrapped up in universally welcome theories of democracy and peaceful co-existence. Many a time, it is when our leaders have a shocker ahead for Nigerians that they display fallacious extra-care for peace and order ahead of elections and it is high time we started to take such with due suspicion.

    We, no doubt, need peace before, during and after elections; but would such be more important to Nigeria and Nigerians than a free, fair and credible election, given the fact that an acceptable election would not only guarantee peace but would promote progress and national pride? Why were we not getting the candidates in the on-coming election as well as INEC chiefs together to sign an accord against electoral malpractices for once, to demonstrate that we truly love this nation more than our political parties and personal goals?

    What we didn’t know as we celebrated that non-violence accord was that those signing it could have their various strange plots to win elections at all costs! Of what use therefore would be a peaceful manipulation of election results and, thus, of Nigerians’ votes if the accord would ever subsist?

    Oh, yes, even a non-rigging accord could, most likely, suffer the same fate of defiance which should go to show that the non-violence accord that was signed and the non-rigging accord that was not signed could both be merely cosmetic and deceptive.

    Candidly, what would tame us all in this country and attract to us the much-desired greatness as a nation is not accords but sincerity of democratic practice at all times. If the ruling PDP can achieve this for Nigeria now it would go a long way in promoting peace, progress and national pride, accord or no accord.

     

    • Jide Oguntoye,

    Oye-Ekiti

  • That GEJ/GMB hug

    SIR: Our country men, women, youths and children need to have critical look at the picture of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as captured in the front page of The Nation of Thursday, January 15, tagged “A hug against violence”.  It would seem that while their exellencies are glaringly presenting the gesture of rival captains in just a friendly match in preparation for their main contest, they might have humorously warned each other not to engage in any outregeous cheating in the election proper.

    Let us thus pray and hope that the Hug Against Violence would practically or even symbolically translate  into A HUG AGAINST OUTREGEOUS RIGGING in main elections. And may God answer our prayer.

     

    • Gavers C. Ihematulam Esq.

    Mandegavers@gmail.Com

  • Elections, INEC and America’s prediction

    SIR: Socrates, the philosopher, born circa 470BC in Athens, Greece, and as wont in their custom, was presented to the “god of life” by his parents, during dedication. The trusted god did not blink in reeling out dossier of the new-born. The darkest spot of his life curricular was, however, a dent on his amphora where the god predicted larger than life achievements but on negative norms – “this newborn will become a Chief Highway Robber the type the world has never witnessed, the god submitted”.

    His parents were perturbed by the message of a god held in high esteem. Socrates’ mother refused to address him by the christened name but chose to call him “Armed Robber”. Noticing, as he grew, his mother addressing him in unconventional way, he challenged her for disparaging his person by the odious name. The mother did not hesitate to reveal the reason.

    What Socrates did when told of the story of a “god that never lied” was to prove the “god” wrong.

    This is the time to prove America and her ilk wrong by surmounting our God given innate qualities and abilities to keep this fragile nation one. The white refer to us as black people but they are wrong. We are dark-skinned and our brain is neither black nor dark.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission under the leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega has to rise to the occasion by ensuring fair contest amongst the numerous candidates.

    The stigmatized image of a body believed to be instrument of electoral frauds in the recent past should be salvaged as we are all waiting to see whether or not he who pays the piper will not call the tune.

    INEC officials are Nigerians, and official corruption has no borderline as people with hitching palms are abound in all facets of life.

    A one man, one vote permutation where justice is seen to be done in arena where votes count is the only panacea to suppress the unseemly beggary and loathsome minds who believe that nothing good could come from the Nazareth of our INEC.

    The fact that Nigerians have been condemned to abject poverty by the successive governments and majority are hibernating under the gale of inescapable fate of economic strangulation and kwashiorkor does not blur our vision from discerning lies even when coated with tissue of truth. People’s sensitivity to electoral manipulations has never been more charged than now.

    Sovereignty belongs to the people and every democratically elected leader is expected to derive power from the people through transparency and prudent accountability in affairs of the state by a way of giving hope to the local populace in a society where individuals are privileged to wangle ways in serene and secured ambient environment for economic emancipation. Yes, political office holder, if truly elected, should be accountable to the electorates.

    We should be reminded that a few Nigeria politicians in their desperation, either to cling to power or record electoral success at all cost, are obstinate in hypocrisy by laying foundation of their house of deception on an undermined sand cliff ready to crumble to pieces with the occupiers.

     

    The phobia of break-up as orchestrated by the West in form of a kite supposedly flown in our sky of sub consciousness is a charade, an intrigue of deceit intended to sow seeds of discord, hatred and disunity amongst our ruling elites for actualization of their dream, not for anything, but their economic interests.

    All eyes must open. All ears must open. All sense organs must be at alert as if this is the last lap on a common race towards destination for a new Nigeria where everybody will be his brother’s keeper

     

    Let the votes count. Let us put our detractors to shame. Let Nigeria be

     

    • Jimoh Kayode,

    Lagos