The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Money politics in Cross River?

    SIR: Despite the fact that the tenure of most of the current elected political gladiators will not end until May 29, 2015, the race to get political relevance in the post-2015 political dispensation has already gathered momentum. More than half of the present elected governors across the 36 states of the federation would not be eligible to contest for governorship offices in 2015 as they would have expended two terms of four years each as governors of their respective states as provided for in the constitution. One of such states is Cross River, where Senator Liyel Imoke has presided as governor since May 29, 2007. The fact that Imoke has been acclaimed as one of the most impressive governors in Nigeria since the current political dispensation makes him a very important factor in the race for the 2015 diadem at Diamond Hill, Calabar.

    Yet as they say, all manner of knives are invited to an elephant’s funeral, the race in Cross River State is not short of all shades of characters. One name that has continued to make appearance on the list of candidates declaring interest in the governorship in the state is Goddy Jeddy Agba. Even without formally declaring for the exalted position, the man is said to have started throwing money about. Indeed, there was a lot of buzz in the state last December with claims that Agba was dishing out millions of naira to all the chapter chairmen of the PDP.

    Even before picking his party’s ticket, he has started producing souvenirs like mugs advertising himself. Much as several hangers-on would like to identify with someone who calls himself a reigning “Billionaire” in town, just for the complex politics of the stomach, not many have bothered to ask who Goddy Agba is. Other politicians from the northern part of the state (where the governorship slot has been zoned to) who are interested in the contest have granted interviews to the popular press to sell their plans, ideas and worldviews. This is to enable the electorate know them and study their respective programmes in order for them to make intelligent and alternative choices. Agba has done none of the above.

    The only known identity Goddy Agba has is that he worked with the NNPC where he was in charge of the lifting of Nigerian crude oil to the international markets. What was he before he joined the NNPC as an employee?

    If Agba is to stand any chance, his campaigners who are currently interested in what they can get from him, must change their strategy. Presently all they do is abuse and insult people with contrary opinion to him. A case in point was the unbelievable claim by the state chairman of the PDP, Ntufam John Okon that Agba was not a card-carrying member of his party. The reaction of Dr Sandy Onoh, the Director-General of Agba’s campaign organisation was very uncouth.

    The truth is that Cross Riverians need to know who Goddy Agba is beyond being a money bag. Rather than spend time insulting people with contrary opinions to theirs, or second guessing the incumbent administration which is on its way out, can Agba’s handlers unveil their blueprint if at all they have any?

    If he is a democrat as the jesters and political jobbers hacking around his court would have us believe, why are they attacking people with contrary views on him? Recent events have shown that media fireworks don’t translate to votes in an open election.

    Stupendous wealth also does not guarantee success in a free and fair election, especially in a state with a long history of an enlightened culture like cross River State. The people of Cross River State do not kowtow to pressure from money politics. It is alien to us.

     

    • Barister Obasesam Eyong,

    Abuja

     

  • Calling on the nation’s youths

    SIR: There is this widely accepted saying that the youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow. There is no gain saying the fact that the youths who constitute the majority in the Nigerian polity are the most important human resource of the country. The upbringing given to them will obviously determine the ways they will steer the ship of the nation in the nearest future.

    Today, the situation in the country is very worrisome because of the rate of crimes and insecurity. This could be adduced to the fact that majority of our youths are not gainfully employed. There is an urgent expectation on government to create jobs and put other developmental programmes in place to drastically reduce the suffering of the masses. Institutions of higher learning are producing graduates every now and then but, with the arbitrary age limits and or work experience set as standard requirements by majority of employers, coupled with scarcity of vacancies, it is obvious that a good number of our graduates will never be employed in this generation.

    As it were, it is no longer news to say that the youths have engaged themselves in various crimes and societal vices ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killings, traders in innocent babies, cultism, to mention but a few. In whichever ways we look at the situation on ground, it is obvious that the youths are aggrieved and disgruntled because our leaders have let them down. However, taking to crimes and all other vices is not and can never be the solution.

    Rather than engaging in all sorts of vices, we should start thinking of what to contribute towards rejuvenating our democracy and ensuring that the benefits are felt by all and sundry. If we agree that the youths constitute majority of the country’s population then, it means that our destinies are in our hands. If democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people, it means, it is the government of the majority of the electorates. So, why can’t we use our numerical advantage to RIGHTS the WRONGS?

    I will enjoin the youths to shun all vices and come together to decide our future. Let us start by participating positively and actively in politics. Register your membership with any political party of your choice so that you will be eligible to nominate and be nominated for elective positions. Also, ensure that if you have attained the voting age, you should register so that you can vote and be voted for in future elections.

    Unlike in the past where most people vote just to make up the numbers and or because of inducements from politicians, we should all have it at the back of our minds that our votes is our power that can make or break our future so we must use them wisely. Henceforth, voting should be based on conscience, principles and concrete developmental programmes that will assuage our sufferings. If we continue to allow ourselves to be used for violence and other electoral malpractices, then, our relevance ceases as soon as we are paid for the dirty jobs. In this situation, it will be unjustifiable if we turn back to complain of misrule by our leaders in the events after.

     

    • Raymond Oise-Oghaede

     

  • Chibok Girls: Let’s go spiritual

    SIR: Nigerians, faced with a series of unbroken life difficulties tend to affiliate his “hell on earth” with spiritualism. As the popular adage says, heaven only helps those who help themselves.

    It seems about time that aspect of our lifestyle is put to urgent use. This is the time for the nation to ask for the help of our spiritual leaders (the jet flyers and those without). Given the complexity of Boko Haram insurgency and the rate at which it is getting out of governmental control, the presidency should not shy away from holding an expanded security advisory meeting comprising not just the governors but also the spiritual crème de la crème.

    Let us call on the priests of divinity, to divine our collective future as well as those of the abducted ladies. The priests of the Pentecostal and orthodox churches should not be left out of this; so also are the imams, to help us pray our way out of this calamity.

    It’s not a mockery of the situation, but something we needed to do but had looked at, with negligence.  After all, an average Nigerian and even many of the mediocres in public offices are always rushing to these spiritual centres for political breakthroughs during electioneering.

    Spiritualism is not all of the panacea but just one of them. The “men of God” should also be begged into negotiating for the release of these abducted girls, granting their closeness with God or divinity, so that the heart of the Boko Haram boys would be softened and an unconditional release without bloodshed or casualty on the part of the abductees achieved.

    While all these is on, it’s high time we accepted that though our armed forces are doing their best, the numerical and physical strength of our military do not meet the technological and intelligential demands for tackling a hit and run insurgency like Boko Haram. And also the patriotic motivation of our military does not meet the “readiness to die, but not die alone” will of the Boko Haram goons.

    If motivation is to be termed, dying for what  one believes in, then no army in the world not even the America’s, has a higher motivation than that of the die-hard terrorist. The Boko Haram goons are ready to die for a cause -even though a regrettably erroneous one- and to our spiritual leaders we should be turning our attention to, for spiritual breakthrough, as every contemporary Nigerian does.

    They mustn’t reject us in this dire time, after all many of them had made  wealth and fame from a whole lot of us, who jostle to their centres and strive through our nose to add up to the collection box, in the name of breakthrough and miracles.

     

    •Waliu Olaifa,

    olaifawaliu@rocketmail.com

  • President should halt drift into fascism

    SIR: We are beginning to see a gradual transition into fascism, selective justice and retrogressive clampdown on the opposition. This portends ominous sign for the nation. It is becoming clearer that President Jonathan is ready to muscle his way into the presidency for a second term in 2015. The opposition are being whipped to fall in line willy nilly.

    I believe that President Goodluck Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest for a second term in office. Similarly, the opposition has a right to field a presidential candidate against the President or any other PDP candidate in 2015. President Jonathan should allow his work to speak for or against him. Any student of politics will know that clamping down on the opposition can only achieve temporary relief. It rather attracts sympathy for the persecuted. Whichever way, all public officers will have to leave the office one day.

    During the Ekiti governorship election, APC governors were prevented by security forces from entering into Ekiti State while the Minister of Police Affairs and the Minister of State for Defence (PDP chieftains) were allowed in. The Akure airport was also shut to prevent the APC governors from flying into their bases and they were forced to travel by road. Some Ekiti State APC local leaders were detained during the election.

    Recently, President Jonathan welcomed former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff into the PDP with preferential treatment and opened Maiduguri airport for the landing of his private plane. The Maiduguri Airport had been shut for some time and was not made available for locals even for lesser hajj.

    Impeachment moves have been made and are still been made against opposition governors especially in states where the PDP controls the states houses of assemblies. Some have rumored that more states controlled by the opposition may go the same way.

    What our President needs to do is to endear himself into the hearts of the electorate. If the President had  dealt with sponsors of terrorism, the killings of our people with impunity would have stopped. He should deploy security forces to resolve our insecurity challenges and not use such for irrelevancies.  He should fight corruption and ensures transparency in governance. He should stop granting state pardons to corrupt elements who still have cases in courts to resolve. He should ensure that fake marketers who were paid billions of naira for fuel not imported are brought to book and the ill-gotten wealth retrieved into the public treasury. He should fight oil theft and substantially increase the earnings of the nation.

    The President should retrace his steps and not follow the path of executive recklessness.

     

    • Akinlolu Abdulazeez Adelaja,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Preventing the deadly Ebola virus

    SIR: It is a terrifying that Nigeria is at risk of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease epidemic. The virus is “out of control” and spreading rapidly across the West African coast like a wild harmattan fire with the World Health Organisation(WHO) recording 44 new infections and 21 deaths in just two days. The outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is the worst on record with over 500 deaths reported to date. With several cases of Ebola reported in Mali, Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone, West Africa is witnessing the most challenging outbreak since the disease was discovered 38 years ago. WHO recently declared that it expects the deadly virus’ spread to continue for several more months in West Africa and now that it has spread to three neighbouring countries, the crisis appears to be far from being over.

    Nigeria, being the economic hub of the West African sub-region, attracts the highest movement of people, goods and services within the region and this portends great danger for the country as the Ebola Virus is highly infectious and can be transmitted through bodily fluids, skin and other organs or through indirect contact with environments contaminated by the disease.

    In a country where management of emergencies and disasters is lethargic, a nation where healthcare facilities and personnel are grossly inadequate and doctors’ strike incessant, the possibility of coping with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus disease will, no doubt, be a very difficult national yoke. Nigeria remains one of five countries in the world still grappling with the eradication of polio even with readily available vaccination. In a country where strive is rife, the burden of curtailing the outbreak of another disease with no available vaccination will no doubt be a weighty crisis. This is why the authorities must act fast to secure the nation’s borders and prevent entry of the deadly virus.

    Ebola is highly infectious. It can be transmitted through bodily fluids, skin and other organs or through indirect contact with environments contaminated by the disease. The disease can also have a long incubation period, lasting up to three weeks, which allows it to spread rapidly before diagnosis and quarantine can take place. Men who have been infected with the disease and recovered can still pass it on through sexual contact for up to seven weeks.

    In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, raising awareness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and protective measures individuals can take is the only way to reduce human infection and death. Beside clinical management, the WHO, the Federal Ministry of Health and other partners should implement measures to respond to outbreak, contact tracing, disease surveillance, laboratory work, logistics, information-sharing and communication for effective response.

    The Federal Ministry of Health must also step up its public enlightenment campaigns to further create awareness on how to prevent infection from the deadly virus, and in case of infection, how to identify the early symptoms which is characterized by sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, sore throat and death. There is need for aggressive production and distribution of Information, Education and Communication Materials on prevention and management of Ebola Virus.

    Border states, because of their proximity to the reported countries of outbreak, particularly to the west of Nigeria should emulate Lagos and other states that have issued warning alerts to their residents on the risk of Ebola Virus outbreak. Lagos State, in particular, had advised the residents on precautionary measures to prevent infections. These include washing of hands often with soap and water, avoiding close contact with people who are sick and ensuring that objects used by the sick are decontaminated and properly disposed. The Disease Control Units of all the Ministry of Health in the vulnerable states must also synergize in creating a coordinated surveillance system around the border posts to identify possible carriers.

     

    • Sola Ogunmosunle

    Ministry of Information &

    Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Saying the truth about unnecessary Enugu tussle

    I cannot but agree more with the well researched article written by Dr Johnbull Okpe, which harped on the need for Senator Ike Ekweremadu to be allowed to return to the Senate come 2015, because of his laudable achievements both at the National Assembly and the unprecedented service to his immediate constituency.

    The article indeed brought to the fore the unfortunate past time of serving governors whose primordial desire is to frustrate and deny the party’s ticket to whoever is the incumbent from their constituencies simply because they want the appellation of ‘Distinguished Senator’ added to their Curriculum Vitae CV.

    Shedding light on what is prevalent in the United States, where Senators serve for almost 37 and 40 years respectively at a stretch, it therefore beats one’s imagination hollow, why the hue and cry in Enugu State of the alleged desire of the incumbent governor to stop Senator Ekweremadu at a time his service is still needed by his people and nation for doing an excellent job so far.

    There are other places governors can play deserving roles in national development other than the senate instead of heating up the political barometer like also being witnessed in Akwa Ibom where agitation is on also to stop the incumbent from returning to the senate.

    One recalls with a sour taste in the mouth, where a former Governor of Enugu State, rail-roaded his way to the senate and there was nothing tangible on his record chart both in the debates on the floor of the senate or meaningful attraction of amenities and infrastructure to his people.

     

    Tony Ugwuzo writes from Ogui, Enugu

  • Unsafe abortion: Young girls die out of lack of knowledge

    Unsafe abortion has lingered as one of the chief factors for the increasing maternal death ring in the country. The level at which unsafe abortion is destroying the lives of young Nigerian women has become a cause for concern among many Nigerians.

    In a recent figure relayed by the President General of Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in the Diaspora, Dr. Kate Ezeofor, it was reprehensibly pragmatic that more than 34,000 young women in Nigeria die from abortion and its complications every year. This, according to Bankole and Henshaw et al, means that one in 10 Nigerian women have an abortion in her lifetime.

    The source sustained that there are 760,000 abortion cases every year in Nigeria, 60 percent of which are unsafe. These figures even look like a charade compared to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2007, which divulged that over 25% of young women in Nigeria have their first sexual intercourse by the age of 15; and by the age of 18 years, over 60% of adolescents have had sexual intercourse, many leading to unwanted pregnancy, hence abortion.

    Many of the girls have died in unsafe abortions out of ignorance. A young man in Rivers State confessed to the police recently of giving his now ex-girlfriend an abortion pill he camouflaged as an antibiotic. The ex-girlfriend was barely 18yrs old. There was an unconfirmed story of a respected fertility doctor who caused his pregnant girlfriend to take medication that caused her to abort a barely two-month-old foetus.

    Health professionals were worried that many of the victims could have not died if not for what they termed anti-pregnancy regulations by some religious bodies. In September 17, 2013 the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria had reiterated its concern and vehemently kicked against attempts by foreign organisations to introduce what it termed as “sickly values into the country, such as same sex marriage and abortion.” Apparently, the bishops also condemned the use of condoms. The Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Owerri, the same year, tackled Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State for signing what it characterised as “anti-life legislation” into law in the state; forces compelled the governor to rescind his position.

    For example, two girls aged 15 and 19, according to a report provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) known as IPAS, which says that it seeks to offer superior approach into the productive rights of women, had this confession of two young women: “After he forced me to have sex, he started sending my friend, a girl, to talk to me, because he knew I was mad at him and did not want to see him again. My friend convinced me that such things happen to every girl, so I should get used to it. So, I forgave the boy and went back.”

    The other said: “One day, he told me that he wanted to introduce me to his relatives who would help in getting us married: I went there. He was alone. He locked the door; he threatened me saying: how could he marry me if I behaved like this? He beat me when I tried to get out.” Whichever way, abortion has become a game of a sort that any young woman who has not had knowledge of it has a mindset that she is not ‘wise’ or have not ‘grown’.

    However, one out of every five cases of pregnancy has been said to be unwanted and unplanned for by the pregnant persons; which professionals have said could be the result of consensual or aggressive sexual meetings like rape or incestuous contraventions. In the opinion of connoisseurs, Nigeria’s abortion law came into existence in 1861, which they said although legalises abortion, but part of the provisions of that law still makes abortion a criminal offence. Nigerians are, conversely, of the view that the law belongs to the 17th Century. According to them, it does not tally with the dictates of modern times.

    In a 2010 account, Lemmy Ughegbe, the Guardian bureau office, Abuja, noted how the human rights advocate brought to limelight the position of Sarafina Ojimaduka, an advocate of Female Reproductive Rights, during a training of journalists conducted by IPAS. In the words of Ojimaduka as reported by Ughegbe:  “Criminalising abortion drives women from hospitals where they could get better medical attention and make them resort to the use of quarks and crude means all in the bid to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.”

    Considering some sections of the law that could help women overcome quackery, Ughegbe had said: Specifically, Section 228 of the Criminal Code provides that “any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

    Ughegbe went further, saying that Section 229 of Criminal Code provides that “any woman who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, whether she is or is not with a child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

     

    By Odimegwu Onwumere,

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

  • Humble bow for Kongi @ 80

    SIR: There is doubt in the assertion that Wole Soyinka is an irreplaceable gem and a literary treasure to the generation of black race. There is no atom of hyperbole if we say our Kongi is unrivalled blessing to the present generation of African literature and orature.

    A literary pathfinder and avid reader, veteran poet and indefatigable activist, public critic and seasoned playwright, respected director, skillful raconteur, essayist, translator and filmmaker, actor and musician, connoisseur, hunter, and a typical African man – Kongi is indeed an herald of peace, an harbinger of hope, waver of consciousness and an all-rounder hero  who has braved many roads and sailed through many hazard-laden seas.

    Taking dimensional look and personal in-depth evaluation of Wole Soyinka as a cerebral Renaissance man and curator of African traditional heritage, there is no scintilla of doubt that our dear Kongi has exercised this both intellectual and pragmatic. Soyinka is a hunter who loves going for hunting especially on his birthday; he is a great aficionado of Ogun- Yoruba’s god of Iron. And unarguably, his adaptional translation of D. O Fagunwa’s books from indigenous

    language to English shows his high level of literary prowess and second-to-none passion for African cultural legacies.

    Considering his enviable impacts as a political trailblazer and activist, coupled with his physical activeness, his valour and unparalleled bravura, Soyinka, just like his cousin Fela Anikulapo

    Kuti and Black American poet and playwright of The Dutchman Amiri Imamu Baraka, can be described as a great revolutionary fellow and a skillful political analyst and architect, whose inimitable resilience against the tyranny of the then Nigerian military rule and its draconian decree, and zero tolerance against the present power-thirsti-ness of Nigerian civilian post-bearers have immensely helped the country  cast away the chronic bane and bile, problems and plight daily plaguing Nigeria as a nation with ethnic diversities and political point of differences; and a state paddled and ridden by political cynics and bigots, religious zealots and ethnic gladiators, without excluding our conscience-deprieved intellectual confussionists and paranoids. Hence, Prof. Wole Oyinka once said that “the greatest threat to freedom is absence of criticism.”

    As one of the notable and reknowned pioneers of African literature and respected admirers of primitive cultural values and socio-religious heritage, the oratory grey-haired professor of Comparative Literature has imprinted his footprints on the sand of time. Soyinka can be

    described as victorious hero who has left the dents of his foot on the shore never imprinted by feet of man, having being the first African man to be awarded the prestigious prize of Nobel Laurel for Literature (1986). And one won’t be jaw-dropped that writers like Akeem Lasisi, a

    prolific tradition-inclined African bard, author of a nuptial poetry collection Night of my Flight, and a seasoned journalist made a single release of a Yoruba chanting album Ori Agbe in celebration of Soyinka’s inestimable greatness, having being his (Lasisi’s) mentor and colleague hunter so to speak.

    As a politically inclined individual who has been rekindling political cognizance in many Nigerians, Kongi has never allowed political interest to befoul his moral consciousness and conscience. His constructive criticism against Nigerian political goliaths is enough to affirm his political neutrality and compassionate sympathy for down-trodden hoi polloi. He has never associated himself with the nation killjoys, fortunes reapers and plunderers. He has been a

    protagonist in the cause of anticipation for just and purely democratic government. And despite the sizzling of battle-front, Kongi has never given room for political opportunism, intellectual

    robbotism, syconphacy and personal share and siphoning of national cake usually given to public critics  by power-driven political tyrants, to silence him into moribund mute. Corresponding to this is his frank rejection of recent centenary award which he regarded as ‘national shame.’

    When asked onceif he sees himself as omniscient writer, he quickly rejoined “. . .that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others.” With this afore quoted statement, Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka can be said to have been greatly influenced by writers

    like William Shakespeare, George Benard Shaw, Oscar Wild and the likes. And in 2011 the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre built a writers’ enclave in his honour, because of his enthusiastic outlook towards developing African literature and building writers of the same kindred spirits.

    The celebration of Soyinka as an octogenarian, Kongi at 80 is a celebration of national hero. It is a celebration that calls for libation in honour of our literary deity. May the sun rise, may thousand flowers blossom. May Soyinka grow old to see his enormous grey hair becoming scanty and dust. May he grow old to munch many kola nuts with old-age gingiva.

    • Rahaman Abiola Toheeb,

     Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife

  • Letter to the President

    SIR: I am compelled to write given the recent spate of attacks and spurious statements by your media aides and security operatives alleging the hijack of the BringBackOurGirls movement – a citizens collective effort to stay vigilant on the kidnapped girls. I belong to this movement in my capacity as a citizen of Nigeria, and I feel deeply insulted that some of your aides have either acted in their own capacity or succeeded in misleading you through deliberate misinformation about the movement.

    Last week, Ms Marilyn Ogar, in her characteristic manner, called this movement a franchise; a statement which I consider highly derogatory and unsavoury. Unfortunately, she cast serious aspersions on the integrity of those who constitute the movement in Nigeria and worldwide. The leadership of the Abuja chapter of the movement has clearly disproved these allegations but I keep wondering why you allow such untold misrepresentation to go on under your watch.

    Only recently, precisely 15th July, 2014; one of your senior media aides Dr. Doyin Okupe alleged that Ms Obiageli Ezekwesili instigated the families of the kidnapped girls from attending the meeting you scheduled, whom you had only recently deemed fit to meet after 92 days.  I am quite sure Ms Ezekwesili, who remains one Nigerian with incorruptible integrity and who desperately wants these girls rescued, will never resort to such act as portrayed by Dr Okupe. Moreover Mr President, history bears witness that it took you 3 weeks before you acknowledged these atrocious kidnap; and all of us are aware of the arrest that befell members of the movement after the scheduled meeting they had with your wife, the First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs Patience Jonathan. Personally, it is not far-fetched why they will ignore your meeting: the precedence of denial, intimation and arrests of members of the movement is telling.

    I find it utterly disrespectful that consistently, Dr. Okupe’s characteristic name-calling, character assassination and pedestrian outbursts keep mocking the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The letter, which was widely distributed in the media, was attributed to have been written by you; but I am certain the person of the President of Nigeria will never write such. Whatever the grievances Dr. Okupe has with Ms Ezekwesili, the office of the President should not be reduced to such dance of shame in the media. Honestly, I keep wondering how you will allow yourself and your noble office to be such ridiculed by such dramatis personae as aides.

    Regardless of the constant attack and publicity strategy of the establishment to frustrate, derail and divide us; we stay strong and committed to demanding that the girls be brought back alive. I am aware of the complexities that may be involved in securing the release of these girls, which consequently may have prevented an open and transparent citizens interaction. However, the fact that we disagree with the secrecy involved in the attempts at rescuing these girls that does not give any of your aides the right to castigate us and demean our persons using all of the channels of manipulations it has.

    Mr. President, you swore an oath to the security and welfare of the Nigerian people. Not only have you consistently failed in this regard, but Nigeria’s security incompetence during these trying times have occurred despite appropriating the highest resource in the budget to security (about N3tn in three years). Mr. President, based on the sustained captivity of the past three months following these girls kidnap, based on the insecurity challenges of the past years under your watch; no other institution of government has terrorized Nigerians psychologically than the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    • ‘Seun Fakuade,

    Lagos

  • Mr President: Act presidential!

    SIR: Kudos to the Nigerian security agencies and INTERPOL for the arrest of Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, the alleged mastermind of the Nyanya killings of our people. It is an excellent job!

    Our security agencies must equally step up efforts to have Shekau located and arrested. Is Shekau really operating from Sambisa forest with internet access? Which service provider is available for his use? With internet usage, all users are traceable through technological efforts. Shekau is traceable since he uses internet and uploads videos regularly.

    Are the planted bombs being detonated miles away from Sambisa forest actually coming from the forest? How are the terrorists able to move across several check-points in states under emergency to cross to other states with weapons and explosive materials? The terrorists have abducted more of our daughters and mothers after the Chibok incident. How are they able to move their captives across states under emergency? Where are our abducted girls?

    Furthermore, unless President Jonathan becomes presidential by bringing the sponsors of terrorism to book, the battle is yet over. The devils have wreaked terrible havoc on our dear nation and have continued to kill us with impunity despite previous arrests of terrorist leaders such as Kabiru Sokoto and others. President Jonathan had said previously that he knows the sponsors of terrorism in the land. As our Commander-in-Chief, we believe him. The time to act is now!

    So long as the terrorists have access to political, financial and material supports through their sponsors, they will continue with their devilish activities. The arrests of Kabiru Sokoto and others (and now Ogwuche) should remove the dark veil protecting sponsors of terrorism. When the supplying wells of terrorism are dried up, the protective cover of terrorism will be blown off.

    There is no doubt that our dear president loves the nation. The terrorists have continued to attack us with impunity because President Jonathan has failed to be presidential. As the father of all, he must deploy the required political will to deal with the sponsors of terrorism without any regard whatsoever to whose ox is gored. This is the only way to bring the efforts of our security agencies to fruition. This is the way to victory!

    • Akinlolu, Abdulazeez Adelaja

    University Of Ilorin.