The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • NOUN students’ protest and matters arising

    It seems that as Nigerians we are always after seeking world-class infrastructure without the desire to make world class-inputs. Nothing echoes this antithetical desire as much as this week’s petition–supposedly signed by students – calling for the sack of the vice chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Professor Vincent Tenebe and other top management of the institution. One has to say supposedly signed by students because the expectation is that genuine students should understand what the issues are and how their interplay affects the running of the system.

    A statement signed by the Congress of NOUN Students accused the management of not responding to their claim that the institution has become a “den of endemic corruption”. Maybe one will also offer no response upon the realization that the entity being described has no relationship with where one presides over. But again, the management should for the sake of reducing ignorance, educate the student leaders and perhaps their sponsors about the reality of the quality of education that NOUN is delivering despite the limited financing available to it. This explanation would be useful for several reasons.

    First, there is that copycat tendency in some people. It could just be that the Congress of NOUN Students is out to replicate its own version of the #feesmustfall protest that recently crippled several South African universities over astronomical rise in school fees. From the Nigerians perspective, a simplistic view would be to conclude that #feesmustfall protest of 10 – 15% hike in school fees for the 2016 academic year but the larger picture is to appreciate that the hike means an average of N700,000.00 for each student. Should NOUN students be looking at replicating the protest going by their recent moves, it is best they also compare their overall fees with what obtains not just in South Africa but in other countries.

    The second reason the management has to consider is the mere fact that the leadership of NOUN, since inception, has been superlative in the discharge of its duties. NOUN moved from being a concept, whose practicality and implementation was earlier doubted, to becoming a reliable institution. It even caught the attention of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who became a proud student, finished his degree and remained an ambassador of distance learning in Africa.

    The management has been able to place the institution among Nigeria’s top 25 universities. It has also secured Senate’s approval for its graduates to take part in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. These are achievements the management of NOUN, under Professor Tenebe has to celebrate more than it currently does so that Nigerians and their prospective students can appreciate the efforts they are making to provide quality manpower for the nation.

    Furthermore, the university should create awareness on the relationship between the fees it charges and the quality it turns out. People often desire free education. The reality however is that education is never free. Someone or some entity is paying for or subsidising education whenever students are able to get it for free. Another angle to this is that people should have realised by now that the word “cheap” and “quality” should not occur in the same sentence when they describe education. What the Congress of NOUN Students want, going by their statement and petition, is to either have “cheap” or “free” education. It is interesting to note that they made no reference to the quality of what they are getting out of distance learning, which affords many of them the opportunity to combine career growth with education.

    One of the things the Congress of NOUN Students is not comfortable as indicated in their statement is the increase in the fees charged for research projects. Perhaps, a starting point would have been for the leaders of this congress to take a few minutes to do a Google search with the phrase “project research fees” or “research project fees” and then take a further few minutes to skim over the search results. They would then find that it is not a trend that is only associated with NOUN – other Nigerian universities charge the fee. If these students have the energy and patience to click on the links from the search query, they will further discover that project research fee averages N70,000.00 at institutions that charge them.

    A suggestion for these students would thus be that they should hold NOUN management accountable to ensure they get quality supervision for their projects upon the payment of the prescribed fees. Also, while at it, they should actively explore the possibility of getting businesses and companies interested in funding their projects by working on viable research problems that have industry applications.

    On the issue of course materials, which the students said they do not get on time, a workable suggestion is for the student body to work with management to have all materials digitized and distributed through the institution’s portal or via mobile apps, since the era of hardcopy study materials has all but fizzled out anyway. Enterprising students should be happy to take up the creation of such platforms as a challenge.

    On its part, the Professor Tenebe-led management of NOUN must realise at this point that succumbing to erroneous demands from students is not an option here. If the management succumbs once, then it will never stop giving in until the progress it has made in recent years becomes eroded. Yes, the students have threatened “peaceful protests” if the management of the school is not fired by President Muhammadu Buhari, but the threat should not derail the school from delivering on its mandate. It should also not force the school to abandon the trajectory that has seen its profile rise to be the first choice for those who desire tertiary education through distance learning.

    • Ibekwe, an educationist, contributed this piece from Enugu.

  • Ndigbo: Do we want our own Boko Haram?

    It has become a trend in Nigeria for individual losers in general elections to play on primordial sentiments so as to make things difficult for the new administration. While claiming to be working for their sectional or religious groups, the primordial leaders are actually using the common people as cannon fodder. Afenifere leaders who collected a fortune from Goodluck Jonathan to work for his re-election in March in the Yoruba-speaking part of Nigeria got well beaten by the group led by Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, who supported Muhammedu Buhari. When one of their own number, Olu Falae, was on kidnapped by a bunch of Fulani herdsmen on September 21, on his farm in Akure, Ondo State, the Afenifere leaders saw the development as an opportunity to shake down the Buhari administration, and so hit upon the propaganda stunt of the Yoruba pulling out of Nigeria. Now, Igbo political operatives who amassed a fortune from Jonathan and worked unsuccessfully for his return are seeing in the detention of an over-excited young man named Nnamdi Kanu by secret police as an opportunity to engage the Buhari government from a position of strength.

    Both the Afenifere leaders and Igbo political operatives are merely following in the footsteps of erstwhile Zamfara State governor, Ahmed Yerima, who in 2000 chose to be in the eye of the storm in the name of northern nationalism and, in the process, set the North back by at least a decade. Yerima, a member of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP), capitalized on the culture of religious politics in the North to launch the Sharia law in the state shortly after the federal administration led by Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian from the South and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came into being. Yerima used his state’s resources to propagate Sharia beyond his state. Sharia was presented as the antidote to all manner of social ills: unemployment, hunger, prostitution, begging, etc. Fifteen years after the introduction of the strict Islamic code in many states in the North, the social ills it was intended to cure are more menacing, to say nothing about the thousands of lives lost in the fight over Sharia and the seeming permanent division of Kaduna, hitherto reputed for its liberal tradition, into Christian and Muslim parts.

    Still, some elements did not want to be left out of the destructive sectarian politics in the North, even if it meant the ruination of the future of their own people. Datti Ahmed, president of the Supreme Council for Sharia Affairs and a well trained medical doctor, decided to intone the news to Nigerian Muslims that the immunization vaccine used to protect children from severe medical conditions, was a device by the West to depopulate the Islamic world. He was merely re-echoing the dangerous propaganda by Islamic extremists in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. While Ahmed was busy spreading this scandalous disinformation, I saw my great medical friends from the North reel under an extraordinary emotional burden. They knew that their medical colleague was exposing a generation of innocent Northern Nigerian Muslim children to great danger, but were afraid of challenging him frontally in public for fear of mob action. The ordinary people had been mobilized in millions against a counter viewpoint, a common practice in undeveloped societies where groupthink, conformity and tyranny of the elite are prevalent, in contrast to a culture of individual convictions, diversity of ideas and inclusion of all kinds of people in the political, social and economic processes which has driven human progress throughout history.

    The culture of sectarian politics in the North, which was the subject of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s doctoral dissertation at the University of London in the 1980s and has been highlighted by Karl Maier in This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria, sowed the seeds for the emergence of the Boko Haram menace in Maiduguri, Borno State. The former state government supported this gang of religious fanatics and unemployed youth known as Ecomog. The gang was used effectively for electoral purposes. But it was a social time bomb. Soon the youth realized that while the state administration was pretending to be promoting Sharia ostensibly for the common good, its top officials were secretly acquiring private jets. They rose against the state government and later against the Nigerian state in 2009, but got pulverized under Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The heavens did not fall. There were no protests from northern leaders, but when Jonathan attempted to move against the fanatics decisively, there was uproar. A monster was thus created, and all of us are now victims.

    This is what happens in a society where everything is politicized, seen from the prism of ethnicity, sectionalism and sectarianism. The innocent people are manipulated to cultivate the victim mindset, with the manipulators projected as freedom fighters. The tough and rough boys recruited and armed by the Rivers State government to return the administration by all means in the 2003 election took to oil theft and kidnapping for ransom after the vote when they became jobless, yet the press joined in the scandal of portraying them as Niger Delta freedom fighters. Once Jonathan empowered the “Egbesu Boys”, they left the Niger Delta in droves for places like Abuja and Lagos to live like Hollywood celebrities. In the South-west, a bunch of raw elements in the Oodua Peoples Congress led by Gani Adams assumed the status of Yoruba freedom fighters in the public imagination. It took some time before it dawned on the Yoruba political establishment that the majority of victims of OPC’s excesses were Yoruba, including a Chief Superintendent of Police who was murdered by the group. Even as Lagos State governor, Tinubu was almost assassinated by OPC operatives at about 2am on December 13, 1999.

    One has gone through all this historical excursion because some Igbo people now seem about to be cajoled into unconsciously creating their own Boko Haram by supporting Nnamdi Kanu, who clearly is on the lunatic fringe. Despite producing some of greatest geniuses in world history, the Germans were led and destroyed by a rabble-rouser, Adolf Hitler. By unabashedly advocating violence against non-Igbo Nigerians, Kanu wants to turn Igboland into a wasteland, the way Boko Haram has messed up the Northwest in the last few years. Igboland was the theatre of the 1967-70 fratricide, from which we have yet to recover fully. Those who think Kanu can be used to negotiate a better deal for Ndigbo from Buhari are in grave error. They are just simpletons. They have no clue how Nigeria works.

    • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

  • Jumbo pay: The final solution

    Far north of Nigeria, a state governor directs all public officials to withdraw their children from private schools and move them to government-owned ones. About the same time, the celibate daughter of a former Vice-President just sworn-in as a commissioner in one of the troubled north-eastern states forswears enormous wages and allowances waiting for her. Later, a pressure group somewhere in a state down south calls on the authorities to ban those in government from travelling abroad for medi-care, whether for therapy or for checkup. Let them do it here in Nigeria. Much earlier the nation’s Spartan president and his equally abstemious deputy announce a cut in their pay.

    It’s all in the air; the change aura suggesting times have changed. It’s a lean dawn when you can’t lean on government again. These are days that tell you a lean government is itself seeking where to lay its own lean and languid head.

    Let us comfort and heal this land, battered and violated like a woman over the decades by so-called lovers who have only milked her dry out of her beauty.

    A diet of half measures won’t deliver this broke and broken nation from the salivating and insatiable palate of these public office holders and their fellow carrion eaters.

    Let what we do with these lean times become a leverage for our comeback.

    So I come forth with the proposition that the answer to the outcry over what most of us correctly perceive as the ginormous pay regime of public office holders and their crowd of aides is to abolish wages for them altogether. National service, via election or selection, should be sacrificial and ought not to be made to attract emoluments that negate that grundnorm.

    When you opt to serve, you don’t go to make money. You go there to be the people’s server, their servants, not to be served by their money and sweat. You don’t go into public office to help yourself as our leaders do when they allocate to themselves egregious wages that end up pulverising and pauperising the land.

    We can halt this unproductive trend by abolishing pay for all categories of political office holders.

    In the system I am proposing, all those who serve will be maintained by the state. Since no pay would accrue to them directly, all that they need for their upkeep would be provided by the state. The education of their children, if they still have that responsibility, should be the burden of the nation. Such offspring must attend state-owned schools – primary, secondary and tertiary. The only exemption is where infant education is required in private centres. But at age four, five or six, these children will be expected to move to government schools. Should the kids be abroad in elite institutions or here in private ones, they must be withdrawn for schooling in public schools in Nigeria. It is stating the obvious to mention that one huge advantage of this course of action would be that our public schools would experience a golden age of transformation. How will the president, governor, senator and the assembly of public office holders leave our public schools the way they are if their people are there?

    Benefit number two is that our leaders shall no longer have a gargantuan taste for jumbo pay to satisfy huge fees at home and overseas. The consequence? The nation saves money to fix creaking but critical infrastructure and to help the vast majority of the poor.

    Those who serve the country in this new dispensation would not need private jets and luxury cars while they are in office. The nation provides their entire family with a car or two, chauffeur-driven, state-serviced. They must not be vehicles meant for the super-class. But they must be highly functional.

    The feeding, clothing and accommodation of our leaders along with those of their families would be at the expense of the state. They will never lack on this score. Indeed the provision of these basic needs would be prompt and regular so that they would have no need to regret serving their fatherland. What the state offers must be ascetic but decent. Naturally this would discourage our leaders from developing beer belly or turning State House into a fashion home.

    With regard to health care, our leaders and their families should be made to patronize government hospitals. There should be no frivolous medical tourism, as they call trips abroad for health issues. Of course, if it is absolutely necessary our leaders might resort to such travels at full state expense. But this isn’t likely in the long run because as with schools, our leaders would move with the supersonic speed of light to ensure the kitting of our health centres with the most advanced equipment science and technology can afford. Would they want the hospitals they and their families patronise to be “mere consulting clinics” as one military dictator cheekily described them when he announced a coup that overthrew a democratically elected government?  Would they want the hospitals that handle their ailments to be care-givers or death-givers?

    I recall that decades ago when Joseph Kennedy was grooming his children for public service in the United States of America, he was said to have warned the kids that if they desired to sustain their good character and the integrity of the family and earn themselves honour in posterity while serving the country, they must give and give and expect nothing from America. In order for his boys not to be lured into reaching for the national till and to be free from the corrupting influence of office, the senior Kennedy set aside some good family money for each of them so they “don’t get distracted by considerations of where the next meal would come from… so they get fixated on serving America… with no expectation of monetary rewards.”

    I think this training explains (partly) why the illustrious Kennedy trio-President John Kennedy, senators Bob and Ted Kennedy- excelled in public office. They didn’t have to go to war over what they took home as wages as our legislators and other public officials are doing at the moment. They didn’t rape the national treasury either.

    A senator doesn’t need wardrobe allowances of N21.5m; nor does a member of the House of Representatives need N17.8m if we adopt this ultimate solution to delivery of service by politicians or others of that ilk. Under the final solution regime we are proposing, Sunday Oliseh, the national football coach would not also need the N5m we are giving him monthly. Similarly the N3,514705 the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission has prepared for President Muhammadu Buhari monthly would be put to better social welfare use if we adopt the nil salary option. These out-of-the-world figures for public officers create a succession and cycle of leeches, oppressors and parasites. Leaders are servants who give sacrificially. They do not take selfishly.

    In 1833 an American Judge Joseph Story said: “A new race of men is springing up to govern the nation; they are the hunters after popularity, men ambitious, not of the honour so much as of the profits of office-the demagogues, whose principles hang laxly upon them, and who follow not so much what is right as what leads to a temporary vulgar applause.” Is that race today’s breed of politicians in Nigeria?

    Those who pass through the portals of the noble edifice of selfless service will be emptied of ephemeral wealth. But I bet you history will robe them in garments of lasting honour and reverence.

  • Political spouses in evolving democratic space

    The wives of political leaders in Nigeria are often treated with suspicion and disdain. This is mostly because the track record of some political spouses has left a lot to be desired and has turned people against the idea of them being visible. I however believe that a lot of vituperation against political spouses is less about their actual or potential misdeeds, but more about the perceived place of wives. Wives are supposed to stay at home, looking after the home front, firmly under the control of their husbands. When they start roaming the landscape, regardless of how innocuous their activities are, they might become targets. I have often heard reference made to certain spouses of earlier Heads of State in Nigeria, who were either almost anonymous or practically invisible. People speak fondly of those times when political wives knew their place and were not seen in public, appearing to ‘rule’ alongside their husbands. And then Mrs. Maryam Babangida came along and changed the rules with her ‘Better Life for Nigerian Women’. Since then, we have had many debates about the roles of political spouses, the danger they present for democratic spaces through their back door manipulations, their use of informal authority for personal gain, their lust for illegal power, and the drain they pose on taxpayers’ resources. While most of these concerns might be valid, I would like to have a look at the other side of the story.

    The political wife, over time, has to become all things to all people. She is a mother to the family and community, entrepreneur, prayer warrior, professional, adviser, friend, negotiator, peace maker, hostess, ambassador, administrator, campaigner, opinion leader, role model, mentor, politician, mobilizer, advocate, pace-setter, philanthropist.  To be able to accomplish all this she has to be an effective strategist, administrator, multi-tasker, networker and much more. A political wife is more than ‘just’ or ‘only’ a wife. There is no substitute for a politician’s wife, no personal aide, women leader or political appointee can take the place of a spouse.

    There are different strategies that political spouses use and they are all valid. Some establish projects, some don’t, that is fine. Some play most of the roles mentioned above, some are just comfortable with one or two. That is alright too.They should not be condemned if they do or don’t.

    All these roles are not only valid and part of the unwritten job description; any political leader without a spouse who can help perform these responsibilities will be at a serious disadvantage. However, with all these expectations also comes the understanding that wives will have the following character traits-empathy, humility, courtesy, grace, diplomacy, discretion, tact, restraint, generosity. It is understood that to whom much is given, much is expected, and so wives are required to carry out their various assignments with all the dignity and grace they can muster at all times, and be above board in all things.

    The lives of political spouses are not all about glamour, wealth and endless ceremonies. The human cost of public service can very high and some even have to make the ultimate sacrifice – either experiencing the death of a spouse on the job or being killed themselves – the late Kudirat Abiola is an example. Spouses often go through serious hardships due to the nature of politics – long periods of absence, long working hours, very limited family time, balancing family obligations with political demands, betrayals and treachery due to the insatiable nature of human beings, and abandonment when the tap of political patronage dries up.

    If the role of spouses is so important, why do we have never ending debates about the constitutionality or otherwise of their roles? I have always maintained that this is a red herring. You do not need a constitutional provision to tell a political leader that his wife’s role is important. He knows it, everyone around him knows it, the constituency knows it, the state knows it, the country knows it. When people need favours from a leader, they go to his wife. When the problem is solved the leader takes the credit. When something goes wrong, the wife takes the blame for being ‘meddlesome’. The same people who complain about a wife’s overbearing influence over her husband will be the same to run to her for intervention when they have problems with their boss. It is the political wife who is left holding her husband’s hand when political fortunes change and everyone flies off like birds, including those who her husband empowered and built up. She is the one who picks up the pieces when friends who they have supported and trusted run off to tell tales about them to the next political wife. And then her phones start ringing again when political fortunes change.

    We need to respond to the needs of our time. At this time in our history in Nigeria, we need women in positions of decision making. We need more mentors and role models to help deal with a multiplicity of political, social and economic challenges. We also need to acknowledge the contributions of those who hold no formal positions, but serve in their own way. The contributions of these women are equally valid. We have very accomplished women in their own right, who also happen to be spouses of political leaders.  Unfortunately, we have allowed misogyny, sexism, ignorance, spite and hypocrisy to cloud the debate. We still operate within systems that suggest that women are meant to be seen but not heard. Worse still, if such a woman happens to be a political spouse, she is fair game because she is not seen as an individual in her own right. She is perceived as an expensive leech draining resources from the state, unnecessary baggage, or some local version of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth.

    If we have democratic processes that are inclusive enough, the issue of ‘problematic spouses’ that keep being our reference point can be addressed in various ways. To start with political leaders should share their vision with their spouses and what the expectations are early on. The profile, temperament and perception of a political spouse are critical from the onset. As I said in an earlier essay, no one should have to vote for a saint who goes home to the warm embrace of a dragon. Political spouses cannot afford to have poor manners, a cantankerous nature and a proclivity for gaffes. There are things people, male or female, should not do or say in public, regardless of your station in life or who you are married to. We should therefore not conflate the issues to do with the importance of spouses on the political scene with the track record of ill-advised persons who have been operating in a context where there are no rules or terms of reference.

    We should endeavour to document the experiences of political spouses as much as we can. A lot of information we think we have about our political leaders is incomplete without the contributions or opinions of their spouses. All our male political leaders write books. When they do, casual reference is made to their spouses. What are their stories? How has life been for them? What lessons do they have to share? Our Universities, Centres of Gender Studies and women’s networks should take note.

    I know we live in times when the activities of politicians and their spouses are under intense scrutiny, courtesy of the dark side of social media. Freedom of speech and journalistic freedom is an inalienable component of democratic processes. However, unfounded rumours, character assassination and unquantifiable damage to people’s reputations is not acceptable.

    • Excerpts of paper presented by Erelu Adeleye-Fayemi, former Ekiti State First Lady at the women’s celebration in honour of Mama H.I.D. Awolowo.

  • IPAC and Enugu LG elections

    Recently, the Enugu State chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella organization of all the political parties in the country, echoed an important issue that is fundamental to the political stability of the state.

    The organisation, after a critical review of the ongoing reform in the local government system in Enugu State and its inherent benefits towards an efficient and corrupt free administration at the grassroots, made public their stance on the conduct of the local government elections.

    The state chapter of IPAC through a press statement in Enugu signed by its chairman and secretary, Hon. Afam Ani and Barr. Osita Agu, respectively called on the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) not to conduct the local government elections in the state pending the conclusion and outcome of the 11-man Committee on Local Government Staff Audit recently constituted by the state government to review the activities of the local government councils in respect to personnel administration.

    The political parties based their stance on the fact that “the conduct of the local government elections and the constitution of a new local government administration in the state, when the Committee on the Local Government Staff Audit has not concluded its assignment, will be counter-productive to the progress of the local government system, more so when the nation’s economy is currently in a very bad shape.”

    They opined that they “believe that no credible local government elections can be conducted in such a confused atmosphere as obtains today in our local government councils”.

    While reaffirming their commitment to a democratic process that would usher in a new local government administration in Enugu State and guarantee an effective and efficient local government system devoid of corrupt practices or any form of irregularity, IPAC profoundly commended “the brave initiative and timely intervention of the present administration in Enugu State in instituting far reaching reforms in the local government system, through the constitution of an 11-man Committee on Local Government Staff Audit”.

    They expressed their desire to see a reformed local government administration in Enugu State that will place the third tiers of government in its rightful position as the bedrock of participatory democracy for the people at the grassroots to reap the full benefits of government patronages.

    Mindful of this pivotal role of local government administration, the political parties noted that “local government councils are meant to bring government closer to the people for the purpose of transforming their lives” and stressed that “it is therefore imperative that the councils must be put in the proper position to discharge this very crucial responsibility effectively.”

    According to them: “We strongly believe that the exercise will help to check the ghost workers syndrome that has been eating deep into the finances of our local government councils, where faceless individuals are used to siphon funds of the local governments. It will also help in ascertaining the actual number of retirees who are now pensioners and who have not been receiving their entitlements for a long time.

    ”We therefore, state categorically that the ongoing local government verification exercise MUST be concluded before the conduct of the local government elections in Enugu State. Consequently, we call on the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) to take note of our stance on the matter and act accordingly in the overall interest of the state.

    The statement stated: “The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Enugu State chapter commends the Enugu State Government for taking this bold initiative and choosing very credible people as members of the committee that is headed by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, to carry out this all important verification exercise.

    “Finally, we also call on other states of the federation to emulate this wonderful step taken by the Enugu State Government. IPAC Enugu State chapter will continue to stand for transparency, equity, justice and for free, credible and fair elections at all levels of government.”

    From the foregoing, objective and comparative analyses of the issues raised by the political parties demand that there is need to support the local government reform agenda of the present administration in Enugu State.

    It could be recalled that the State Governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, during the inauguration of the local government reform committee did mention that “the committee’s report will be central to the successful execution of government’s plans to institute far reaching reforms and take requisite measures to standardize and restore sanity to the manner with which staff matters and related issues are handled in our local governments”.

    In his strive to achieve the aim of constituting the committee, the governor mandated the committee, to among other terms of reference, “identify and flush out ghost workers and plug all avenues of leakages and wastages that have hitherto weighed down the finances of local government councils”.

    To further express his seriousness to the reform, the governor stressed that the exercise was “a task that must be tackled promptly, zealously and dispassionately in order to save the system of the local government staff administration in Enugu State from imminent collapse”.

    The above vision, from all indications, was borne out of his determination to instill fiscal discipline, probity, transparency and accountability to ensure the survival of the local government administration in the state.

    IPAC’s stance in this regard, is no doubt commendable and a veritable proof that the government reform policy is an act in a right direction.  It also goes a long way to buttress the importance of such reform in view of the current negative development in the nation’s economy and the need for belt-tightening measures to save cost for developmental issues. This move will surely guarantee expeditious growth in the local government administration.

    As IPAC rightly stated, there no way the state can achieve any meaningful success in the local government system when the entire system is undergoing sanitization.

    From their representation, the organization believes that the fulcrum of the success story of local government system in the state lies in the outcome of the ongoing reform. This is because the local government administration is the nexus between the government and the people at the grassroots.

    It must be placed on record that the view of the political parties does not in any way dissuade the government from conducting the local government elections in the state. Rather, their clamour is for more time to enable government sanitize and restore discipline in local government system for an efficient, productive and disciplined administration that will set a standard for the in-coming government that will emerge after the conclusion of the reform.

    The onus is now for the state electoral body to appreciate the position of the political parties in Enugu State and give it the maximum support it deserves to move the local government administration forward.

    To the public, since the novelty of this time-honoured reform is to save the local government administration in the state from imminent collapse, let’s give it the needed support to thrive in the overall interest of the people.

     

    • Onyebuchi wrote from Enugu

  • Between Keynes and Ayade

    During recessions, the public gets frightened and holds back on spending, resulting in more layoffs, which in turn produces less spending in a vicious circle of economic decline”. The above quote was a searing lament of the greatest and most influential British economists of the 20th century, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) while decrying the attitude of the capitalist western world and indeed, America to shrink the money supply as a response to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

    When the Great Depression hit worldwide, it fell on economists to rationalize it and devise a cure. Most economists were convinced that something as large and intractable as the Great Depression must have complicated causes. Keynes, however, came up with an explanation of economic slumps that was surprisingly simple.

    In fact, as part of his own intellectual response or solution to economic morass, Keynes shared his theory and proposed solution with the late American President, Franklin Roosevelt, who was said to have dismissed them with the words: “Too easy.”

    In a normal economy, there is a high level of employment, and everyone is spending their earnings as usual. This means there is a circular flow of money in the economy, as one man’s spending becomes part of another’s earnings, and your spending becomes part of my earnings.

    But suppose something happens to shake consumer confidence in the economy. Worried consumers may then try to weather the coming economic hardship by saving their money. But because my spending is part of your earnings, my decision to hoard money makes things worse for you. And you, responding to your own difficult times, will start hoarding money too, making things even worse for me. So there’s a vicious circle at work here: people hoard money in difficult times, but times become more difficult when people hoard money.

    The cure for this, Keynes said, was for the government to expand the money supply. By putting more bills in people’s hands, consumer confidence would return, people would spend, and the circular flow of money would be reestablished. Just that simple! Too simple, in fact, for the policy-makers of that time.

    This was Keynes’ proposed definition and cure for recessions. Keynes believed that depressions were recessions that had fallen into a “liquidity trap.” A liquidity trap is when people hoard money and refuse to spend no matter how much the government tries to expand the money supply. In these dire circumstances, Keynes believed that the government should do what individuals were not, namely, spend. In his memorable phrase, Keynes called this “priming the pump” of the economy, a final government effort to reestablish the circular flow of money.

    When Keynes proffered his solution to addressing the ravaging effect of the recession over eight decades ago, there was nobody like Ben Ayade. However, by sheer circumstance or coincidence, this young man found himself confronted by exactly the same realities as occurred 85 years ago.

    Just like Keynes was viciously challenged by the hawkish conservatives of his era, who questioned and sneered at his solution, so is Governor Ayade today being ambushed by certain ludicrous armchair critics constantly “baying for his blood” over the same policy that worked for Europe and America over 80 years ago.

    As a neo-Keynesianist, Governor Ayade’s thinking is strictly in line with the tendencies that made Keynes’ application work. The situation in the state or in the country as a whole is not helped by shrinking the government by merely laying off people, cutting down spending. The policy is purely monetarist and there is no provable record of its workability anywhere in the world, not even under the Reagan administration who experimented it in the 1970s.

    That is why according to Keynes, “The way to break the cycle, is to pump government spending into the economy by building roads and bridges and other public works”.

    By creating expanding government, more and more opportunities are created, as more money is put in the hands of the people, consumer confidence would return, people would spend, and the circular flow of money would be reestablished. Just that simple!

    There will be worse crisis as a result of a liquidity trap that is unwittingly being narrowly canvassed, especially when government cuts down on spending or hoard money. In these dire circumstances, Ayade is of the thinking and rightly so, that government should do what individuals are not, namely, spend. In his memorable phrase, Keynes called this “priming the pump” of the economy, a final government effort to reestablish the circular flow of money.

    It is all part of strategy to rejig and reflate the economy of the state. We cannot build a ‘Dubai of Africa’, with our people lacking the capacity to take advantage of the opportunities being steadily created by the governor. Therefore, in a civil service state like Cross River, government has business being in business, expand participation, and put wealth in the hands of the people. We must therefore, take deliberate steps to expand government. This will create more spending in the economy, which will in turn create more jobs.

     

  • Saraki and stay of proceedings debate

    The “considered” ruling of the Supreme Court of Nigeria granting stay of proceedings in the celebrated case of Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Dr. Bukola Saraki has dominated public discourse since it was handed down on Thursday November 12. Understandably the legal community has had a fair share of this debate provoked most logically by Femi Falana SAN who critically intervened by making the following clear points:

    That, it was wrong for the Supreme Court to have reversed the gains painstakingly made with the combined provisions of Sections 306 & 396(2) of the ACJA 2015 which oust the jurisdiction of the courts to entertain applications for stay of proceedings in criminal trials.

    Section 396 (2) is to the effect that any objection (including preliminary objections) shall only be considered along with the substantive issue.

    The philosophy and intendment of the legislature in enacting those provisions of the Act were aimed at stopping the endless trials of criminal cases in Nigeria through frivolous and interlocutory applications and appeals particularly as they relate to politically exposed persons (PEPs). In other-words, the attainment of justice in our courts must be through the rules of the court meant to be followed and complied with.

    It was the further contention of the learned silk that the Code of Conduct Burean Tribunal, erred when it entertained and ruled on the application for stay of proceedings before hearing the substantive issue as enjoined by Section 396(2). It was this error that occasioned the appeals from the Court of Appeal which refused it and then to the Supreme Court where it was unfortunately granted.

    First, it must be noted, and the impression must never be created out there that Supreme Court’s rulings, decisions and judgments should not and cannot be criticized. To insist on this will unwittingly compromise the prospect of legal advancement and creativity which is the only guarantee in the judicial process by which the judiciary can cope with the ever dynamic needs of the society. The very idea of approaching the Supreme Court or any other appellate court for that matter is not just a civilized act of protest but also criticism on the judgment appealed against. In this regard, we genuinely commend Femi Falana (SAN) who took the lead on this issue as well as other well-meaning Nigerians in balancing this apparent class struggle. Increasingly, we have seen a clear tendency by which the ruling class has found a way of shielding themselves from criminal prosecutions. How many “ordinary” Nigerians have successfully sustained an application for stay of proceedings in a criminal trial or obtained an interim or perpetual injunction pending determination of their substantive suits or trials? To drag the judicial into this “unholy contestation” is a recipe for chaos and anarchy.

    Secondly, even the practice of dissenting judgments in our appellate courts where justices differ with one another in their judgments reinforces the need for critical evaluation of every judgment even by the apex court. It is healthy and encourages the development of the law for the benefit of the society at large. For instance, in amending the Electoral Act 2006, Section 141 was inserted into the Electoral Act 2010 to deal with the deep concerns generated and thrown up by the dissenting Judgment of Supreme Court in Ameachi vs. INEC (2008) 5 NWLR (pt.1080) bordering on the capacity of the electorates to express their sovereign will and preferences through the electoral processes. Section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010 provides thus:

    “An election tribunal or court shall not under any circumstance declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the said election “

    Thus, criticisms in that sense is very healthy and welcomed bearing in mind that even the panel of justices however profound in knowledge and principle are also human beings that are not beyond fallibility.

    Such criticism as Falana and other learned experts who concurred with him made must be encouraged once they are made in good faith and with a view to advancing the law and safeguarding the sanctity of society. Opinion leaders of both the Bar and society must not shy away from such constructive criticisms. We certainly can criticize judgments of the Supreme Court in the same manner that we can laud their judgment/rulings when necessary which is what Femi Falana (SAN), Gboyega Awolomo (SAN) and others have done. What we cannot do is to appeal against the judgment of the Supreme Court even if we disagree with it.

    In the inimitable words of the revered Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa (of blessed memory), in the case of UTC vs. Pamotie

    “the Supreme Court is final not because it is infallible but it is infallible because it is final”   

    In supporting the stay of proceedings granted by the Supreme Court in the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Dr. Bukola Saraki, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has criticized the stance of Femi Falana (SAN) and Chief Gboyega Awomolo SAN on the subject matter. While admitting that stay of proceedings has been prohibited by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Ozekhome says that it is only applicable to trials courts. In his view, the appellate courts can continue to stop or suspend criminal cases in trial courts by indiscriminately granting stay of proceedings. We consider his outing as an unfortunate intervention in the ongoing debate on the correct interpretation of the section which has prohibited the reckless suspension of the criminal cases involving privileged people in the country.

    Ozekhome has carefully ignored the effect of Section 396 of the Act to the effect that ruling on all preliminary objections filed by accused persons shall be delivered together with the judgment in the substantive case. Is Ozekhome saying that the section has not effectively banned the filing of interlocutory appeals? If interlocutory appeals cannot be filed pending the conclusion of criminal trials, on what basis then is Ozekhome saying that the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are empowered to grant stay of proceedings? Assuming without conceding that he is right, can a party be allowed to file a stay of proceedings in the appellate court when it cannot be filed in the trial court? Was he allowed to file a similar application in the case of FRN vs. Lawan Farouk in which he is representing the defendant? Surely, we do not buy that argument because that has not been his practice including a recent similar application he made in the case of FRN vs. Farouk Lawan where he exhibited the certified copy of the ruling of the lower court in his application before the court of appeal.

    Ozekhome says that “where the provisions of any law are in consistent with the provisions of the constitution, such law will be void to the extent of such inconsistency. Certainly, this is a trite constitutional provision yet, he has failed to point out what section of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act that contravenes any provision of the constitution. Is Ozekhome not aware that stay of proceedings is not provided for by the constitution but by the rules of courts which are inferior to the constitution and all Act of the National Assembly? Indeed, every law student is aware that a motion for stay of proceedings can only be filed in the Court of Appeal after it has been dismissed by a trial court. It is trite law that motion for stay of proceedings in the Court of Appeal is not ripe for hearing without exhibiting the ruling of the trial court. Since the filing of stay of proceedings has been prohibited in the trial court, it cannot be disputed that neither the Court of Appeal nor the Supreme Court can entertain same as a court of first instance. We therefore urge the Supreme Court to discountenance the highly misconceived and irrelevant submissions of Chief Ozekhome as he has not succeeded in controverting the points of law well argued by Mr. Falana.

    • Ugwummadu Esq. is National President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights.

  • Why APC holds the ace in Akwa Ibom

    The opportunity of a fresh gubernatorial election in Akwa Ibom State, following the judgment of the state governorship election petition tribunal, offers a precious opening for a true show of strength and popularity by both the APC and the PDP, the two dominant political parties in the state. The opportunity is seen as a godsend given the widespread dissatisfaction with the outcome of the disputed election of 11 April, which has now been partially annulled. The outcome of the new poll will serve as a true health check of the two parties in the state, provided the federal government guarantees a level playing field for the contestants by ensuring the neutrality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Police, and the Directorate of State Services (DSS), along with other agencies of state security.

    Lesson of contemporary reality

    The institutions just listed are key to a free, fair and transparent election. In the controversial poll of 11 April, the cited institutions, by consensus accounts of all election monitors and observers, including the US Government, the European Union and the African Union, were hijacked by the PDP, which was the ruling party in the state and at the centre at the time, to manipulate the election in its favour. The outcome was therefore a product of fraud and did not measure the true strengths of the parties in the state.

    By the partial annulment of the election, the momentum is behind the APC. There is a mass movement from other political parties in the state to the APC. There have been wholesale defections from Accord Party, Labour Party and the PDP into the APC. During a reception for Umana in Uyo on 24 October after his victory at the tribunal, Uyo stood still for a whole day for the APC governorship candidate and all the local council areas in the state emptied out to join the mammoth throng in the state capital in a rally that dwarfed a similar outing by the PDP for their candidate, Udom Emmanuel, the previous day. Two former PDP local council chairs, Michael James Etim, immediate past chairman of Itu and Ekerete Ekpenyong, immediate past chairman of Uyo, spoke at the APC victory. The political sentiment is certainly in favour of Umana and the APC. A former chairman of Eket, Aniekan Akpan, member of the PDP, recently declared his support for APC in a radio interview and accused state governor Udom Emmanuel of deducting N2 billion from the state allocation monthly for security vote when his government cannot meet its obligations to workers and pensioners.

    Myth of Akpabio’s popularity

    The argument that Udom Emmanuel of the PDP would win any fresh election in the state because of the popularity of Godswill Akpabio who is his sponsor is of dubious validity.  Akpabio as of today is the most despised politician in Akwa Ibom State. Udom is acutely aware of this and has been gingerly distancing himself from the former governor. Akwa Ibom people detest Akpabio and whatever is associated with him for the fact that they hold the former governor responsible for the mass poverty in their state; unprecedented number of abandoned projects; a mountain of debts threatening the viability of the state; 300 unsolved assassinations and kidnapping under the former governor’s watch and near total neglect of the grassroots in the in terms of infrastructure development.

    Umana’s mass following

    While Umana enjoys mass appeal throughout the state, Udom Emmanuel, now battling the crisis of legitimacy following the tribunal judgment which shows he is occupying the office of governor illegally, cannot lay claim to any inherent popularity. The vicarious appeal which Udom is alleged to enjoy by way of endorsement by Akpabio has been shown to be an empty boast. Udom on his own represents no electoral value to the PDP; he is an unknown quantity, imported from Lagos and packaged for the purpose of deceiving the people to accept what was designed as and has proven to be Akpabio’s third term in office. Udom compares very poorly with Umana who has fanatical mass following and is backed by political heavyweights across party lines and geographical divides in the state.

    The crowd that turned out to receive Umana at the historic reception of 24 October in Uyo in celebration of the tribunal judgment came from all over the state voluntarily, not hired, reflecting the massive base of support that Umana enjoys everywhere in the state. Udom could not boast of such support when he also returned to the state after the tribunal judgment, in spite of cash and other material inducements.

    Support by senatorial district 

    The pan-Akwa Ibom support for Umana is signposted by the broad, all-party coalition behind his candidacy. In Uyo Senatorial District, the coalition is led by HE Obong Victor Attah. Behind Umana in Eket Senatorial District is HE Nsima Ekere, former deputy governor of the state under the Akpabio administration, PDP governorship aspirant in the last election and leader of the G22, who is working with other heavyweights in the district like Bishop Samuel Akpan, who was the governorship candidate of the Accord Party in the last election. In Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district, which is the home district of ex-governor Akpabio,  Umana’s allies and die-hard supporters are led by Atuekong Don Etiebet, former petroleum minister and former life member of the PDP board of trustees.

    Among the phalanx of mass organisations for Umana is Akwa Ibom Renaissance, a grassroots movement with more than 600,000 young and active members. Umana has a state-wide mass following because the people know him and can vouch for his contributions to the development of the state and his care and empathy for the people during his years of very fruitful engagement with the state public service.

    Trustworthiness

    Governor Emmanuel is going into the fresh poll with such terrible baggage that will dog his path every inch of the way. He has proven to be untrustworthy during the few months he has been in power. To mark his first 100 days in office, Udom lied in a 6-page advertorial published on September 7 in six national newspapers, including The Sun, that he had executed projects he did not execute. Udom is seen and derided all round the state as Akpabio’s poodle. On the order of the ex-governor, Udom reinstated the last cabinet of the Akpabio administration with only minor changes. In fact, Akpabio brought 18 members of the state’s 22-man cabinet. The former governor also filled most of the positions in the local government caretaker committees constituted to compensate his boys after the fraudulent elections. Udom has no access to the state government house in Uyo and functions from his private residence because Akpabio keeps the keys to the seat of power at the end of his tenure. Akpabio also keeps the state executive jet, continues to live in the government house while Udom lives in his private home.

    Udom’s baggage is irredeemable. There are reports all over the place that while the state is struggling, unable to meet its obligations to creditors, workers and pensioners, Udom is simultaneously building three mansions for himself in Awa, his village in Onna local government area; another in Uyo and the third in Lekki, Lagos State. He spends public funds without due care, blowing N3.75 b billion on the state anniversary celebrations in September despite the cash crunch that hit the state.

    Where Udom is seen and shown to be Akpabio’s poodle, Umana is regarded as fiercely independent, able to stand up to anyone—which is the real reason Akpabio  doesn’t want him to be governor.  Akpabio wants a lackey. Paradoxically, it is this tough, independent-minded persona that endears Umana to his people and draws to him a fanatical following across the state.

    The people see in Umana a perfect foil to the Akpabio hegemonic dynasty that has enslaved them for eight years and counting. This is the state of affairs that in all likelihood will bear Umana onto victory. With the reverse suffered by the PDP at the election petition tribunal, the momentum for victory is behind the APC and Umana.

     

    • Mr Okon-Inyang, a political analyst, wrote in from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

  • Participatory democracy: Lagos Assembly as trailblazer

    Recently, the print and electronic media came out with advertisements on the first constituency stakeholders meeting of the 8th Lagos State House of Assembly, detailing vital information about the exercise, especially its intent and purpose.

    From Badagry to Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Epe, Somolu and the other local governments making up the state constituencies in Lagos State, the exercise took place simultaneously on November 10, undoubtedly is first of its kind in our legislative history in terms of content and style.

    It was designed by the Lagos Assembly to obtain the input of Lagosians on their desire in their areas.

    This no doubt is big plus for the Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa-led Lagos State of Assembly in view of its timeliness and alignment with the social contract principle more so, as the House of Assembly is constitutionally empowered to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the state.

    The strategic nature of the stakeholders meeting could be better understood within the wider context of the legislature’s other functions including representation, oversight, checks and balance on the executive and the judidiary and conducting investigation into matters which it has powers to make laws and more.

    The speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa was therefore on point when he told stakeholders at his constituency meeting in Agege that the event was in line with social contract which the House has with the people. His words: “We are collaborating with our constituencies to ensure that the impact of government is felt at all levels and to reinvigorate rapid socio – economic projects, control of traffic, implementation of traffic laws, security and maintenance of law and order.

    The spokesman of the House, Hon. Tunde Braimoh at his constituency meeting would equally observe that, “while it is correct that constituency input has always, been sought in formulating budgeting proposal every year, it is also correct that the scale and style on this exercise stand out as novel and new.”

    One of the biggest draw backs of our democracy is the alienation of the people from government, the sidelining of the people from making meaningful inputs into government programs and policies.

    Consequently, what we sometimes have are largely projects conceived without the voice of the people who are the reason for government. The end result is huge waste of taxpayers money as some of these projects do not suit the immediate needs of the people.

    The Lagos State House of Assembly must therefore be commended for according due recognition to their constituents through the stakeholders meeting. This no doubt is what participatory government is all about because all elected representatives must as a matter of routine report back to the people periodically to intimate them about their stewardship.

    That those who spoke across the 40 state constituencies included Obas, Chiefs, Community Development Associations (CDAs), youths, artisans, professional bodies, and various unions is highly commendable.

    Lagosians would also be glad that Speaker Obasa has assured that these inputs will form part of the 2016 budget which is very remarkable. If actualized, it means that Lagos State would have, through its lawmakers, come up with a truly “people’s budget” next year.

    By this giant stride, the Lagos state House of Assembly may have begun its journey towards fulfilling its vision “to be the leading light and pathfinder for Nigeria and African legislatures.”

    To realize this, it must continue its pursuit of excellence by ensuring it fulfills its promise of a people’s budget in 2016.

    It should also continually interface with the people periodically to perfect their position on issues, as it is better placed to do this than other arms of government. This would no doubt make the change mantra of the APC-dominated House come to fruition as the country is in dire need of true change.

    Other legislatures should also take a cue from the precedent set by the lawmakers of the “Centre of Excellence” which has opened a new vista in participatory democracy through the constituency stakeholders meeting by organizing similar programmes. And like the former chairman, Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani said during Hon. Tunde Braimoh’s meeting with his constituents, the Lagos Assembly has set a precedent for other legislatures with this novel idea.

    More so, aside interfacing with the people, across the length and breadth of the state, one of the unique things about the event was that it cut across every strata of the society which makes it inclusive.

    The assembly may have unknowingly assisted the executive by using the medium to collate issues very dear to the heart of the electorate for onward transmission to the executive for consideration and implementation.

    Also by holding the exercise simultaneously across the state, the lawmakers have saved the state huge resources which could have been wasted had the exercise been staggered at this time of falling oil prices.

    The Lagos State House of Assembly therefore deserves praises, while hoping it continues to strive to be the flagship of the legislature for the benefit of the people by rising up to its constitutional duties at all times

    • Chukwu, is chairman, Centre for Accountability and Good Governance (CAGG), Lagos

  • Happy Birthday, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan!

    Happy Birthday! Last year it was celebrated in Aso Rock and now you probably have it in your Otuoke home; no condition is permanent. Power is transient and highly ephemeral.  The last one must have been very noisy as so many well-wishers and favour-seekers would have come with various gifts and cards so much that you would not have space to place them.  Four years ago when I was invited to your birthday at a time you turned 54, I gave you the best gift ever, THE GOLDEN JUBILEE BIBLE, though it may look insignificant before the ordinary eye. I was then the chairman of 400 Years of King James Bible Celebration.

    I have been one of your most ardent admirers.  I actually campaigned for you pro bono to become the President in 2011 among the elites who I was in contact with and my staff in office because an educated middle aged man (just seven months plus older than me) would be ruling Nigeria.  If it was element of good luck that made you succeed President Musa Yar’Adua, it was our votes that brought you in 2011, not rigging. But what did you make of our mandate? You did not want to offend people and step on bad toes.  You even said that you were not a military president like Obasanjo, when you were reacting to the latter’s advice on Boko Haram menace that was just rearing its ugly head then.  I wept.  I wept because you forgot that you were not only President of Nigeria but also the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces.  It then reminded me of the submission of John Maxwell that, Good luck can place you in a position of authority but competence will keep you there.  You were not bold enough to face those who said that they would make the country ungovernable for you.  Boko Haram tested waters and saw that it was a conducive atmosphere to grow until they took away the Chibok girls.  Your wife responded with ‘Na only you waka come, Chai, Chai, dia is God o’, shedding crocodile tears in the fashion of an amateur Nollywood actress, oblivious of the international media that graced the conference.

    President Barack Obama sat through the end of Osama Bin Laden with his service chiefs at that ungodly hour of the night.  It was on his order that the operation was carried out in Pakistan and after he confirmed the death of the terrorist and had given the order that the corpse be dumped in the sea, he went forward to make a statement that terrorists could run but not hide and that wherever the terrorists are, tormenting US citizens and the world, US would chase and bring them to justice.  What a way to prove that he was not just the President but also the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces.  That was an example that you would have followed.

    I personally brought your invitation to State House, Abuja for the Prayer Breakfast in Addis-Ababa Ethiopia before the African Union meeting in January, 2013. I was then chairman, Africa Area Board, United Bible Societies.  You were in Addis-Ababa and in the past, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, one of the founding fathers of Prayer for Africa, had always attended.  I was there when your ‘boys’ were informing you on phone that only one head of state had arrived and then only two… until the prayers were over and the President of Benin Republic said the closing benediction.  You never came and I felt so bad because you would not ask who has God blessed before He chooses to bless me? It was a full house prayer breakfast, but you were conspicuously missing. Thank God for people like Oby Ezekwesili who attended to keep Nigeria’s number significant at this event.  You were later seen going to Israel for special prayers, Redemption camp and lastly before the Obas in Yorubaland with their scepters on you.  Scepters from different shrines? Then I knew that like the Biblical Saul who went to the witch of Endor, God would not share His glory with anyone.

    King David of the Bible was successful because he surrounded himself with men of valour.  You were surrounded with highly infinitesimal men of valour but more of sycophants, boot-lickers and men and even fake prophets who told you that all was well when nothing was well.  Anyone who dared criticize you was perceived as an enemy and your political Godfather, OBJ became an elder who behaved like motor-park tout. You had spokesmen who predicted that Nigeria would burn if you were not returned and our Octogenarian elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark who was helping you abuse Obasanjo as a meddlesome interloper.  The same man has now resigned from PDP because of your inefficiency; such is life.  He was further quoted as having not benefitted anything from your rulership but some of us know that his Medical Doctor wife who failed to clinch a Senatorial seat in Ogun was the chairman of the Board of Federal Hospitals

    You were also weak in managing your home and putting your wife under check.  That you allowed her quarrel with the then Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi to degenerate into splitting of the Nigeria Governors Forum and mass exodus to APC to lay foundation for your loss at the last general election.  The same Amaechi became the campaign coordinator for your successor.  That you allowed your wife unguarded utterances to pronounce that Na dem dey born troway, we no dey born troway in the North was an ill-omen for the remaining few support you had left in the North.  You failed to check your wife’s excesses.  It was even glaring on your 54th birthday then when you, your mum and your children were seated in the chapel and service had gone on for over 25 minutes before Her Excellency, Dame Patience Jonathan walked in majestically to her reserved seat only to be told it was time for her to read the Bible passage, Psalm 91!

    Let this be a time for sober reflection. Reflection on times and opportunities you have had and partly used and partly squandered.  I know that you would have been surprised yourself how people under your leadership had squandered riches of this nation.  You were not the first one to be so surprised, I know Alhaji Shehu Shagari was equally surprised after his overthrow in December, 1983 that even though he was honest, he surrounded himself with so many dishonest men.

    Your Excellency, you need to purge your soul.  First, you need deliverance that will severe you from various altars that you have found yourself in the cause of your rulership and in the cause of your seeking re-election.  Many of such altars had ungodly fire burnt on them.  Secondly, you need to repair the bridges you have broken in the cause of your negative reaction to criticism.  Any river that forgets its source will run dry and so is any tree that abandons its root.  Reach out sincerely to people like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, among other people who had cause to feel offended by you. Thirdly, reconcile Her Excellency, your wife to enemies she had made and inadvertently had affected you too like Turai Yar’Adua, Rotimi Amaechi among others.  It is good to seek peace with all men and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14).

    On a motion of closing, I want to personally thank and admire you for your sportsmanship spirit that made you reach out to your successor even before the final announcement of the result of the election to accept defeat.  You did this at a time that people like Godsday Orubebe and a host of others are spoiling for a fight that could have set Nigeria on fire.  That is the wisest decision you have made and I am glad that you did.  I will forever appreciate you for this and will remember you in prayer that you continually prepare your soul for heaven at the end of days.  Happy Birthday, many happy return of the day.

     

    • Barr. Dr Odutola was the immediate past chairman of the United Bible Societies, Africa Area Board.