The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • On ‘Awo and SLA: Two exemplary paradigms’

    I enjoyed reading “Awo and SLA: Two Exemplary Paradigms” in the ‘Snooping Around with Tatalo Alamu’ column on November 17th, 2013. The Petain-de Gaulle comparison is spot on except that its definitiveness, unquestioned triumph of Gaullism and its continued relevance contrasted with the oblivion of Petain and his Vichy collaborators did not happen in the Awo-SLA case.

    While I was an unconditional Awoist in that era – “Omo Awo” as nom de plume – I share your worry that a new intra-Yoruba civil war in the South-West appears to be lurking in the horizon. Is there a role for an intergenerational group of intellectuals on this subject? Just to let you know that I would make time to participate in a brainstorming on the subject. I am assuming that you would be the convener.

    Professor Ladipo Adamolekun,

    Lagos.

     

  • Anambra election forebodes ill omen for 2015

    SIR: I have watched with keen interest the brouhaha that characterised the Anambra State governorship election. And I am still in shock about the future that awaits us in this country. For about a year now, our televisions and newspapers have featured all manners of dangerous trend happening in almost every sector of government and governance.

    Beginning from the corruption of the oil subsidy, inflation of road contracts, stealing of pension funds, secrecy of oil production, corruption and extravagant spending in various sectors;  oil theft, the ballooning of external and internal debt to over N8 trillion, kidnappings and assassinations, the politicisation of the judiciary, unbelievable decay in our educational sector and, insecurity. To these have been added voters disenfranchisement and the shameless and irresponsible display of thuggery, daylight robbery and impunity in the handling of our electoral process.

    The gathering storm is something we must confront if we ever desire a future. The admission of mix-up and failures of Professor Jega and the electoral commissioners in the Anambra election on itself is a shot on INEC’s foot. The reckless use of the security agencies to perpetuate oppression and impunity has become alarming. The failure of the Anambra election needs no prophet to tell that a war has been silently declared against Nigerians.

    I must call on the chairman of INEC, Professor Jega to, as a matter of urgency, cancel this label of reproach called ”election” in Anambra and withdraw all the electoral commissioners sent to conduct the charade of election.

    How do we explain to the entire world that INEC, after the huge sum of money pumped into the preparation for the election and the drafting of over 28,000 policemen from different parts of this country, and with taxpayers’ money and other funds provided for logistics to conduct an election for just a state, that we are ready for an election in 2015?  Or, is Anambra election a test run to see what Nigerians would do when such illegality and impunity is perpetuated in 2015?

    If anyone is in doubt of the insensitivity of our leaders to the plight of common man in this country, the election has stated it loud and clear. I could not hold back tears when I saw hundreds of women who trooped out on the highway in protest at how they were disfranchised and their rights violently taken away from them. Nigerians should be ready to take their destinies in their hands by insisting that we can no longer fold our hands and watch the leadership of this country plunge us into a chaotic and unimaginable crisis. We must rise and stop this before it gets too late. Events have proved that the only language the Nigerian leadership understands is massive protest or strike.

    Socrates aptly put it thus: “the only thing the upright could do for evil to strive or take over the land is to do nothing”.  To sit, fold our hands and watch all these ills being perpetuated across the land, is to our own undoing.

     

    • Apostle Eugene Ogu,

    Port Harcourt

  • Iyayi’s death reflects nation’s reckless politics

    SIR: Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) received with shock the sudden and ill-timed death of Prof. Festus Iyayi last week. We are saddened by the loss. The wrongful death of any Nigerian and indeed any human saddens us but Iyayi’s death is especially painful to us and the entire labour and human rights community because of what he symbolizes. Iyayi was not just an erudite scholar, writer and lecturer; but a radical and thoroughbred social crusader who stood for the Nigerian people.

    His death however, is not just another death to be glossed over as his death triggered by the now known indiscriminate and uncouth driving of the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada’s convoy reflects the reckless politics and power drunken nature of the Nigerian politicians. And while the nation is in a sober reflection at this time, we ask government at all levels to perform their mandate henceforth with restraint and maturity.

    Not only that, we call for investigations on his death and we urge the Nigerian people to stiffly resist these draconian attitudes to save our nation.

    On the last look really, this earthly life is merely an embryonic prelude to a new awakening, for life at its best is not just in longevity or earthly possessions, but living right and making peace with God and with man-that is what determines the legacy you live behind. Iyayi, we believe, has done that because he left a committed life behind, and that is something that ought to burn the conscience of the nation and its political and religious leaders who look the other way in the face of injustice; that is what should bother them.

    So, we ask the Nigerian people to take a moment today to say a prayer for Prof. Festus Iyayi; say a prayer for the family he has left behind, and more importantly, say a prayer for this nation which we all loved.

     

    • Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi & Chief Eddy Ezurike

    Centre for Civic Education, Abuja

  • Where is the future for our youths?

    SIR: If the youths are the future, then there is no hope for Nigeria.  The impressionable mind of the youths has been hijacked by the atrocious actions of adults.  Raw energy and beauty of youth that are the envy of the old are being wasted on recklessness.  It brings tears to conscientious eyes watching the blooming youngsters on a riotous rage.

    No forum is considered sacred.  The sheer number of the youths and the strength of their youthfulness are subduing.  The anger caused by their disregard for civility flames the mind.  Wisdom calls for subtlety in keeping peace when they are in action.  They pounce like a hurricane and overwhelm everyone with force.  Like robbers, they make unwarranted demands.  Their ability to cause mischief when they do not have their way is left to one’s wildest imagination.

    It is bewildering to witness the youths impose their self-entitlement on the public, more so, the manner in which the victims acquiesce.  This submission could be out of fear of being harmed or shame of being exposed.  The society is so fraught with unruliness that the youths do not have positive models of behavior to emulate.  There is no moral authority to guide them.  They are forced to regurgitate the poison internalized from a polluted society.

    It is like singing the same old song all over again.  The youths are the offspring of a culture of endemic poverty.  They do not have a strong family background.  They are badly educated, and as a consequence, they cannot be gainfully employed.  They live in a nation without a social network to propel them out of their debilitating circumstance.  They resort to primitive instinct to battle their way through the rough passage.

    Their world is like a vicious circle.  The police do not interfere in the affairs of the youths.  They will rather implore the victim of their action to settle.  The poor urchins must find a means to survive.  Politicians shy away from their confrontations since they represent the anger for their destitution.  The restlessness of the youths manifests in the recklessness of the society.  They are antagonized by the society for their rebelliousness.

    The youths do not represent the totality of the young people.  Though the rocketing of their menace reverberates shockingly, the glowing promise of endeavoring stars is not overshadowed.  Youths deserve a unified voice for political representation.  Like everything in Nigeria, youth movement has been corrupted to a legion of thugs.

    One hopes this episode of bad behavior by the youths will soon pass away.  The government is not skillful at arresting problematic situations and God must be challenged since most of the youths are prayer warriors.  The redemption is that Nigerians are not strangers to existential conundrums.  The youths should know that violence is not the answer.  They should drop the brawns and pick up the books.

    •Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • Wada: Governor and his many troubles

    SIR: This is certainly not the best of times for Governor Idris Wada of Kogi state. This is no doubt a season of one day, many troubles for the Dekina-born pilot turned politician.

    Since his emergence as governor of the Confluence State two years ago, Captain Wada has indeed recorded a plethora of challenges, with some posing serious dangers to his life. He has escaped death by the whiskers in two different road crashes since his entry into the Lugard House in Lokoja. In one of such accidents which occurred while he was on his way from Anyigba, an ancient town in the eastern part of the state, his Aide Camp, Idris Mohammed, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, died on the spot. Other occupants of the SUV, including the governor sustained varying degrees of injuries.

    Last week, Captain Wada was in the news again for the wrong reason. It was yet another car crash involving the governor’s convoy and the car conveying former ASUU boss, Professor Festus Iyayi, which regrettably, claimed the erudite Professor’s life.

    Unfortunately, the latest tragic incident happened at a time the governor was battling with Kogi Elders Forum over his administration’s move to secure a N20 billion bond from a select number of commercial banks.

    According to the elders championing the opposition to the bond, the Wada-led administration has not justified how it spent the billions of naira from federation account and funds from the Internally Generated Revenue that have accrued under his watch.

    Undoubtedly, the issues raised by the elders are germane as well as critical. This is a challenge for the governor and his team. This is a unique opportunity for them to tell the world, and not just Kogites alone, how they have utilized the billions of naira from Abuja and the funds generated from within.

    Unfortunately, it appears also as a case of the right message delivered by the wrong messenger. The elders are part and parcel of the plethora of problems that Kogi and Kogites are daily battling with. We cannot look for solutions to our problems in the hands of those responsible for our woes. Wada is a product of their machination. This is not the time to distant themselves from a man they literarily hand-picked to govern the state.

    If these elders really want us to see sense in their actions and intentions, they should first and foremost retrace their steps towards Wada’s predecessors, particularly ex-Governor Ibrahim Idris, who allegedly frittered the state’s resources with reckless abandon. Till date, no one, not even the EFCC has deemed it necessary to invite the former governor for questioning. But I’ve lost the number of times this same EFCC has invited and interrogated former Governor Abubakar Audu over alleged corrupt practices. We expect these same elders to beam their searchlight on former leaders of the state across all levels, who are believed to have enriched themselves with taxpayers’ money.

    • Abdullahi Yunusa,

    Imane, Kogi state

  • SOS to Fashola on Ejigbo roads

    SIR: I am at a loss on who to address this article to on the appalling state of Ejigbo roads. I don’t know if I should call the attention of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola or the Ejigbo LCDA chairman, Kehinde Bamigbetan. The condition of Ejigbo roads is simply nightmarish.

    The sorry states of all but three roads present the LCDA dispensation in a poor light. Aside the NNPC/Coker road, Orisunbare road, and recently re-instated Powerline road, all other roads (major and minor) are in complete disrepair. The only two roads -Iyana-Ejigbo and Idimu -that seem to be under-going refurbishment have taken several months without meaningful progress; only fate can tell of their successful completion dates.

    To mention just a few: Iyana Ejigbo, Egbe, Ifoshi, Idimu, Ailegun, and Killa roads – these are major roads linking Ejigbo, yet they all are very sorry sights. Countless number of vehicles have broken down and damaged on different occasions in the bid to navigate these roads. Several unrecorded casualties, some gruesome in nature, some falling into deep gutters when it rains due to poor drainage , some sustaining injuries costing fortunes to treat, some suffering accidents resulting to permanent disabilities, and other related cases. The minor roads on streets, avenues, closes, etc, are worse-of. One sometimes spends close to three hours moving within Ejigbo. How sad!

    Roads leading to the only public primary and secondary schools complex within Ejigbo are almost completely written-off, especially when it rains; part of the surroundings automatically, become dumping sites, yet students tread these crooked and dangerous paths to school daily, learning under highly unhygienic and hazardous conditions.

    Space cannot afford me to latitude to portray several other sorry conditions of life within Ejigbo LCDA. In some ways, residents of Ejigbo are being short-changed on dividends of democracy. It’s a hard cry plying the roads daily. Families also dread going to their respective churches on Sundays. Many of them end up having their fellowship hours used up in the traffic that would hold them glued to the roads rather then get to their church halls. Getting worship centres is becoming a nightmare as a result of the present situation. The situation further worsens the crippling economic, social, and religious activities in the area. This is a cry out to the Ejigbo LCDA chairman, and the proactive government of Lagos State to urgently investigate and attend to these concerns as residents and road users in this area suffer daily in severe and acute hardship.

    • David Nkenchor

    Ejigbo, Lagos,

  • All just for budget presentation?

    SIR: President Goodluck Jonathan was billed to present the 2014 budget to the two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the presentation was put on halt after all the necessary arrangements were put in place to receive the number one citizen. There were conflicting reports on why the presentation was put on halt; some says it was as a result of plan by the members of the nPDP to boo the President as retaliation for the humiliation suffered by their leaders when they visited the National Assembly sometime in September. Others say it was due to the disagreement between the two chambers on the appropriate benchmark for the crude oil.

    Whatever the reason may be is irrelevant to me. What puzzled me on the issue was that, as part of the arrangement for the President’s visit, a circular was promptly released by the Head of the Personnel Management of the National Assembly directing all staff on grade level 1-14 not to come to their offices until 2:00pm when it was believed that the program must have been over. In other words, only those on the Directorate cadre should avail themselves for their duties. The question I want to ask here is, is there a dignity in labour if workers are barred from their offices just because the President is coming? Are they not serving the same government? If they are no longer trusted, let them all be sacked and replaced with others who are assumed to be more loyal to the system. Thanks to unemployment grinding the land, you would have seen mass exodus today.

    I am saying this without any fear of contradiction; the action taken by the National Assembly management to bar their staff from their offices as part of preparation for the President’s visit is not only objectionable, it is a disgrace. It does not happen anywhere else in the world; not even in war-ravaged countries! Let us learn to attach dignity to labour.

     

    • Muhammad S. Adamu Auta

    Badariya, Birnin-Kebbi

    Kebbi State

  • Governors’ convoys of death

    SIR: It has really become pitiable how our dear nation has been turned into a theatre of tragedies. It is more worrisome that the people whose statutory duties include the aversion of tragedies have become the harbingers of calamities and death. The rate at which the convoys of  public office holders and other such ‘powerful’ men get involved in road accidents, in recent times, has become a cause of worry. Innocent lives have been wasted while other road users have been endangered by the recklessness of many of our governors.  It is very unfortunate and unbelievable that one of the finest and very courageous university dons in Nigeria, Professor Festus Iyayi, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of  University (ASUU) ,would be killed in a road crash involving the convoy of Kogi state’s governor, Captain (rtd.)Idris Wada. It is of great concern that in less than a year, this is the second time Governor Wada’s convoy will be involved in ghastly crashes. In December 2012, while he was lucky to escape the crash along the Lokoja – Ajaokuta road with a fracture, his Aide-de-Camp, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) was not. He died on the spot.

    It is laughable that the only way some of our leaders could show that they have ‘arrived’ is to intimidate fellow citizens, ironically those who voted them into power,  with the ridiculous blare of siren. How else would you differentiate the common man from the ‘big man’ and this is the reason they would buy just two cars for almost half a billion naira in a country where just  N10,000 could restore the hope of many. That is the reason many of them arrogantly loot the public treasury to continue to intimidate and oppress the citizenry. They are completely detached from the people they govern, the same people they are to be role models to. This is not right.

    It has now become imperative for the political class and public office holders to begin to have a change of attitude. They must realise that the office they hold is in trust for the people they govern. The only way the public office holders will not incur the wrath of the people is only if they begin to have deep respect for the people. They must lead by example. They should emulate the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who has shunned the use of sirens and will never display bragging right of way with other road users.

    • Sola Ogunmosunle

    Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

     

  • Anambra: Story of a bungled poll

    SIR: The recently conducted governorship poll in Anambra State could be likened to the story of a city blessed with an amazing beauty and fragrance but spiritually sick therefore making its descendants to be unsuccessful in their chosen career. As an observer in that election, my take is that the election could not be said to have passed the democratic test although relatively free. It was peaceful but not fair.

    It is imperative to state here that the people of Anambra state conducted themselves in a peaceful and an orderly manner during the election. Brigandage was jettisoned for serenity. No violence. Very peaceful. No uproar. Political thugs were sent into oblivon. Thuggery was caged. Gangsterism was rejected. Anambra people disgraced desperate politicians by not allowing them to have their usual way.

    Let me state unequivocally that the modus oparandi adopted by the electoral umpirewas a ruse. Voting materials were short in the areas where the candidates of the opposition parties – the ll Progressives Congress (APC) , Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were rooted and strong. Only the areas where the candidate of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) was popular were adequately equipped and serviced with electoral materials.

    What a well concocted planned game! I make bold to aver that the election was scientifically and carefully rigged. The people of Anambra were the winners of the election while INEC officials were the villains. In Idemili North and South local government areas, less than 20% of voting materials were brought to the polling units. Many electoral officials absconded for reasons well known to them. The Professor Attahiru Jega- led INEC was a disappointment. While the people were ready for change and success, INEC remorsefully demonstrated failure.

    It is clear that worse days are ahead for Nigeria. I say without being hypocritical that democracy is in danger in Nigeria. Anambra people were ready for a free and fair election but INEC fumbled. The candidate of PDP, Comrade Tony Nwoye could not vote. His 75 years old father too could not vote. His Uncle, Chukwudi also could not vote. Their names surprisingly disappeared from the voters register.

     

    • Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye,

    Magodo, Lagos.

     

  • Governor Suswan’s faux pas

    SIR: As chairman of the Needs Assessment Committee for Nigerian Universities, Governor Gabriel Suswan has full grasp of what is at stake as far as tertiary education in Nigeria is concerned. What is more, he has been a regular at negotiations between ASUU and the Federal Government and all the while, efforts at amicable resolution between both parties have failed repeatedly.

    However, it took the belated personal intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan’s meeting with the university lecturers to usher in what looks like a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

    But it appears that while Nigerians and indeed students who have been at the receiving end of the impasse await ASUU’s final decision, the Benue governor is not having any of it. He would rather sabotage reconciliatory efforts by casting aspersions on ASUU leadership.

    So it was that in an interview with ThisDay where the governor launched at the leadership of the union for politicizing the strike embarked upon by its members, claiming that ASUU was “determined that the Jonathan (PDP) government must be brought down…”

    The governor claimed the easiest way the union intends to dismantle the government was by “ensuring that every family is affected.” In his peculiar rationalization, he argued that “…they (ASUU) have no basis rather than playing politics with the strike and then holding the nation hostage and destroying the future of this country…”

    Pray, what could inflict any more pains on Nigerian families than the PDP-inspired economic sabotage? Granted that the consequences of the four-month hiatus in academic activities have been enormous, but it is nothing compared to the near-annihilation that Nigerians continue to suffer under the PDP hegemony.

    What is baffling is that by the governor’s illogic, what ASUU is doing amounts to a concerted effort to dismantle the present government, having already accused the leadership of the union of being infiltrated by opposition political parties. Merely reducing efforts towards rescuing Nigerian university system and education in general from well-document decay through better funding by the government to a fight against PDP or President Jonathan is the worst form of trivializing the importance of education. This is exactly what the governor is doing; expressing his distaste for better education for the ordinary Nigerian.

    To be sure, there is no law excluding members of ASUU or any Nigerian from belonging to political parties of choice or proscribing them from distinctive political leanings. For if the fear of opposition parties in ASUU would compel the Federal Government to implement an agreement it voluntarily entered and signed with university lecturers in 2009, the better. Ultimately, providing quality education is a paramount responsibility of government and to be alive to this constitutional responsibility, the government does not require, the nudging of the opposition, lecturers embarking on strike and being fought to a standstill.

    In a chest-thumbing moment of self-gratification, the governor reminded us how he slept for “just four days” in Benue out of three weeks “just to raise money for this need assessment.” Well done sir! We recognize your contributions and commitment to settling the dispute and the need to put education on the front burner. But the truth is that what will truly kick out any government and restore the bleak future of the nation is not ASUU strike; it is the exacting burden of hardship occasioned by alarming official graft being supervised by the PDP government.

     

    • Victor Mong

    Port Harcourt