The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Kogi: Dino Melaye’s sour grapes

    Kogi: Dino Melaye’s sour grapes

    • By: Bayo Eniojukan, PhD

    The real and behind-the-scene motives for the unrelenting mischief by well-known enemies of the people of Kogi State should be obvious to all thinking people. Because the present administration in the state has blocked entrenched interests from feasting on the commonwealth and is embarking on efforts to develop all the sectors of socio-economic life of the people, it becomes very understandable that the mouth of detractors who had failed woefully in the past should be filled with sour grapes.

    Because of the yawning developmental gap left between what was and what is now, it has not been easy for the people who were responsible for the state of hopelessness into which Kogi State and its citizens had been dumped, to accept the reality that, at last the day of reckoning has come. Or that, indeed, a Daniel had come to judgment.

    It is no longer news that as the result of the clamour of people from different walks of life, against the unrestrained bazaar that was the key feature of the last two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations in the state, that Governor Yahaya Bello had set up a judicial panel of enquiry to look into the mess that was the last two administrations.

    After open sessions, the panel arrived at the decision that sundry interests who were working in concert with the key elements in the former administrations were indicted.

    It was further discovered that in spite of losses of such huge sums of money through various forms of looting, nothing much was left on the ground to justify that grand rape of the long suffering people of Kogi State. If anything, the people inherited monuments of abandoned and uncompleted projects and HUGE LOANS TO SERVICE.

    It is no wonder that as a way of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people, these shameless detractors who obviously have a lot of explanations to make to the Kogites, have instead, hired a well known rabble rouser to tar the present administration in the same putrid hue in which they had wallowed in their 12 uninterrupted years of despoliation of Kogi State.

    It is in that light that the recent ridiculous attempt by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), leveling all manners of tendentious allegations against the Yahaya Bello administration, should be seen.

    It is needless to state that from the mediocrity of the presentation of ‘situation report’ of the happenings in Kogi State on the floor of the Senate, it was obvious that the lawmaker lives in the gutters and is just desirous of dragging everybody else into his natural habitat.

    No one should be surprised at Melaye’s reference to the people of his home state as internally displaced Persons (IDPs). He is a product of a discredited National Assembly where distorted personalities flourish unchallenged. Melaye as a Senator has never shown he is a robust adult thirsting for challenge and rigour. He trivializes serious issues with his nonsense and tomfoolery.

    This is a lawmaker who knows nothing other than ostentatious consumption of goods in a manner that proves the anger of the poor Kogi people who voted him into office. On so many occasions, Senator Dino mocks at the very electorate that put him in office.

    Heflaunts his exotic cars and jeeps to impress his poverty ravaged voters. Wouldn’t we be impressed if this “Distinguished Senator” had used his wealth to promote social causes and other philanthropic activities? Is the politician’s achievements determined by the number of exotic cars and jeeps he has acquired while in office, or by how many lives he touched?

    Another obvious evil goal of the beer-palour allegations against Governor Bello is to create the impression, that the current administration in the state is incompetent, as the day of reckoning for his recall from the Senate becomes imminent. There is however no doubt that attempts to erect such red-herrings would collapse.

    It is also a matter of fact that in the affairs of governance, perception by the different levels of the governed often translates to the reality which they internalize. The detractors of the present government in Kogi State know this and that is why they are taking these diets of evil concoctions to the court of public opinion, knowing that the public is often gullible and would want to believe the worst about their leaders.

    It is, therefore, understandable and excusable that the state government usually takes equal space used by the detractors to publish their concoctions to refute them. It was a good information management strategy which tries to target at the same audience at which the dangerous false allegations were targeted.

    But rather than devote time and resources in responding to scoundrels like Senator Dino, whose stock in trade is scooping mud and throwing at people, what Governor Yahaya Bello and his handlers should do at this time is to ignore Dino and continue its good work, for the people, cognizant of the fact that the people are not fools and are aware of the great changes that are taking place before their very eyes.

    Kogites are intelligent and discerning people who have watched governments come and go, and are, therefore, able to make comparisons. The people have been able to differentiate between administrations that have treated them with disdain from those who have taken their interests to heart and respected their feelings deeply enough as to have routinely consulted them to ascertain our feelings and listen to our heartbeats.

    Yes, one must admit that the administration of Governor Bello in Kogi State is definitely human and is bound to make mistakes and should therefore be given the opportunity to correct them.

    It is important to call on all well meaning people of Kogi State to come together and ensure that his detractors and unrepentant opposition elements that are hiding under Senator Dino are not allowed to succeed. Similarly, Governor Bello should continue his good work and by ensuring that the looters of the past are compelled to vomit their loot, in accordance with the prescriptions of the different judicial panels of enquiry so that the hapless civil servants can be paid all their entitlements at once!

    While I am not trying to rationalize the owing of Kogi workers’ salaries, it must be said that Governor Bello is among the few governors who have committed to a reduction of its operating costs, including significantly slashing its overheads while freeing up more resources to meet his obligations to workers and to bridge the gap in the state’s infrastructural deficit.

    It must be understood that as things stand, only four states; Kano, Katsina, Rivers and Lagos can meet their recurrent expenditure obligations without resorting to borrowing or tapping from donor funds and extra budgetary sources.
    Official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that in 2016, thirty (30) states reviewed; minus Lagos State generated N515.61 billion internally generated revenue, which is one-third of the N1.479 trillion they spend on workers remuneration annually. So, Kogi State is not alone in this mess.

    What should Yahaya Bello do? He should continue in the same proactive and transparent way he has been running the state affairs, working to improve tax collection efficiency and realign budgeting with statewide plans.

    It is for the honest and ordinary Kogites to make the accurate assessments that would winnow the wheat from the chaff. The good people of Kogi State must continue to consign senseless allegations made by Senator Melaye to where they belong- the dustbins!

    After all, one could allege to a blind man that there is oil in the food, but you cannot lie to him that there is salt, when there is none. Let all Kogites as well as the other Nigerians whom the detractors in Kogi State are trying to confuse learn to dismiss the fake allegations against the current administration in the Confluence State for what they are: futile efforts of drowning men who had betrayed their trust by the people they were supposed to govern well, to grab at any manner of straws.

    It is important to note, as Governor Bello has consistently warned on the need for vigilance to ensure that that Kogites do not allow the inordinate ambition of other people to becloud our peaceful atmosphere and vision. Should a word not be enough for the wise people of Kogi State?

    Eniojukan, an indigene of Ayetoro-Gbede in Kogi State writes from Lagos.

  • That UN Boko Haram Hoax

    I know the United Nations Organization (UN) as a serious-minded umbrella body and assemblage of nations of the world in the pursuit of common good for humanity across the globe. It has been visible, especially in times of armed conflicts of global dimension affecting member-states. And anywhere the UN berths its shadows, it is accorded veneration and its standpoint held sacrosanct.

    But I was bewildered when a report credited to an arm of the UN with the caption, “UN counters Nigerian govt, says three Borno LGAs cut off by Boko Haram,’ published mainly by online media, failed to meet the minimum basics of an official reportage or assessment from such an august body. Infuriatingly, while it lacked substance conspicuously, it summed up on the security situation in the Northeast, with a damning verdict on the Nigerian Government and implicatively, efforts of the military on the counter-insurgency operations in the country.

    The publications were lifted from the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aids’s (UNOCHA) monthly report for September 2017, titled, “North-East Nigeria: Humanitarian Situation Update.”

    A report purportedly issued by (UNOCHA) claimed Boko Haram insurgents still retain threatening presence and in control of three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria and by inference, the Northeast. Strikingly, the claims by UNOCHA came shortly after the military command in Nigeria’s Northeast proclaimed that no part of Borno state was under the captivity or control of the extremist sect, Boko Haram insurgents. The UNOCHA set out to counter this claim, but postured badly.

    There is no need to run hasty conclusions on the falsehood or veracity of the patently offensive report attributed to UNOCHA. A dissection of it would reveal the snags and otherwise, thus, test the grounds of the claims by this world body.

    Nigerians and the world at large are fully aware of the near untamable rage and tempo of Boko Haram Terrorism (BHT) particularly in the Northeast before May 2015, when Nigerians opted for change of leadership by massively voting President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB).

    A report by Sunday Trust newspaper edition of January 4th , 2015, published 41 days to the commencement of the first batch of the 2015 general elections comes handy. It divulged that despite the campaign-induced efforts to recapture swathes of territories annexed by insurgents, Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) were still in control of at least 13 LGAs in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in Nigeria’s Northeast. The insurgents are also declared these LGAs their sovereign “Islamic Caliphate.”

    The report also indicated that nine out of the estimated 13 LGAs under the jurisdiction of terrorists were from Borno state alone. It also intimated that the extent of insurgents Islamisation of the captured territories reached a crescendo when Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, audaciously declared Gwoza, a town in southern Borno as headquarters of this “Islamic Caliphate.”

    The report identified insurgents annexed LGAs in Borno State as “Gwoza, Bama, Mafa, Dikwa, Kala-Balge, Ngala, Marte, Abadam and Mobbar. The other four are Michika and Madagali in Adamawa State, as well as Gujba and Gulani in Yobe State.”

    Furthermore, the report also specified insurgents partial control of other LGAs in Borno, such as “ Mungono, Kukawa, Guzamala, Gubio, Magumeri, Damboa, konduga, Chibok, Askira Uba and Jere.” No doubt, with attention of government at that time focused on the general elections, insurgents gained more stronghold on these local governments, intensified their atrocities and freely donated pains and sorrows to victims.

    This was the extent of the precarious insecurity situation President Buhari met on assumption of office and proceeded to reshuffle the military top hierarchy. He appointed the very gallant Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai , as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and leader of the counter-insurgency campaigns, with a specific instruction to defeat terrorism in Nigeria within the shortest time. And since the Northeast proved indisputably as the hub of BHT, Gen. Buratai mobilized and marched his troops to the battlefield.

    A few months later, Boko Haram insurgents suffered decimation and captured territories were reclaimed by troops. By December 2016, the terrorists had been defeated with the capture and demystification of the dreaded Sambisa forest. The military thereafter hosted a drilling exercise to show its strength from the terrorists’ last territory which I participated as not to be told by anyone else.

    Now, I do not consider these narratives as mere tales, because they have significance on the overall assessment of the success of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria today, as revisited by UNOCHA. We do know that the fall of Sambisa shattered the cohesion and scattered terrorists to an irrecoverable degree of destabilization.

    Many insurgents, including Boko Haram top commanders voluntarily threw in the gauntlet in surrender to the Nigerian Army. But it is also an established fact that remnants of terrorists took refuge in remote villages and communities as well as neighboring countries, where they recuperate, regroup and re-energize to launch occasional attacks on soft and obscure targets on some communities in the Northeast.

    The relocation of the headships of the military and other arms of security to the Northeast is for the final cleansing and extinction of Boko Haram terrorism from the shores of Nigeria. And I can attest that tremendous impacts have been recorded as the tempo of these occasional suicide bomb attacks has dwindled immensely.

    Therefore, the UNOCHA report insinuating severance of three LGAs in Borno because of the inferred “overwhelming” presence of BHTs tasked my sense of judgment endlessly. Moreso, its likely tendency or plot to rubbish and dampen the morale of Nigerian troops at the battlefront, necessitated the crafting of this response to it.

    And again and again, I picked loopholes and frowned at the unpardonable absence of a professional touch on the facts of the report, mainly from the source of the news. Firstly, the report declined identification of the LGAs which are purportedly inaccessible by UNOCHA.
    This if properly put in perspective could help the military to revisit such areas if any exist in its mop-up operations to sanitize the communities.

    In addition, I consider it vile propaganda to merely hold unto the straw of the inaccessibility of the local areas by aid workers to assist victims as triggered by the presence of insurgents and so, UNOCHA had to say “Most roads to the south, south-west and east remain unusable due to security concerns and most humanitarian personnel movement is done through air assets.”

    It may please UNOCHA to understand that Nigeria is a developing nation and most of her rural communities are inaccessible by roads. The terrain and topography of the north-east even make matter worst when compared to other parts of the country. There exist only footpaths and that’s why the Nigerian Army adopted the motorbike usage by soldiers for rapid response to terrorists’ signals.
    What I deciphered from the report is that UNOCHA’s aid workers have been stung by the bug of phobia, which is natural, hence they are not soldiers trained to withstand adverse conditions. This can be gleaned from a portion of the report which reads in part;

    “Insecurity, presence of mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordinances had continued to slow down the response of humanitarian agencies in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states”

    The fear of the possible encounter by aid workers with explosive devices is what they have attributed to insecurity and yet, they admitted at some point that “Cargo, however, is being transported via road with armed escorts as a last resort.”

    This is just imaginative fear of the unknown. But does anybody expect to navigate any terrain in the Northeast now without armed escorts? This is certainly impossible! But UNOCHA did not disclose any attack on their team by terrorists. It does not mean when teams, including military convoys rummage the area into the hinterland with escorts, they are immune from attacks by terrorists.

    So, this outing robs off negatively on the image of UN, a world respected body. I strongly suspect they are either hoodwinked or opted for a conspiracy with local authorities in Borno, especially politicians. I have known since last year, that some politicians in the area offer secret prayers fervently that the Boko Harm terrorism should never end.

    These politicians have probably embezzled funds or mismanaged same from these local governments and declaring the insurgency as ended business would expose them to probe. So, they have contrived all manner of games in the desperation to veil the truth about prevalence of terrorism to shield themselves from probity. And perhaps, the UN officials were tricked into this game.

    It’s unfortunate that the UNOCHA has pandered to the gimmicks of local authorities in the Northeast. But it is advisable for the UNOCHA to stick its humanitarian roles and restrain from dabbling into the local politics of the Northeast. It should steer clear of local politics and concentrate only on its approved humanitarian roles acknowledged world-wide.

    If the UN has run short of funds to keep buying foodstuffs in aid of victims of Boko Haram terrorism, in Nigeria’s Northeast, it is not enough reason to connive with local authorities to publish lies on the festering of terrorism to cause unnecessary panic in the minds of the people and to halt efforts geared towards rebuilding these reclaimed communities. It has exposed itself to ridicule with a report too overtly steeped more in fiction, than reality.

    Msheliza, an anti-terrorism crusader wrote from Maiduguri.

  • Now that Buhari is ‘found to be corrupt’

    Now that Buhari is ‘found to be corrupt’

    President Buhari is probably fighting a lone war against corruption in high places, as a large number of those working with or around him are not just corrupt but very corrupt, making things just too difficult for him.

    And you do not expect him to employ the fire brigade approach and get consumed, too.

    If you truly understand how bad, rotten and corrupt the system has been over the decades, you probably wouldn’t be expecting President Buhari to perform the kind of miracle we all expect him to, as expunging corruption from Nigeria’s system cannot be a day’s job.

    As we should know, corruption is a terrible and rugged fighter that will fight with the last drop of its blood, especially when you employ the top-down approach of fighting it. It will always fight back, firing on all cylinders.

    Their strategy now is to paint President Buhari ‘corrupt’ too, so we can say “they are all the same,” and then naturally desire to go back to the old order; and they have almost succeeded, with the events playing out recently.

    Remember also President Buhari had lamented how corruption is fighting back over and over since he started the fight, but we seem not to pay adequate attention to really understand him.

    While assuring that Nigeria is determined to emerge victorious in the war against corruption, Buhari told the world that corrupt Nigerians had built a formidable arsenal of illicit wealth, which they had deployed against the fight on diverse fronts.

    Consequently, I enjoin us not to be ignorant of the vices of corruption, even as I urge President Buhari to up his game, and redraft his anti-corruption strategy so that his efforts may not be wasted.

    VP Osinbajo once said that if President Buhari lost the war on corruption the consequences would be bad for Nigeria

    “The effect of corruption on Nigeria is, of course, unquantifiable. Aside from soiling Nigeria’s corporate image in the international community, all the social, economic and political structures in the country have been ruined by corruption. Social services and infrastructure are in a shambles.

    “The people are pauperized as the ordinary people are always the victims. While the people wallow in abject poverty and want, members of the political class and their business class associates bask in stupendous stolen wealth.” – The Guardian.

    In summary, let us be on the lookout for their strategies and see things from a different perspective while contributing our individual quota to the fight against corruption.

    By Philip Obin,
    APC Chairmanship Candidate, Biase LGA, Cross River State,
    @PhilipObin, www.philipobin.com

  • Odumakin: When Activism Is Enslaved By Sinister Motives

    To say the least, I am amused, with the apparent self-contradiction by Comrade Yinka Odumakin, a veiled politician, masquerading as a social activist of the Afenifere stuff. He has just pierced himself with a sharp knife.

    In a published piece captioned “What is wrong with Buratai’s Army,” Odumakin , was on a voyage of perfidy, but truth held him back to unconsciously declare that “Less I am accused of crying wolf where there is none…, ” thus watering the substance of his arsenals as an attack dog.

    Obviously a hatchet job, Odumakin had taken scathing jabs at the Nigerian Army under the leadership of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai for executing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through the free medical outreach programmes in host communities in Nigeria.

    I immediately sensed in him shadows of a desperate politician and ethnic chauvinist groping for cogent reasons to deliver what he presumed to be an irrecoverable punch on the institution of the Nigerian Army. In so doing, he simultaneously minced no words in expressing his veiled hatred, ethnic bigotry and aversion to the leadership of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Therefore, the short piece was replete with confounding blunders and contradictions to a level of even confessing to the truthfulness of some of the issues he held sacrosanct as weapons to disparage the Nigerian Army. Nigerians are known for their flair for flaunting an identity far from their innermost convictions.

    When I perused Odumakin’s piece, his image as the last don of this clan of reprehensible characters assailed my senses as the sole motivation for his baseless umbrage. The writer knows beyond doubt that the speculated news about soldiers of the “Operation Python Dance II” inoculating school children in parts of Nigeria with vaccines infused with the deadly Monkey Pox virus is a mere rumour, patently false and unfounded.

    Also, Odumakin knows the peddlers are miscreants, which antagonizing politicians have deployed against the Federal Government under the Buhari Presidency to discredit the Army. He knows, the Nigerian Army has not stepped into any school or community to administer free medication without the consent of relevant authorities, as attested by the presence of government officials and traditional rulers at the flag-off of the programme by “Operation Python Dance II,” or “Operation Crocodile Smile II.”

    I can bet to high heavens that Odumakin has no evidence or proof of any reported incident of death arising from any medication by the Army in any of the places it has been administered. Yet, he elected upon himself to add strength to the tantalizing wind, flesh up the wild and destructive rumour tales by enthusing a confirmation and rehearse of the speculations as;

    “The rumour mongers of course succeeded because the Nigerian state already lost credibility with the people. The idea of medical mission by the military is not totally alien.”

    The exposition by Odumakin confirms the current deliberate attempts to put Nigeria in disarray. More than anything else, his plot to destroy the reputation of the Nigerian Army by lending credence to a rumour is visible, hence Odumakin admits that the Army’s free medical programmes is not strange to the people. And so, by any stretch of imagination, Buratai’s Army, as he puts it, could not have launched it because it was handed an agenda of depopulating some regions as he claimed.

    And he was right in the sense that the Nigerian Army under General Buratai had undertaken these CSR projects as far back as 2015 when he assumed office as the COAS. No one raised eyebrows and the CSR projects have extended beyond Medicare to cover water, roads and electricity projects across Nigeria.

    These are facts on the fingertips of every Nigerian, Odumakin inclusive. But bolstered by the desperation to deliver on the assignment of executing a selfish and ethnic political agenda, handed down to him by his pay masters, he dramatized the artificial panic scenarios created by the rumours, shamelessly in these comic words; “I saw a woman scaling a fence that even men will have difficulty climbing in order to get hold of her child.” But the writer failed to notify Nigerians further whether the panicked woman who scaled a fence sustained a broken rib or leg and which hospital admitted her.

    Somewhat petulant and resisting the aura of truth, as reflected in subsisting realities, Odumakin confessed he was motivated to drop his lines after watching General Buratai’s advertisement of his proposed “empowerment programme for internally displaced persons,” “on Channels TV on Saturday.” And his pedestrian reasoning for condemning the advert hinged on the inaccessibility of IDPs to television sets and so, “This advert is therefore not for them.”

    Yes, the advert is not for them! But he missed the point that the advert is meant for demonic souls like him and the other agents, experts and specialists in rumour peddling. It is meant to forestall concocted tales on the Nigerian Army to the effect that it has again sneaked into IDPs camps to dish out “poisoned items or cash,” to hapless victims of armed internal conflicts.

    I am the least surprised that Odumakin would remember the selfless and humanitarian services rendered to IDPs from time immemorial by the Nigerian Army. They treated the wounded in camps, offered them a share of their loaf of bread, and operated makeshift schools, where soldiers spared time out of their tight schedules to teach children of IDPs in camps.

    Then, Odumakin never questioned whether soldiers have become teachers or the loaves of bread were poisoned. But himself and the group/ organization he represents never perceived these humanitarian crisis as worthy of intervention by rendering assistance. When soldiers camped repentant insurgents; de-radicalized and de-militarized terrorists with a new orientation and absorbed them into the sane society, Odumakin and buddies never questioned whether soldiers have become psychologists.

    When soldiers pushed by the passion of humanity, stretched themselves to rescue trapped victims of kidnappers in the Niger Delta, free of charge, they were not queried for usurping the responsibilities of civil security. That’s the extent of hypocrisy in us, which is actively and relentlessly promoted by the likes of Odumakin.

    So, he was indiscernibly piqued with General Buratai’s appearance on BBC “Hard Talk” programme; forgetting in his peevish idiosyncrasies that aside being the COAS, General Buratai doubles as the leader of the Counter-Insurgency Operations in Nigeria. Consequently, he owes eager Nigerians a sacred obligation to once in a while explain the progress, challenges and developments concerning the counter-insurgency operations in the country.

    If America’s Secretary of States, Mr. Rex Tillerson admits that fighting insurgency across the globe is beyond the sound of weapons on the battlefield alone, as propaganda is also key, I cannot understand Odumakin’s failure to decode the dynamics.

    But to embellish clannish and selfish sentiments to appear as a patriotic national cause, the writer cleverly encased it in political ambitions of the military/Army, with stale historical allusions. I cannot buy the idea that yesterday’s coup history, would dictate today’s signals for a coup just because the Army has decided to be selfless and humane to the people they serve or use the media as a counter-terrorism strategy. Coups generally are unfashionable in any part of the world, as democracy has triumphed defiantly even in Nigeria.

    The Nigerian Army, particularly under the watch of General Buratai has not only consistently pledged subordination to civil authority and defended Nigeria’s democracy, but soldiers have been re-oriented, re-professionalized and disciplined. It explains why the Nigerian Army especially has excelled in all its assignments, observing the best practices of professionalism, upholding human rights and sticking religiously to rules of engagements in all assignments.

    The Nigerian Army’s current leadership’s aversion to coups is not in doubt. Some elements in the country, which Odumakin strikes as one believes everything in Nigeria, must be tied to politics and the feeling becomes more overt when they fail to clinch appointments in patronage. These were the same forces which wanted a military coup in Nigeria and sprouted a rumour to this effect.

    They allegedly had their names penned down for juicy appointments, as PR Managers and so on, before the Army leadership by Gen. Buratai thwarted this obnoxious plan by issuing a rebuttal statement and placed soldiers on secret surveillance. And still pained by this frustration, they think, extracting their pound of flesh against the Army Chief is to haul any balderdash at him or the Army, whether real or imagined. It cannot work!

    The Nigerian Army is adamantly professionalized, as attested by the global encomiums poured on them. It is not a fluke, but a product of careful assessments by independent international bodies and governments.

    I agree that accusations can surface from time to time. It’s normal and no one has the capacity to restrain anybody from cooking allegations against the Army. But several probe panels and independent civil society organizations have proven such accusations as a farce and vindicated the Nigerian Army. The ongoing Presidential Probe Panel is almost left with no job to do, as the accusers of the Nigerian Army of crimes against humanity are refusing to step out to substantiate their claims. Amnesty International (AI), a leading crusader in this direction has declined appearance too.

    I believe, Odumakin is less informed or deliberately malicious for personal reasons. We have seen situations where the Army bent backwards to accept unprovoked armed attacks on them, without reprisal reactions, as recently recorded in Abia state in the build-up to the commencement of the “Operation Python Dance II.”

    My candid advice to Odumakin and coy is that they are free to hate the Buhari Presidency to any length. But he has no liberty to extend to the limits of attempting to discredit the Nigerian Army, with infantile speculations. He lives on politicians and thinks everyone in government should invite him for lunch. But today, there is a new order in Nigeria and he must discard the old mentality to be at peace with his soul.

    In recent times, the likes of Yinka Odumakin have demonstrated a penchant for selective interpretations of our laws and its applications as it suit their debased thoughts to push illegitimate gains. We shall therefore not allow him to dance naked on the graves of our founding fathers by allowing these tissues of falsehood to settle down anywhere near sane minds.

    No amount of blackmail can intimidate the Nigerian Army and its leadership under General Buratai from protecting and defending the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Odumakins can again mask to try a new style another day; but the one of today under activism is sinister. It has become stale and useless.
    Odeh is a public affairs analyst and contributed this piece from No19 Anthony Enahoro Street, Utako, Abuja.

  • Emmanuel Onwubiko’s Lies Against Python Dance

    Head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko has finally erased the last doubts that he is an ethnic jingoist that had hidden behind “human rights” to push his ethnic agenda. It would be perfectly in order for him to rename his business centre into something like Human Rights Writers Association of Abia or Human Rights Writers Association of Biafra. He can work out an acronym that will roll off the tongue smoothly at a later day.

    He constituted himself into a judge and a jury to arrive at a verdict that the Nigerian Military erred to have conducted Operation Python Dance II in the southeast. For him the exercise was replete with human rights violations ranged from gruesome physical torture against members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He went further to add extralegal executions of civilians to his charges.
    Onwubiko attempted to create a feeling of desecration by suggesting that the palace of the IPOB leader’s father, Eze Israel Kanu, was desecrated in the course of the operation. But it must have occurred to the human rights writer that IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu decided on his father’s palace as his operational base for the very reason that it would be off limits to regular law enforcement agencies. The use of the palace of a first-class traditional ruler as the defacto headquarters of a secessionist terrorist group is an abomination against Nigeria. Since the southeast led the trail in demolishing property of indicted kidnappers the same treatment should have been extended to the palace for being a terrorist base, which means it should have been reduced to its foundations.
    If IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, realizing the magnitude of his treasonous act and his father recognizing his role as an accomplice, decided to flee and remain incommunicado the Abia state government, the army and the Federal Government should not be blamed by default. Anyone blaming any of these should not lose sight of the possibility that Kanu, in his craftiness, instructed his followers to attack the soldiers so he could use the ensuing confusion as cover to escape. It is amusing that IPOB terrorists can photograph and film video of abuses without making a last ditched attempt to document their leader being arrested, his remains being evacuated or him being killed.
    As for his innocent casualties, they could not have been civilians since only IPOB members mobilized to take on the Army. And the way this has played out so far, there is nothing like an innocent IPOB member since anyone connected to the terror group has either committed acts of terror, is committing acts of terror or would in future commit acts of terror (apologies to Emile Henri).
    It is insolent for Emmanuel Onwubiko to insult the sensibilities of his readers by claiming the whereabouts of neither Nnamdi Kanu nor his father were known. If he didn’t know their whereabouts then how did he get his hatchet brief to write in their defence? The whole lies about not knowing about the IPOB leaders’ whereabouts is one huge lie that would come to haunt all those currently engaged in promoting it.
    Perhaps the self styled activist should henceforth write in Igbo, his language of thought as it appears the nuances of English language stomps him to a point where he has to lose the expected train of logic each time he articulates a position. Much as a bunch of crackheads are asking for the restoration of a forgone Biafran Republic, the hypothetical country remains at best an illusion of its modern-day promoters, which makes it illogical for the Army to invade that which does not exist. The military conducted an exercise within Nigeria’s boundaries to which it legitimately has access, if the soldiers in the course of that exercise identified threats to their persons or the country the logical thing is to reflexively deal with such, review the situation and learn from its wealth of experience.
    While it is okay to transliterate from Igbo to English it is most unkind to perpetuate the myth that one’s ethnic stock has a perverted template for reasoning. That would be an irresponsible habit that maligns not just one’s imaginary enemies but one’s own people as well. Onwubiko concluded that the proscription of IPOB was hurriedly done and that the group continues to operate as a registered NGO in other countries. This betrays an incapacitation on a scale that makes it impossible to realize that issues of terrorism are treated with dispatch. For instance, Hezbollah is a legal entity in some countries and a terrorist organization to others; many other groups with dual designations abound. The countries that today play politics about IPOB’s status would be the most unforgiving in dealing with its crime when the time comes.
    Onwubiko can educate himself at a discount by simply buying a return ticket to Spain for a first-hand experience in how responsible governments deal with separatists. The autonomy of Catalan has been revoked and taken over by the government in Madrid, yet the Catalans have come nowhere near what IPOB has done in terms of breaching the law even though the Spanish government’s response makes Nigeria’s federal government’s handling of IPOB look like a peacekeeping organization. These are realties that the esteemed human rights writer is however allergic to and must have resolved to selectively perceive because of the relationship it has with what is going on here.
    It is however understandable that Onwubiko is still smarting from the proposal he allegedly once submitted to the Army to run propaganda on its behalf, which was reportedly promptly turned down by top brass who noted that the military cannot outsource such sensitive activity that requires constant consideration for national interest. One wonders if and how he would have continued executing that brief if it were assigned to him as requested, as a patriotic Nigerian or a Biafran mercenary desperate to make ends meet? But the issues he deemed more important should take precedence since he said he would rather not dwell on the media activities around Operation Python Dance II.
    He has issues with the success recorded by the operation and this is understandable since a person will naturally kick against something he has limited knowledge about especially when such state of mind is the product of willful rejection of facts. This included him describing those who commended the Army as jobless. His assessment of these Nigerians confirms a dangerous prejudice on his part as he apparently holds those who live in the Nyanyan – Mararaba axis of Abuja in disdain on account of their economic status in life – only years of hobnobbing with looters and destroyers of the nation’s economy can produce such nauseous snobbery.
    Suggesting that some of those at the rally could not speak Igbo shows the ignorance driving the Biafra secessionist movement. Too many of their own people have melded into Nigeria to a point where even their language is in jeopardy of being lost yet the leadership provided by Onwubiko and his likes still think other ethnic nationalities are their problem.
    The right-thinking persons from Igboland get the same treatment of being shamed for standing with the truth like the representative of the Governor of Abia State at the closing ceremony of Operation Python Dance II, Engineer Emmanuel Nwabuko. The message he bore to the event was unpalatable for Onwubiko because it “expressed appreciation of the government and people of the state for the numerous achievements of exercise Egwu Eke II in terms of improvement of peace, security and stability of the state”. The fear of such pariah treatment has gingered some of the elected representatives from the south-east to coerce the Senate into promising an investigation into the faceoffs between soldiers that took part in the exercise and IPOB fighters. The folly of such hurried declaration would be highlighted.
    There is a worrisome insinuation that dog Onwubiko’s intervention in national issues in recent times. But for his vehement defence of the former Chief of Army Staff, retired General Azubuike Ihejirika in the past, one would have concluded that he has unresolved parental issues with anything military. As recently as June 2015, Onwubiko was condemning Amnesty International for asking President Buhari to probe allegations of human rights abuses under Ihejirika. What has then changed to make him the champion for probing rights abuses? Whatever it is can only be ugly given his antecedents: ethnic jingoism and money are leading factors.
    At his most disingenuous, Onwubiko cited various sections of the Constitution to justify his claim that Operation Python Dance II should not have held and the excesses of separatist terrorists should not be checked. He however omitted to mention the portion of the Constitution, Section 227, which criminalizes the inauguration of Biafra Secret Service (BSS) by Nnamdi Kanu. Members of BSS acting as a rival military attacked the Nigerian Army. It would be interesting to hear his concept of how the soldiers should have reacted when they came under such threats to their persons when the militants started hurling objects at them – any of the stuff thrown at them could have been explosives given the threats severally made by IPOB members that they had an impressive arsenal.
    As for the other authorities and scenario cited by Onwubiko as he belabored the Army to rewrite history for the Biafran cause, one only needs remind him that his people would have had the moral high ground if they had not created a parallel army to fight the Nigerian Army. There is no point awakening the controversy as to whether IPOB members have the moral and legal rights to seek protection under a Constitution they have disavowed.
    The call on the National Assembly to ensure that “those who had violated the laws are prosecuted and sanctioned” is the perfect example of democracy a la Onwubiko; when it suits him, it is order for roles to be usurped so long as his end is served. He is advocating implementation of his Biafran nightmare in Nigeria where the National Assembly takes on prosecutorial powers that is the remit of the executive and also give the power to sanction, which falls to the judiciary. It did not occur to him that the lawmakers who once thumped their chests to investigate the IPOB attacks on soldiers have realized ahead of him that it is prudent not to make fools of themselves because even if they have the powers to prosecute and sanction as suggested the recipients would be Kanu and his brood of terrorists.
    Suggesting that the lawmakers “have been intimidated and harassed by President Muhammadu Buhari to abdicate their constitutional duty” is blackmail taken too far. It shows the contempt in which Onwubiko and those behind him hold the very people to whom they are appealing for help. He may wish to ask Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe who has learnt the lesson to never go on a limb for terrorists. Irrespective of chronically playing the victim, they will always exhibit their criminal side when it matters most and the federal lawmakers after seeing one of their so burnt by IPOB would be more circumspect about what they let themselves into.
    Meanwhile, if the south-east were to be hosting more military infrastructure and presence than it presently hosts, would this same Onwubiko not cry to the high heavens that his ancestral home is permanently occupied by the Nigerian Army; and since he supports Biafra would it not be better that there would be no relics of Nigeria’s military to turn his sweet dreams into nightmares when he gets his beloved republic. By the way, IPOB militants would have either attempted to hijack the armory in such place or the military bases would be in striking distance to tame any idiotic heroism emanating from terrorists there.
    Onwubiko’s parting short about sanitizing the military and weeding out brutes would have been such nugget of wisdom but for his penchant for meaning a different thing while saying another. The militaries of countries the world over continually evolve to address identified lapses that occur naturally when dealing with human variables. From the much that is in the public domain, the Nigerian Army is doing just that. What we should be worried about is the likes of Onwubiko who hide under the guise of human rights to encourage terrorists and separatists.

    Onoja writes from the Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism, [CATE] Jos.

  • My encounter with a prostitute

    In response to a notice inviting academic papers for publication in a foreign journal with the title “Vice or Virtue: Humanity and professions”, I decided to submit an abstract. I was fascinated by the title of the notice owing to the juxtaposition of the two words vice and virtue and their diametric but complementary alignments.

    I decided to use Barnard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession to interrogate the tensions of vice and virtue as opposites inextricably intertwined with each other. For those who may not know, Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a play that recounts the story of Mrs. Kitty Warren, a onetime prostitute who, through the proceeds of her trade is able to send her daughter Vivie to university. My interrogation of the issues raised in the play heightened my interest in prostitution and posed a number of questions to me. Do the proceeds from prostitution contribute to our economy or aid the enablement of what we see as virtue in the society, can a prostitute ever change seeing that even when Mrs. Warren retired, she established a brothel to provide employment for young girls fanning the embers of sexual immorality, do prostitutes pay tithes and offerings to churches for prosperity in their trade, are there married women who exchange their bodies for money and positions thereby defiling the sanctity of conjugal union and finally what group of people constitute the clientele of prostitutes?

    For answers to these questions, I decided to have an interview with a prostitute, Opebi in Ikeja the venue, time 12 midnight, date 14th October 2017. Entering Opebi, I saw her. Standing on a six inches heels, her clothes clung tightly to her body accentuating the seductive outlines of her provocative endowments, her legs stood out like a well polished piece of furniture, her skin glittered under the semi darkness of the night like the smoothness of the sea and the beauty of her physiognomy could disarm the devil. I pulled over to her and stopped. “Hi”, I blurted. “Good evening sir”, she replied, her sonorous voice making an instant impression on me.

    She:  Where are we going to and what can you offer?

    Me: Well, my mission is different. I just want to have a discussion with you for 30 minutes and I will pay you.

    She: This is new. Are you a secret police agent?

    Me: No I am not. I am doing a research on prostitution and I want to hear from the horse’s mouth, I have a recorder and will ask you some questions.

    She: I hope your recorder does not have a camera.

    Me: No it doesn’t, you can examine it.

    Five minutes later, we found a table and two empty chairs. Instantly, I set out to business.

    Me: What is your name?

    She: My name is Cynthia. (The cynical smile that graced her face betrayed her efforts at honesty. After all did Mrs. Warren not disguise her true identity by adding a Mrs. to her name even though she wasn’t married? Disguise is an indelible mark of treachery)

    Me: So tell me, why and how did you become a prostitute?

    She: (Smiles.)Well, after my NCE, I proceeded to University to study Mass Communication. Then my father died. After my youth service, I got a job as a reporter with a publishing outfit. For seven months, I wasn’t paid any salary and with a widowed mother and three younger ones to take care of, life became very difficult.  One day, I was sent to Abuja to interview a popular politician. He liked me and for the first time, I slept in a five star hotel. He gave me good money and promised me lots of things. Well, he didn’t fulfill any of the promises and never picked my calls again and that taught me a lesson, politicians are established in deceit and failed promises. Then I hit the streets.

    Me: (Nonplussed.) Don’t you think its sheer moral depravity for you to pull your clothes for a stranger just because of money?

    She: (Draws a big breath and sighs.) Well, everyone is guilty of moral depravity in this country. What it takes me to pull my clothes for a stranger is what it takes any government or employer of labor to owe workers for several months without salaries. Moral depravity has no gradation. Moral depravity is overseeing the daily strangulation of your people through economic hardship, watching the economy of your country shrink and making plans for re-election in 2019. Moral depravity is selective fight against corruption, when those who have despoiled this country to stupor walk the streets as free men while petty thieves languish in jail. It is the same moral depravities that will cause the deployment of soldiers to a section of the country to unleash mayhem, terror and death upon citizens. It is the tacit support for Fulani herdsmen who are killing people all over the country without a voice raised by the government. It is when banks input all kinds of secret charges in their daily transactions without anyone asking questions. Moral depravity is when a Senator earns N36 million a month; a House of Representative member earns N25 million a month whereas a police officer earns N18 thousand a month.

    Me: Look…you see…are you sure…

    She: (Cuts in) you think because I stand on the road at night I don’t know what is happening in this country? Don’t forget I was once a journalist and I had a good education. Moral depravity is when some people who call themselves men of God scam people every Sunday in the name of tithe and offering. They task the people to build universities and yet, the people cannot afford the fees of the same universities built with their money; that is moral depravity. Moral depravity is when fake drugs are imported into the country for the gradual annihilation of the populace while the importer smiles to the bank. I am not more morally depraved than the politicians, lawyers, engineers, pastors and business men who troop here every night to patronize me.

    Me: It’s enough please, it’s…

    She: (Cuts in) no, it’s not enough. A third force must emerge in this country to engage the politicians, the elected office holders, public and private service providers, to hold them accountable, to rise against the daily criminality that goes on in government circles, banks, police, military and other public agencies.

    Me: Our time is up; I shall visit you again and we will conclude this interview.

    She: Let me remind you that moral depravity has been taken to a new level with the recent $26 billion USD scandal at NNPC while the country bleeds with infrastructural decay. Earlier on it was PTF, now it is NNPC all operated by the same human machinery within the precinct of the country’s cash cow.  The sophistry and hypocrisy of fight against corruption must stop because nobody has any moral justification to condemn any profession including prostitution.

    Me: (Completely dazed) I must leave now, thanks for your time. (Into what dangers will research lead me?)

     

    • Adiele is of the

    Department of English

    University of Lagos

  • Air Transportation in a Developing Economy; the Ondo State Example

    Air Transportation in a Developing Economy; the Ondo State Example

    By Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye

    In the history of mankind, war has brought more destruction than development but such could not be said of the aviation industry. By the end of World War II, there was more improvement to the aviation sector of the world economy. Many Countries and capitals had built their own airports. Civil aviation witnessed rapid growth and development, as military aircrafts were repositioned and repurposed as passenger airlines or private jets.

    Since the historic flights, involving three De Havilland DH 9A aircraft belonging to the Royal Air Force, RAF that first flew Nigerian Airways, the aviation industry in the country has played an important role in achieving a sustainable development not only to Kano and Maiduguri where they first landed, but to other commercial and administrative areas like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

    In Nigeria, the expansion of air services is a necessary condition for development and diversification of the nation’s economy away from oil based to a more diversified export based natural resources-including tourism- is very well needed in a working air transportation system that is hitch-free and driven by the private sector.

    Improvement in the air transport infrastructure has a key role to play in the development of tropical regions of Nigeria. Air travelling is the most popular mode of travel in modern society today. Air transportation has made long-distance travel a possibility and near distance in a very short period of time resulting to a market that has grown significantly.

    Though it has experienced a very substantial growth, as a developing nation that Nigeria affirmatively belongs, it may still prove to be dependent on government financial support; putting new infrastructures in place, bringing service to more socio-economic hub centres of the country.

    The aviation sector plays an important role in the national economy by providing jobs and also contributing to the state coffer. Therefore, i want to say expressly that if this opportunity of newly introduced aviation system-Air Peace Lagos-Akure and Over land-Akure-Abuja-in Ondo State is properly harnessed, the development can boast the social and economic benefits of jobs creation and drives economic growth through its impact on the performance of industries such as Tourism, Oil and Gas, Agriculture and mineral resources such as Bitumen, limestone, kaolin and Small Scale Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

    Air transport facilitates trade: it helps countries participate in the global market by increasing access to main markets. Air transport also encourages investors to specialize in activities in which they have a comparative advantage and to trade with countries producing other goods and services.

    It is worth mentioning to state that air transportation is indispensable for tourism, particularly for remote and island destinations. Tourism directly supports jobs in airlines and airports, and expenses of visitors arriving by air create a substantial number of jobs in the tourism industry.

    As it were, the nature of tourism is to catch fun not to spend hours travelling a long distance to tourist sites that litter the nooks and crannies of Ondo State such as the Largest Golf resort in Nigeria and third in Africa situated at Ilaramokin; biggest traditional palace on the continent of Africa situated at Owo; the longest hills in Africa situated at Idanre; the unique Igbo Olodumare at Oke-igbo; the ebomi lake; etc.

    Air transportation also boosts productivity across the national economy: improved transport links and expand the market in which companies operate. By opening up markets, air services expose companies to stiffer competition, encouraging them to achieve maximum productivity with minimum effort and time factor. Aviation industry improves the efficiency of industries for mobility and delivery of products and services. It enables investment both into and out of countries and regions. It effectively networks and collaborate companies located in different parts of the nation and the globe and increases the size of potential markets.

    In all these, Ondo state is known to be a reservoir of natural inhabitants, considering environmental impacts of roads construction and other land transportation system like rail, air can provide alternative means for such places without tampering the reserved biodiversity zones.

    By conservation of protected areas, air transport improves quality of life by broadening people’s leisure and cultural experiences. It thus provides a wide choice of holiday destinations around the world and an affordable means to visit distant friends and relatives.

    Air transport helps to improve living standards and also can alleviate poverty, especially, through tourism. By facilitating tourism and trade, it generates economic growth, provides jobs, increases revenues from taxes, and fosters the community relationship with neighbouring states and communities. Air transport network also facilitates the delivery of emergency and humanitarian aid relief anywhere on earth and ensures the swift delivery of medical supplies and other needs.

    Other jobs provided by this system include employment and activities of suppliers to the air transport industry –like jobs linked to aviation fuel suppliers; construction companies that build additional facilities; the manufacturer and supplier of goods sold in airport retail outlets, and a wide variety of activities in the business services sector including local transportation to shuttle passengers from the airport to their different destinations.

    With the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s commitment and efforts to fast-track economic revitalization in the State through air transport, it is significant proportion for tourist sites and other commercial activities in the state including productive and extraction industries.

    The introduction of Air Peace and Overland Airways has increased the flight’s frequency on the Lagos-Akure-Abuja route respectively. This enables passengers travelling from Lagos to Akure, and Akure to Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) a smooth travelling time. Neighbouring states like Ekiti, Osun and Kogi also can benefit from this development by enjoying more flight options which will enhance their business activities, and provide them with the flexibility to visit and bond with loved ones and enjoy other forms of leisure.

    This giant Stride of the Akeredolu’s government should be sustained to enhance the untapped tourist centres, agricultural produce like Cassava, Oil Palm, Rice, Cocoa, Maize, and mineral resources such as oil and gas, limestone, bitumen, kaolin; private owned institutions such as Elizade University, Ilaramokin, Achiever University, Owo, Wesley University, Ondo, neighbouring Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti and other hidden wealth in the State towards jobs creation, profit maximization and industrialization of the sunshine state.

    A point of reference was the statement by the Marketing Manager, Smoking Hills and Golf Resorts, Ilaramokin, Prince Ademola Aderinto in a recent interview published by The Guardian Newspaper that patronage to the resorts has increased by 76% in the last two months because of the Lagos-Akure Air peace daily flight.

    It is agreeable that the limited number of regional hubs and the lack of a well-developed network of domestic airports is a serious threat to the opening of tourist resorts in Nigeria.

    Deficiencies in air services, transport costs and flight fares can also be part of the limitations in inhibiting the development of tourism in the State.

    Thanks to the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema for using Aviation as a catalyst for economic development. The Airline started its Lagos-Akure route in August this year with N10, 000 for a one-way trip just to encourage and help the state to actualize its economic development plan and this has its effect in bridging the gap and opening the state to tremendous investment-commercial activities and also encourage investors and exports.

    Economic industries can only operate with the availability of basic essentials such as transportation, accommodation, entertainment, security, food and so on. Transportation is the most important contributor to the development of any society. Its aim is to transit, carrying people and goods from one destination to another.

    It is by far one of the most moving forces of the economy and a well-developed and functional air transport system means a well-structured possibility of reaching various markets and providing the best quality service to the travellers.

    Certainly, we need no soothsayer to tell us its huge impacts in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria and Abuja, the administrative headquarters of the nation of Nigeria.

    Ondo state should not be left out of this!

    It is time to fly higher!

    Adeleye, a Blogger, Researcher and Trained Political Scientist, sent this piece from Lagos.

    He can be reached via maxwell_adeleye@yahoo.com

    Tel: 07039168005 (SMS Only).

  • Igbos: Between Monkey Pox and Monkey Sense

    Panic, tension, disquiet and anxiety held Nigerians in the South-East of the country for days. And amusingly the cause and source of the baseless anguish, which drenched our people in hysteria was as discreditable as the news itself. Some social media e-rats and e-thugs posted reports that our people were being massively killed by deadly vaccines, administered by the free medical outreach programme of the Nigerian Army, as it is causing the killer monkey pox disease.

    The rumour mongers expanded the scope of this malevolent and hate news to include similar deadly vaccines administered on people of the South-south by soldiers. Monkey sense, to say the least!

    Nigerians are not strangers to the free medical services of the Nigerian Army to host communities since the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai mounted the saddle in 2015. The Army has been conducting the free medical outreach programme in the last two years, not just in Medicare, but other humanitarian gestures in water/electricity, roads and so forth, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the Nigerian people mostly within its operational scope.

    Interestingly, virtually every region of Nigeria has benefitted from these programmes, especially, its free medical outreach from North to south, since the Nigerian Army got actively involved in quelling terrorism and other local armed conflicts in Nigeria. The beneficiaries, among them traditional rulers, usually turn out en masse and also, attest to its efficacy and immense assistance. The South-east region has also benefitted from this exercise before “yesterday,” when people with “Monkey” wisdom hijacked and gave it a new satanic meaning.

    Therefore, the roving mischief makers used the instance of the repeat conduct of the free medical services by Operation Python Dance II (Egwu Eke II) to again drum hatred for our soldiers and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) by speculating the injection of South-easterners with Monkey Pox virus. No lie can be so disingenuous, but some naive Nigerians almost believed it. Even an intelligent nursery pupil would never believe that soldiers on a secret mission to eliminate a race will be so crude, daft and foolish enough to openly use poisoned vaccines.

    Nevertheless, a good and kind-hearted gesture was deliberately baptized with evil. These projects are funded from the Nigerian Army’s meagre resources. The passion for humanity and cordiality with the civil populace by the re-professionalized, disciplined and patriotic Nigerian Army under Gen. Buratai is the motivation of these humanitarian services.

    Regrettably, many had no conscience and comportment to assess the veracity of the fake news, but instantly believed its unjustified linkage with the activities of Operation Python Dance II. The 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, traditional rulers, local, state and federal governments refuted the claims as untrue. But the criminal elements in our midst, whose reprehensible outings in violence have been terminated by soldiers, energized the publicity of this silly news. In the first place, miscreants and armed gangs opposed the presence of “Operation Python Dance II” and boldly requested withdrawal of soldiers so that violent crimes could fester.

    The cooked news on the source of the Monkey Pox disease was another carefully crafted propaganda aimed at extracting their pound of flesh from the Army and the government. So, they had no veritable evidence to buttress their claims, but hell bent on tarnishing the image and reputation of the Nigerian Army, they insisted on tagging along with the polluted and wicked reports.

    All manner of reasons were ascribed to justify the fake reports. To these cursed minds, it was the strategy of the Army to depopulate some regions in Nigeria’s south, especially southeast. No one had the sanity of explaining why the FGN under President Muhammadu Buhari or the Nigerian Army would want to depopulate any region and for what value?

    The Nigerian Army in a statement signed by Col. Sagir Musa, Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, stated explicitly that “The Division wishes to make it clear that the free medical outreach is not a vaccine intended to infect monkey pox or any major contemporary or emerging diseases in Nigeria to the people of South East or any part of the country.”

    Exposing their underbelly of evil, the outlawed IPOB, through its Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful, claimed the “All Progressive Congress, (APC) government and the Nigerian Army are determined to kill as many Biafrans as possible in Anambra State, and South East in general.”

    That’s the extent of indulgence in evil and wickedness by Nigerians, especially by IPOB members. A Kenyan proverb says “The day the monkey is destined to die all the trees get slippery”. The South-east is a region assailed by armed and violent criminality by gangs nurtured by IPOB and the people cried out for government intervention. Operation Egwu Eke II was government’s response to it. But like can be deduced from the adage, since there is an innate hatred of the Federal Government by IPOB elements, whatever goodwill extended to the region is perceived in bad light.

    Expectedly, they fought back tenaciously and ferociously, to halt Operation Egwu Eke II; they violently attacked soldiers on patrol, deployed the services of hired civil society organizations to lampoon the Federal Government on claims of unwarranted militarization of the Southeast; blackmailed and issued out violent threats. But none of the tricks worked. The Monkey Pox disease vaccination claims of extermination of Southerners was just another desperate attempt by these criminal elements to cause disaffection and hatred against soldiers and the Federal Government to springboard instant withdrawal of Operation Egwe Eke II.

    An African adage says, “No matter how the wild howls, the mountain, cannot bow to it”. So, gimmicks are deployed to frustrate the operation of soldiers in ridding the region of armed and violent gangs. Except that they are not potent enough to distract or deter the resolve of government and soldiers in cleansing our communities and extricating them from the grip of criminals.

    The propagandists of the Army’s injection of Igbos with deadly vaccines, disconnectedly linking it to Monkey Pox disease only displayed their “Monkey Sense .” They are not using their brains to think. So, they act and behave like the typical wild and foolish monkey, who ends up consumed by the fire of its own tricks or plots. The latest development is a pathetic illustration of the magnitude the Nnamdi Kanu-led rebellious IPOB has injected the people with a destructive monkey sense.

    Only those baptized and immersed in monkey wisdom would reason and act this disgracefully before Nigerians. Kanu has led our jobless youths on the destructive voyage and at the same time, usurped their thinking faculties, by hypnotizing them with monkey sense. So, they have continued to manifest in foolishness, silliness and stupidity. They may end up becoming pathetic victims of their own contrivances like monkeys.

    In African folklore, entanglements of the monkey, sprouts from what the animal thinks is its best and wisest wisdom. The tortoise is cleverer and wiser. It weaves and fortifies its tricks to protect his life and give him desired results from any action. The tortoise comes out of every problem un-bruised and triumphantly. In spite of its small nature, it once tricked the mighty elephant into a bottomless pit, where it was killed and the blood used to cure a sick king. The tortoise collected his reward for disarming the elephant, an animal dreaded by other animals, even when a handsome reward was offered.

    Conversely, Kanu and his followers hate to see our kinsmen imbibe the cherished wisdom of the tortoise. They are scheming to inject everyone in Igboland with monkey brain, instead of the tortoise’s clever brain, necessary for gainfully navigating modern-day politics in Nigeria. The Yorubas and the Niger Deltas are now exploiting the monkey brain of the Igbos for regional gains in the configuration of Nigeria. But the Igbos appear to be learning nothing and they will certainly forget nothing. And so, Igbos unrestrictedly incite themselves against one another, and extend hatred and antagonism to any other nationality in Nigeria.

    When our own brothers in drug war invaded a church at Ozubulu, Anambra state and massacred people, some foolish people swore it was marauding Fulani herdsmen. IPOB elements contrive fake news of the injection of deadly vaccinations on Igbos by soldiers, and thereafter, claim it is execution of the Fulani/Hausa agenda of the total annihilation of Biafrans. Do they even imagine the damage such vile and farcical propaganda is doing to the cords of friendship with other tribes in this confederation?

    Someone should save us the Igbo race from IPOB, which has already laid it on the slaughter slab. This mentality of dubiously frustrating a noble idea and painting it black, even where it resists such colourations is retrogressive. History suggests that in the days of yore, when the Great Zik of Africa, the proud son/leader of Igbo nation and Nigeria impressed on the colonialists Britain, to give free milk to school children in the region, they rejected it. We flaunted unsubstantiated claims that it was expired milk and the Britons who anchored it intended poisoning our children.

    Zik again offered us “Okporoko” fish at campaigns and some also claimed it was poison and extracting a revenge against Zik, Igbos refused to vote for him at the polls. Who has injected us with this more deadly monkey sense? Must we embark on actions likely to boomerang dangerously against our people ?
    Madu wrote from 26 Demola Seriki street, Bariga, Lagos.

  • Like Catalonia Like Biafra II

    Philip Agbese

    The projects were dead on arrival. Their only beneficiaries were the so called separatist leaders, who used the agitation for secession to bilk unsuspecting donors, sponsors, financers and backers even when they knew from the onset that what they were offering their followers has lesser value than a snake oil cure. They cheated the fanatical ones among their broods of their lives and limbs as they sent them on suicide missions in confrontation against constituted authorities knowing that their illegitimate activities would be met with firm state response. They lied to lied to their followers without remorse.
    This week, after putting the whole of Spain on edge, Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, settled for a symbolic declaration of independence from Spain based on 90% pro-secession votes of 2.3million Catalans. Puigdemont deferred the real declaration of independence “by some weeks” even though common sense shows the topic is being eased out of the public space in a manner that allows the hardline secessionists some face saving grace while keeping opportunities open to again test the corporate integrity of Spain in the future.
    In Nigeria, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who had vowed to sacrifice his life to realize the defunct Biafra republic did not enjoy the fortune of face saving just as his toxic approach to issues alienated even those that were once his sympathizers. Like a chastised cur, Kanu fled with his tail between his legs – he smuggled himself out of Nigeria, incognito, reportedly back to the London, United Kingdom, where he once subsisted between living on state provided welfare package and being a care worker before discovering he could make billions of naira off those deluded by the pipe dream of a revived Biafra.
    Incidentally, Kanu and the most rabid of his brood of feral followers had wallowed in the illusion that Catalonia would light the way for their perverted vision of a balkanized Nigeria. They had marketed the fraud that the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) would invade Nigeria to help them create a new capital for Biafra in Afaraukwu, where Nnamdi Kanu would reign as the first imperial supreme leader under some bizarre monarchy possibly after killing off his own father, who is another monarch. The Catalonian independence struggle was for IPoB a justification to argue that the new trend in the world is for countries to voluntarily fragment to suit ethnic and tribal whims. Anyone that still believes that bunkum should have their medication evaluated for potential psychotropic side effects.
    Suffering the same strain of delusion as Kanu, Puigdemont too had expected an EU censure when Spanish riot police unleashed the harshest crackdown of the year to stall Catalan’s referendum that even the Supreme Court ruled to be illegal. It came to the point where Puigdemont practically groveled as he pleaded for EU intervention that never came. The supra-national organisation knows better than to interfere in the internal affairs of a member nation and it promptly and rightly pointed that out. If the sledgehammer was slammed on the fly when the referendum held then the equivalent of a nuclear weapon would be detonated to kill a rat if Catalan dares press ahead with declaring independence. Options reportedly in the offing in such scenario is a full-fledged direct rule from Madrid, a fate worse than the current arrangement that guarantees Catalonia some measure of autonomy.
    This was an insight that the governors of Nigeria’s five south-east states had to promptly proscribe the activities of IPoB before the court declared it a terrorist group. The path chosen by Kanu, which was more vexatious than the approach adopted by Puigdemont, was guaranteed to bring those states under emergency rule – the Constitution (as amended) has provision for declaring State of Emergency when situation degenerates in any part of the country but interestingly is mute on holding a referendum for secession. The demented chant of “no referendum, no election” by IPoB members is meaningless as the court would easily rule the conduct of a referendum as illegal, which would place the rebirth of Biafra via referendum on a footing weaker than that of Catalan.
    Catalonians have retreated to lick their wounds and if they are smart they would engage in some soul searching while at it. In the wake of being declared a terrorist group, IPoB members similarly indicated that they merely retreated to come back in a more ferocious manner – they are already manifesting what they imply through the return of a more toxic version of hate speech targeting other ethnic nationalities. Retreating to review strategies and alliances as the Catalonians are doing is beyond IPoB, it requires too much mental effort for a rabble led by a scam artist.
    The duty falls by default to the elected representatives and governors in the south-east to avert their geopolitical zone being catalaned. In this regard, it is encouraging that one of IPoB/Kanu’s cheerleaders and Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, is now singing a new song – chanting hallelujahs to Nigeria’s unity. Ekweremadu, who once marketed the IPoB leader as a victimized freedom fighter told an audience in the United States that “We must continue to assure that the best way to go is restructuring, not dismemberment of the country.”
    Other political leaders that had backed IPoB and other Biafran separatists against the state have a further responsibility to take a trip to Catalan, a mental trip at the very least. Then they would realize that pursuing the resurrection of a defunct republic that was committed to the grave through a costly civil war is not the way to go. This time around Biafra II may not be as fortunate as Catalan, and to think their woes are just beginning.
    Agbese is a U.K. based public affairs commentator and publisher.

  • How to stay away from Monkeypox

    How to stay away from Monkeypox

    Monkeypox is a rare and infectious disease caused by monkey virus, transmitted from animals to human, with symptoms similar to those of smallpox, although less severe.

    The first case was reported on September 22 in Bayelsa, and according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 31 suspected cases have been reported across seven states including Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River.

    The disease has since spread to six other states. These are Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River.

    1. Stay away from animals, squirrels, monkeys, rats and others. Be sure that such animals are not frolicking around your environment

    2. Be sure to wash your hands properly with soap and water after making contacts with animals or even sick people as this increases your risks of contracting the disease.

    3. Avoid contacts with faeces or excretory droplets of infected animals or humans. There is very little information that allows one to exclude any animal from contracting monkeypox. Therefore, it should be presumed that any mammal including common household pets, could be infected if exposed to the disease.

    4. Stay away from persons infected with the disease or suspected of the disease.
    It is a communicable disease and is therefore transferrable

    5. Handle materials used by or to treat infected persons with care- e.g bedding clothes, and any other contaminated material

    6. Cook all meat very thoroughly, especially bushmeat

    7. If you are a farmer, call in expert in suspected cases of animal illness and wear gloves when examining them

    8.Practice good hygiene. Have your bath properly and regularly with good disinfectants and clean water

    9. If you must use bush meat, make sure it is properly washed and cooked in hot boiling water so as to dissolve every germ that might come with it.

    10. Kill animals around the house, household pests and unwanted animals

    If you have pets such as dogs, cats, etc.

    Please make sure they are always clean and free from germs, also be sure that they don’t make contacts with other animals around.

    Monkeypox is a healthy disease Practice the above tips and stay safe.