The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Millennial’s voting preferences, lessons for future elections

    A Post-UK election analysis by the Financial Times suggests that better-educated people tend to vote for left-wing or centrist causes, while those who never went to university are more likely to vote for right-wing or populist parties. It concludes that Tories made heavy forays into working class territories previously considered the exclusive domain of the Labour Party, even though, overall, the Conservatives’ showing at last week’s poll was poorer.

    An analysis of the trends in the recent elections in France reveals similar results. Emmanuel Macron, for instance, won his highest votes in Paris, home to France’ most literate population. He garnered 34.8% in the first round and scooped a whopping 89.7% of the Parisian vote in the second round.

    Polling from Lord Ashcroft’s also suggests that the Conservatives beat Labour to the middle-class votes by just three percent in the 2017 election. For context, in the 1974 elections, the Tories took 56% of the middle-class vote while Labour managed 19%. As a consequence, Labour seems to have narrowed the difference in a manner that convinces some analysts that if an election was called today, the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn will lead the Brexit negotiations in the coming days.

    The Brits were faced with two choices – a ‘Strong and Stable’ incumbent and a wobbly Labour leader, whose affinity towards the IRA was played up in the weeks before Polling Day. In what some analysts described as an ‘unnecessary election,’ British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted she needed her proverbial hand strengthened by a strong majority to face her counterpart leaders in Brussels for the Brexit negotiations.

    It turned out that the slim majority that made her the Prime Minister, following the referendum that blew her predecessor David Cameron apart, will be eroded. The foregoing has exposed Mrs May to varied attacks both home and abroad.

    The day after the elections, following her declaration to form a government with the ‘support’ of the Democratic Unionist Party, a Northern Ireland caucus, political commentator Robin Oakley called her damaged goods with diminished authority. He believed that the Prime Minister had lost the confidence of Britons to lead the country out of the EU.

    Mrs May, however, said the U.K. now more than ever needed certainty that she was now poised to offer. One imagines this certainty has to do greatly with the impending Brexit negotiations with the EU leadership. This was despite many EU leaders taunting her after the results of the poll became public. The already wounded Prime Minister had become a laughing stock. Though her party lost seats in the elections, the Conservatives won the majority of seats as well as the highest number of votes.

    The percentage of votes accrued to the Tories under Theresa May in this ‘post-Brexit’ election, was more than what sent both Tony Blair (40.7% & 35.2% in 2001 & 2005 respectively) and David Cameron’s (36.1% & 36.9% in 2010 & 2015) to Downing Street. But can you blame anyone for chastising Theresa May, who made the election a personal contest with Jeremy Corbyn? He was a punching bag but the ‘Strong and Stable’ leader shied away from all debates.

    A Town Hall engagement that followed with an interview with Jeremy Paxman had to feature the two leaders on separate platforms. This arrangement and the subsequent decision not to take part in a debate with other candidates in the election spelt her doom. Many could no longer defend her ‘Strong and Stable’ mantra. Her U-turn over proposals in her Party’s manifesto was also perceived as an utter disregard for the voting populace and a resolve not to subject her party’s policies to scrutiny.

    The London Bridge and Borough Market terror attack days before the election probably drove the last nail into her coffin. It brought to the fore how decisions of her Party, with her as Home Secretary earlier and now Premier have contributed to reduced spending on the police and its concomitant decrease in police numbers on London’s streets.

    In all of this, Millennials were probably keen observers. They were only interested in policies that furthered their interests and aspirations. Many believe the outturn of the elections was also to ensure that Britain’s leaders ‘talked’ to each other in this bid to sever ties with the European Union. I differ on that one.

    It is nearly impossible for voters in an election to agree in their political choices to bring leaders from diametrically opposed sides to do business. The hung Parliament, the outcome of last week’s election, is better explained by voters aged 18-24 years, whose shift to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign shored up his votes 51 points more than the national average.

    Many analysts believe that if the youth feel rewarded by their massive turnout and voting for their preferred candidate, their engagement could be sustained, further shifting the voting patterns in the UK towards Labour.

    Given the expected renewed commitment of Millennials in voting on their everyday realities, politicians seeking to attract them can’t be fixated on their ideals and history. Corbyn asked voters to judge him on his politics today as well as the policies his party offered and we saw the verdict. Can we conclude that the verdict for the Conservative Party under the watch of Theresa May was a verdict of her politics and policies both as Home Secretary and Prime Minister?

    The dynamics of the Brexit votes and Trump’s emergence in the White House and last week’s UK election must tell politicians that the largest pool of voters don’t just care about who leads parties but they also care about how the leader remains committed to following through his or her policies, the strength of his or her engagement and how those policies touch their daily realities.

    I rest my case.

    Kobby Mensah is a Freelance Journalist with interest in politics and business reporting.

He last worked as head of politics and lead producer for EIB Network's Starr FM and

GHOne TV, where he led teams to implement Town Hall events in the run up to Ghana's

2016 elections. He also benefited from US 2016 election reporting under the State

Department and Foreign Press Office's Youth in Politics Initiative.

  • ‎Army University: The Vision and Geography

    The plan by the Nigerian military to transform the Nigerian Army Institute of Technology and Environmental Studies NAITES in Makurdi, Benue State  into a specialized military university must be seen as a welcome development due to the advantages it evinces to the entire nation.
    Apart from the fact that the transformation will see to the upgrade of the institution from a mere certificate awarding one to one that will specialise in the training of military personnel in the recondite fields of technology and environmental studies, there are many other things that Nigeria stands to gain ‎hence the proposed name of Nigerian Army University of Technology and Environmental Studies, NAUTES.
    Reports indicate that a committee is already working on this and it’s recommendations subject to the approval of the convening authorities will soon be concluded.
    But even before the committee submits its report, there are concerns being expressed about the relevance of the institutions as well as it’s proposed site in the North eastern part of the country.
    The need for a second military ‎university in Nigeria to complement the Nigeria Defence Academy cannot be over-emphasised.
    Since the upgrade of the NDA to a degree awarding institution the quality of the Nigerian military in both character and studies have been enhanced tremendously to the glory and betterment of the country.
    Through the academy, the  military has come to fully appreciate ‎the depth of scholarly endeavours, improved its personnel  and has enhanced the proficiency, knowledge and capacity of its personnel without ‎subjecting them to the scrutiny of the conventional universities.
    The needed integration of the personnel with the civilian populace and reorientation in civility came naturally and without stress through advancement in scholarly works and exposure to critical and analytical thinking.
    Thus even those opposed to the transformation have long been silenced seeing the concrete advantages accruing from the setting up of the institution.
    The issue of the siting of the university is however one that needs to be comprehended to be fully appreciated.
    Since some misguided youths took it upon themselves to take up arms against the Nigerian state  in what is now. known as insurgency, the people of the north east have suffered immeasurable damage and deprivation.
    They have seen loved ones either killed, maimed or taken away without the courage to utter the most subtle kind of resistance.
    Their homes have been destroyed, schools burnt and destroyed while access to means of economic survival through commercial and agricultural engagements are shattered.
    It was the advent of the current administration that has brought succour and relief to the populace through the curtailing of the activities of the insurgents and their technical defeat.
    But in the wake of that victory comes the challenges of what needs to be done to rehabilitate the people who have suffered so much through no fault of theirs.
    The federal government has set up various  committees and has made much efforts to intervene to improve on the lot of the populace  one of which is the presidential initiative  on the north east.
    Many organisation and ‎ ‎well spirited individual have also intervened but what remains to be covered is quite enormous.
    Aside the fact that the north east needs to be fully reintegrated into Nigeria by giving the people of the region a reason to once again believe in the cointry, there is the need for additional military presence in the area to ensure that the gains made in tackling the menace ate not lost or slowed to fritter away.
    The psychology of having an additional military formation in the north east should be welcomed by all since it would go a long way in augmenting  security arrangement in the area.
    What many have not come to realise is that at the height of the activities of the insurgents, Nigeria has lost many military formations in the north with only very few standing at the moment.
    During the immediate past administration, military and para military formations were captured by the insurgents, residents sacked or killed while large cache of weapons were carted away and used against the state and it’s people .
    They include the barracks in Monguno, the mobile police training facility in Gwoza, Sambisa, and other para military formations in Bama and other places.
    This exposes the weakness of the military as many of their strong holds have been captured or destroyed.
    Even the well fortified Giwa Barracks in the state capital of Maiduguri has come under serious attack and parts of it was destroyed by insurgents intending to free their captured commanders.
    Needless to say, if there is any region that is desirous of military formations that will enhance the presence of personnel and ensure the security of the population its the North east and idea of siting another military formations therw should not be viewed from the prism of geopolitical balancing as that would mean approaching the matter in a simplistic  manner.
    We can take the example of the governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai who when faced with the challenge of ensuring security in Southern Kaduna, quickly ran to the Defence Headquarters in Abuja and demanded for the establishment of military barracks there in addition to the ones already sending there.
    To his credit, since the foundation stone for the barracks was laid, the rate of attacks and resultant crisis has abated.
    Luckily, the Borno State government had allocated 5000 hectares of land for the setting up of the‎ university while the military is planning to commence ce the next academic session from the new site in Biu, Borno State .
    Biu is peculiar and stratification to the fight against insurgency due to its location on the southern fringes of Borno and due to the fact the insurgents had at the early stages tried to establish their base in the ancient town but were resisted by the people.
    The need to sustain and coordinate such resistance which has largely been successful would go a long way in ensuring that the terrorists do not take a come back or fo beyond their places of hiding.
    More so as the southern part of Borno State has been lacking in such facilities as most of the formations in Borno State are concentrated in the other senatorial zones.
    Raheem a public affairs commentator writes from Kaduna.

  • The CDS and coordination in the military

    Last year, when President Muhammadu Buhari extended the tenure of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin‎ for another year, it stood as a mark of the esteem he is held in the military and outside that almost all commended the president for the brilliant idea.
    It is also a projection of the integrity of the person of the CDS that under an institution that has highly qualified and well trained men and women‎, none objected but gave total support to the development.
    If it were in political circles, it would be said that the Ekiti born General has earned the votes and confidence of the people.
    But indeed he has going by the changes, transformation , high level training and re-orientation of the military he has been able to achieve within the period he has been in office.
    Within the two years Olonisakin has been in office, a lot of positive things has happened to the Nigerian military that has raised the image of the country .
    Countries that were scared of doing business with Nigeria have developed more confidence and are  not only willing to sell weapons to Nigeria but offering other forms of training and assistance to our personnel.
    Internally,‎ hundreds of operations launched in certain parts of the country have been carried out with utmost sense of responsibility and minimal exposure to military – civil confrontation.
    The image of the military as the ‘unknown soldier’ or the ‘mad dog’ of the past has drastically changed in recent times and people have begun to accord the military respect and recognition wherever its men are involved.
    This is evident in operations launched in places like the South east, Southern Kaduna, the Niger- Delta and the North West. The confidence has grown to a level where the military is now being welcomed in places where they were hitherto being taunted and asked to be withdrawn  due to ‎ some reasons that had to do with how it’s men went about their duties in the past.
    In places like Plateau, Southern Kaduna and other places where women were eager  to come out naked to reject the involvement of the military in operations in their communities, the military is now seen as the symbol of refuge where people run to for safety.‎ To maintain discipline, the military has several times moved in to sanction some of its men found wanting.
    Recently when some of its men manhandled ‎a physically challenged person for wearing military camouflage, the military did not waste time in bringing those involved to justice. The success recorded in the fight against insurgency that at one time threatened the foundation of the country is also well known.
    Without the effective cordination of the three arms, the success recorded in the battle against insurgency could not have have been made possible .
    It is to the credit of the Nigerian military that the activities of the insurgents  mainly in the north eastern part of Nigeria ‎has been degraded, scuttled and frustrated.
    The high level of success attained has enabled many residents of the major towns affected by the activities of the insurgents in the past to return to their homes.
    The success of operation against sabotage of the Nigerian economy under the guise of militancy in the Niger Delta region is also due to the intelligent leadership at the defence headquarters which made all to work for the unity of the country.
    In the past, the lack of cordination among the arms has seen to unhealthy rivalry culminating in the scuttling of the activities of each other which in turn hampered the necessary strategy and mobilisation needed to win the war.
    Since July 2015 however when the current CDS came on board, the story has changed as all the arms, made up of the navy, air force and the army began to work in unison giving the nation the current state of security it has found itself.
    It is to the credit of  the CDS whose duty it is to see to the smooth working relationships of the military that this has been brought to bear.
    Currently, the success recorded in the fight against insurgency and other threats to security are seen in the light of this collaborative efforts that it can be said that Nigeria as a nation has never had it so good.
    No doubt the choice of Olonisakin who had  held responsible positions within the military has been a good one for the institution  as he uses his experience an officer with deep knowledge of administration to cause this to bear on the institution he heads.
    ‎For the first time also,  a threat to the country ‘s democracy was detected, investigated and handled without ‎causing unnecessary tension in the polity.
    Such level of maturity, cadence and professionalism has not been employed in dealing with such matters in the country.
    Definitely the CDS deserves all the accolades he is getting as an off‎icer and a gentleman and President Buhari can  be said to have  got it right with his appointment and the other service chiefs making our military an institution to be respected and reverend amongst its contemporaries in the world.
    Ebuka is a social crusader and contributed this piece from Old  Awka Road, Abagana, Anambra State.‎

  • SCHOOLING THE COUP PLOTTERS

    Recent months have proven over and over again that Nigerians cannot afford to be complacent in how they protect our democracy; our very future and the wellbeing of future generations depend on it. It will be catastrophic if we are lulled into a false sense of security simply on account of our democracy having exceeded all the other times – first, second and third republics – when our democracy was truncated.

    To avoid the past experience being repeated we must be wary enough to address the problems that aborted democracy in this country in the past. It is okay to be paranoid in this instance since it is apparently the better approach. We must for once stop expecting that creases and rumples in the polity would smoothen themselves out. They will not! They will simply fray to the point of causing a tear and by them we would be compelled to apply stitches.
    Nigeria’s detractors are not relenting. They have no plans to. They have sponsored terrorists’ insurgency to destabilize Nigeria with their expectation that it would spell the end of democracy. They failed. They resorted to propping up secessionists and separatists, people that opted to see problems where opportunities abound. This failed too. A change in tactics has now seen them turning attention to the military.
    There have been sufficient reports of ambitious politicians in congress with rogue elements in the military with the sole intent of carrying out a coup. The object, from the telling, is to upset the present order where an able deputy is executing the mandate of his boss. They have reportedly pitched ethnic goodies to the service personnel they want to recruit to set the nation back.
    If what we heard about this desperate band did not daze us, talks of a “Plan B” should get every freedom loving Nigerian to assemble a protest kit; they will push us to again fight for our freedom if we do not first truncate their own coup plot with timely warnings that Nigerians, the world and humanity would not allow them sound the death knell for participatory governance.
    A news site chronicled the said “Plan B” and it read more like something from an horror show, that kind of end-of-the-world Armageddon that is more in keeping with Hollywood blow’em up movies. Fighter jets and helicopter gunships that should be fighting whatever remains of Boko Haram terrorists would be rather be turned on military formations that refused to be part of the coup. Senior politicians would be arrested. Of course, being that neither Nigerians nor the world would stand for a putsch, the plotters after an initial stand-off would then bring in their politician allies as compromise and these will in turn grant hurried pardon to their criminal partners.
    But they got it wrong. Nigeria has moved from that waypoint where people get rewarded for bad behaviour. No one involved in the plot will go unpunished. In fact, as things stand, anyone connected with the plot is already in trouble, even if the plot is only at its initial stage.
    Nigerians have news for the coupists. They should go watch the footage of those that attempted that most recently in Turkey. Getting arrested would feel like a five star hotel stay since angry Nigerians would most likely lay their hands on anyone trying to truncate our democracy. What they will get will be nothing short of the instant judgment meted out to bandits, ritual killers and kidnappers. The crowd would likely redesign the architecture of their faces before handing them over stand formal trial.
    When it comes to trial, offenders must remind themselves that there will be no leniency, no extenuating circumstances, no state pardon and no mercy. They are going to get served what they requested and that is a promise that the everyday Nigerian will easily repeat to the would be coup plotters. It is something that anyone that has attempted a coup in past five years anywhere in the world will testify to. Plotting to overthrow a legitimate government, irrespective of the circumstances have grave consequences and there will be nowhere to run or hide once found out.
    Those that have been contacted by politicians can therefore save whatever is left of their skin by telling Nigerians who has contacted them what specific demands have been made of them. The affected Air Force personnel must therefore chose their side wisely before an investigation that will surely come indicts them. By then it will be too late to distance themselves from the desperate politicians.

    Adegboruwa contributed this article from No3 Saadatu Street, Oregun, Lagos.‎

  • Governor Yari, NGF and outstanding leadership

    Governor Yari, NGF and outstanding leadership

    Recently, I read an article titled, “Governor Yari and his billionaire boys’ club”, written by a columnist, Niran Adedokun. This article is specifically authored to address the cursory observations, unfair assessments, subjective expressions, misleading accounts, ignorant remarks and the preposterous conclusion that have been noted therein.

    It is a matter of public records that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was sharply divided into two factions before the emergence of Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State as the Chairman of NGF. The inauguration of new chairman did not automatically translate to a united NGF. What happened was that Governor Yari engineered and coordinated a reconciliatory process that has cemented the bond of unity among the 36 governors, beyond the barriers of political affiliations, religious beliefs and ethnic differences. It was that intervention that saved Nigerians from the tension that used to stem out weekly from the activities of NGF. Under the leadership of Governor Yari, the Forum has played remarkable roles in ensuring the sustainability of democracy as its unity has in turn led to stability in the polity and unity of the Nation.

    Under the leadership of Governor Yari, the idea of the NGF Leadership Academy, with the responsibility of building capacity of Governors and other public office holders, has received boost. In the drive aimed at diversification and job creation, the NGF has made agriculture a priority. The gains of its efforts on Agricultural Machinery Development with the China-Africa Machinery Company clearly confirmed the NGF has taken agriculture seriously. Nothing showed clearer that Niran Adedokun has paltry insight about the activities of the NGF than the fact that he tried to suggest the actual priorities of the NGF for the NGF.

    Does it not betray common sense for anyone to say the chairmanship of a man who is steadily navigating NGF on the path of progress is one of the most unfortunate contradictions of our current political experience? Niran Adedokun can choose to be ignorant by choice but, he cannot write away the achievements of Governor Yari, both as governor and chairman of NGF.

    Whereas, it is okay to compare the National Governors Association (NGA) in United States of America to the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). Such comparison should be fair enough to reflect that while the NGA is 109 years old, the NGF is just 18 years old. As a Forum of just 18 years old, the NGF is doing pretty well.

    Due to his own interpretation of what Governor Yari said during the outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis in Nigeria, coupled with the governor’s statement that he will recruit more qualified doctors and nurses because the Zamfara State needed their services, the writer concluded that the governor’s concept of development is pedestrian.

    Perhaps, the writer is unaware that one of the reasons why the governor has embarked on the recruitment of doctors and nurses is because the governor has built more hospitals in the past few years. Even if the governor will not be commended for recruiting staff for newly-built hospitals, there is no justifiable cause to label him as pedestrian governor.

    On the issue of the meningitis outbreak, Governor Yari did not say God was punishing Nigerians with the virus. Though, he alluded to God’s power to inflict afflictions on sinners. It should be noted that the governor made his comment in Hausa which gave room for divergent and wide interpretations.

    Meanwhile, records showed that the virus affect 226 local government areas in 24 states. The Federal Government said the outbreak took the Nation by surprise and confirmed that there were limited stock of the vaccines around the world.

    When suspected cases of the disease were reported in Zamfara State, the governor did not fold his arms or wait unto Allah to halt the outbreak. The governor understood his responsibility and immediately took practical steps to curtail the outbreak. The Zamfara State Government worked in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to control and curtail the outbreak.

    Without delay, a committee-led by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi was designated to create massive awareness on the disease. The committee did a fantastic job. 1,344 persons were immediately trained as vaccinators and deployed to the nooks and crannies of the State. I strongly believe that if the Type C meningitis vaccines were readily available around the world, even at exorbitant cost, the efforts of the Governor Yari-led administration would have saved more lives. Thus, the governor did what any responsible governor in Nigeria would have done.

    When few hours of downpour sacked residents of some communities in Lagos State and destroyed properties recently, would anyone have been reasonable to describe Governor Akinwunmi Ambode as a pedestrian governor?  Similarly, would it have been justifiable for anyone to label Governor Nasir El-rufai as pedestrian governor because thousands of persons have been reportedly killed in Southern Kaduna in the past few months? That article showed beyond any iota of doubt that the writer has a skewed mindset.

    Furthermore, to reecho an allegation that the governor built a hotel in Lagos while deliberately ignoring the published reaction that the governor has neither a plot nor hotel in Lagos, suggests a malleable writer on a commissioned mission.

    In the past six years, the people of Zamfara State can attest to improved socio-economic activities. The State has witnessed commendable progress in the sectors of healthcare, roads, education and agriculture and transformation of rural communities. People from within and outside the State have commended the governor for executing people-oriented projects.

    Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state to launch new special military formation that was established to address security challenges. He also commissioned road projects in Wanke, Zamfara State. Also, Senate President Bukola Saraki was in Zamfara State in January to flag-off the construction of the Dauran-Birnin, Tsaba Birnin and Magaji Kauran Namoda roads.

    Recently, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde paid a working visit to Zamfara State to commission electrification projects at Adarawa, Garguwa, Rakuma, Rafin Dankure and Tsamiya. The minister also inaugurated water works at Garbadu and Mure areas of the State.

    It is also on record that the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun recently inaugurated Semi-Urban Water Scheme Projects in Dauran and Kanwa communities in Zurmi Local Government Areas of the State. The inaugurated projects are parts of the 84 of such water projects the governor has constructed in the past six years. The APC chairman also commissioned hospital in Moriki community.

    The collaboration between the Zamfara State Government, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Presidential Committee on Malaria Illumination has recorded huge success in the fight against malaria. Also, the governor launched a special dry season rice production programme in Gummi Town on 28th of February. Under the scheme, 2150 hectares were allocated to 2150 beneficiaries for farming.

    Additionally, the governor has regularly organised trainings and workshops for teachers in the State. He also embarked on the recruitment of 1,000 teachers for primary education. The massive road construction ongoing in Zamfara has provided employment opportunities to over 1,000 citizens while the improved road network in the State has enhanced the capacity of the State in the area of food production.

    Finally, the governor that has these achievements to his credit cannot be labelled pedestrian governor by any standard. Adjectives like outstanding and exceptional are apt and appropriate. It is noteworthy that NGF is not a mere club of governors but forum for public policy discussions that is guided by the core mandate of promoting inclusive governance.

    The outstanding governor that leads the forum has exhibited the needed intellectual fecundity and unimpeachable capacity to lead the NGF on the path of steady progress.

    Written by Bayo Adekunle

    bayoadekunle04@gmail.com

  • ‎Transparency Intnl’s Costly Mistake In Rafsanjani

    The world monitors its progress independently.  The idea of a United Nations assemblage, in the first place, was anchored on the need to collectively advance the positive cause of humanity, wherever they are domiciled. We often say no one is an Island to himself. This is very true and the multiplicity of international organizations’ in different disciplines is a loud statement of the preparedness of the world to synergize about peace and development.
    I have closely monitored the altercations between Transparency International (TI) and Nigeria vis-à-vis the Nigerian military. I have listened or read the acerbic verbal exchanges between some Nigerian Civil Society Organizations’ and TI, induced by the latter’s now clearly fake report of graft in defence procurement contracts   in Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammedu Buhari. And I discovered very disheartening official loopholes concerning TI’s operations in Nigeria.  The details may not be necessary, but I still feel there is everything wrong with their representative in Nigeria, Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani.
    I am not a Northerner; I am not a Muslim and i do not even come from the lineage of soldiers. It means,  I share no special affinity or anything in common with President Buhari.  But I love him; I admire him and I envy his honesty, as a leader.
    To say, President Buhari is a corrupt leader or would allow corruption fester under his nose is similar with seeking justice in devil’s temple. Lucifer does not pardon; he is not kind to anybody.  His dark portrait we see everywhere is also a reflection of his infinitely wicked spirit and dark heart. So, the TI’s report which berated Nigeria on corruption, and by implication, President Buhari was really in bad taste.
    It is easier to destroy than to build. The damage has been done and I think this is the time TI has to reflect deeper and possibly, tamper with their official organogram in Nigeria. I cannot dismiss the essence and impact of TI on the globe simply because a regrettable error was committed in Nigeria. TI’s alertness has assisted immensely in changing the attitude of despotic and corrupt leaders in the world, particularly, in Africa or developing countries. But I dare say, the fake report immensely injured the reputation and image of Nigeria as a nation in the comity of nations.
    TI’s country Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani’s belated rebuttal of the TI’s report on the alleged fraudulence in Nigeria’s defence procurements contracts is an indictment of its head in Nigeria for official negligence. It is self-indictment and an admission of incompetence to effectively run the Nigerian office of TI transparently as its name suggests.
    Rafsanjani perused the report, before releasing it for public consumption. And he knew that his organization lied or in fact, misplaced facts, but he ignored all and proceeded to poison the minds of Nigerians and ridicule the Nigerian military, with all its innocence. If the name “Transparency” International means anything to the founders and officiators of the organization; if it means anything to any staff of the organization, then Rafsanjani would have resisted any temptation to publicize a patently false report because it is against their operational creed. He would have remained unbowed to the power of any dubious force to hoist a fabricated and false report of Nigeria’s corruption, where it does not exist.
    But Rafsanjani shrunk in the face of reality to satisfy his dubious clients in the network of unholy alliances.  What is clearly discernible is that TI’s messenger in Nigeria neither believes in the organization nor executes his job with commitment to sanctity.  I am compelled to believe TI had noble intentions for Nigeria by the report which was configured to reflect the period of 2010-2015 of the previous administration. It is only on the precision of time frame that the report anchors its accuracy.
    IT truly reflected the morass that became celebrated virtues of the last administration. The intendment of the report was to reflect the rot of the past, but applaud the efforts of the present administration of President Buhari  in the anti-corruption war. But TI’s Rafsanjani vetted it, but misplaced time to look like today, suggestive of his inordinate alliance with anti-progressive elements and some banana NGOs in Nigeria bent on the total ruination and destruction of Nigeria.
    This deliberate official negligence sparked the provocation in sane Nigerian civil society organizations’. They were pained at the profound twist of facts and massively moved against TI instantaneously after the report was released. It gladdened my heart to see the reaction of these Civil Society organizations’ against TI. It means Buhari’s campaign on #ChangeBeginsWithYou is really working.
     I must say,  Rafsanjani  is TI’s mistake in Nigeria. By his willful distortion of the narrative of Nigeria through TI, he has greatly eroded the credibility of his organization and stained the reputation of an otherwise, credible organization.  TI has no record of committing such gaffe anywhere in countries they have operated for years.
    So, if TI is not mindful enough  to right the wrong and address its conscious  fallacy, by re-casting  issues in the right perspective about Nigeria and the Nigerian military, with a public retraction and an apology,  it is as good as  singing their own dirge after digging the grave.
    Like the social and political commentator, Philip Agbese, who featured alongside Rafsanjani on the AIT programme contended,   there could be facts in the report from 2010 – 2015 under the Jonathan Presidency. But it is not enough and can never be plausible reason for anyone to constitute himself into a court of law to pass verdicts on issues before the court. I side him on this score because the Dasukigate arms procurement scandal is under the interrogation of the courts.
    Wisdom does not come easy.  I am sure TI has learnt some lessons from the wrong inclination and alliance with devious forces by their messenger in Nigeria. They must not be tutored on how to cleanse their house of the mess to throw on board, personalities who firmly believe in its sacrosanct nature. I mean, TI should freshly anoint those who can uphold its guiding principles of truth and fairness in its assignments’. Aligning with biased agents and whose sense of judgment is peripheral would keep provoking the sense of patriotism in Nigerians to defend their country against enemies.
    I repeat; TI should begin to think of replacing Rafsanjani, before the messenger becomes destructively un-messaged. This is imperative,  if Nigerians  must consider their business  and transactions’ in the country as anything  serious.
    Whilst,  the intention of TI in that report might have been to add value to the war against corruption in Nigeria, but its country representative,  Rafsanjani,  who is their guiding light messed it up. Rafsanjani is no doubt, a bad marketer of their product, at least in Nigeria, by conspicuously aligning with evil forces, especially some NGOs that hold contrary opinions to the progress and development of the Nigerian nation.  While TI might stay, if they repent and apologize to Nigeria,  Rafsanjani must  or should go.
    Akinyele writes from Mafoluku, Lagos.

  • Nigeria: Helping Buhari To Help Us

    Perception of Nigerians on leadership is often faulty. We most times, indulge in the error of judgment by feeling that every responsibility about leadership resides only on the leader of the federation.  But this is extremely wrong and awkward thinking.  We ignore the leaders at subordinated levels and in the case of Nigeria, blame the President for everything we deem as wrong or happen to us.
    Thus, I am always disconcerted to see to see how Nigerians mount unnecessary pressure on   President Mohammedu Buhari over everything.  When the governor of a state fails to pay salaries or does not execute any capital project, we find it more convenient to blame President Buhari.  Anywhere there is a national disaster, the person we immediately attack is the President. We blame him and scold him for inaction and say all manner of things to ridicule his personality or leadership of Nigeria. Sometimes, one is compelled to wonder is President Buhari also preside over states.
    When the lunatics masked as secession agitators, whether as IPOB or MASSOB strike, it is Buhari that is blamed. If Boko Haram insurgents drop a bomb and kill people, its Buhari that is responsible or has failed to secure Nigeria. When a Princess is kidnapped somewhere in the Southeast, we perceive  it as sign of Buhari’s leadership incompetence.
    When criminals rob or abduct Nigerians, President Buhari becomes instantly culpable.  If suspected Fulani herdsmen and farmers violently clash and spill blood, Buhari becomes a very tribalistic President or leader and a religious bigot, who has permitted or armed his Fulani kinsmen to recklessly murder Nigerians to promote a “Jihadist agenda”.  Nigerians amuse infinitely.
    This negative redefinition of our leadership in the peculiarly Nigerian style is sad. But the good thing is that democracy permits such liberties of expression.  But most times, the bulk passing game is misplaced. It is nonsensical.   The odd events;  the criminality that takes place, everywhere in Nigeria; the insecurity that has become the burden of “patriotic” Nigerians  happen in lawfully constituted states, local governments and communities in Nigeria. Each segment of governance has a responsibility, particularly, the sworn oath of office on the protection of lives and property.
    There are State Governors and local government chairmen. Outside the monthly statutory allocations, Governors collect security votes in millions and it has never been lower than N300 million monthly.   Nobody cares to ask them how it is expended on security.
    So, if a band of cultists invade a state or local government in Nigeria, the governor or council chairman is not prompted to act or use his security votes to quench the fire. It is allowed to blossom, beyond instant control. And when the explosion ascends to dreadful levels, with killings and destructions, it invokes the passion for press conferences. And such media interactions conceal everything, but exposes a crooked leadership; encouraged in official neglect by the  failure of the citizenry to hold them accountable.
    The Governors shamefully call for Federal Government intervention over little security breaches within their competence to handle.  The citizens are incited to feel Mr. President has reneged on his duties or is incompetent. And social media would go agog with vile commentaries. But none of the commentaries probe the governor or council chairman in the locality of the  trouble  on how he has discharged his responsibility of protecting lives and property. It is the President that is chastised, lampooned and tongue-lashed.
    When such submissions are played in public space, it speaks much more, about ignorance of the people about the office of the President and the rest of the lower rungs of governance.  It is good to see the President devoting resources and energy to protect lives. But I do not think it is his primary responsibility to delve into every matter, where the state has been sufficiently empowered to act or bring succor to the people.
    The people dread confronting their state governors whom they know or have evidence that he is embezzling state funds.  They do not ask their state Assembly lawmakers to act. What they believe in their little minds is that President Buhari is pretentious or selective in his prosecution of the anti-graft war. How are the corrupt acts of a governor,  the business of Buhari, when the state assembly is empowered by law to probe and possibly impeach a  Governor if they establish a prima facie case of corruption  or abuse of office against him?
    A nation cannot attain its potentials or be good for  everyone to inhabit, if people feel the onus  of making it better falls on the shoulders of one man or leader. All of us have a stake to make it better. And the masses have a great rule to play. Leadership quest is built on the social manifesto of trust and accountability to the people, vested in whomsoever is entrusted to lead the people. The office of a council chairman is not too small and the office of a governor has a very large chest to take up these responsibilities. It should or ought not to be the responsibility of Mr. President alone.
    We all know the problem of Nigeria is bad leadership. Erudite scholar, Professor Chinua Achebe asserted in one of his essays that leadership is Nigeria’s problem and not restructuring.  With the revival of the campaign on restructuring, sincere Nigerians have openly canvassed the position that until we get our leadership right, restructuring is not really the panacea.
    I tend to believe these views because bad leaders have crippled Nigeria in many ways. The Niger Delta region would not have been impoverished to the extent of the portrait it projects today, if leaders in the region had judiciously utilized the billions of dollars pumped into the region these past years. But it is always cornered or embezzled outrightly. But the beneficiaries do not ask their leaders to account for the resources. Rather, it is the Federal Government and the President that is blamed for neglecting the region.
    If we desire that our country should  be a paradise  and a Dubai in Africa for us to enjoy it, we must  learn to hold the Governors  or council chairmen to account for our resources. We must ditch this idea of always running helplessly to the President.  It is our collective duty and an obligation we owe to posterity for every Nigerian  to demand to  know how much his governor and council chairman have received in the last  three months or annually  and  how it is has been expended.  Do we demand annually audit report of state accounts from our governors?
    If a state governor fails to pay salary, it is not just enough to accept his explanation that federal allocation was insufficient. No! We must prod further to know how much was released to the state and what has been generated from Internal revenue sources that  has placed  him in a position not to pay salaries. This is not the duty of President Buhari. It is our inalienable right to hold all our leaders accountable. This is the only way we shall assist President Buhari deliver seamlessly on his mandate to Nigerians.
    We should place ourselves in a position of interrogating our state governors, state lawmakers and seek to know why the anti- corruption campaign launched by President is yet to be entrenched at the state and local government levels. We must help the president to help us. The penchant of locking up ourselves in the confines of homes  to  lament  that the centre is not working is regrettable sloth and consented self-destruction. And it won’t affect President Buhari now or in the future.
    Okanga writes from Agila, Benue State.

  • 50 foul years

    We need to pause as a country why Biafra is still on the burner after five decades

    About this time 50 years ago, something happened that the majority of Nigerians would not want to see in their lifetime. A section of the country declared independence of the federation, but that was not the real bad news.

    It was what resulted, a fratricidal convulsion, where brother held gun against brother, and ushered in bloodshed, butchery, dislocation of persons and psychology, hunger and diseases, in a 30-month conflict that we remember as the Nigeria-Biafra war, or the Nigerian Civil War.

    Although it is five decades since, we see fissures of those years returning with the bilious intensity of street protests, burning of properties, confrontation with the police, brandishing of signs spitting incendiary words, the flourish of subversive rhetoric in print and electronic media and open calls for secession.

    This is a throwback to the tensions that led Nigeria to gain world notoriety when the war started. Many thought at the time, that it was going to blow over, that Nigeria was too involved to descend into any sort of war. It was the same narrative in the early days of the Second World War. Commentators became smug and called it the phony war. We now know better.

    But the preamble to that time 50 years ago was dark, and almost inevitably crimson. We experienced a pogrom. The Igbos suffered the great indignity of mass slaughter, especially in the north. The northern establishment folded their arms, and even became quiet conspirators, in the murder spree. Fathers not only saw their daughters raped, but their sons wiped out when they also stood in line for elimination.

    So high was the rage and so irreversible the momentum seemed that we ought to learn a lesson or two from the blood-spattered turbulence.

    At the end of the war, the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, declared in the apparent conciliatory language of United States after their civil war, that there was no victor and no vanquished. Some historians borrowed from the names of the generals in the American conflict and crooned that “there was Grant or Lee.”

    Going by the events that happened during the marking of the 50 years, it is clear we still seethe with the rage of those years. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had the whole of the southeast on lockdown. Streets lay prostrate with inactivity. Businesses were shut down in such big cities as Enugu, Owerri and Umuahia. Even in the south-south where the Igbo tribe is seen as tangential and settlers, places like Asaba and Port Harcourt tingled with the sting. Port Harcourt was only partially affected and children stayed away from school in Asaba. These areas form part of the ambitious Biafra map. The indigenes were not impressed but they shuddered because they felt the Biafra shadow in their midst.

    While this was on, a colloquium took place in Abuja that attracted no less a personage than the acting president, Professor Yemi  Osinbajo. His rhetoric was controlled; it was conciliatory but not concessionary.

    But this is a far cry from the attitude of the Federal Government at the inception of this administration when the president, Muhammadu Buhari, dismissed the agitators. The president declared the sanctity of the federation, and characterised  Kanu and his supporters as subverts. Not only that, the leader was hounded into detention and treated as though he did not belong to this country. While this was going on, the protests kaboomed on the southeast streets.

    Biafra young men collided with police and some of them died. The Federal Government failed to realise that the discontent was hot on the debate grill. Some saw it as effusions of frustrations owing to perceived or real alienations, while others thought that a section of the Igbo elite took them seriously enough to warrant a state of indifference or even contempt. This provided the background for the treatment of the IPOB leader.

    He did not only suffer detention, he did not enjoy the full import of the Nigerian law. The rule of law was not adhered to. He was locked up even when the law did not support it. When he was let go, the judge reeled out rules that mocked the very purity of the law. He was gagged with a dozen conditions, including he should not grant interviews or hold a rally.

    The young men who are on the streets brandishing the glories of Biafra were not alive when the east boiled and roasted. It is not a great experience to go through a war where one cannot guarantee not only one’s lives but also any member of the family or cherished friends. War does not only kill people. It kills time, frustrates careers and dreams, and atrophies opportunities. And those for only the persons who survive. A war does not discriminate, from a genius or fool. The war gulped some of Igbo best, including poet Christopher Okigbo and EmekaNzeogwu.

  • Biafra: When Enough Is Enough

    In the wake of the Nigeria’s Civil War almost five decades ago a mistake that could well be hounding us all now was made. That mistake was in not addressing the emotional facet of the survivors, who no doubt suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PSTDs). The blame won’t go to anyone because the body of knowledge available to the world today were not the same fifty years ago. This failing however has implications for what is today unfolding about the defunct Biafra Republic, which was the root cause of that war.
    On the 50 th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra, there is a pocket of vehement persons that continue to wallow in the past, longing for a failed republic that didn’t materialize even on the wanton shedding of the blood of millions and cannot materialize with the shedding of the blood of millions more. The brutality of that needless war left survivors traumatized arations later, are partakers of the traumatic experience as epigenetics is fast proving.
    In the article, “Can Trauma be Passed on through our DNA?” Jonathan Davis wrote that “Intergenerational Trauma is the idea that serious trauma can affect the children and grandchildren of those who had the first-hand experience, due to living with a person suffering from PTSD and the challenges that can bring. What’s new is – thanks to the emerging field of epigenetics – science is discovering that trauma is being passed down to future generations through more than simply learned behaviors.”
    These phenomenon that has received more attention in the last ten years has focused more on “holocaust survivors passing the effects of trauma to (their) children and grandchildren”. The survivors of the Nigerian Civil War must similarly passed the trauma of that war unto their children which would in part explain the hatred some of the youths of the southeast extraction have for the country today.
    In addition to whatever trauma they carry in their DNA is the exposure to a wide array of hate communication. Such poisonous communication abound especially in this era of the internet and social media where the comment section on any story about Nigeria becomes a trollfest of Igbo people calling the country a zoo and other Nigerians dismissed as animals. It does not matter that these “animals”could be the landlord providing the commentator shelter for rent, the employer that makes it possible for them to earn their daily bread, or even a potential future spouse.
    But while the transfer of trauma through DNA or being brainwashed with hate speech could explain some of the deviant attitude towards the country, both concepts combined do not explain the mass delusion and irrational choices that guarantee self destruction that these people are embracing not just as individuals but as a bloc. A clear indication of this addiction to self destruction is the sit-at-home ordered by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
    For an ethnic group that only recently made the mistake of voting a losing presidential candidate as a bloc, one would expect that the Igbo business owners would avoid taking steps that amount to acting in bloc, in this case shutting down their businesses on the instruction of IPOB and MASSOB. It amounts to economic suicide similar to the earlier political suicide.
    It is understandable that those that shut their businesses were coerced into doing so by fighters of the two groups. But this is where they should have risen up to challenge what is practically a vocal minority that is dictating for the entire southeast zone. They should ask themselves what life would be like if these rabble rousers had their way and revive another ill fated Biafra Republic. The people should ask themselves why they have close down the sources of their daily bread when those issuing the directives have  businesses that raked in hundreds of millions of naira in Kano, Abuja, Lagos, London and other world capitals. They should be afraid of what their fates would be when they become too poor because of regularly shutting down to support other people’s causes.
    This fear should be heightened by what has so far been seen of their Supreme Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who has so far proven to be a sociopath dictator surrounded by psychopaths. Pictures of him since being freed from detention usually depict a demagogue, often adopting  a benevolent posture over his subservient followers who must kneel down. His articulation of what the region needs betrays a man that has lost touch with the realities of the time he lives in; he speaks of a Nigeria that is not working as if the governors of the southeastern states are sourced from among other enthnic nationals.
    More worrisome than the draconian closure of poor people’s businesses  is IPOB/MASSOB’s resoluteness in going to war at any cost. The sit-at-home order from both groups was likely intended to trigger another round of confrontation with the military or the police and consequently be the catalyst for the start of another war. Anyone in doubt of this should trail the container loads of weapons that the Nigerian Customs Service intercepted in December 2016, February 2017, May 2017 in addition to those that likely passed under the radar. Incidentally, only Kanu had done fundraising from fellow Igbos for the sole purpose of buying arms and munition.
    The sabre rattling over the defunct Biafra Republic, the increasing militarization of what should have been an intellectual agitation, the discovery of arms shipment and the deafening silence of the Igbo elite should cause concerns among the poor people of the southeast who would end up as canon fodder when IPOB/MASSOB activate the next phase of their nefarious plot.
    It is time to recognize that enough is enough in this wasted attempt at reviving a decommissioned project. This is why the real people of the southeast should not only distance themselves from these trouble makers but should also call them to order. Where they fail to behave, the people should rise up against them before innocent people are again taken down a destructive path. One round of traumatic DNA is enough to pass on to the future generation, it is a wonder if any ethnic stock would do well if it passes double traumatic DNA to its offsprings.
    K. K Adamu is a forensic psychologist and contributed this piece from Lokoja, Kogi State.‎

  • Transparency Intnl’s Apologetic Reversal on Nigeria

     Africans do not lose sight of the power of natural nemesis.  I know,   the strength in this expression alludes to the irrepressibility of the truth, much as the vindication of the innocent.
    Transparency International (TI), the self-acclaimed global anti-corruption watchdogs stirred the honest net again. I do not find it convincingly explicable why there are more foreign nations insidiously interested in midwifing the total destruction of Nigeria. Any of Nigeria’s leaders who display a religious commitment to salvaging Nigeria from absolute ruination is sublimely frustrated to drop the passion by these vested alien interests.
    TI upped the ante in the club of baseless external adversaries of Nigerian state  last week,  by claiming in a statement, which  alluded  to corruption in the Nigerian  military, as  stalling the successful prosecution of the counter-insurgency war in Northeast,  Nigeria,  under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
    TI statement was clear that fraudulent defence procurement contracts by top Nigerian military personnel were shrouded in secrecy and failed to pass the test of transparency. It said,   the ill-gotten wealth from such dubious deals is laundered abroad to invest in property acquisition and it  has weakened the  efforts  of  the present administration to effectively  confront and defeat   Boko Haram Terrorism (BHT). But BHT is defeated in Nigeria.
    Excerpts from the TI statement aptly put it as, “Corrupt military officials have been able to benefit from the conflict through the creation of fake defense contracts, the proceeds of which are often laundered abroad in the UK, U.S. and elsewhere.”
    TI delved deeply on the offensive by insinuating that the corruption in the Nigerian military has marooned troops on the battlefield “without vital equipment, insufficiently trained, low in morale and under-resourced…This has crippled the Nigerian military in fighting an aggressive ideologically inspired enemy such as Boko Haram,”
    Subsequently, TI’s wisdom advised the Nigerian Government to remove the opaqueness beclouding its defence budgets and procurement systems, by subjecting it to a transparent process to ensure that contracts were neither inflated, nor awarded to veiled companies.
    Angrily still, TI stoked the fire by directly persuading foreign countries, especially the United States (US) to withhold arms sales to Nigeria in order to compel defence reforms, before assisting with weaponry for  the counter-terrorism war against Boko Haram insurgents. It was clearly the whitest lie any international organization which holds onto any strand of claim to any reputation could have voiced out. But TI did publicly, with much recklessness against Nigeria and her military under a Buhari Presidency.
    There is no greater stab on the psyche and stain on the image of a country than such deception, which is   potent enough to dampen the morale of its military battling a complex war like terrorism in Nigeria’s northeast. Nothing can be worse than this unfounded blackmail and demonization of Nigerian military by TI. It cried foul where none existed.
    But in a surprise, but pleasant reversal of its own fabricated and condemnable verdict against the current breed of Nigerian military,  TI willingly  reversed itself  last Monday.  But prior to this reversal,  the TI verdict provoked wide outrages from civil society organizations in Nigeria, with some calling on TI to quit Nigeria with 72 hours, with the evil agenda.
    This feeling was reinforced as its Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr.  Auwal Rafsanjani recanted the contents of TI’s report as false, as the anger raged across the land.
    Rafsanjani featured on a morning  programme  on  AIT last Monday,   May 29, 2017.  And the TI Rep was vehement that all the contents of the report were not just untrue, but the report was misplaced in fixation of time, as it was meant to indict the Nigerian military under the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, covering the period of 2010-2015, before the Buhari Presidency.
    Even before this self-confession of unjustified attack of Nigeria by TI, Nigerians never believed them.  The falsity of the report yawned louder than its factuality under the Buhari administration of Nigeria courtesy of palpable evidence. But Rafsanjani’s featuring on the AIT programme to speak on the matter, assisted Nigerians immensely in understanding the cloudy nature and gamut of the international conspiracy against their own country.
    To my mind, I firmly believe, Rafsanjani only freed his conscience and acted his instincts of truth, which is innately embedded in every human being. It should be a surprise that TI would sit elsewhere in a foreign land and concoct a report about transparency or lack of it in any country without consulting its personnel on ground. It means, Rafsanjani was handed down a carefully crafted script from his bosses to shell Nigeria. He complied with superior instructions, but when the chips were down or the moment of truth came and he had to face the Nigerian public or the world on record, he had no option than to speak the truth.
    Of course, nobody expected him to speak otherwise over a matter he had no knowledge about nor emanated from his official table in Nigeria. His plea during the AIT programme about mixture of time frame of the damnable report was just a last -minute ditch of efforts and an after-thought to salvage the already battered reputation of his employer-Transparency International (TI).
     Modestly to say the least, the TI report was a script   written somewhere and handed over to him to deliver to the Nigerian public and the world. That’s why Rafsanjani could not differentiate between time then and time now (Jonathan and the Buhari Presidencies) .
    I must admit and to be candid to Rafsanjani, his carefully thought-out allusion to the report as fake and for 2010 -2015, before TV cameras, killed the spirit of the conversation on AIT. Nigerians expected him to justify the patently false claims of TI live on TV.  However, we are happy because his expose is  the very first  time  Nigerians would listen to  something in the semblance of truth from the  likes of  Rafsanjani and  his bands of international NGOs, all maliciously converged to destroy Nigeria never to emerge the giant of Africa in practical terms.
    Obviously, the chickens have come home to roost for TI. The only option available to it now is to summon the courage and wisdom to officially and openly apologize to the military leadership and the Nigerian people for deliberately misleading them and the world with the cooked report on defence contracts/corruption under a Buhari presidency. Only this  can  restore some vestige of reputation on TI, an international organization, whose mandate is to keep vigilance on the translucency of the business of nations of the world,  but  is itself very un-transparent.
    And to the current incorruptible Nigerian military,  I do not have much words to say. I don’t even have the strength or appropriate lexicon to console them. But suffice it to say, the truth, discipline, honesty and professionalism it has imbibed under the present crop of Service Chiefs shall forever remain their public signposts of vindication against any false accusation by local or international conspirators like TI.
    I dare say, the present Nigerian military is too faultless, even the devil cannot find a black spot on their skins to approach them for conversion into his dark kingdom. I am proud of the Military, like millions of other Nigerians.  The false indictment by TI and the subsequent retraction is an indelible testimony and clear reaffirmation of their strength of character, probity and the conscious acceptance of the reforms championed by the military high command in the last 20 months in Nigeria. I plead that they should be consoled by it.
    I shall not be fair to myself, if I fail to salute, the Nigerian civil society clan, whose situation room patriotically rose in defence of this image fraud by TI.  In fact, standing by one’s country on the side of truth pays tremendously. About eight of them rose instantly to defend Nigeria and her military, against the TI’s malicious provocation of the voiceless, hence it is not the duty of the military to speak out for the country or indulge in civil debates.
     These civil society groups acted in the passion of defending our fatherland against external wolves in sheep clothing and to protect the character of these selfless officers and Service Chiefs who on daily basis make sacrifices so that the rest of us can live in peace. The Civil Society Organizations have shown the way and Nigerians are watching.  Transparency International should simply toe the path of diplomatic honour by quietly vacating Nigeria.
    Murphy writes from Calabar, Cross River State.‎