The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Kayode Fayemi and the coupists in the APC

    Kayode Fayemi and the coupists in the APC

    By Igboeli Arinze

    What largely appeared to be a family affair has now taken the garb of national prominence becoming one of the enjeux majeaurs in the nation’s public sphere.

    Trust Nigerians, such drama at best beats any of the soap operas be it local or international. In the cause of such drama truths and half truths are couched side by side, and of course there is the ludicrous and the unreasonable. I shall attempt to explain the latter, where an Adams Oshiomhole is seen threatening that he would expose the real occupant in Aso Rock and in another case, he threatens to reveal how the All Progressives Congress, APC won the 2019 elections should he be removed as its Chairman. These statements which are fraudulently credited to Oshiomhole by scatterbrained named blogs and online mediums have caught the attention of media illiterates who with glee share or cavort around such stories.  One must not forget they did the same with Senator Rochas Okorocha while he sought to impose his son in law as the APC’s guber candidate.

    One, however should not blame these Nigerians who are cashing in on the drama, nay, the real blame as always should go to those who are bent on having their way in a party as against the will of millions of party members. If those vigorously orchestrating the putsch had chosen to allow peace to reign and not employ cloak and dagger tacticts in such affairs then Nigerians would have been denied this needless drama which not only threatens the stability of the nation’s ruling party but also the stability of the our democracy.

    So when a Governor Kayode Fayemi, a man who is hell bent on running for the office of President in 2023 that he would not mind supplanting an Oshiomhole and installing his own yes man as Chairman to pave the way for his own ambition, yours sincerely becomes troubled. Fayemi, one of my heroes in the SouthWest region of Nigeria at this point disappoints me; why put so much oomph into removing Oshiomhole? What crimes has the embattled National Chairman committed? If they blame him for Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa, why have they not in turn commended him for Ekiti (Fayemi’s State) Gombe, Kwara, Ogun( Recall that the then Governor was backing a candidate from another party) the cemented majorities in both Chambers of the National Assembly and recently Imo State?

    Even the loss of Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa cannot be laid at the doorsteps of Oshiomhole. In Zamfara, the former governor, Abdul’azeez Yari sought to undemocratically impose his candidate on the party, this was challenged by party members as well as received the censure of Oshiomhole. We are living witnesses to the infamous “If he know his mother- father born him he should send those people to Zamfara and see” speech, unfortunately made by a then sitting governor in the person of Abdul’azeez Yari. Same goes for Rivers State, which was due to a power tussle between Rotimi Amaechi and a former ally of his, Senator Magnus Abe. Matter of fact, the issue in Rivers preceded Oshiomhole’s emergence as National Chairman, emanating as a fallout from the Congresses which were supervised by Oshiomhole’s predecessor, John Oyegun.

    Governor Fayemi surprisingly has accused Oshiomhole of not having the temperament to run a party, but Fayemi must know that the office of the National Chairman of a party, a ruling one for that matter is not a beauty pageant, if it is, we all know that the “good looking “Oshiomhole will not qualify, yet even the nation’s combustible political outlook will not permit such temperance not with an opposition party like the PDP lurking around.

    Even in Edo State, Oshiomhole’s only sin is in his insistence that the state governor in the person of Godwin Obaseki must carry every party man along! If that is not the basis or essence of partisan democracy then I wonder what is. Is it not Governor Obaseki that is in manners similar to Fascism swearing in a minority of House of Assembly members in the dark of the night, banning rallies and barricading the homes of his opponents?

    It is now crystal clear that the reasons for the Oshiomhole must go dance is all directed at 2023, Fayemi and his fellow coupists (El Rufai, Bagudu, Badaru and co) seem to be uncomfortable with an Oshiomhole who they feel may not stomp into their shindig of handing over the presidency to them on a platter of gold, so they seek the slipperiest of means to acheive their aims, forgetting the consequences that may befall the party should they have their way.

    Governor Fayemi disappoints me, how a pro-democracy fighter readily metamorphosed into a coupist is rather alarming, but he should know that unbridled desire for power is not a mistress but a monster, for even Napoleon was to come to terms with such reality.

  • As Emir Sanusi becomes history!

    As Emir Sanusi becomes history!

    By Abiodun Komolafe

    To Nigerians, that the 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has been dethroned is incontrovertibly established. However, the nuances and the sociological imports of his dethronement should not be lost on the society. To start with, the allegations made against the deposed Emir were, up till now, neither substantiated nor provided credible and sufficient reasons for his removal. Yet, the man was summarily removed in a hurry by a government that appears to be hiding something.

    In recent times, the pronouncements of the Emir have no doubt been acerbic and critical of the Nigerian government. Sanusi did not take any prisoners! With deviant profundity, he exposed the charade of the Northern government. He talked about the abuse of women, the menace of the almajiris and the need to abolish it. He lampooned the elite and warned them against the abuse of children, especially, the girl child. He lamented the frightening number of the out-of-school children in the North and linked it to the ever-rising number of Boko Haram adherents, drugs addicts and the reservoir of political thugs, which now defines the demography of the Northern part of the country.

    Emir Sanusi may be gone! However, the seed of the destruction of the feudal system in the Northern part of Nigeria has been sown. In other words, we have not heard the last of Sanusi, the deposed 14th Emir. The questions now are: what manner of man is Sanusi’s replacement, or the newly-installed Emir? Will he tolerate the beating of women? Will he promote the abuse of children and early marriage for the girl child? Will he encourage almajiri to grow exponentially? Or will the new Emir embrace the status quo?

    Without doubt, the behaviour of the government of Kano, in this instance, is devoid of congenial diplomacy and calculated openness, which responsible governments world over, are noted for. For instance, how expedient is the dethronement and banishment of an Emir to the demands of sound Public Administration and the provision of good governance to the people of Kano State, which, to my mind, is the primary responsibility of the governor?  How compatible is the traditional legal and normative laws on dethronement and banishment with the extant laws of the land? Put in clear terms, if the man must be dethroned, at what stage, therefore, did the Kano State Government begin to abuse its powers?

    Let’s for the sake of argument admit that he was dethroned traditionally which, then, means that the man must be willing, without the compulsion of the state. Who then decided his Nasarawa new home for him? If it was not Sanusi, that amounted to abduction in the eye of the law; nothing but a clear case of kidnap, because it was done against his will! After all, the man can’t go to London today, if he so decides! If his eventual detention in Awe was as a result of ‘security reports’, as we are now being told, who, again, decided that the antidote to such reports could be found only in Loko, later, Awe, both in Nasarawa State?

    Let’s talk about the throne itself, which has for long become a thorny issue, even, among the academia. For a long time, it has been decided that, as long as you keep the traditional stool, the stool in itself is antithetical to legal rational order. With the Sanusi saga, it has become clear that the legal rational order doesn’t understand Emirship or Obaship. That’s why a –governor in a state in the South South could talk carelessly to a beaded king in the full glare of the public; and all the casualty of that mockable and unacceptable recklessness could do was to swallow it, without missing a beat!

    ‘This thing of being a hero …!’ Blame Sanusi for the misfortunes that have eventually befallen him. He ought to have seen the handwriting on the wall and thrown in the towel before it got to this level. But, again, blame not the Emir, for he was only displaying the Africanness in us: we don’t quit and we don’t resign! We don’t even retire! But, like water, we are only answerable to the call of temperature: when it is cold, we freeze; and when it is hot, we melt. In any case, pity the country that gives little in return for its people’s industry. Pity the enclave that sacrifices its best on the altar of mere political exigencies. Pity a people who make of themselves onlookers in the face of tyranny and oppression. Sanusi has done his bit! He has trod where, even, angels dreaded. As a Banker, he reached the very peak of his career. Right from childhood, his main ambition was to become the Emir of Kano. And he’s been there!

    As this dethronement brouhaha simmers, people will start forgetting who Sanusi was. He becomes another number, or, statistics of dethroned Emirs, Obis or Obas! And that is the sad reality about Nigeria’s political firmament. With the situation of things, it bears repeating that Kano, and, indeed, the entire North has lost a star, a brilliant man who fought a good battle, even, if it appears as if all his efforts are wasted. By default, Nigeria has also lost the service of a distinguished leader and social crusader. In the case of the deposed Emir, he deserves a pride of place in history.

    On insinuations that Sanusi’s removal might have been ordered from Abuja, while there’s no concrete proof to support this assertion, the manner of installation and the speed of the homage to Aso Rock by his replacement were in no small way suggestive of invisible hands somewhere, somehow! But, and as I’ve argued elsewhere, President Muhammadu Buhari has served Nigeria to the best of his ability. As providence would also have it, he has also had his fill of his country to the best that life can offer. So, all he needs, “going forward, is the royal life. Let the president just be fine and okay with himself.” The more reason those who still believe that Nigeria’s future belongs to them must work, not only towards taking back their country from the troublers of its Israel, they must also do all that is humanly possible to move the country forward. As Tunde Bakare once said, “anyone who fights for a people who are not prepared to fight for themselves is a fool!”

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

  • Now a king, now a commoner

    Now a king, now a commoner

    By Mohammed Adamu

    The fate of Kano Emirate’s deposed Emir, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi evokes literary memory of the misfortunate lot of King John in one of Shakespeare’s history plays – also titled ‘King John’. Literary criticism traced its origin to an earlier old-fashioned two-part play also titled ‘The Troublesome Reign of King John’, which, they said, Shakespeare reworked. Or should we say embellished?

    ‘King John’ is the story of royal prerogative biting more than its imperial mandibles can chew. The king, all at once, embroils himself in three unending debacles –each virtually self-inflicted. Abroad, at the peak of papal power, King John is in fierce altercation with the Pope insisting that he, the king, and not the papacy, is the bona fide defender of a newly Reformed Protestant England; and on account of which insubordination Rome is asking him to surrender the throne to his nephew, Arthur who, it is alleged, ab initio had a superior claim to the throne. Reason at home also, King John battles the royal ambition of this nephew of his, Arthur, which by now (and especially with the support of the Pope) festers into a nagging internal rebellion.

    King John, like all other European kings, needs only have acknowledged papal authority over his crown to consolidate his fickle hold on it. Yet even as he is hemmed by kindred rebellion at home and papal grievance abroad, King John still has the royal want of tact also, to declare war with a Rome-friendly, Pope-backed King Phillip of France, -and who is only too happy to oblige King John a fight not only for the reason that he feels gratified helping Rome to assert its papal authority, but most importantly because he has, in King John’s rebellious nephew, an internal ally and a veritable fault line to make a war with England a piece of cake.

    And although the king’s nephew, Arthur dies at the battlefield, yet a war-weary English throne (bleeding from both internal and external wounds) soon cheaply falls under the Pope’s control from Rome, and King John himself is excommunicated by the papacy; so that the nobles of the domain of a now humbled throne, while accusing the excommunicated king of murdering his nephew, Arthur, also announce switching their allegiance to the French king, Phillip, at last nailing the coffin of an unheeding, foolishly self-harming English potentate, King John. Now he king who could do no wrong has to pay the price of insubordination. And while in self-banished seclusion, they say, at a lonely monastic Swinstead Abbey, a browbeaten King John is poisoned by a monk and left to die a painful death.

    At the end of the play (which by the way is a poignant depiction of true history), we see Prince Henry, soon to be the successor-son of his dying father, return from the Swinstead Abbey and narrating to the Earl of Pembroke how he has just left the dying king mumbling in the delirium of his poisoned fantasy. He reports his poor father as one who, in his words “chants a doleful hymn to his own death, and from the organ-pipe of frailty sings his soul and body to their lasting rest”. And after his father’s death, Prince Henry again is the one who philosophizes the inevitability of death (even to kings and mighty potentates), as he looks at his father’s body and mutters: “this was now a king, and now a clay”.

    And it was this that inspired the title of my piece: ‘Now a King, Now a Commoner’. By the way, thank God Sanusi has only gravitated from a ‘king’ to a ‘commoner’ – and not, like King John, from a king to a ‘clay’. And when I looked up the meaning of ‘gravitate’ (in contradistinction to ‘gravitas’ which resonates the ‘solemn’ or the ‘serious’), my ‘Encarta Dictionary’ revealed quite an interesting nuance. To ‘gravitate’ is to move “steadily toward something” it says, “as if drawn by some force of attraction” -or gravity, if you will. And who will deny the fact that Sanusi, since he assumed office as Emir of Kano, had been captive of some inexplicable gravitational force, and which had pulled him ‘steadily’ but determinedly, ‘toward something’ – yes, ‘something’ which we are only now coming to know to be ‘dethronement’ and ‘banishment’.

    Every discerning observer of the tendentious loquacity of Emir Sanusi, right in the face of his agonizing political principals, and even as he bestrode a stool which is revered more for its dignified taciturnity than for the quality of the garrulous truth that comes out of it, knew that the man was an accident only waiting to happen. Because it is not only monarchic majesty that cannot endure the moody frontiers of its servant’s brow. Even elected political potentates, provided they are invested with the power to ‘hire and fire’, are unlikely to tolerate the moody frontiers of their appointee’s brow.

    Let’s face it; Emir Sanusi was the quintessential antithesis of every royal conduct except that he was a connoisseur royal regalia and the habiliments of royal outings. In fact in that you must admit Emir Sanusi was more peacock than the peacock. But in the commonization of his royal appearances and in the banality of his royal interlocution, Emir Sanusi had taken the majesty and the awe-inspiration out of the character of kings. Royals deliver not their words by ‘numbers’; but they are known in every clime to do so by ‘weight’. They seldom talk; and even when they do, royals speak only with measured tongues. So that even the very little words that they vouchsafe come down with the weight of the Ten Commandments, descending as if from Mount Sinai unto the Rock of Gibraltar. The words of kings should bear both the stealthy and the sober imprimatur of a code of law, and not fly weightlessly every second like the words of a court jester. Sanusi had done great disservice to the institution, especially of northern royalty. And yes he did tell ‘truth’ to power. Even though those who have malevolent reasons to praise that now, condemned it when the truth he told was against their thieving heroes. And yes, he did tell truth to ‘power’. Even though considering his high taste for the exorbitantly exotic, he too approximated the very ‘power’ that many a commoner, if they had had the privilege of meeting him, would’ve loved to tell their little bitter truths to.

    He who is down, they say, fears no fall. But it has taken Emir Sanusi to shred that adage on the altar of his daily royal daredevilry. Because now we know, thanks to Sanusi, that it does not take only those who are down to fear no fall. That a few men of courage too, like Sanusi, who stay high up above the clouds may also fear no fall. In fact Sanusi alone had added hair-raising, adrenaline-pumping stunts to the game of daring the elements while hanging precariously at the precipice of the political Grand Canyon. ‘Pity not my father’, Sanusi’s daughter was said to have said. She probably should have added: ‘he was as eminently daredevil as he was aware of the imminence of a sudden fall’. Sanusi’s self-harming daredevilry perfectly defined the Socratic courage –as being steadfast in the face of obvious danger. Socrates was gaoled and made to take the hemlock allegedly for corrupting the youth of his days – with knowledge. And although he had an opportunity to escape his punishment, Socrates remained steadfast even in the face of the imminence of the danger of dying. Nor was his place of incarceration as lavish as Sanusi’s Loko. Or is it Awe?

    Socrates’ knowledge was so ahead of his Grecian civilization, they said that he had come ahead of his time. And so from his low station as a ‘vagrant’, Socrates calmly accepted to return to his maker as ‘clay’. He was still worse than King John; who, from ‘King’ became ‘clay’. And since pro-Sanusis are now suggesting that he too may have come ahead of his time – considering his Socratic depth which the North was unripe for- it should make sense to suggest that Sanusi too should bear his fate with Socratic resignation –and from ‘King’, stay as ‘commoner’, in the company of those he seeks to liberate.

  • Of public interest and media agenda

    Of public interest and media agenda

    By Abdulwarees Solanke

    For Nigeria as a democratic project, the ideal government that can build the nation is not one in which the winner takes all. It should be an inclusive government in its constitution or composition. It should be a representation of the interests and needs of all the constituent stakeholders in the nation.

    Necessarily, this would include the opposition, giving it consideration or factoring its input in decision-making, policy design and implementation. It should also learn from the best practice of past governments’ and sustain the prospects of their public interest-based programmes and projects.

    This will be found in a government that is driven by a patriotic desire to stimulate national development and engender transformation in the country. It is a government that transcends the zero-sum game characteristic of our political history.  Happily, from the pronouncements and actions of President Muhammadu Buhari so far, this is the prospect that is emerging in the nation, requiring the understanding and support of all.

    It is this context that we should explore further, the development challenges that have endured in the country, threatening our national security and cohesion, to the extent that resources that should ordinarily be deployed to developing capacity of the citizens and providing supporting infrastructure for development are now being channelled  or stretched on security and combatting corruption.

    If this is a demand of public agenda-setting that is in the domain of the mass media, we may then ask: what is the role of the media in de-politicizing development and democratizing transformation?

    How have they played it in the past? Are they playing it now? Are they empowered to play it?

    How have the public and social media assisted in setting or mainstreaming issues to be on public agenda?

    These issues are not merely economic challenge, but entirely development-oriented as the crises we are confronted with are structural and political, calling for innovative and pragmatic approaches, options and measures that are sustainable and truly transformational to unlock us from the tragedies.

    Unfortunately, when the subject of reform is raised, most citizens are not clear as to what it entails. Indeed, many interest groups, for parochial reasons, obfuscate the very essence of reform in how they aggregate to challenge or support reform programmes. This obviously explains the failure of reform or development projects and measures we have attempted to pursue in the past but unable to deliver dividends of development which the reforms are intended for.

    For us in Nigeria, we are not impeded by any lack of appreciation of our development crisis. Rather, we are constrained mainly by the politics of approaches and choices we take to push through our reform projects. For this reason, we often disagree or vacillate while trying to generate ideas in the planning stage or we waste time and resources in the implementation stage to compound our challenges. In both cases, we corrupt or compromise reforms. This seeming lack of collective sincerity and courage therefore portrays the nation in negative perspective as evidenced by our standing in many global ratings and development indices.

    The direction most countries pursuing reform now is to interrogate the size and role of government in public service delivery, the involvement of other sector providers including the international government and multilateral agencies. At the same time, they try to evaluate the political, ideological and cultural parameters that clarify group interests, in the creditable delivery of such development and reform projects.

    How well do we take cognizance of these imperatives? First, let me enumerate some reform projects and programmes the nation has embarked upon since the mid-70s and leave you to evaluate our success in them: Land use, local government service, the various agricultural development programmes, Vision 2010, Vison 2020, SERVICOM, the Seven-Point Agenda, Transformation Agenda, and the Heart of Africa Project.

    We can also cite Operation Feed the Nation and the Green Revolution projects of the late 70s and the early 80s without forgetting the post-civil war initiative of the Triple R: Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reintegration. The ongoing Change project is in the league of efforts at national transformation. In all these we see expression of good intention and huge financial deployment. But in most of them, we also see public disdain, process subversion and implementation exploitation. Why?

    The failure of the past efforts at transformation of Nigeria explain why the Change Agenda must set itself apart and be pursued with utmost patriotism to drive national development. The Guyanese historian and revolutionary, Walter Rodney is famous globally for the very illuminating book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”. He sees development as a many-sided process beginning from the individual level to the other complex social political and economic level.  Rodney’s all-encompassing definition finds practical elucidation in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

    Are these goals too idealistic? Are the targets too amorphous or unattainable? Is the deadline unrealistic? Were those countries who score highly on a different plane? What assisted their impressive status?

    Given similar challenges and resources, couldn’t we have matched them? What were the forces that impeded those who scored low on the MDG progress chart? Could low scoring nations a deadline extension? What are those things that needed to be done? Will they be done?

    Now, Nigeria’s fourth experiment in democracy has clocked 20 years, long enough to remedy the past failures. These 20 years therefore offer us the opportunity to explain the politics of reform and development in the country. In the next few months, specifically on October 1 this year, the nation will clock 60 years of independence.

    Our experience shows that there has been unnecessary muscle-flexing among tiers and arms of government when all should play complementary roles without prejudice to the norms of checks and balances, given the enormous challenges confronting the nation. Between the federal and state governments in many instances, there is power or jurisdiction contestation while the local governments often claim subjugation under the states. In the same vein, confrontation is not uncommon between the executive and legislative arms of government on areas that ordinarily demand understanding and cooperation.

    Instances also abound of corruption and interference in judiciary, and consequently compromise or delay of justice and interpretation of the constitution. More dangerous is the tendency for the politicization of the police, the armed forces and the anti-corruption agencies. If this is the scenario, it would of course be difficult, if not impossible for development or reform to be facilitated in the country.

    Simply, we have been playing politics with development policies we enunciate. Or better still, we have concentrated on politics while relegating development. It is this context that we must understand the success or failure of any reform initiative.

    If any project or agenda must succeed as a tool for national development, it must enjoy ownership of all stakeholders in the Nigerian Project while the federal government must also find expression of the agenda in all the regional development initiatives in the country. This is beyond political affiliation. Therefore, issues of development must never suffer the ills of political partisanship.

    An essential feature of this approach to development is transparency or openness, an index that is vital in assuring good governance in any polity.  Political parties which form the foundation of government must not only be interested in winning votes, because voting is like a barter.  A commodity traded or bartered, if found defective can easily be returned or the buyer does not return to buy from its seller again.

    So, any government, produced by election on party basis must be interested in winning citizen hearts, commanding public trust and securing loyalty of diverse stakeholders because in its approach to handling policy issues and public problems, it presents as an inclusive government.

    The public media and the complementary social media have a patriotic duty to facilitate a linkage between the past development efforts and the present one and promote nation-building through the issues and problems they frame or mainstream and the agenda they set for the nation. How far have we fared in this regard? Not really far, one dares to conclude. In a polity that our major challenge is the proliferation of fake news and the spread of hate speeches, atmosphere for trust building and national cohesion hardly exists.

    • Abdulwarees, is of the Voice of Nigeria, Lagos.
  • Ghana at 63: Nkrumah still at work

    Ghana at 63: Nkrumah still at work

    By Banji Ojewale

    The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa —Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) First President of Ghana.

    February 24, slid into history again a couple of days ago, hardly remembered by many as the 54th anniversary of the military coup that toppled Kwame Nkrumah as Ghana’s president and temporarily halted the greatest anti-colonial move of the era. The putsch came just when the Black Star nation was preparing to celebrate nine years of liberation from its imperial lords in London. The rest of the free world across Africa and beyond which had been thrilled by Nkrumah’s bold experiment in post-colonial sovereignty were also eager to felicitate with the Ghanaians.

    A high conspiracy of local malcontents and elements of the international community, notably the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, of the United States, infiltrated Ghana’s military and the Police to subvert the constitution for a coup in the early hours of Thursday, February 24, 1966. The Pan-Africanist Nkrumah had left the country three days earlier for Hanoi, seeking peace in the Vietnam War.

    The coup makers and their foreign partners sought to stop the trajectory of the anti-imperialism struggle which Nkrumah and his wildly popular Convention Peoples Party, CPP, supported by the masses, had embarked upon right from Day One of Ghana’s Independence on March 6, 1957. Nkrumah, taking over from the Great Zik of Africa, Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria announced in his first Independence speech that March 6 was only the opening salvo against colonialism in Africa. He would employ the resources of the newly freed state to encourage others on the continent to break away from the ideological, political and economic yoke of the Western world that had prevented them from surging into greatness. He would, if the circumstances permitted, contribute men and women of Ghana’s Armed Forces to fight for the armed liberation of sister African nations. He would make Ghana the Mecca of the world for all oppressed black peoples.

    Ghana, with a population of only 6,068,997 at Independence in 1957, was ready to take on the burden of the entire African people, including those in the diaspora. Nkrumah had studied in the United States and been exposed to what the Americans themselves taught the world about personal emancipation. The Statue of Liberty says it all: ‘’Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore; Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.’’ Millions worldwide have heeded the call of the statue since its dedication in 1886. They troop to the United States of America, escaping destitution and hardship of different shapes.

    Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s speech in 1957 was also welcomed as a call on all Africans searching for fresh breath of freedom to head for Ghana. The country was the first black nation to unbind its umbilical cord from the United Kingdom. But Nkrumah said that wasn’t enough satisfaction. March 6, 1957 wasn’t final, wasn’t meaningful, wasn’t complete, unless it was ‘’linked-up with the total liberation of Africa.’’ March 6, 1957 must be the precursor of more independent African nations, must be the ‘voice of one crying in the wilderness’ opening the way for the ‘’wind of change’’ UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan spoke of in apartheid South Africa when he visited in 1960.

    Many commentators have tried to brush aside the impact of March 6, 1957, preferring to insist that it was the UK leader’s ‘wind of change’ address before the lawmakers in South Africa that led to the push for, and independence in 1960 of several African countries, including Nigeria. Nkrumah’s Ghana adumbrated it; Macmillan was a late convert, after he saw what a free black nation could do with wealth not tethered to colonial control and manipulation.

    The Western powers had to bring down Nkrumah. They needed to sell the message that the Black Race wasn’t mature for self-rule. A failed Ghana, under a ‘hater’ of the colonial masters, would be the ideal intimation.

    But the first nine years of Ghana’s Independence under Nkrumah have proved a golden age of the country. What he brought forth to nurse the nation out of exploitative misery at the hands of the domineering tyrants have endured. He introduced fee-free education in the early stages of the school system. He established the workers college that enabled adults who missed the classroom benefit from education. As far back as the days of Nkrumah in the late 50s and early 60s, when small African countries were not encouraged to establish them, Ghana already boasted three multi-disciplinary universities.

    Ghana invested massive resources in the people and in infrastructure such that today, several decades after, many trace the country’s giant strides to the good start it got from its leaders. The people didn’t mistrust their leaders on account of corruption in handling public trust and fund. Well, a succession of military juntas and civilian administrations that began with the Ankrah regime, followed by its offshoot, Afrifa’s, then the Busia republic, which was toppled by Acheampong in 1972, Akuffo-Addo, all came to reverse Ghana’s fortunes. These were all farcical arrangements which introduced fatal strains of corruption into the Ghanaian society, notably kalabule, a strange form of indiscipline and high graft combining nepotism, cronyism and abuse of office through ‘bottom power’.

    Finally, the mother of all coups came in the June Revolution of 1979. Its leader, JJ Rawlings, brought back honour to this battered land called Gold Coast before independence when Nkrumah’s era named the land after a great medieval empire in the Sahel region of Africa. He halted Ghana’s decline. The country had gone to the dogs. Its virile young men and women abandoned their land to flood the West Coast, especially Nigeria, where they lived in the shadows as prostitutes and dodgy artisans and teachers. After the summary execution of the past military rulers and top generals, Rawlings, dubbed Junior Jesus, began sanitizing Ghana’s politics.

    Rawlings’ intervention first installed President Hilla Liman. He failed the nation and was removed in a famous coup that returned Rawlings to power. He resumed the cleansing of the Augean Stables. Rawlings is accused of raw tactics in dispatching perceived enemies of the state, his military predecessors in particular. But he counters by saying they deserved the executions, because the public funds they stole translated into the hospitals, drugs, schools, roads etc. which were missing, which they never provided, which in turn led to mass deaths. He claimed that he instilled ‘holy fear’ in public office holders and other such aspirants. The talk of the town in Ghana since the Rawlings Revolution is that when there is a temptation to steal public money, the Rawlings spectre is invoked: Beware, a Rawlings might spring up again someday!

    Ghana has been named among the world’s fastest growing economies in recent years, despite the setbacks of years of military breaches. Why? The experts say the country enjoys a stable and secure society they trace to the ‘big leap’ Ghana had in the early days of its statehood. They say it has since had ‘sturdy and disciplined political leadership’.

    So how come Nigeria and some other slack black nations have not settled for such sublime leadership and polity to make us soar like eagles? One reason is, in the case of Nigeria, we didn’t duplicate the progress in the regions at the centre. Nor were these regions allowed to sustain the pace of feats they had recorded. Another is that we haven’t had a strong personality to address the misadventures of the military the way Ghana had when the soldiers bloodied and trashed the federal system.

  • SERAP; IWD; ‘Wash: Soap/Sanitise…’

    SERAP; IWD; ‘Wash: Soap/Sanitise…’

    Tony Marinho

     

    WHY should SERAP be forced to do the work of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation who should investigate directly all serving politicians and others receiving double salary or salary and pensions?  The AGF has unlimited access and powers; SERAP does not. Information will not be released by the banks, the states and National Assembly (NASS) and by the accused ex-governors/current NASS members themselves. This is passing the buck, expecting SERAP to fail due to official obstruction.

    The Coronavirus COVID-19 is currently running at deaths around 4,000, infections 120,000+ and growing. COVID-19 is causing mounting losses estimated to possibly eventually amount to $1-3trillion in worldwide losses. The airline Flybe is in administration as will be many companies and corporations. There will be millions in job losses. The Olympics are threatened by virus terrorism and know that 100million events, private and public, small and large, have been cancelled with multidimensional damage to economic, social and personal life. International football matches are played behind closed doors. Even educational institutions are being closed in different regions across the world. Closures paralyse and pauperize the coffeemaker, the food vendor, the transport driver and conductor and the security official. Remember canteen and kitchen contractors are locked into food supply chains in advance. All voided by coronavirus.

    All governments have got to take serious financial decisions on how to support the citizenry at this time. Will they cut citizens’ taxes, provide business support, put a moratorium on rents? Nigeria particularly will face serious problems if Coronavirus takes hold, although to date, and to Nigeria’s credit and preparations, we appear to have prevented any serious inroads of the virus. Remember Nigeria has no economic safety net or monthly dole money for when not at work. That was taken away from us by the political class which provides extravagantly for itself from the budgets across the land allocating nothing for the voting public with such support. Remember also that Nigerian parliamentarians are paid among the top-3 or 4 salaries and perks (SAP) in the world? Google if you do not believe. Why has greed-driven NASS not cut its stupendous incomes? The Brent oil price is falling from $51, hovering around $30 but predicted to fall to around $20 with the Russian/ Saudi price war flooding the market. NASS’s SAP is no longer sustainable. NASS should agree to a 75% SAP cut. A fall in the price of oil will be a double-edged sword in Nigeria. It will drastically reduce Nigeria’s dollars earnings from oil. It will also drastically reduce the cost of doing business as petroleum reimported for our pumps as the ‘so-called subsidy’ will be reduced while waiting for Dangote Refinery to replace the perpetually sabotaged NNPC refineries.

    As predicted in this column, many Chinese-led infrastructure projects have ‘lost heads, arms and legs’ because too few Nigerians are trained to continue. Minister Rotimi Amaechi announced a delay in the Lagos-Ibadan Rail. Nigeria will not punish China. But if the shoe had been on the other foot, would China have forgiven??

    The world is now a ‘Global Viral Village’. Remember ‘WASH’ preventive advice. WASH= Water, Soap/Sanitise and ‘Avoid Handshakes/Hugs/Hand-Head-touching/Hisses/Kisses’. Rehearse ‘Coronavirus Preventive Measures Today’. Call ‘Coronavirus Prevention Response’ meetings in your family, workplace and community and at gatherings for friendship, worship, scholarship and ‘work-ship’. Washing hands reduces typhoid, vomiting, diarrhoea, gastroenteritis? Keep your hands away from your face – one of the reasons for wearing a mask. Do not cough into other people’s faces. Drink enough fluid to make the colour of your urine colourless or lightly yellow.

    Remember Nigeria’s face more visible ‘killer viruses’ than corona. They include Boko Haram, terrorist marauding herders most recently and repeatedly at Azagba in Delta State, trigger happy and extortionist uniformed road officers and ‘one-chance’ commercial vehicles. The whole area of traditional ritualists killing females for body parts is highlighted by the arrest of Ogun State ritual murderers. Who buys parts? Proper investigation and registration of herbalists are key.

    The International Women’s Day theme ‘I am Generation Equality’ reminds us that ‘Gender Equality’ is strangely not yet in place in homes, communities, political groupings, jobs, sport, due to religious, ethnic or traditional excuses. Sometime the women themselves perpetuate the practices. The perpetuation of ‘bullying’ is a key factor in gender equality. Harvey Weinstein and Nigerian lecturers have been jailed for bullying and gender terrorism/abuse. Unfortunately, the traditional bullying accepted in schools, same sex or between the sexes, is incubated as a toughening-up strategy and ‘ok’. The bad behaviour mutates into accepted bad practices in traditional clubs and cults and gangs, in tertiary institutions and also in families and in the workplace. We perpetuate stupid traditions, sometimes dangerous or deadly like Female Genital Mutilation, forced marriage, honour killing, traditional murder practices targeting females for body parts, wife battering and economic obstructions like pay differentials, the glass ceiling and the ‘put down’ anti-female nasty comments couched as ‘harmless jokes’. Remember that ‘Sticks and stone may break my bones, AND names will always hurt me’ is the true version of the old adage! The tongue is for ‘War and Peace’ anywhere and can cause depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, violent reactions like stabbings and murder. Having performed over 3,000 Caesarean Sections and delivered thousands of babies and seeing thousands with problems in and out of pregnancy –  I can only say to arrogant men – Up women! Abi na man born you?

  • Another attempt

    Another attempt

    ESCALATION of the war against insurgency in the North East, banditry in the North West and all forms of violent crimes around Nigeria have been traced to the easy access to small and light weapons in the country. Only last week, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el- Rufai, bemoaned the fate that has befallen his people while condoling with families of another 51 compatriots freshly mowed down by the bandits. He promised there would be no negotiation with the criminals nor would any amnesty be granted. President Muhammadu Buhari, too, expressed his condolences. He gave marching orders to the security forces to scale up the war and save the people.

    But, what is new in the strategies and tactics to secure the Nigerian people? Each time the criminals, be they insurgents, bandits, kidnappers or armed robbers, had their way, the President was  quick to sympathise with the victims. The service chiefs, as if they had forgotten their mandate too, are reminded of the mission.

    Perhaps in response to the presidential directive, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Umar Buratai, sought to assure the public that the war would be won in a matter of days. This is sheer cold comfort for the people who have borne the brunt of the war. Weekly and daily, the villages suffer attacks, more otherwise vibrant wives and mothers are turned into mourning widows with no clues to what the future has in store for them. Orphans prowl the streets, some turned into unwilling recruits by the enemies.

    Again, what is the way forward? Experts have blamed the internecine crisis of nationhood on proliferation of arms. The United Nations Centre for Peace and Disarmament estimates the number of small arms and light weapons in the West Africa sub region at 500 million, out of which 350 million circulate in Nigeria. This is certainly a tinderbox, an indication that anarchy and chaos may be looming unless a solution to steady weapon supply is found urgently.

    One source is the porous borders – land and sea. All attempts over the years to fix these have failed as the security forces continue to blame their failure on the illegal routes into the country. Occasionally, a haul of arms and ammunition duly cleared at the sea ports are recovered along the roads, leaving one to wonder how many successfully got to their destinations. With elections approximating wars, politicians prepare less by mounting the soap box and would rather stockpile arms and recruit private armies. The poorly armed, poorly motivated and utterly corrupt official security men are no match for such private armies.

    In a bid to stem the tide, President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a Presidential Committee on the Eradication of Small Arms and Light Weapons, but the effort was futile as it lacked the legal framework and political support to perform the function. This has given rise to current efforts by both chambers of the National Assembly to establish a commission for the purpose.

    More recently, the Federal Government set up another Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons, led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The committee comprises the National Security Adviser, service chiefs, Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security departments and agencies. While much is expected of this committee owing to the intellectual power of the vice president and operational knowledge and authority of the service chiefs, it might end up a disappointment again if the President does not back the effort fully.

    The Customs and Immigration Service need modern technology to man their posts to beat the smugglers. Private “armies” by politicians must be dismantled with the rough necks apprehended and punished according to the law. There should also be conscious efforts to mop up the small arms and ammunition in circulation. One major feature of a functional state is that it enjoys the monopoly of coercion. When this is shared with non-state actors, anarchy reigns in such a country.

    Previous civilian administrations had failed in this respect; President Buhari owes Nigeria the responsibility of turning things around before quitting the stage in 2023. Vice President Osinbajo and his men deserve the support of all in carrying out this onerous assignment.

  • Customer is tele-king

    Customer is tele-king

    THE report that 22.4 million subscribers have opted flat-out from value-added services promoted by telecommunications companies as of September 2019 is certainly more than a mere thumbs-down on the practice of dumping unsolicited services in the name of value-added services on the telecommunications subscribers. It is an affirmation of what the enlightened consumer can do when given the right to choose.

    Only that this time, the Nigerian telecoms subscribers may have spoken perhaps too loudly in an industry which although prides itself being consumer-driven but is in reality, its antithesis. That segment of the business not only shrunk by 74 per cent in two years as subscribers continued to opt out of unsolicited messages, the industry which only two years ago was valued at N300bn barely generates N79bn annually.

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) of course denies that its directive on the mandatory ‘Do Not Disturb’ facility which gives subscribers the freedom to choose what messages to receive from the various networks, and which took effect from July 1, 2016, is targeted at taking down the Value-Added Services (VAS) segment of the market.

    Nonetheless, NCC’s Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Bako Wakil, would admit that: “We have to address the needs of the consumers even though that has affected the investment in that sector. If we get any solution that will take into cognisance the concerns of the consumers, we will look into it and implement it so that the sector will bounce back to its former glory.”

    Clearly, we understand the need for the service providers to grow their portfolios. Most certainly, this would be good for the economy if merely for the tax revenue to be raked into the coffers of the government. Surely, the industry as a whole would be enriched by the array of services to be deployed. What we find deplorable is the situation in which such services are not only dumped arbitrarily on the consumers but also charged on their accounts even when they have neither signalled a need for such nor understood the premises of the services.

    One sure lesson from the above must be the limit of chicanery.

    Unfortunately, the arbitrariness extends far beyond the scope of the VAS. It would in fact appear to be just as pronounced in the data services segment. From widespread complaints about quality of data services on offer to interminable complaints about spurious data plans as in when subscriptions run shorter than their intended lifespan; from issues of connectivity to congestion that leave the consumer frustrated, not only do telecoms subscribers feel hard done by the service providers, there are increasingly, whispers about silent conspiracy to deny them of any value for their money’s worth.

    Agreed, the industry still has a long way to go. Admitted, there are still technical challenges to overcome. If we go by Speed test Global Index, Nigeria ranks 107th globally. Nigeria’s internet speed of 12.76 mbps (megabytes per second) when compared with the global average of 25.38mbps makes it a non-starter.

    Yet, the challenge would seem to be one of regulation than anything else. The Nigerian infrastructural environment is challenging no doubt; but the other well-known fact is its unparalleled returns on investment – probably one of the highest in the world. The Nigerian telecoms subscriber, to be sure, is not asking for anything extraordinary; rather, it is to be offered the benefits of choice and quality as one would in a competitive, consumer-driven sector – something that the regulator, sadly, has up till now, been unable to guarantee.

    It is not too late for the NCC to address these concerns.

     

  • AKK gas pipeline: President Buhari’s big infrastructure push

    By Garba Shehu

     

    ONE of the big promises made by President Muhammadu in his campaign for Nigeria’s presidency is the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

    The project entails the “engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning” of 614-kilometers gas pipeline and stations, traversing the states of Kogi, Niger, FCT, Kaduna and Kano. It is to transport dry gas from the nation’s rich gas fields in the Niger Delta to the Northern parts of Nigeria.

    This pipeline project is itself a section of an ambitious pipeline project to supply gas to Europe through the proposed Trans Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGO) and Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipelines.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) under President Buhari last week took the important and decisive step to fast track the closure of all outstanding issues relating to the financing and the issuance of a Sovereign Guarantee (SG) to support debt service and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, SINOSURE’s policy to underwrite up to a maximum of 85 per cent of the project cost, which is now reduced to USD 2,591,849,049.19. The earlier contract, approved by this administration for the AKK was USD2,890,522,548.37 based on 100 per cent “Contractor Financing Model.”

    This changed when SINOSURE offered to underwrite 85 per cent only of the entire contract sum and the basis of the relationship changed to “EPC Lump Sum Contract Award.”

    This arose from a rethinking on the part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which came up with a new project financing design by with the balance of 15 percent of financing was taken up by them. The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) a subsidiary of the NNPC quickly intervened to provide the required 15 per cent, the equivalent of US 434 million equity contributions from internal sources and accumulated revenues.

    To quicken the speed of the project takeoff, this 15 per cent equity funding has been paid and will be used to proceed with the project to mitigate further delays and ensure that the project is back on track.

    The “gas penetration” to these areas of the country will significantly reduce energy cost for industries along the pipeline corridor in addition to the massive generation of employment during and after the construction.

    In addition to the creation of employment and serving as a boost to industrialization through gas based industries and power generation sectors as beneficiaries of this project, the AKK will increase government revenues, encourage exports and enhance the nation’s foreign reserves by reducing dependence on imports. It is equally hoped that the project, upon its completion, will ensure that economic challenges being witnessed in the northern region due to shortage of gas supply are addressed.

    It will also give the nation energy security and act as a catalyst to propel industrial development and boost agriculture in the country.

    This project is among the cardinal policy objectives of the Buhari administration and its realization will be a major accomplishment of the government’s efforts in the delivery of democracy dividends.

    The project is environmentally friendly as it will contribute to the elimination of gas flaring, improve the health of communities in the oil producing areas, reduce the nation’s carbon footprints and comply with climate control treaties to which the nation is signatory.

    The resolution of the outstanding issues around the AKK project at this time should send an important message that the journey to its realization is for real.

    The President is determined to accomplish the project in the 24-month period of the signed agreement. The period falls within the balance of period covered by his Second Four Year Term.

    We are a country notorious for truncating government projects on account of changes in administrations. Except for the Buhari experiment, marking a break with the past, Presidents, governors and council chairmen don’t come to office with the mind of completing projects they met.

    They alone want their signature on the projects they execute. So they stop work on those projects they met and start new ones. In the end, they leave office without finishing what they started, adding thereby to the nation’s mountain of uncompleted projects.

    The difference President Buhari makes is that he insists on completion, rather than the commencement of new projects except where it is extremely necessary.

    If you take away the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway, all the major projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund with dedicated funding from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, and lately the recovered loot from Abacha are all inherited from past administrations: the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Mambila Power Project.

    All the major spendings in the Ministry of Transportation, specifically the standard gauge railways linking the south to the north and the west to the east are geared towards project completion. Under the Ministry of Water Resources, no new projects have been budgeted in the last five years. All money allocated to the ministry is towards the completion of projects started and abandoned, some of them going back to the President’s years in the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).

    Thankfully, we are seeing a harvest of so many of these projects, due to the President’s insistence and the focus and dedication of the ministers in his cabinet.

    The AKK project which will now leave the drawing board towards its execution and completion was agreed to in June, 2009 between Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, in a signed deal to invest at least $2.5bn in a new joint venture with Nigeria’s state-owned oil company NNPC to explore and develop the country’s vast gas reserves.

    The formation of the 50:50 joint venture, between Gazprom and the NNPC named Nigaz, followed a prolonged courtship by Russia which began under Vladimir Putin by the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. If floundered with his death. This time around, there is no going back on the AKK project because there is a market already waiting. It has off-takers, when completed, with Abuja on cue to having a 1,350MW power plant, Kaduna, 900MW and Kano, 1,350MW.

    President Buhari is determined to take it forward. It’s another signature project on which the name “Buhari” will be written in gold, to be remembered long after he leaves Aso Rock.

     

    • Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity)
  • National insecurity: The iniquity of inequity

    National insecurity: The iniquity of inequity

    Abiodun Komolafe

     

    NIGERIA’S Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s recent admission that Boko Haram is attacking Christians to “trigger a religious war” refers.

    To start with, it is fallacious and an insult to Nigerians’ collective intelligence for Minister Mohammed to come out on behalf of the Federal Government and admit that Boko Haram is still a threat; and that, in the particular, it is attacking Christians to whip up sentiments, or “throw the nation into chaos.” The argument is lame-footed and, at the selfsame breath, appalling! This is the truth of the matter: that Boko Haram’s “senseless strategy” cannot be curtailed or contained should be the issue, not that religion is being “exploited by unscrupulous persons” to foment trouble. No! That shouldn’t be the issue! By his confession, Mohammed was indirectly revealing to Nigerians government’s abysmal lack of capacity to actually protect the life and property of every citizen. In saner climes, even convicts have right to life, until the law says otherwise. The truth is: whatever Boko Haram is doing, or represents, should be correctly diagnosed, condemned and destroyed. Religion cannot form the basis, or, excusable justification for the wanton killing of innocent Nigerians in Nigeria.

    If we could recollect, Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign stood on a tripod: fight against insecurity, war against corruption and improvement in national economy! Nigerians had expected that, as a time- and war-tested General, it would not be too long before Buhari and his troops would truly degrade Boko Haram and allied madness that have now consumed over-30,000 souls and displaced more than 2 million Nigerians. As an anticorruption czar, we were also optimistic that he would by now have decapacitated corruption to prevent its killing ‘Nigeria dead.’ On the economic plane, though Nigerians’ expectation was rated low, more so as the then All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate has never been known to be an economist, that he would parade an array of Nigeria’s best brains to chart her economic pathway was never in doubt. These were our thoughts, our hopes; and the reasons behind Nigerians’ support. Surprisingly, the situation on ground, especially, as it relates to national insecurity, seems to have shamed our expectations and put the dream of the nation on hold.

    Archbishop Augustine Akabueze fittingly captured Nigerians’ predicament when he said: “the killing of God’s children is evil; the failure to protect innocent people from the relentless attacks is evil; the lack of prosecution of terrorists is evil, our government’s response to terrorist attacks is, for the lack of better words, far below average.” In fairness to good governance, one of the central responsibilities of the state is to provide security for lives and property so that everybody will surrender his or her personal powers to the state. In other words, the state is the only body that has the monopoly of the administration of power and the use of force. Put differently, if the citizens don’t have the feeling that there is justice and fairness in the land; if they don’t have the feeling that they are worthy in a society, then, brigandage and kidnapping become a fair game, a ‘free-for-all’ situation. Essentially, the legitimacy of the state is based upon the authority and the fact that it renders certain services. Once those services are no longer being rendered, then, the state is useless. That is to say, if the power of the state is challenged successfully, then, such a state ceases to exist. At that stage, everybody now resorts to self-help. It is as simple that! Sad, therefore, that the authority profile of the Federal Government is already ambushed and ebbing away! For God’s sake, what happens to ‘the monopoly uses of force’ attribute of the Nigerian state?

    Basically, policy is supposed to be speaking the mind of the government and projecting its plans to the citizenry. The beauty of it is that, if the contents of a policy are based on truth and fair assessment of the issues involved, it will not be difficult to moderate, or apply palliative measures. But, once a policy is defective, it will bring along with it consequences; some unintended, which, most often, are as a result of the errors of the policymakers in government. The aftermath is that government loses credibility and its integrity is called to question. The implication of some of these deficiencies, however, is that the authority of the state is diminished, and the society is worse for it.

    Well, the issue on ground is about righteousness and evil. While insecurity has the potentials to damage an economy, especially, one that is still ailing from its inability to fully recover from recession and a critically ill political gap, wisdom as the principal thing is a very scarce commodity in this country. National security is collapsing at jet speed even as the president’s men continue to clutch at straw in futile defence of the failing security architecture. On the average, no fewer than 10 Nigerians are either killed or kidnapped by terrorists and bandits daily. The more reason Buhari needs to do more in keeping Nigeria safe because, as things stand, it is as if he has been so fenced out of reality that one continues to wonder who is really in charge of his government.

    From the look of things, it’s like Buhari just won the elections for Mamman Daura, his nephew; and Abba Kyari, his Chief of Staff. Not unsurprisingly, Aisha, the president’s wife, who has been crying from the rooftop, now seems fed-up and has since stopped talking.

    Beyond any doubt, the iniquity of inequity leads to chaos even as an unsecured space is a fertile ground for corruption. When what looks like mere ‘cut-and-paste’ platitudes imprecisely take the place of consequences in an atmosphere of national mourning, then, it becomes an indictment.

    Amidst these, there is a laughable malady in the offing: just become a repented, returnee Boko Haram sect member; instantly, you are on your way to the best of schools abroad! After all the atrocities committed by these felons?! Have we learnt any lesson at all from Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Niger Republic’s Mahamadou Issoufou? Isn’t Nigeria a wonderful country?

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!