The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Senate Presidency: Numbers adding up for Lawan

    The framers of our constitution, like most others similar documents, made the legislative arm the numero uno; that is, first in rank, order or prestige. And to many a Nigerian politician, the responsibilities and charm of the Office of the Senate President, epitomise the height of triumph at election into the upper chamber for whoever emerges as the occupier of the office.

    In addition, political analysts contend that the fierce contest for who becomes first amongst equals in the red chamber as currently the case in Nigeria is because as a matter of fact of law, whosoever becomes the number three citizen, aside from being the senate president, is also the chairman of the National Assembly.

    It is against this backdrop that political watchers are not surprised a bit that the All Progressives Congress, APC has not been able to make a definitive pronouncement on which of the four geo-political zones of North-East, North-Central, South-East and South-South will produce the Senate President after the North-West and the South-West had produced the President-Elect and the Vice President-Elect respectively.

    Although, if what a chieftain of the winning party is anything to go by, the North-East geo-political zone appears the favourite. According to him “if democracy, nay election, is all about numbers, then the North-East, which garnered the second largest vote in the last election after North-West should have the Senate Presidency, assuring that in a matter of days, the party hierarchy will formally make its decision on the issue public to the relief of people in the North-East and contestants from the zone that are in the race for the office.

    Political observers are of the opinion that aside from the large number of votes the APC got from the North-East geo-political zone, all the 109 senators-elect should not forget that the best that area of the country has had at the national level under a civilian regime, was the Prime Minister portfolio in the first republic: It has never produced a senate president.

    As agitation from people in the zone for the senate presidency is going on, so also campaigns by contestants who want to become senate president. As at last count, only two contestants from the zone have mounted serious campaigns. They are Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawal from Yobe State and Senator Ali Ndume from Borno State.  Two other contestants from the geo-political zone of North-Central are eyeing the office, apparently hoping the post will be zoned to their area.

    From their various campaign methodologies thus far, political watchers have characterised Lawan as a marathon runner while Ndume is regarded as short distance runner. According to them, Ndume, like Seantor Danjuma Goje from Gombe will not match Lawan, who has constructed solid political bridge across the nation since being a parliamentarian at the inception of democracy in 1999.

    And the political predication that Lawan will ultimately emerge victorious in the race began its manifestation, when “a charity begins at home” press statement, announced that Yobe State caucus of National Assembly has endorsed him as Senate President. It was issued against the background of a campaign of calumny. The Press Statement added: “We therefore call on all North Eastern government and National Assembly caucuses to support this move as well as other geo-political zones of Nigeria”. The government and people of Yobe State have also thrown their weight behind the senator.

    As if responding to the clarion call made by Yobe State caucus, all senators-elect from the North-West zone, in a block endorsement, declared that Lawan has what it takes to lead the National Assembly.

    The South-West APC caucus after over 6 hour meeting in Abuja has also endorsed Lawan with 12 out of 13 APC senators-elect resolving to have him as the Senate President. The only absentee from the meeting was unavoidably absent and his vote was assured the frontline contestant. The APC senators-elect from the zone further assured Lawan that they would convince their distinguished PDP colleagues in the zone to also vote for him. Political watchers have described the endorsement by the South-West senators-elect as “an eloquent testimony to obvious acceptance of Senator Lawan by the party leaders from the zone before now. Although officially the senate presidency has not been zoned to North-East, political observers said the body language of APC leaders at the national level indicate that Lawan is their man for the senate president.

    The in-road made by Lawan into the South-East caucus of senators-elect, according to political analysts, show the need for Nigerian politician who wishes to play any role at the national level to be a bridge builder like the contestant. While all the senators-elect from the zone emerged on the platform of PDP, the political “handshake” that Lawan always extend to all including his “ranking” colleagues from the zone, according to insiders, soften the ground for him before his recent meeting with the caucus. At the end of the meeting, Lawan was assured of the zone’s bulk endorsement, which a PDP chieftain at the meeting, was reported to have said would be announced in due course.

    Analysts are of the opinion that since APC senators-elect from Yobe State, his primary constituency, the North-West and South-West have endorsed Senator Lawan, “it is the custom in parliamentary practice to take cognisance of what has happened in other zones, especially in a contest of this nature and this could not have been lost to the South-East caucus in their deliberations on the contestant”.

    Advancing reason for the successes being recorded by the campaign team of Lawan in the South-East and South-South caucuses, a PDP insider said “It is payback time: Lawan has been a pillar of support for the out-going leadership in the Senate and nobody should be surprised if they had decided to campaign for him in South-East and I can tell you with all certainty that our distinguished PDP colleagues in the South-South caucus are ready to back us in making Senator Lawan our Senate President”

    Political pundits have contended that it is certain that the South-South senators-elect will also go the way of the South-East in giving their votes to Ahmad Lawan

    For the North-Central, Political analysts said while senators-elect from Kwara State are in support of Saraki “for obvious reason” the zone at the moment “is divided due to the in-road made by Lawan as some senators-elect from states of Niger, Kogi and Plateau are in full support of Senator Lawan’s candidature”.  Political foot soldiers are of the opinion that once the zoning arrangement is formally announced and North-East clinches the Senate presidency, North Central will go the way of Lawan as another contestant from the zone in person of Senator George Akume will also drop off from the race.

    Dismissing the likelihood of the Tambuwal episode playing out on the red carpeted floor come June 4, political analysts said such would not be allowed by APC national chieftains who are toiling day and night to solidify the foundation of a solid party system already in place at the national level.

    ‘The in-road made by Lawan into the South-East caucus of senators-elect, according to political analysts, show the need for Nigerian politician who wishes to play any role at the national level to be a bridge builder like the contestant’

     

    • Adebamiro, a political analyst lives in Kubwa, Abuja. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Buhari and the challenge of unpaid salaries

    Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt, has a huge burden upon his shoulder. Nearly every sector throughout the country is threatened and in predicament. The 16 years’ reign of the People Democratic Party, (PDP), has been a matter of one step forward two steps backwards. In particular, the last six years under President Goodluck Jonathan has been a huge disaster. The economy is currently comatose. The nation’s foreign reserve has been recklessly depleted by the spendthrift Jonathan administration. To worsen things, inflation and unemployment is at an all-time high while corruption has become the order of the day in the corridors of power. When the President of a country affirms on national television that ‘stealing is not corruption’, you don’t need to be a prophet to know that such a country is in trouble. The truth, is that Nigeria is actually in trouble.

    This is why I don’t envy General Buhari. The Nigeria that President Jonathan is leaving behind for Buhari is one that is in a complete mess, and we should make no mistake about it. One of the very daunting tasks that Buhari and his team would have to tackle in earnest is that of unpaid salaries raging across the country as this could become a clog in the wheel of democracy. In the last 16 years, the norm in budgetary planning, formulation and execution has been for recurrent expenditure to be excessively higher than capital outlay. This is not, in any way, peculiar to the Federal Government alone as nearly all the state governments in the country operate a similar unproductive budgetary planning.

    The consequence of this is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure across the country. Almost all federal roads are in terrible conditions. The inept PDP-led government, after 16 years in power, could not fix the nation’s refineries as we shamelessly continue to import refined petroleum products from neighbouring countries. This is what happens when a nation fails to prioritize its developmental needs. No nation in the world, not even the almighty United States of America, touted as the number-one economy could develop via the kind of budgetary system we have been operating in the past 16 years.

    High wage bills, as well as escalating cost of governance, remains a major threat to the survival of democracy in the country. Presently, aside the various Federal Government agencies and parastatals that are being owed various degrees of salaries and emoluments, about 26 state governments owe workers salaries in arrears of months. The State of Osun readily comes to mind here as the state has been singled out for target of media attack on this issue. I am piqued about this though since the state is not the only one in this dire financial strait. The Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was, in fact, the first person to call national attention to this financial disaster in 2013, when he alleged that the Federal Government had declared war on the state as allocation dropped to 40%.

    It will be difficult to query his record as a worker-friendly administrator. In some states, in order to ensure workers go home with something; salaries are paid in bits.  Expectedly, in most of the states, workers are threatening to go on strike in a bid to press home their demands for prompt payment of their wages. Things are not looking up at all. At the time of writing this, the April allocation has not been disbursed.

    With the decline in revenue accruing to the Federation Account through the sale of crude oil, some of the states might not be able to pay workers salaries, not to talk of paying arrears of pension and gratuity to pensioners. As things stand, the amount that stands to the credit of each of the states monthly is not enough to pay workers’ wages, and this means all other similar recurring expenditures would suffer. A few of them that try to embark on capital spending do so through loans from banks and bonds earlier negotiated, which must be serviced regularly at huge cost.

    With this stark reality, it has therefore, become highly imperative for the incoming Buhari administration to take a holistic view of the whole issue with a view to saving our fledgling democracy from an imminent collapse. Bureaucracy is meant to help drive the pace of development in a democracy. In any nation where bureaucracy has become the problem rather than the solution, democracy would certainly become endangered. This is where Buhari, and his team need to take decisive steps to save the country from what has become a chronic and nagging problem. As a stop-gap measure, one is actually canvassing that the incoming administration bails out the states that are owing excessive workers’ wages by offsetting such, and give them enough to pay pensions and gratuity. We have done it before.

    Unpaid salaries have always plagued civil administration in Nigeria. Military takeover, had always been the quick-fix, but with its recurring nature, it’s obvious we have not found the solution. Yes, government is always the biggest employer of labour; we cannot continue to bring idle hands into governments without a commensurate analysis of what is actually needed. This is to avert undue labour disputes that could cause needless troubles in the land. A sound employment policy would still address the problem of unemployment.

    Equally, the idea of the Federal Government entering into wage negotiations on behalf of the state governments should be discarded. Since the revenue base of each state differs, it would be inappropriate for both the Federal Government and the labour unions, to force state governments to pay their worker’s wages being paid by the Federal Government. Each state ought to employ and pay according to its capacity. Equally important is that labour unions must desist from the incessant act of demanding for an arbitrary wage increase. While the work force deserves better pay packages, government has responsibilities to the larger society through the provision of social amenities and infrastructures.

    In the same vein, governments across the land need to cut all avenues that open the door for wastes in governance. We have taken the issue of taxation too lightly in this country. No nation attains greatness without the adequate contributions of the citizens in the forms of taxes. We must start emphasizing our tax systems to make governments and citizens more fiscally responsible. Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result.

    ‘Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result’

     

    • Raji is Special Adviser, Information & Strategy, Lagos State.

     

     

  • The youth and the used

    I have always been fascinated by the words ‘youth’ and ‘used’ especially in their onomatopoetic rendition as they relate to the youths of Nigeria and their fathers and grandfathers who still delude themselves that they are young, and have refused to yield grounds for the young ones.

    About 25 years ago Afro-Juju superstar Shina Peters crooned that the dawn of the youth had arrived and the old should give way for the new: ‘This is the time of the youth and elders should not begrudge us’, he pleaded in a strong voice.

    Twenty-five years down the line, nothing has changed. If anything, the Nigerian youths had been exposed to the most trying time imaginable. Millions of them have been left wallowing in poverty as they roamed the streets of major cities in search of non-existent jobs and opportunities. Several graduates of tertiary institutions have been forced into crimes and criminality, and those of them who are not very physically daring have taken to frauds and all sorts of shady pre-occupation. The young women in this frustrated class have taken to disguised prostitution or full-blown harlotry.

    In jokes with the younger ones, I always teased that they are the youth, and I am the used! Of course at Septuagenarian age one is clearly and definitely used unless one belongs in the school of Enrich Ibsen’s Solness in the Master Builder. But today I am not joking. I am referring to a major issue confronting our country in the face of the Change we clamoured for which is due to take off come May 29.

    One of the greatest challenges the Buhari government is bound to confront is the issue of the restless, almost hopeless Nigerian youths and how they will be immediately rehabilitated.

    In my article titled The Vote of the Unemployed, I analysed how majority of those who were likely to vote for Buhari and damn Jonathan were the millions of unemployed citizens of this country. Specific reference was made of the teeming youths in their millions and entrepreneurs whose factories and plants have been forced to close shop due to the Federal Government’s failure to provide succour to its citizens.

    In a conversation with a younger colleague Dr Akinniyi Sowunmi last week, the highly cerebral communication scholar opined that while he recognized Buhari as the symbol of change, it was the vote AGAINST Jonathan that won the election for him [Buhari]. If Buhari [and the APC] would not like to be voted against in four years time, work must begin from today to prevent such eventuality.

    The youth rejected Jonathan and voted against him.

    What this means is that the Buhari government about to take off must assign a big role to the youth who believe rightly that this incoming government is their own. Even though we are not particularly good with records and statistics, if proper check is made it will be confirmed that the youths were clearly in the majority of those who took the trouble to vote on March 28.

    It is unfortunate that the Nigerian youths have been short-changed for so long and as I lamented in my article titled Nigeria’s Adult Children, 45-year-olds in certain circumstances are still considered as youths in Nigeria. There are hundreds of thousands of 40-year-olds who are yet to find their feet in Nigeria. Many in age bracket 35-40 are still in tertiary institutions, jobless, unmarried and heavily dependent on their parents and guardians!

    This is why this article will include 50-year-olds who have never had any opportunity to actualise their dreams amongst the youth-bracket. The youth of Nigeria must be empowered. They must be given a big role in this incoming government of Change.

    This is where the Used come in. The Used in Nigeria have made themselves a recurring decimal. Some have served as governor, senator, minister, local government chairperson, chairman of several boards, and yet they simply refuse to go and yield opportunity for the young ones; the youth.

    It is gratifying that the President-elect had assured Nigerians that there would be no room for proven corrupt individuals in his administration. But he should go further to ensure that all those who have made a career of politics and political jobbery do not crowd the corridors of power in this government of Change, except in special cases of those who made huge contributions to the emergence of the new government and who in the process have suffered hugely in the hands of the opposition. Without going the whole hog of mentioning names, there are past governors, progressive legal luminaries and other top-class technocrats whose expertise will enrich Buhari’s government even if such individuals had held government positions before.

    However, the used should please take a back seat in the in-coming government. There are hundreds of thousands of top-notch technocrats amongst the Youth of Nigeria and they must be sought out even if they are currently in the Diaspora. Nigeria is blessed. Let us try the untainted youth who are eager to serve their fatherland even at the topmost level of government. We cannot afford to continue to deny our youths opportunities in governance.

    Our President will be 73 in December, let the bulk of those who will be in his administration be in age bracket 30-50. Chief Richard Akinjide was Federal Minister of Education in the first Republic at age 27. M T Mbu was Nigeria’s High Commissioner in the UK at around age 25.  Bode Thomas was about 30 years old when he held sway as a  Leader of the Action Group while Chief Sonibare achieved all his accomplishments before he passed on at 43!

    My generation and several generations before mine had continued to deceive the young ones that they were the leaders of tomorrow. The question our restive youth are now asking is ‘When will the tomorrow come?’ For many of them the tomorrow was yet to come even 20 years after graduating from the university!

    The Buhari government is believed to want to fix the moment and prepare a greater future for Nigerians. If the future belongs to the youth, they have a right to be involved in that preparation. If the dinner is meant for them, they should be involved in its preparation and even in choice making regarding the kind of meal meant for their throats.

    The Youths should be given the opportunity to prove their mettle. The Used should thank God for all that they had had the opportunity to accomplish. And if I want to go with grave yard humour, I would say the Young shall grow and the Old shall die!!!

  • Who is afraid of NDIC’s amendments?

    The appearance of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) at the public hearing organised by Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to defend its quest for amendments of its 2006 Act last March has ignited a debate on the pros and cons of the proposed amendment. The debate is welcome in a democratic set-up like ours, in that it afforded the Nigerian public the opportunity to know what the amendments were meant to achieve.  It is remarkable that the media are playing a very crucial role in providing the public platform to air these relevant arguments.

    However, lately, some members of the anti-amendment camps are increasingly employing lots of spins in their narratives that smack of desperation. And, unfortunately, some media are being employed to – unwittingly — advance their evidently unhelpful sophistries.

    The issues that compel amendments to the Act are already in the public domain, but since not all members of the public will have the time or access to these amendments some people quickly cash on these weakness to dish out propaganda and twist facts. Therefore, those who believe that depositors need the kind of protection NDIC is proposing have the responsibility to refute the claims and set the facts straight.

    Now let us look at some of the areas of misconceptions in the various publications to the proposed amendments.

    The power to licence banks in Nigeria is strictly within the purview of the Central Bank. However, the Corporation has observed that banks, particularly microfinance banks (MFBs) and primary mortgage banks (PMBs), have closed shop shortly after being licensed and that some of them whose licences were revoked by the CBN could not even be located at their last known addresses after taking away depositors’ funds. Even the promoters could not be traced by both the NDIC and CBN. In practice, therefore, the Corporation is desirous of being involved in the process of licensing the banks, particularly in the area of carrying out “fit and proper persons test” in order to forestall the reoccurrence of events where promoters disappeared with depositors’money.

    On the power to supervise banks by the corporation without reference to the CBN, it should be noted that the existing provisions in the NDIC Act, 2006 gave the corporation powers in Sections 27-31 to examine banks and issue reports and such reports were exchanged between the two institutions.  Such was the practice until the assumption of office by the immediate past CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in 2009, who requested that the NDIC and CBN should jointly examine banks and issue joint reports. However, the NDIC was of the view that it should revert to the status quo to maintain its operational independence. And what’s meaning of its operational independence if it must issue joint report?

    On the power to terminate the insurance status of banks, the reality is that the power to terminate the insurance status of any licensed bank has been in NDIC’s Act since 1988 and is therefore not a new proposal. However, due to the observation by the CBN with respect to this clause, the Corporation decided to amend that section from ‘’Notification’’ to ‘’Consultations’’ whenever such need arises.

    On the power to appoint itself as liquidator, it is pertinent to note that both the CBN and NDIC share responsibility for failure resolution. However, with respect to the appointment of the NDIC as liquidator, it was agreed between the CBN and NDIC that the provision be inserted to cater for situations where insured institutions, such as primary mortgage banks (PMBs) and microfinance banks (MFBs), would have closed shop for long periods and the CBN had not revoked their licences of insured institutions.

    Although the provision on appointment of NDIC as Provisional Liquidator had already been tested with the revocation of the operating licences of some MFBs, its effectiveness was very much in doubt, given the experience with the cases of the defunct Fortune and Triumph banks. It would be recalled that the NDIC was appointed provisional liquidator for both banks since 2006 but, nine years later, the NDIC has not been able to carry out liquidation activities, such as the realisation of the closed banks’ assets and subsequent payment of liquidation dividends to the uninsured depositors of the banks involved. That was despite the status of the NDIC as a provisional liquidator of the banks.  It is in this regard that the proposed amendment provided for the appointment of the NDIC as Liquidator simpli cita in order to ensure effective winding-up of the affairs of failed insured institutions.

    Curiously the anti-amendment camp and their mouthpieces are not mentioning the following depositor-focus amendment proposals, which will amount to crass naivety to oppose.

    i) Expanding Incidence for Payment of Insured Deposits To ensure that deposit pay-out are promptly made to the depositors of insured institutions where the insured institution has suspended payment or is otherwise unable to meet its obligations to depositors rather than wait until the licence of such institution is revoked by the CBN. The aim is to ensure that depositors do not suffer unduly.

    ii) The Corporation is proposing an amendment to its Act that will empower it to enforce the recommendations contained in its Examination Reports, thereby strengthening its supervisory capacity. This is to prevent a situation where a bank is examined and the same lapses observed in previous examinations report are repeated due to failure of bank management to implement the earlier recommendations as well as to ensure prompt corrective action is taken on problem banks.

    iii) The NDIC as Conservator – The NDIC is empowered through Section 34(a) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFIA) Act 1990 (as amended) to assume control of certain category of failing banks. However, the subsisting NDIC Act has no provision stipulating its status under such circumstances. The experience of the NDIC in such matters had shown that its status should be likened to that of a Conservator. Accordingly, a problem bank which NDIC has assumed control of should be protected from attachment of its assets and the assets of NDIC against the liability of such distressed bank. The status of Conservator should confer on NDIC powers that would enhance its ability to recover debts owed to the distressed bank, protect its assets and effectively manage the bank for the purpose of restructuring and rehabilitation.

    iiii) Payment of Insured Deposits even when action Challenging Revocation is pending in Court – The proposed amendment seeks to empower the NDIC to pay insured deposits to depositors of insured institutions whose operating licence has been revoked even when the litigation of the institution’s operating licence or winding up is still pending in court. The proposal aims to reduce the extent to which depositors are subjected to untold hardship anytime erstwhile owners of banks whose operating licences have been revoked take the CBN/NDIC to Court to forestall liquidation of their banks. Section 40(7) of the NDIC Act, meant to address the above problem does not prevent the institution of an application in court from payment of insured deposits. Rather, it regulates the venue for hearing such applications. Accordingly, under the current practice, once an application is filed and pending determination, payment of the insured deposits cannot be done.

    The proposed amendments would enable the NDIC to pay insured deposits,irrespective of such an application pending in court, as payment of insured deposits would be statutorily obligatory. The equitable doctrine of lis pendis would not operate in the face of statutory provisions compelling NDIC to effect such payment. In the event that the licence of the institution is restored, the NDIC would exercise its right of subrogation.

    v)  Reduction of Pay-out period (Depositors’ Re-imbursement) from 90 days to 30  days. The purpose of this amendment is to guarantee prompt settlement of  depositors’ insured sum by reducing the waiting period for payment from 90  days to 30 days. That means that the NDIC is seeking to commence the  payment of insured deposits within 30 days.

    I cannot see any iota of intent from the foregoing amendment that posits NDIC as seeking to be a parallel or coordinate regulator for banks. Rather these amendments are intended to strengthen the corporation to play its role as a responsible member of the financial safety-net in Nigeria working with the CBN and other critical stakeholders to ensure the safety, stability and soundness of the financial system.

    On a final note, one would like to appeal to the out-going 7th National Assembly to be on the side of history and Nigerian depositors by approving these novel and credible amendments that will keep Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation ahead of its peers.

    • Hassan is business development executive based in Abuja. 

     

  • The power show in Niger

    The power show in Niger

    In the last one week the political landscape of Niger State has been held spellbound by an intriguing power play.  Jide Orintunsin reports.

    Niger State lived up to its acronym, “Power State” last week. Virtually all the three arms of government were involved in a display of power in the state. Even the highly revered traditional institution and retired military generals were all active participants. The security agencies, except the military, lost their status as impartial umpire and got enmeshed in the power show.

    The week began peacefully, full of promises. The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Adamu Usman, did not have an inkling of the imminent turbulence when he summoned members to an executive session at the Press Centre of the assembly complex to discuss sundry matters, especially as it affects their welfare.

    Usman, who had enjoyed unalloyed support of his colleagues, was shocked to his marrow, when he along with three other principal officers, was given till 12 mid-night to ensure that the executive arm release their outstanding allowances, the assembly over-head and imprest being owed since January, all amounting to about N1 billion and to equally secure commitment on when their severance allowance will be paid.

    The tone and body language of the legislators at the executive session, according to a source at the meeting, were unambiguous. The legislators, who were yet to get over their defeat at the April 11 polls, blamed their electoral misfortune on the non-release of their allowances to enable them have adequate funds to pursue their ambition.

    A majority of the members who were in attendance at the executive asked the Speaker and other principal officers to get the governor to meet their demands and feed them back at plenary session later, a decision the Speaker vowed would not be. For Usman, there was no justification for the plenary session.

    It was reliably gathered that the Speaker sought and got executive permit to flood the house on Tuesday with armed policemen, agents of the Department of State Security, DSS, and civil defence, all in a bid to stop the sitting for fear of the inevitable: his impeachment.

    As early as 6:30am, a detachment of over 200 armed security agents with twelve Hilux vans were drafted and stationed around the assembly. The security men stamped their power on and cordoned off the main road leading to the assembly, forming vehicular and human barrier at the gate of the assembly.

    The power show of the police, DSS and civil defence impacted pains on commuters. Their action led to a traffic gridlock as vehicular movement on the ever-busy Minna-Suleja Road and adjacent linkages were brought to a crawl.

    The Clerk of the house, Mohammed Kagara, became the first casualty of the police power show. His arrival early at work was truncated at the gate of the house. He was politely told to go back. Even the production of his staff I.D card and disclosure of his status as the chief custodian of the assembly fell on deaf ears.

    By 9:28am, twelve law makers, led by Hon. Yusuf Kure, had a taste of the power show. A police officer told them they could not drive their cars into the assembly.

    Not deterred by the setback, the law makers decided to walk the 250-metre distance to the gate, only to meet a tougher power show. The House of Assembly Station Officer, Mr. Aaron Sunday, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, denied knowing the law makers. As a matter of fact, Sunday told the law makers he had orders not to allow anybody into the complex.

    After a fierce exchange between the police and the law makers, the security agents caved and allowed the law makers, staff and journalists into the complex.

    Their access to the complex left them with the reality of the absence of the Sergeant-at-arms and the Mace-in-the house symbol of authority. The Clerks appearance and later the Sergeant-at-arms gave hope to the law makers who were spoiling for war.

    No sooner the house settled for business, 19 out of 25 members exercised their powers and impeached the Speaker, Adamu Usman, deputy speaker, Hon. Abdulraham Bala Gambo, Majority leader, Hon. Haruna Labaran and Chief Whip, Hon. Abdullahi Lawal.

    The house also elected the proverbial “rejected stone”, Rt. Hon. Isah Kawu, as the 7th Speaker in the last eight years. Kawu was first elected and removed a week after in a “palace coup” allegedly bankrolled by the executive, only for the impeached Speaker, Usman, to run to the judiciary to stop his colleagues from sacking him. He got his prayers answered, but the court order granting him an interim injunction restraining his colleagues from impeaching him by the state Chief Judge, Justice Fati Lami Abubakar, got to the house about 10 minutes after sitting.

    Even when the police became wild and openly released tear gas to disperse the law makers, their resolve to stick to the impeachment remained unrelenting.

    Moves by Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu to put his executive power to test were deployed. He summoned the new principal officers for a meeting by Wednesday, with the hope of using his oratory prowess to beat the law makers to revert their decision. The law makers stood their ground, at least for once in eight years. They told the governor blatantly that his intervention was belated. The legislators also said further parley with the governor may not hold until security men who are still stationed at the complex are asked to leave.

    Aliyu was stunned by the unrelenting spirit of the members. It dawned on him that with the realisation of the enormity of the power the legislators have and their resolve to exercise it, he may be the next in the line for impeachment. He was gripped with fear and thus ran to the court.

    Unlike the impeached Speaker, Aliyu succeeded. He got Justice Idris Evuti of Minna High Court to impose the power of the bench to restrain the law makers from initiating his (Aliyu) impeachment. The judge fixed hearing of the motion for May 27th, a day to the end of Aliyu’s tenure.

    The judicial option by the governor fell flat on his earlier position that he was never a target for sack by the law makers. He boastfully told who ever cared to listen that the face-off was internal and had nothing to do with him. He said that he was not to be impeached because of the cordial relationship with the legislators.

    Hear him: “The impeachment speculation on me is false and should be treated as such. I have worked with the lawmakers, establishing and sustaining robust partnership to deliver dividend of democracy to people of the state since 2007.

    “I am not the target for impeachment in the crisis that erupted in the Assembly on Tuesday, which led to the sacking of the House’s principal officers, including the Speaker Adamu Usman.

    “Those parading themselves as new leadership led my Hon. Isah Kawu met with me to explain their action and pledged their continuous support.

    “Let me debunk speculation over the alleged impeachment threat against me. The speculation is sponsored by mischief and should be discarded for what it is. I have enjoyed robust relationship with the House and that has not changed.

    “The action of the House is internal and the decision to change leadership has no other ulterior motive than the change of leadership which they have allegedly done. Let me therefore call on my supporters within and outside the country to remain calm.”

    But one of his aides justified the legal option as only being pro-active. “The governor cannot sleep with a fire on his roof. The action is just to protect him from any unholy action by the legislators. If they can remove their Speaker, nobody can be spared,” the aide stated.

    Efforts to engage the royal influence on the law makers also failed in the on-going show of power in the “Power State”. On Thursday, an attempt to make a first traditional ruler and a retired military general to trouble shoot the power show also hit the rock.

    The show of power that has engulfed the state in the last six days may drag on till the end of this administration. The impeached speaker wants to continue to hold sway in the Alhassan Jikantoro House of Assembly, Kawu is not ready to relinquish the mandate this time around, while Governor Aliyu will do everything not to be humiliated out of office as the first governor to be impeached in the state.

    The only reprieve the people of the state have is that virtually all the dramatis personae will be off the political scene by May 29.

  • Gaya and Senate leadership question

    It is beyond accident that the recent change in power in Nigeria was so resounding. It came as a reflection of the wishes of the people as expected in a thriving democracy. Nigerians in their multitudes clamoured for change and change they got, effectively resting the reign of the People’s Democratic Party and in its place the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be inaugurated on May 29. But beyond the ritual of handing over power is the critical issue of delivering on its manifesto. So much have been promised and Nigerians are eagerly waiting to see the manifestation of the lofty promises made to them which we must acknowledge were clear premises for the election of the APC. And this is the challenge confronting the party: Is APC ready to deliver on its campaign promises or will the party go down as a huge flop? God forbid!

    The wave of support and enormous goodwill which brought it to power are just too important to be so deemed and with the leadership integrity and reputation of the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and other accomplished leaders, we should have a paradigm shift that could realistically birth a new dawn in our nation.

    What will count so much here is the sense of purpose by the APC leadership to see to it that it runs an efficient administration that can deliver on its manifesto as early as possible. The honeymoon won’t be that long! One major factor that will help the president and the party is the choice of men and women in critical leadership positions like the National Assembly and the executive arms of government. The prime position of the National Assembly in galvanising the needed support for the president not only in the passage of vital bills but also in the strategic mobilisation of its members and those in the opposition to support the executive is key.

    Still a crux: the filling of the principal officers of the National Assembly which must be done in a manner that can help the party to make its change mantra a possibility. For if caution is thrown to the wind in electing principal officers of the National Assembly for the 8th Senate and House of Representatives, that could send a wrong signal. It is a clarion call to all concerned that the jostling for positions of the principal officers in the National Assembly should be done to serve this onerous purpose above.

    Chapter 2 of the Senate standing rule states that “a senator re-elected into the chamber has preference over a member who is newly elected into the chamber.”

    Chapter II (2) of the same rule specifically remove any uncertainty about the status of senators in the chamber. The rule 2, sufficiently said, “the following order shall apply: (i) senators returning based on number of times re-elected; (ii) senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; (iii) senators elected as senators for the first time.” It is therefore not in contention as the rule states that only senators who have been returned based on number of times re-elected should form the nucleus of the leadership of the red chamber. The outgoing majority party held sacrosanct to this rule and was able to withstand the storm at its time of trials. It is therefore vital that the APC put its house in order so that it does present the nation with a senate that can really make a difference.

    Arguably, there is wisdom in the zoning formula for offices of principal officers in the forthcoming National Assembly but the struggle for the offices by some elected politicians debuting at the hallow chambers should be checked by the party.  The fear that engulfed the land when the party conducted its primaries but ended smoothly indicates that the party is mature in handling its internal issues. Thus as the office of Majority Leader of the APC is zoned to the North-West, the Senate standing order should be strictly applied.

    The Majority Leader characteristically sets the floor agenda and oversees the committee chairmen. It is obvious that it is not an office for new comers in the Senate. Much as debutant senators should be dissuaded, officers who have been in the house without record of major contributions in the past should also hands off their ambition for the office of the Majority leader. The effectiveness of the office now that the APC is taking over needs tested and experienced hands.

    In as much as I’m not holding brief for any senator, an argument I read in one of the dailies in favour of former governor of old Kano State, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya (Kano South) presented by Alhaji Ibrahim Sabon-Birnin, a leader of an NGO, League of Concerned Patriots (LCP), caught my fancy.

    Sabon-Birnin had argued: “As the senator representing Kano South, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya is aspiring for the office, the APC will only be justified for supporting him for his loyalty to the party and untiring effort to see that the party came into being. Affording him, the office of Majority Leader will enable him to give Nigerians their wish with specific regard to his ability, experience and his cherished workaholic nature.”

    As chief spokesman of the APC in the National Assembly, Senator Gaya would come to the job with the right moral upbringing, fine personality imbued with good character as a bridge builder, holding firmly both the Senate and the House of Representatives to ensure President Buhari can successfully navigate difficult courses and accomplish his agenda. This is very important. Senator Gaya has the pedigree without question. He was never an absentee senator but one devoted to duty.  His invaluable experience as a third term ranking senator should ordinarily be litmus test among the pack of possible  contenders because a fresher in the senate without the right experience in the upper legislature will be a misnomer with consequences for the president’s legislative agenda and many more. No other experience can ever be a substitute to this criterion. He has the attribute of being so shrewd in party discipline, collective responsibility, always there at the low and high moments for party and leaders. He has earned his trust and reliability spanning the last 30 years of political participation and due relevance.

    For those who are familiar with him and his antecedents, to say that Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya is a perfect match for the next Senate Majority Leader is to hit the nail on the head. Sabon-Birnin’s close look at the wise man is true. He has the wherewithal to provide effective leadership. A third term ranking senator, he has the calmness of thought, maturity and clear depth to be so considered not only in the pursuit of reason but also that of our national interest.

    • Olutomiwa writes from Lagos.

  • How Buhari can curb corruption

    The incoming administration won the election with the mantra of change and has aptly summarised the task before it as tackling the issues of security, economy and corruption. Since the conclusion of the presidential election, a lot of suggestions have been made on how to go about this. Most of these suggestions border on probe and recovering of what past government officials have stolen, and ensuring persons of proven integrity and probity are put at the helm of affairs in the new government. The president-elect has said public officers will be required to declare their assets.

    While these suggestions will give a sense that something is being done, it is not deep enough as to completely uproot the ghost of corruption and the danger that corruption poses to our corporate existence. Moreover the analysis and contribution so far has not identified the reason corruption thrives, persists or grows in our society and how we can remove it from our public life. If we can understand the nature or characteristics of corruption and what fertilizes it, then the solution preferred will fit the purpose. This is more so that we have always had probes, task forces to recover government property. In this process some people were caught, tried, indicted and thrown into jails.  Yet, corruption not only persisted but actually thrived. Solving this issue shouldn’t be a rocket science. If we can get a handle on the cause of this problem, it will be easy to solve.

    I visited a friend at a major federal ministry in Abuja sometime ago and we started discussing the issue of contract awards in the ministry. My friend told me that 75% of contracts was given to the top three persons in the ministry (the Minister, the Minister of State and the Permanent Secretary). 20% of the contracts was usually shared by the Directors in the Ministry and the remaining 5% will be made available to members of the public through the procurement Director.  The parastatals under the ministry must also reserve certain quota of contracts to their Minister or his nominees. At the state level, governors spend public funds as they please in utter disregard of financial regulations and the budget system. The state budget is worthless as an instrument for controlling public expenditure as some governors spend money in whatever manner they like and award contracts to only those who will bring back “returns” or to god-fathers and cronies.

    Governors give themselves what is called security vote to the extent that almost all the principal officers of government handle security vote which often runs into billions of Naira even when the states cannot pay salaries.

    The local government administration is far more worrisome. The money allocated to the local government councils never gets to them as the state government officials hijack the money under the guise of Joint Local Government Accounts. I am told that in some states, the local government is given just enough money to pay salaries and even deductions made in favour of primary education into the various state Primary Education’s Board never get to the primary schools; as all deductions are further taken out through phantom payments for contracts that don’t exist or for services that are never delivered.

    All these evil activities are perpetuated through friends, family members and several accomplices in the private sector that are always handy to help them funnel slush funds.

    Now what is the implication of all these? Projects execution is expensive. Goods and services paid for are not delivered. Money earmarked for projects diverted. Salaries of soldiers, police and other civil servants are either delayed or not paid for months on end. Roads are not built. Hospitals are not working. Public schools are virtually gone. Most of our young people have no jobs.

    Imagine defence money spent where contract for military hardware were paid for and not delivered or substandard ones delivered, how will our security personnel secure the country? It is the same reason that we are running our economy on mobile phones and generators. Our markets are filled with fake goods (building materials, electrical equipment, furniture, vehicle parts, cutleries, pirated books, clothing, drugs and even food to mention a few) from countries that don’t consume such goods or services. Most of these items hardly work and they break down immediately you put them to use because organizations saddled with the responsibility of controlling and checking standards are riddled with corruption.

    The relevant questions to ask at this stage are how did we come to imbibe this culture and accept this behaviour as normal? But more importantly how do we kick out this behaviour from our public life? Looking at our system, it is not that we do not have the laws or policies to curtail these behaviours but they are simply ignored. There is the rule of impunity.  These laws are observed in their breach. People saddled with enforcing the laws are the first to break them. Somehow people have accepted this as normal. So how do we deal with this?

    First thing is to convene a conference in the form and format of a truth commission to bring together public officers of the ranks of President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners and Permanents Secretaries, Local Government chairmen, Vice Chairmen, Directors of Local Government, Heads of other government agencies and parastatals, leadership of National and State Assemblies; the Judiciary, government contractors both local and foreign; private sector collaborators including but not limited to their friends and families to come and say something before the commission.

    The objectives and purpose of this conferences is for participants to explain their role in the management of public finance from 1999 to date, to amongst others determine the extent of leadership, management or systemic failure (s) within the period under review. The conference will enable the participants to see the linkage between their actions and the state of our economy and security and the victims they have created. This conference might establish the fact that if they had acted differently, unemployment would have been say 20% instead of 60%, power generation will be say 10,000 megawatts instead of 4000MW, infant mortality rate would have been reduced by certain percentage, public schools might not have been in its present comatose state etc. This is because from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2015 we have 16 years and taking our daily oil production as 2 millionbarrels per day at an average price of $50 per barrel, this will give a total earning of $586.6 billion dollars or  87.8 trillion Naira. The truth and reconciliation commission should establish how this money has been spent.

    Truth and reconciliation commission is often held where people fought bloody wars, where people have suffered persecution and oppression for a long time. But the situation in Nigeria: the agonizing poverty, the bleak future of young people who have been made to live without employment, the displaced people and victims of insecurity (insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery, trafficking in persons, prostitution etc.) are all consequences much worse than genocide.

    This kind of conference will make us to tell the bitter truth to ourselves and it is a strong signal that we are willing to unearth the stinking body of corruption for everyone to see. It is also a strong signal that whatever you do now, you will be called to account someday.  The outcome of the conference will be to give some people amnesty after they return part of their rip-off back to the state and if possible rehabilitated to join in the building of a new Nigeria.

    The advantage of this is huge; it will raise our public image as a country that we are serious about dealing with corruption head on and a country that is open for business as this will raise investors’ confidence. This will bring real and lasting investment to Nigeria. Instead of our leaders’ globe-trotting chasing elusive foreign investment, investors will find Nigeria a natural destination.

    Finally let’s educate. Create a curriculum to teach the effects of corruption in our schools to save future generation from its scourge. In all schools from primary to university, in churches and mosques, at the level of ethno-social groups, trade associations etc. this training should take place. People should be taught that they must be able to explain the source of the money they have. Remove all safe-havens that give rise to corruption at government, private sector and individual level. People must realise that income illegally acquired harm others and deprive the people a vital resource to develop their lives and their communities.

    • Obaro lives and work in UK as Governance, Capacity building and information technology specialist

  • Wale Olaleye, a laptop mercenary attacks himself, not Tinubu

    True journalist strives toward the ideal of objectivity.  A propagandist for hire writes whatever his paymasters deign is apt for him to write. When propagandist seeks to disguise himself as a purported journalist, the resulting work product is the tortured sculpture of rumor mongering posing as true fact and information. All in all, the ugly composition he creates cannot withstand scrutiny.  The venal nature of the culprit writer is more on display than the unproven faults of the intended victim.

    Wale Olaleye’s piece in Thisday of Friday April 24th, “Tinubu- an Asset and Liability”  will one day be the first lesson chapter in a manual entitled, “How Not To Be A Journalist.” Wale should ponder whether his boss truly cares for him.  No caring boss would allow someone to become an editor who himself   needs close guidance. Without strict adult supervision, Olaleye is prone to destroy himself by his very own words.

    At first the urge to dismiss Olaleye’s piece was dominant. Why respond to a piece sourced from the political black market by a willing journalist whose piece was so full of unchecked, false rumor that it could only have been the product of envy and malice. Why respond to an ill bred, uncouth and totally misguided writer who has turned journalism into a tool of both subtle and brazen blackmail?  Before Olaleye ever became a journalist or eventually rose to the position of an “editor” there were real journalists- well bred, disciplined and who never crossed the line between objectivity and obsession with whom they write about because they abhor his personality or politics.

    Thankfully, a few of our journalists and editors remain firmly planted on this ethical soil and are not self-serving and egoistic.

    Let me dismiss Olaleye’s rantings. The crux of his complaint is that I refused to grant him an interview with my principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He claimed that my refusal to grant interview access somehow offended the morals of journalism. His attempt to lecture me on journalistic ethics falls flat when one puts side by side his professional track record against mine. I am willing to stake that reputation against Wale’s.  If he checked more closely he would see that I am the Chief of staff and Media Adviser of Asiwaju Tinubu. I am not an employee of Olaleye or of Thisday.  It is my duty and obligation to help my principal make the most productive use of his time. It would be utter dereliction of duty if I subject him to being interviewed by someone with an ulterior motive. I have approved dozens of interviews for Asiwaju with both the domestic and foreign press. Our criteria have never demanded that you be an ally or pliant, but we do demand human decency and objectivity. On both counts, Olaleye fails miserably. Let him take his awful trade somewhere else. We do serious business.

    By writing his invective, Olaleye hoped to blackmail me to grant an interview. To disabuse him of this hope is the primary reason I write these piece. We stick to principle. Olaleye is a hireling of hidden paymasters with hidden agenda. He is not objective. His request remains denied, no matter how many unfounded rumors he publishes.

    Demonstrating steep hypocrisy, he then seeks to use my alleged breach of journalistic etiquette to excuse the more serious one he commits. In his piece, he engages in an unfounded tirade against Bola Tinubu.

    His work is the product of a lazy hand and a slovenly mind; it would not pass the most basic test for good reporting or investigative report and analysis. It is a long citation of alleged reports, unreliable and undisclosed sources, innuendo and illogical conjecture.  He makes Bola Tinubu into some omnipresent agency who is the most dominant factor in every political happening in the nation, large or small. Olaleye’s work is not one of political analysis; it is one of mythology and fiction gone awry. Wale’s write up is a meandering road of salacious falsehood, drunken tales and dubious claims. The attempt to sound authoritative in the false claims made is a journey in futility. Using a typical trait of insincere writers, he first gave scant, grudging praise to Tinubu’s exploits only, to cram the rest of the article with nonsensical analysis and false reports.

    Dear Wale probably did not dare re-read his work. If so, he would still be trapped in the labyrinth of lies he constructed to make this tale. Wale has descended into the abyss of unethical practice and needs urgent help.

    Wale has sold his journalistic soul. We hope what he received in return is worth the cost of the precious thing he has lost.

    We hope his masters are as pleased with his distorted efforts as he seems to be. Yet, he also should be courageous enough to drop the façade of feigned hurt and stop acting as if he is the guardian of journalistic etiquette. He was hired to do a dirty job and he did it. It is that simply. Ethics and defense of the profession and freedom of the press have nothing to do with it. In fact, the quality of the piece Olaleye submitted for public consumption is an embarrassment to the profession he says he loves so dearly. In reading the article one gets the sense of a man trying too hard to drape himself in sincerity so that the reader might be distracted from the craven substance of his efforts at character assassination.

    Olaleye represents the decadence in present-day journalism. He personifies the dangers ahead for the profession and the society. With the likes of Wale as an editor, no one is safe from character attack unless you pay the appropriate toll. He goofed on many things he wrote. And like a false prophet he huffs and puffs and blows empty words n a two-page tirade against Tinubu. He tripped so many times that one starts to wonder if he was just coming off some prescribed medication. Olaleye is a journalists easily besotted with power. His time in journalism is up. He should try a career in the dramatic arts by writing funny little plays or movie scripts. Wale is not an asset to the journalistic profession. He constitutes a liability.

    Tinubu’s contributions to building a modern Nigeria are well documented. Through the years, Tinubu paid the price and painstakingly worked with others to bring Nigeria to a new dawn. No amount of malicious writing can erase that.

    • Dare, Chief of Staff /Special Adviser,Media to Mr. Bola Tinubu

  • Why Gbajabiamila should be next Speaker

    In the Foreword to Hon Femi Gbajabiamila’s 2012 Political Memoirs entitled, Fearless; The Emergence of a Virile and Formidable Opposition Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had this to say: ‘’Femi is a highly respected legislator and leader in the House. He has earned his stripes by being able to adeptly craft a beautiful mélange of passion, compassion and courage of conviction in the way he brilliantly puts forward arguments and ultimately discharges his duties’’.

    In the same book, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal paid glowing tributes to his colleague: ‘’Femi is a stabilizer and a mobilizer and a very humble and true democrat who tackles issues dispassionately. Not only did he conceive the Speakership project, he nurtured it and worked tirelessly and assiduously towards its reality. His role transcended his role as the leader of the ACN Caucus in the House because he so much believed in it that he gave everything, time, money and commitment to its actualisation’’.

    Finally, Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN) has this to say of his professional colleague: ‘’Femi is very engaging on the floor of the House and pushes his cases very well. As opposition leader, he has shown a lot of strength. His rejection of the National Honours on grounds of personal principles must also be applauded’’.

    I had known Femi as a fellow member of the 2003-2007 set at the House of Representatives, especially for his doggedness and patriotism during the anti-third term struggle. I found Femi as I met him, brilliant, hardworking, a committed party man to the core and more humble than he has been painted by some critics.

    Bespectacled with his slightly greyish hair and his usual sartorial habit of a well-tailored suit, Femi cuts the image of a serious and smart lawmaker.

    Even before he became the Minority Leader in the House, the Gbajabiamila I knew when I was a member of the House was a very active lawmaker. His well thought-out and well delivered speeches could sometimes become highly emotional. Of course, he mastered materials quickly. The few times he had walked into a matter or debate on the floor of the House, his intellect and deep reservoir of knowledge had always come to play. His presentations during sittings are as finely constructed and powerfully argued as his set-piece speeches. So awe-inspiring and eloquent were his submissions that his colleagues including those on the other side of the political divide rarely had cause to grudge expenditure of time on them.

    As the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr. Omolori observed: ‘almost all his arguments and debates have a two prong approach; the moral and non-legal issues before methodically and painstakingly attacking the legal ones using extant law, rule books, common law, judicial pronouncements and the constitution’.

    Although a Minority Leader, Gbajabiamila has the uncanny ability to reach across to members of the ruling party during debates on matters of national importance.  He has the reputation for sometimes collecting over 100 signatures across party, ethnic and religious lines when moving a Motion or a Bill for adoption.

    Although it is generally agreed that a politician in opposition is free to play around with plans and proposals beyond the reach of those in government, Gbajabiamila is known to be considerate despite the often strident tone of his arguments.

    For politicians, loyalty to party (which in practice has to mean the party leadership) is the supreme morality. If this is the yardstick for measuring success, then Femi Gbajabiamila is right on course as a well-rounded politician.

    In his letter to members of the House of Representatives on why he should be allowed to succeed Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House, he among other issues referred to the January 2010 impending leadership vacuum created by the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua who travelled to Saudi Arabia for medical help under doubtful circumstances. Consequently, Gbajabiamila was the first and only legislator to move a motion on the floor of the House for invocation of doctrine of necessity that eventually led to elevation of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Vice President to Acting President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Gbajabiamila also turned down the national award of OFR conferred on him on the ground that the abused rewarding system in Nigeria needs reform first. His exceptional record saw him overwhelmingly re-elected in 2007 and elected as AC leader and Minority Whip of the House. In 2011, Gbajabiamila was re-elected ACN leader and leader of the opposition by his colleagues in the House. While in this position, he revived the role of opposition in the House and maintained a tough stance against the ruling party, PDP. He was the face of opposition not just in the House but the whole national assembly including the senate. On many occasions, he put his life at risk in his many attempts to hold the government of the day accountable. In this capacity he has also instituted lawsuits against the Federal Government most recently on appropriation without due approval from the National Assembly and the deployment of the Nigerian military during elections. Over the last 12 years, Gbajabiamila’s legislative focus has covered employee rights, local content in construction, industry, vocational schools, economic stimulus, interest-free students loans and constitutional reform among others.

    Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, chairman, Nigerian Human Rights Commission in his book review article entitled –  Beyond Politics; Civic Memory In Times Of Trouble observed thus; ‘’ The personality that emerges from a reading of Fearless, defies one word. To be sure, his work does justice to the title of the book. But there is more. It is the story of a man, his provenance, principles and politics. It is also the story of the son of a magistrate who would grow to become magisterial as a legislator; the son of a pioneering female politician who was willing to follow his mother’s foot-steps into public service and, in so doing also altered her political allegiances; of the son of a widow who has strived to never forget where he came from; of the lawyer who was not prepared to suffer on his advocacy skills the singular constraints of the court room even when his talents justly entitled him to the rich rewards that come with forensic distinction in the court room. It is also the tale of the Muslim from the South West married to the Christian from the Middle Belt. Above all, it is as well the tale of the citizen, loyal party man, caucus leader, constituency representative, and constitutionalist struggling to reconcile these often contradictory roles in the most difficult of environments’’.

    In my Preface to Gbajabiamila’s biography, I had this to say: ‘’ The various testimonies of former classmates, professional colleagues, party leaders, constituents, fellow legislators, friends and acquaintances have given the book a rich mix of different backgrounds and persuasions. The final product is therefore not only a book about Gbajabiamila but the historical analysis of Nigerian politics especially our nascent democracy. The book is a testimony of one of the leading opposition voices in a democracy where being in the opposition is vilified. With the strength of his contributions, the insight and the rigour of his debates, Gbajabiamila has been able to command attention traversing political lines and in the process earned for himself the healthy respect and sometimes objective criticisms of his colleagues.  A veteran of many fierce battles, in instances in which parochial interests are staked against the national interest, he has decisively intervened in favour of the latter.  For him, the overriding interest of the masses should not be sacrificed either on the altar of political expediency or in pursuit of a narrow selfish agenda of those who operate the levers of power.  Accordingly, his politics, character and vision has been informed and guided by this philosophy.

    As the famous British MP Ronald Cartland once observed; ‘No government can change men’s souls. It is the souls of men that change governments’.  A very prophetic statement for a very promising lawmaker who should be the next Speaker of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.

    • Okediran is a former member, House of Representatives, and former National President, Association of Nigerian Authors.

  • Imperative of new national paradigm

    The aftermath of the 2015 General Elections leaves our country with profound questions seeking urgent answers; questions ranging from how tenuous the woodwork of this collective edifice sustains to how variegated the fouled waters of our corporate existence appear. We cannot pretend that all is right; we cannot pretend that governance will sail pretty without national cohesion; we cannot pretend that the CHANGE we preached will not meet with despair if we do not etiolate the fires that raged during the campaigns; and we cannot pretend that all is well.

    We saw a campaign that was inundated with hate, a campaign that was replete with caustic diatribes, a campaign that snow-balled the deluge of dichotomies that litters this space; the dichotomies of creed, of clan, and of region dominated our politics. Debates on issues were in short supply, the prelude to March 28 and April 11 saw a Nigeria split effusively and profusely along the lines of ethnicity, religion and region. That the change movement prevailed at the polls compels a national task that must be handled as imperative and germane. We must heal the wounds and unite our peoples.

    The linchpin of the present challenge is a vibrant national orientation paradigm. We must above all emphasize the beauties of this enterprise. We must water the trees of patriotism. We must clear the bushes of ethnic distrust. We must level the mountains of religious fundamentalism. We must diminish the shrubs of partisan discord. We must etiolate the fires of the pre- and post-election angst. And we must coalesce at a place where Nigeria becomes the winner.

    Today our National Orientation mantra must soar beyond ONE NATION GREAT PEOPLE; we must begin to address the fundamentals of national integration, we must locate the cords that unite us and prize the jewellery that presents us as the hope of a continent in search of leadership. We must remember the halcyon beats of our history, we cannot forget that not only were we a nation of great wealth, we were the Big Brother to most African nations. We cannot overlook the realities of our history, and we must seek to replicate and surpass the great mementoes of our co-existence.

    I have worked my mind on the realities of history. I have discovered that most nations emerged like Phoenixes from the ashes of the Civil Wars that sought to immolate them to forge great symphonies of brotherhood and community. History is replete with statesmen who did not sulk over the pain of battle and the internecine conflagrations that traumatized their space, but who seized the moment and wove nations out of variegated seas of distrust and angst. We can yet do the same.

    I was born a year after the Nigerian Civil War, I did not meet three of my grandparents because they died during the War. I was suckled by the only one standing, Ma Christiana Nwanze my Mother’s mother. She did a marvellous job teaching me to love and to think. She was so forgiving that she saw nothing but a great Nigeria where the difference in creed and clan will count for nothing, where our strength will devolve on the well of our minds and the content of our character. She died at 92 never loosing that faith.

    She lived in the North before the 1966 pogrom, she returned home just before the Civil War, she lost her businesses in Northern Nigeria to the War but that did not stop her first daughter Aunty Justina my mother’s elder sister from making Funtua and later Malumfashi in Katsina State her abode and base for close to 30years after the War. I learnt from this the inviolableness of our togetherness. My Igbo brothers have made the North their home irrespective of the many pitfalls that rehearse the shortness of our National Orientation stratagem.

    Lagos is today a copious experimentation of our love for each other; we can replicate the same spectacle across the country. The shortcut to the nation we seek is to make patriotism our pride, wealth and job creation our passion, corruption our national foe, social security a collective challenge, and to make a rework of our national canvass an urgent imperative. Yes, we can together as a people create a Nigerian Dream, we can build a great nation where the prime is the primacy of lives and properties, where the summon bonum shall be the well-being of the masses, and the centre-point of our collective intercourse COUNTRY FIRST.

    I am not saying that we do not have cause to worry; I am saying that it is not sufficient to lose faith in the journey set before us. I am not saying that Nigeria has been fair to all, I am saying that we can make Nigeria a fair, just and an equitable enterprise. I am not saying that leadership has been responsible; I am saying that WE can make leadership responsible and responsive to all. I am saying that we can set forth to the Isle of Peaceful Co-existence when we make followership engaging and commit leadership to decorum and sincerity.

    We must create a national orientation network that must set out at dawn without hate or bias to unite all fair interests, and begin an overhaul of our collective morality where imperative. We must make noble values prime and celebrate patriots. We must lampoon quick fixes, corruption and villainy and hail hard-work and rectitude. We must salute dedication to service of fatherland and condemn any form of dereliction of national trust. We must create for posterity fabrics of reference, such that must confer honour on acts of heroism and patriotism. And we must create monuments of deterrence such that our nation must flee from fleece, sleaze and thieving.

    A national orientation praxis that seeks the reorientation of villains is germane, and the one that seeks to inspire the virtuous to continue the noble stride for the good of fatherland is imperative. I cannot be more hopeful that the incoming regime understands the urgency of now. We are here because we rode on the mantra of CHANGE; we cannot therefore sacrifice same at the altar of politics. We must fix square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round holes. We must as was promised the electorate create jobs, and kill corruption. We must ensure human capital development and improve national security. We must provide social security and more homes for the masses, and make real the promises of our 31-page manifesto. We must make true the promises of democracy.

    We are at that point in history where satesmanship latches in on the monumental goodwill it enjoys, we have an unequalled goodwill and as statesmen we must hit the ground running. We must in all that we do engrave the praxis NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL in our collective thought. We must wage the war against indiscipline and fight the good fight of faith. We must make Peace, Progress and Prosperity the Nigerian Dream and work for all that must guarantee this 3Ps.

    Countrymen and women, the fierce urgency of now is such that we must bury the hatchet, all hatchets and confront our fears. Do not forget that fear thrives only when False Evidence Appears Real, the truth is that the 54years plus of our nation is not all melancholic, we have a litany of highs and lows, and we must search the reasons for the lows, fix them and soar, whilst celebrating our highs. We must create a nation that shall truly surmount her differences and build the harmony that shall lead Africa to the top of the new world. Yes we can.

    In confronting the moment we must not be unmindful of the fact that the task before us is onerous, the faint will say monumental but the faithful must seize the moment and show the world what great people we are. I cannot be more confident that WE CAN because the body language of our President-elect assures us that things will be done differently. I cannot be more hopeful now that the mantra of CHANGE resonates. I am indeed positive that we shall set forth at dawn to do that which is needful and imperative.

    • Prof. Nwaokobia Jnr is Director General, Change Ambassadors of Nigeria (CAN).