The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Inside Akin Ambode’s mind

    ALTHOUGH he served in the Lagos State public service for 27 years rising to the peak of the mega city’s public service as a Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of the state, it is only lately that Mr Akin Ambode has hit the public spot light as a leading contender for the gubernatorial candidacy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 election. Of course, Ambode is only one of several worthy and competent aspirants seeking to fly the APC’s flag in Lagos come 2015. I was one of the anonymous guests at the recent public presentation of his book titled ‘The Art of Selfless Service’, which is a biographical account of his epochal public service career. Let me confess that I was not persuaded by the open endorsement of Ambode by the respected Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Rilwan Akiolu 1. I thought that Ambode’s rich academic pedigree and public sector management dexterity should be able to speak for him.

    This is not to say that Oba Akiolu’s endorsement is not a plus for Ambode given the immense clout of the monarch especially among the influential indigenous Lagos elite.

    However, it was while going through the 118 pages of the slim but powerful book that I encountered and was enthralled by the richness of Ambode’s mind, the quality of his philosophy of life and the depth of his commitment to his fellow human beings irrespective of tribe, tongue or faith. For instance, his reflections on his decision to quit the Lagos state public service at the height of his professional attainment, something quite rare in this part of the world, are most instructive and give an insight into the thoughtful and selfless Ambode persona. In his words on page 90 of the book, “I think you need to know what the story of your life is all about; what roads you have walked down, what victories you have won, those you have lost and what lessons you have learnt from victories and losses. You need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are and how they have shaped your life. You need to assess how many lives you have improved in whatever ways and how many you have empowered to be the best version of themselves, but above all, you need to know that your true value, your true wealth is measured not by the abundance of the material things you have gathered, but by the depth and quality of your humanity”.

    These are amazing reflections on the worth and purpose of life particularly within the context of our overly materialistic orientation which is responsible for the massive corruption and visionless governance that has

    led an otherwise richly endowed country like Nigeria into her current state of anomie. Without vision, it is said, a people perish. For too long we have been impoverished morally, spiritually and materially by leadership without vision; a leadership so absorbed with selfish personal aggrandisement that gives no heed to the public good. The great Dr Nnamdi Azikwe was inspired by the vision of an independent Nigeria, free from colonial bondage. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was motivated by the ideals of welfarism crystalized in policies such as free education, free health care and full employment for all. Mallam Aminu Kano was dedicated to the liberation of the talakawa from the oppressive feudal order of the north. Ahmadu Bello was obsessed with uniting the diverse peoples of the north and empowering them to catch up with the south in terms of western education and socio-economic development.

    What exactly is the vision, the guiding philosophy of most of those either elected or appointed to public office in Nigeria today? If our contemporary leaders were motivated by lofty ideals and selfless commitment to humanity, would our country be so pathetically hobbled by such monumental corruption as massive fuel subsidy fraud, kerosene subsidy scams, pension fund robbery, over $20 million oil revenue unaccounted for or a public officer spending over N10 billion on chartered flights in her junkets across the globe? And this within the context of mass poverty, pervasive hunger, decayed infrastructure, derelict health services, alarming unemployment, a virtually collapsed education sector and frightening level of insecurity. Here again, those who seek leadership positions can benefit from the following words of wisdom from Ambode: “It is so easy to focus solely on the self, its advancement and achievements and lose sight of everyone else, yes, even our most beloved ones. That makes us become so selfcentred that we turn into an idol that others worship and build their lives around. In the end we have no freedom but are bound by other peoples’ expectations of us. One becomes enslaved by one’s own egotistic appetite. The main task of life is to start early to find your concentric point of happiness and live your life around your happy settings, always having other people’s wellbeing in mind and living with integrity; every other thing that is good will attract itself to you”.

    For those who seek to lead us; who claim to offer themselves in selfless service for our common good, we must closely interrogate their vision and philosophy of life. We must compare their words with their lives and see if indeed they have over time walked their talk.

    One good thing about the Ambode book is that it contains interviews with several persons – men and women, high and low – who have worked with him over the years and they testify to a life that derives its happiness and joy from selfless service to others. But what exactly does Akin Ambode mean by selfless service? The answer is found in the prologue to the book (page xv) “…If we seek recompense for everything we do for others, imagine what we owe those who have done so much for us? Who can repay God for his manifold mercies that we enjoy every day; the air we breathe, the clean water we drink, the cool breezes that blow, the sky above, the earth below? Who can repay one’s parents for coming into this world? Who can repay those who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy?”

    •Oluwatayo Odunlami is a public affairs analyst.

  • INEC, FRESH and ‘go-and-die syndrome’

    REV. Chris Okotie’s recent article: Is Jonathan obstructing the Rule of Law? asked a pertinent question. By their statutory roles and functions, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Senate-the highest legislative body in Nigeria, are supposed to be the drivers of our democratic culture and mien. The Presidency, the arrow head of the polity must ensure that these roles do not overlaps; when they do questions such as those raised by Okotie becomes worrisome.

    They also are supposed to be law abiding and seen to live above board in matters that will foster the growth of our democracy. Sadly, these two institutions, INEC and the National Assembly, have been acting with utter disdain and contemptuous haughtiness, becoming the proverbial leech that sucks its own blood.

    To INEC, political power belongs not to the people but to the Commission. It holds the knife and the yam. To whom it wants to cut a piece, nobody questions its sagacity. To the rest-the flotsam and jetsam, they can ‘go and die.’ How else can one explain the refusal of INEC to obey the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction or the treachery and conspiracy of the Senate in giving vent to this illegality by seeking to amend the constitution and empowering INEC to deregister political parties that fail to win any seat in the Presidential, Governorship or Legislative elections.

    A brief prognosis of the matter would suffice here. In December 2012, INEC wrote in which it purportedly removed the name of Fresh Democratic Party from the list of registered political parties in Nigeria. Such objectionable action was surprising because then, INEC did not find anything against FRESH. Recall that the functions of INEC as contained in Section 15, Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) and Section 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) include arranging for the annual examination and auditing of the funds and accounts of political parties, and publish a report on such examination and audit for public information.

    INEC did not do this in the case of FRESH before the purported deregistration and as such did not find anything unworthy in the activities of the party except the flimsy excuse that it did not win any seat in the 2012 elections.

    However, this action was challenged by FRESH at the Federal High Court Abuja in 2012. In his judgment delivered on July 29, 2013, Honourable Justice G. O. Kolawole ruled that “…no arm of government or a body created by the Constitution or any other law, can by the exercise of whatever power granted to it, enlarge, curtail or amend the provisions of the Constitution including the provisions stipulated in sections 221-229 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.

    Undoubtedly, the implication is that the ruling declared the decision of INEC to deregister FRESH as a party invalid.

    As a democratic institution founded by the goodwill of Nigerians and funded by the tax payers money it was expected that INEC would either obey this judgment and restore the rights of FRESH party to participate in future elections or to appeal the judgment and allow the courts to have the final say.

    Sadly a year after, INEC has neither appealed this judgment,nor has it accorded FRESH the rights and political recognition that go with the legal status of a political party.

    Instead, the Senate in a most surreptitious and conspiratorial manner joined INEC in perpetrating and illegality when while voting on clauses in the amended Act, as contained in Section 68 of the Nigerian Constitution (1999), which concerns INEC’s management of political parties it recently voted in support of an amendment to the Electoral Act 2010, which empowers INEC to deregister political parties that fail to win any electoral seat in the country.

    The worrisome dimension in this matter is that the Senate President David Mark had in a reply to letter by FRESH, said the matter had been referred to the Constitution Review Committee. But days after, the Senate went ahead with passing the bill.

    It is obvious that INEC is playing a hide and seek game. First, it took some time before it could file a notice of appeal the court which in itself does not constitute a proper appeal. Then it denied that it was not aware of the judgment of the court even when the commission was represented during proceedings.

    Even after he has been served with the notice of the judgment, Jega and INEC are insisting that FRESH should file a fresh application for registration. Of what relevance is the new application? Does it obviate the judgment of the court? Does it make FRESH more ready now to win elections? Does it means that the earlier registration was done in error and that there are certain provisions of the law that the party did not meet with before it was registered and had existed for more than eight years before being delisted by INEC? Did INEC register FRESH in error or is it that INEC is not just happy that FRESH took recourse to the judiciary to correct what could be described as an injustice meted out to it and its members? These are questions that we may never find answers to.

    However, there are obvious reasons why the decision of INEC to deregister parties with the tacit support of the Senate is anti-democracy. One, it contradicts the 1999 constitution and infringes on the people’s right to freedom of association, which is enshrined in Section 40 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which states that “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of interests.”

    It limits voters’ choices and in that regard, disenfranchises them. Above all, it narrows the purpose and functions of political parties to the bread-and-butter concept as parties now exist for the sole aim of winning elections.

    This action will also encourage electoral fraud among the existing parties since they now understand that to remain relevant or avoid being delisted, they must win at least a seat whether through manipulative tendencies or through any other means. Elections will now become a do or die affair.

    There is still time for INEC to redress its steps and restore to FRESH all the rights and privileges accorded a registered political party to enable it participate in the coming elections. Only by so doing, can we really say that the commission is a lawabiding body.

    •Samson wrote from Ibadan

  • Between Malala’s diplomacy and child abuse

    After the departure of Malala Yousafzai, my interest is purely academic or if you like proverbial and philosophical. The good children of  South Africa fondly called the late iconic Nelson Mandela ‘tata’. Tata means ‘father,’ a worthy tribute to the first non-racial democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa. Mandela was globally acknowledged as the father of the nation and “a man who always had a great love of young people”. Very few world leaders had quotable quotes on children as the late Madiba. Out of the scores of Mandela’s sayings on the joy of children, yours truly searched in vain for Mandela’s words on where and when children are cynical tools for inconclusive shuttle diplomacy for good governance or diplomatic noise judging from Malala’s seemingly rancorous recent visit to Nigeria.

    By her own account, Malala Yousafzai, who was born on 12 July 1997 was here in Nigeria on her 17th birthday for “a price which is to see that every child goes to school” in Nigeria.

    Pray how much price will a 17-year old who barely two years ago, in the Swat District of Pakistan, precisely on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, escaped a gunman’s man bullet in her school bus because of her activism for all inclusive education in Taliban enclave?

    On May 9, 2002, Nelson Mandela at a Luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan at the special session of the UN for Children, New York City observed that “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”

    As a Nigerian, something tells me that history might not judge us nicely that (obviously for the worse) we made Malala Yousafzai to pay another price by marking her 17th birthday mediating between the chieftains of hashtag #BringBackOurGirls” and officials of Jonathan presidency. The truth is that she was out of school just as the Chibok girls, albeit for different reason and certainly at sharply varying places; Malala doing anything but reading at a double digit star hotel in Abuja and Chibok girls at Allah-knows-where. Of course, no solidarity is too much to put pressure of Nigerian government to intensify its efforts to return over 200 Chibok school girls who were abducted on April 14, while writing examination. However a solidarity from Malala who herself ordinarily deserves our solidarity, an additional price such as abandoning her studies in God-knows-where for making a case for some girls to be in schools in Nigeria is one solidarity bordering on child abuse. Nigeria certainly has its fair share of child labour notwithstanding the fact that we have ratified ILO Convention No. 182 which prohibits the worst forms of child labour in 1999. The recent uncritical exposures of Malala to critical issues of governance such as rescueing abducted girls, discussing budget allocation to education and even resolving disputes between Nigerian government and the civil society activists adds to our child abuse profile. No thanks to Malala’s father who escorts his daughter during the holy month of Ramadan thousands of kilometres away  from his ward’s school engaging in a televised diatribe with a Minister of Education over a budget allocation in a country in tropical Africa.

    Again the late sage, Mandela reminds us that the “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children”.  Reading Malala revealing interview that her objective this year as part of her birthday was “….to speak up for my Nigerian sisters about 200 of them who are under the abduction of Boko Haram”  and  that she “met …President Goodluck Jonathan for this purpose” amounts to an unfair overload for a 17-year old yet to complete a college. Some fathers do have them! But that is far from being a worthy parenting!

    Africa is notorious for child soldiers. Paradoxically out of the some reported approximately 200,000 child soldiers in Africa in 2008, none came from Nigeria. Let nobody import a diplomatic child-soldier to Nigeria!

    Ama Ata Aidoo, is a Ghanaian writer who once remarked that: “It’s a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.” Certainly President Jonathan as a possible grandfather could not have been said to be afraid of a Malala. But the ease with which we were eager to render account to her beats imagination.  I refuse to accept that a mention of Malala is the trigger to an instant  Presidential accountability wisdom  in a democratic Nigeria that has bicameral parliament yet to be briefed by the  President on where the missing girls are. Witness the President to Malala; “We appreciate your efforts to change the world positively through your powerful advocacy for girl-child education,” . And witness the damning remark of a Malala, the daughter and even grand daughter about Nigeria; “My father and I and the entire family want to speak out for those 10.5 million children who are out of school. They have no access to education because of many problems. And I am hopeful that the international community will take serious action because if we think this country is in Africa and is not going to affect other countries, we are really wrong. If we leave 10.5 million children illiterate, these children can become terrorists, they can be violated and they can be deprived of their basic human rights, at the end they will not be able to help their country in developing. So if we want the whole world to be successful, it is important that every child should go to school. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, only 1.5% of the budget is spent on education which is a small amount compared to Pakistan which has increased its own to 4%. “.

    It is debatable if a foreign head of state had talked at Nigeria as Malala did, there would not have been a legitimate diplomatic row. Former America Seceretary of States, Hillary Clinton in the 1990s popularized the Yoruba proverb according to which “It takes a whole village to raise a child”. The received wisdom of the Yorubas (no less Hillary Clinton”s popularization of it) never for once envisage that we can raise a  child ( read; Malala ) the way we have indulged her in recently. Or better put, nobody would have imagined that a Pakistani under-aged girl whose father-aide was born nine years after Nigerian independence and at the 12th birthday  of President Goodluck Jonathan would audaciously claim to be unacceptably raising a village (sorry; a Republic called Nigeria).

    • Aremu,mni, writes from Kaduna

  • A ride with Aregbesola 

    If anything, his efforts deserve to be applauded, and if Nigeria must develop quickly, men of ability and substance must never shy away from throwing their hats into the political ring just like what Ogbeni Aregbesola has done” – Quoted in the author’s Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (In the footsteps of Chief Obafemi Awolowo) Page. 105.

    It has been said in several quarters that Ogbeni Rauf  Adesoji Aregbesola is the greatest positive thing that has happened to the people of Osun State, since he was sworn in as the Governor on November 27, 2010.

    This fact above manifested clearly again when I visited the state recently. It has been said correctly too that, no one leader or sitting governor of the State of Osun has won the hearts of the masses overwhelmingly like Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, since Osun State was created out of Oyo State on August 27th, 1991.

    Fact is sacred! When Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola invited me to join his campaign team to Ede, perhaps for me to see things for myself, I was excited to make the trip with him. What I saw as we made our way to Ede and when we got to Ede proper exceedingly warmed my hearts. It warmed my hearts because my more than two years research into the activities of Aregbesola which has manifested into a recent book on him, has turned out to be a worthy and well deserved venture.

    What I saw in Ede has equally complimented the fact that Aregbesola’s idealism and fiery temperament has given hope to many who have hastily flocked to his train of political redemption. This man is absolutely sincere with power and what he has done and what he still hopes to do is visible for any one that visits Osun State to X-ray.

    Indeed, what I saw on our way to Ede clearly displayed that Ogbeni Aregbesola has attracted the attention of the lowly, the humble and the multitudes that have seen hope in his political proclamations. As we made our way to Ede, school children of all grades ran out of their school compound to shout and cheer Ogbeni; on their faces one could see exceeding joy and satisfaction.

    After all, Aregbesola is feeding them with hygienic food and clothing them as they go to school every day, using his popular programme of O’MEAL (reserved for pupil of between primary one to four). Women and men of all shades and the elderly people trooped out to dance and sing the praise of Mr. Governor of Osun State and waved the flags and broom of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as the Governor’s convoy drove slowly towards Ede.

    As we moved closer to Ede, the entire town suddenly rose up to welcome Aregbesola’s campaign train. I will never forget the experience. People were recklessly cheering, dancing and singing on the streets. What awaited us at the palace of Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Lawal was quite unique. The mood at the palace was indeed emotionally irresistible as the orgy of celebration was total. The crowd that had gathered within the palace listened attentively and enthusiastically as Aregbesola addressed them on why they should return him to power on August 9.

    The mood at the Seventh Day Adventist High School, Ede, venue of the Ogbeni Aregbesola’s re-election campaign rally was ecstatic, as people of all colours, the aged and the young, poor and the rich danced uncontrollably as Governor Aregbesola rode in .The spontaneous emotional outburst that gripped the venue of the campaign rally reached crescendo as Aregbesola made his way to the podium.

    When Aregbesola said  “Our administration has treated the various political districts equally without sentiment…What we have done in less than 40 months, surpassed what they did in seven years both in quantity and quality”, he was saying nothing but the truth.

    I indeed saw completed township roads in Ede and the inhabitants were happy with Ogbeni. It is clear without any shadow of doubt that Aregbesola came prepared to lead the people of Osun to the glorious next level. Ten kilometre of roads are being constructed in every Local Government Areas of the State of Osun. The crowds in Ede were simply very large. The man is popular!

    On Monday July 7, a day before the mega rally at Ede, Aregbesola commissioned the Ayegbaju Modern International Market in Osogbo. I have reliably gathered that a replica of this gigantic market will soon appear in all the senatorial districts of the state. There is something about the Ayegbaju Modern International Market, that I have not seen anywhere in this country before.

    The Ayegbaju market, apart from the massive size of land it occupies in Station road Osogbo, has facilities like Hotels, Medical Centre, Banks, a Mosque, Church, Filling Station, Police Station, and Car Park etc. It will be a miracle of the century if Iyiola Omisore, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Osun 2014 Governorship election wins the race on August 9? The phase two of the market is presently being constructed.

    With what I witnessed on Tuesday July 7, in Ede, and what I have seen on the ground in terms of honest pragmatic implementation of formulated policies like Opon Imo (Tablet of knowledge) O’MEAL, O’Schools, O’TOURS, O’AMBULANCE, re-classification of schools, Agba Osun (scheme for the elderly), O’YES (Youth Employment Scheme), O’REAP etc, Aregbesola will clinch the baton of re-election on August 9, in the State of Osun.

    Apart from Ede, the tumultuous crowds that normally trooped out to welcome Ogbeni wherever he goes on a campaign tour, is an indication that the man is the tribune of the silent majority in the state of Osun.

     

    • Nowinta, wrote Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (In The Footsteps Of Obafemi Awolowo)

  • Ambode … a heart for the poor

    Volumes have been written, discussed, rumoured and learnt about the man Akinwunmi Ambode, a passionate public service treasure who, to quite many, came into limelight when he rose to serve meritoriously as Accountant General of Lagos State in 2005. Yet, a lot of people still need some lecture about the actual essence of this iconic figure.

    Many in his ilk are not easily given to making noise about their achievements, even though such deserve outstanding mention in history books; they prefer to remain literally in the dark and do more in contributing more to making mankind better that they met it. This accounts for why I have kept my lips sealed while many tried to unveil the little they know about Akin – as many are wont to call him.

    From what many of us knew about him – either in Epe, his Lagos country home, in the city or outside the country – one fact remains indubitable: Describing him is like describing an elephant. Your description depends on the part of the animal you stand, see and observe.

    Beyond being an astute financial resources manager, Akin is an avid believer in the school of thought that sees the welfare of man as the focal point of every human endeavour. And this is one vital aspect of him that has remained shrouded in secrecy to those who unfortunately, have not had the privilege of getting close to him.

    Back in his salad days in Epe, young Ambode was obsessed with sharing his meals, however meagre, with friends. Yes, he would not hide and eat alone at a corner in his parents’ confines, thanks to his upbringing by a parentage that was, from foundation, rooted firmly in selflessness.

    His later father, though a teacher, whose proverbial reward was “in heaven” then, was said to have endeared himself to virtually everyone in the community with his trademark penchant to part with whatever he had – money, shoes and cloths inclusive.

    Can anybody correctly estimate the number of sons and daughters of needy families that have been enjoying his scholarships and sundry other forms of his philanthropy? I doubt if there is any!

    A friend once jocularly told me when he was Managing Consultant/CEO of Brandsmiths Consulting Limited, a public finance and management consulting outfit with remarkable marks in public sector administration, he threw his doors ajar for even the wretched of the earth, to the extent that he felt within him that Akin signed a pact with God to spend his life sharing love with the less-privileged. Certainly not for him the ongoing crazy inclination towards acquiring wealth that has continued to threaten human existence especially in our dear land.

    Though not a politician in the pedestrian sense of the “title,” Akin, from all available indications, seems to share in the immortal contention of the renowned sage, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (GCFR), the welfarist lawyer-born politician that “Politicians are born, not made. Anyone who has not the stomach for the railings of the masses but who is only interested in their occasional hosannas has no right into public life.”

    Another politician of the welfarist fold cum business giant, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of blessed memory, once disclosed why he was head over heels in “blind” love with the poor all his life. He had clarified: “I know the music that plays in the belly of the hungry; it is usually unpleasant.”

    Akin’s best of friends, as I have seen in the attitude of the accounting czar, are those who would not hesitate to sacrifice an eye to see that the hoi polloi around them are rescued from the morass of want, oppression and exploitation.

    “What is the essence of somebody amassing all the wealth he can lay his hands on, build countless empty houses with innumerable posh automobiles which, for months, remain useless in garages when millions don’t know where the next meal would come from?” He once asked at a gathering in New York. It was back in the later 90s.

    It can be truly said that by birth, Akin and I share no relationship; neither did I attend St. Jude’s Primary School, Ebute Metta, Lagos Mainland, Federal Government College, Warri and the University of Lagos with him. But it is a naked truth that he has proved to be the epitome of altruism, which should be an overriding pre-occupation of the well-heeled few amidst us today.

    It is perhaps understandable that the heavens went jubilant recently when the rumour filtered out that the Epe homeboy would likely throw his hat into the ring for the forthcoming governorship contest in the state.

    Even since, the thrust of virtually every political discourse on the topic has been hinged on some posers: If the All Progressives Congress (APC), in its wisdom, fields Ambode, who and who are the other parties likely to field against Ambode in the election? Do they have the clout to face him given his “intimidating” credentials, especially as a tested and trusted public servant?

    Many keen observers have since been quick to submit with some modicum of reliability that it would not only be foolhardy for any aspirant, however rich, to enter the ring with the quintessential servant, but it would amount to sheer waste of resources and precious time on his part.

    “The gladiators among ardent lovers of continuity in the ongoing development and all-round prosperity of Lagos State will likely queue behind Ambode for what he represents to discerning minds. He is a man with Spartan self-discipline and legendary penchant for the upliftment of his world, especially his fellowmen. Lagosians are too wise to allow any opportunities to have Ambode serve them with his God-given endowments pass them by,” an observer once said.

    Even to the doubting Thomases, it is crystal clear that in the past 15 years, those who have been steering the ship of the state have placed it steadily on the super highway of unbroken forward match. It will be too calamitous of a risk to allow an amateur driver to swerve the ship to the often congested traffic lane to force that hand the state’s development back.

    Here, I strongly believe, lies the strength of the inclination of those who tenaciously believe that Akin Ambode is the man who can judiciously wield the baton of sane leadership after incumbent Governor Babatunde Fashola in the interest of Lagosians.

     

    • Williams writes from Surulere in Lagos

  • Bridges and cost of democracy

    On January 4, 1966, the then Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa(1912-1966) commissioned the Onitsha/AsabaBridge popularly called the Niger Bridge. It was his last engagement outside Lagos.

    The bridge which was built by the British, cost £5millions at that time. The then Prime Minister was accompanied to the commissioning ceremony by the then Federal Minister of Works and Survey, Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (90) and the then Premier of Mid-Western Region, Chief Dennis ChukwudiOsadebeh (1911-1994) a poet and journalist who was also from Asaba.

    The then Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonkura Okpara (1920-1984) who was from Umuahia in the present Abia State and who at 39 was the youngest premier at that time, boycotted the ceremony. The ceremonial governor of Eastern Nigeria at that time, Dr. Akanu Ibiam(1906-1995) from Uwanna, Afikpo, in the present day Ebonyi State also boycotted the ceremony. There was a political crisis at that time between NPC and UPGA. The three men, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Chief Osadebe and other officials paid toll on the bridge. Eleven days later, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was murdered.

    Now 48 years after the ceremony, the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has flagged off the construction of another second bridge to link Asaba with Onitsha. The second bridge is to cost N200 billion and would be constructed by Julius Berger/AIMS Consortium under the Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer Model. The design alone cost N325million under the Public Private Partnership Policy.

    The Niger Bridge has obviously become old with frequent complaints by motorists and experts who believe that regular vehicular traffics and heavy duty trucks amongst others and indeed old age now causes the bridge to become a trap. Most of the nuts and bolts used by the British colonial government cannot be found anywhere in the world because they have become obsolete.

    That another second bridge is being constructed 48 years after, speaks volumes about our National Planning. Asaba and Onitsha are not just ordinary cities. Onitsha became an important trading port for the Royal Niger Company in the mid-1850s following the abolition of slavery and with the development of the steam engine when Europeans were able to move into the hinterland trade in palm kernels and palm oil which was going on the coast of Bight of Biafra since 12th century was now moved upwards and other cash crops also boomed around this river port in the 19th century.

    Onitsha has become today a big commercial, educational and religious centre. It ranks with Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Kano as commercial nerve centres of Nigeria. Regrettably Onitsha is a textbook example of the perils of urbanisation without planning for public services. It can boast of  a brewery valued at $110 million, a Catholic Cathedral as large as the one in the Vatican in Rome, and an Anglican Church as beautiful as that of my church, Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos. There is a reason for that. The Anglican was the first missionary in Onitsha in 1857. Later came the Catholics in 1884. As of today there is a competition for audience between the Catholics and the Anglican in Onitsha.

    When General Ibrahim Babangida (73) created Delta State – the BIG HEART on August 27, 1991 and named Asaba the capital, there were demonstrations in some part of Delta State. He was alleged to be partisan because his wife Maryam Babangida(1948-2009) was from Asaba. Only General Babangida can defend himself on that. But if a wife cannot influence certain decisions of her husband, not all decisions, then that wife is not fit to be a partner in a marriage.

    Of all the powers in the world none is more powerful than pillow talk, that is, night talk between a wife and a husband. The power of a woman is unlimited. That is the way it has been, and that is the way it will continue to be. And as we all know, General Babangida was a loving husband until his wife died in a Los Angeles hospital, California on December 27, 2009. As for Asaba, it is not just a city. The city has been important long before Maryam Babangida was born. As a matter of fact the naming of Asaba as Delta State capital has today become a big burden to the good and highly industrialised people of Anioma with nine local governments out of 25, in their quest to have their child as governor of Delta State. It is to be hoped that one day Asaba will be accepted by all and sundry in Delta state, as their own state capital.

    Asaba is strategically located on a hill at the Western edge of the River Niger. The historic River Niger is a trans-African link beginning from western, eastern and northern Nigeria through the River Niger from the north and via the Asaba Niger Bridge, an east-west link and a Nigeria landmark. Asaba lies approximately six degrees north of the equator and about the same distance east of the meridian; about 100 miles north of where the River Niger flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Asaba occupies an area of about 300 square kilometres. It maintains an average tropical temperature of 90 degrees during the dry season and an average fertile rainfall of six inches during the rainy season.

    Asaba was once the colonial capital of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate. It was founded in 1884. It hosted the Royal Niger Company, which the British authorities set up to stimulate trade and the exportation of goods to England. That company has grown today into the UAC Nigeria PLC. Its traditional ruler is the Asagba, Dr. Joseph Chike Edozien of American education background.

    Be that as it is, we have not given special favours to the people of Asaba and Onitsha or indeed the whole of South-east and South-south, if we today construct a second bridge to link Onitsha and Asaba. By now there should have been three bridges on that river. Also by now we should have started the construction of a standard bridge to link Agenebode in Edo state to Idah in Kogi State, two towns overlooking each other. Vis-à-vis there should have been four bridges across Lokoja and same to Jebba. If anything happens to the Jebba and Lokoja bridges, the North will be cut off from the South.

    We can build bridges, construct roads, hospitals and many more if we want to and that is if we reduce the cost of governance.

    Our own democracy must rank one of the most extravagant and exorbitant democracy in the world. Our economy cannot sustain it any longer. If we are to uphold and endure this democracy then we have to sacrifice the execution of capital projects inclusive of construction of bridges. Our prodigal and spendthrift attitude is killing the economy and hurting our chance of survival. Imagine how much we are spending on the National Assembly, National Conference, Presidential fleet, seminars, oil subsidies, presidential and gubernatorial aides, etc.

    Apart from insurgency which we can’t find solution to in spite of external help, the greatest danger to our democracy is the high cost of governance. We can’t continue this way any longer.

    Charles Loius Secondant, the Baron de Montesquieu wrote that “the deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded”, while Confucius wrote” In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of”.

     

    • Teniola, a former director at the presidency lives in Lagos.

  • Impeachment gale: Return to democratic wilderness

    Finally, the first governor under the auspices of the Jonathan-led civilian administration has been impeached. The elephants who won are celebrating; the elephants who lost are quiet, while the familiar grass, never in the picture whenever the evil plot is hatched, remains in the backyard of the country, staring bleakly in abject and institutionalised solitude. One must start by saying that democracy as a system of government is not new to Nigeria, save that in the last 50 years, those who have managed the country have not learned any meaningful lesson, those who are currently in charge have stubbornly refused to learn any lesson, and the people who should challenge this microscopic few and either force them to learn those hard lessons or be thrown out of power, have been maniacally robbed of their capacity to do so by long years of systematic and careful politically programmed agenda promoting mass illiteracy, poverty, nepotism, ethnicity and in the extreme case, blind greed.

    From the time the British colonialists surreptitiously abandoned the government and the people of Nigeria in the hands of their cronies in the then fading colonial enterprise, the Nigerian Project has continued along a familiar line of history. Thus, while the helpless and apparently orphaned nation did continue to change hands, with each change having about the same set of characters reshuffling themselves under different guise, each of this set of ruthless beneficiaries of the British imposed confusion, made sure they left the country worse than they met it, and each made sure the same familiar history their unkind parents told them of how the country was run aground, was successfully retold by them.

    To start with, it is familiar history that after the then Northern People’s Congress (NPC) came to power in December 1959, on the wings of its clandestine deal with the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), the final question to determine the political future of the infant Nigerian State, was whether the then federal powers in Lagos, would be ready to tolerate any major opposition in the next General elections. It became evident very early that the then ruling government, was in no mood for such and this it evidenced by immediately setting to work to discredit and destroy the opposition. To achieve this, it found willing hands by which it immediately engineered serious crisis in the then Western region via the Western House of Assembly. The crisis was yet to simmer when the elephants who supposedly won that fight coasted home to victory in the 1964 General Elections. As it is said, those who sow the wind are condemned to reaping the whirlwind. Thus, was it that before the winning elephants could settle down to savour the supposed gains of their stolen victory, they were unceremoniously thrown out of power, through the barrels of the gun. And so the First Republic ended in wanton disgrace. Ordinarily, anyone would have thought this would be enough lessons for any right-thinking society, but like it is said, when a people fail to learn from history, they are bound to repeat it.

    In a familiar move, as the announcement of General Elections was made in 1978 as a prelude to the Second Republic, the disgraced men of 1966 quickly regrouped under different banners. Again, like a cat with nine lives, the NPC-NCNC marriage of 1959 resurfaced under a new brand called the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). With no clearly significant or manifestly prosperous manifesto, the NPN grabbed powers on a self-styled misrepresentation of 12 two-thirds votes of the people, who apparently may not even have been able to understand the then big grammar of the constitution. As it was the case in the 60 to 66 episode, these political gangsters looted the country to the bone, pilfered the treasury to ruins, and turned their fatherland to a beggarly nation.

    The NPN took off from where the NPC-NCNC hung its boots of intolerance in 1966, and sought to destroy the opposition. Again, a massive crisis was engineered in the Western region, through willing hands in the then Ondo-State and at the end, 1966 was simply rehearsed and repeated, as the elephants that claimed to have won in a landslide, were thereafter again thrown out of power in a gun-slide.

    Then came 1999. The remaining NPN unspent warlords, not minding the disgrace of the Buhari-Babangida-Abacha trio, who made sure they were reduced to the status of errand boys, only fit to lick the boots of the military all the way from 84 to 98,  still emerged as the overnight moneybags, who stood as potential bidders for the May 29 electoral process. Thus, again Nigeria’s electoral fortune was effectively nipped in the bud, while the country was safely put in the pockets of the old gang. Where some had been forced into retirement, they simple replaced themselves with their foreign-trained sons and daughters, who go about huffy and puffy in their American accent talking, not forgetting to tag their father’s name to their maiden name. The old political cargo and their new found friends in ex-generals quickly arranged themselves in different spheres of power, each quietly grabbing whatever he can, with the other looking the other way. As long as the cake is enough to go round, no quarrel is sure to be heard. A few instances, where disgruntled faction made to open the can of worms, it was quickly treated as a family affair and a deal brokered.

    To secure this treasure chest, which ceaselessly flows from dirty oil money unaccounted for, history is consistently overlooked, commonsense habitually cast into the bin, and federal power is deployed to destroy whatever opposition may try to rear its head to challenge the status quo. Crisis of different fashion is plotted and seed of confusion is sowed consistently. After all, as the rulers reason when confusion is everywhere, name-calling become easy and it effectively in favour he who has the largest machinery to succeed better in name-calling. He has all the control of the Military, the Police, appoints nearly all Heads of anything that matter and controls the largest chunk of the available wealth, can easily cause confusion and claim that the weaker party is trying to make the country ungovernable.  And since the people are hardly that well-educated, once a lie is repeated to their hearing over and over again via federal power propaganda; it sooner than later becomes the truth to them. They defend it as Transformation Ambassadors or pay for paid adverts as Protectors of Nigeria’s democracy and sometimes they claim that claim that those who are for them are far more than those who are against them.

    For anyone, who is right-thinking, the Nyako impeachment did not come as a surprise. Verily too, whatever plot may be in the works against Al Makura is not going to end up as something new. Such events only represent a familiar chain of transaction when ruthless politicians seize the soul of a nation. It doesn’t matter what Nyako did or did not do, that counts for nothing when federal power decides that grabbing power in your state is a matter of do or die.  Those who sponsored Nyako’s removal are not unknown, just the same way those who sponsored the removal of Adegbenro in 1962, were not unknown. They are in the seat of power in Abuja. After all if Nyako had remained in PDP, giving strength to the PDP number, no matter what his offence may be, it would simply have been treated as a family affair.

    But that is Nigeria’s familiar story, a story of history ignored, history repeated. A story of the worst governing the best.

    If the same grounds that were used to impeach Nyako, were to be taken as valid, should those who sponsored Nyako’s impeachment not have been removed a long time ago? It is settled in Law, that the greatest impeachable offence any President can commit is to grossly violate the Constitution he so swore to uphold and protect. Yet, this has been a celebrated and recurring decimal under the current administration, with not as much as a whimper. Not only has the current administration violated the constitution so manifestly, it has nonchalantly corrupted itself with arrogated power that it does not have, consistently making the country a laughing stock in the international community. Yet, these acts remain permanently under the carpet, in a high-powered desperate political conspiracy to actualise 2015 at all cost. This is what happens when desperate politicians have learnt no lessons and do not have the capacity to learn any. They care less about the number of evil plots they can commission to remain in power, as long as they can take flight once the ship capsizes.

     

    • Adegbite, Esq. is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

  • Tobacco profiteers and our children

    When the legendary Nelson Mandela made his famous quote ‘there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children,” he most likely had the humanity-indicting apartheid system in mind. Were he alive now and a Nigerian, he would have replaced the last strand of the sentence with ‘the way in which it allows the tobacco industry, merchants of death, to toy with the lives and destinies’ of its children.

    This becomes more pertinent as the question of whether tobacco should continue to exist as a consumable product alongside our glistening civilization, continues to bug us all. This also rears up on the heel of the recent public hearing on the National Tobacco Control Bill at the House of Representatives.

    Some of the core issues of the bill bordered on ‘Prohibition of Tobacco Advertising, Promotion, and Sponsorship’ (Article 13 of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control a.k.a FCTC). This piece will also focus on the aspect that pertains to marketing to minors, and one that has remained a thorny issue. No doubt, advertisement remains the core of marketing communication dating back to the days of yore when the beating of gongs to attract the attention of our folks in rustic communities to the present when our market women’s voices remain their invaluable asset. And, for an industry whose stock in trade remains cunningly convincing vulnerable consumers to be stuck for life with buying and consuming a product which sickens and ultimately kills them, deceptive advertisement remains at the core of the tobacco industry, and if allowed, they would do all they can to ensure that they retain that pattern, grave implications or not. Note the ugly statistics: half of current tobacco users will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease!

    Yet, even more repulsive, the tobacco industry deliberately targets young, impressionable persons with attractive messages, labeling, catch-phrases and youth-oriented events (sponsorships) such as sporting, musical and fashion shows. A panacea proffered by the current bill is to place comprehensive ban on all tobacco marketing, sponsorship and peg the age where youths can legally purchase tobacco products at 21. Existing researches already prove the relationships between point of sale advertising and displays, and increase in smoking among young persons. Closely related to this is the recommendation for an end to sale by sticks so as to limit access to tobacco products by young people (who most times may not afford buying by packets). It is a well known fact that the use of hard drugs and other dangerous substances are usually preceded by the use of cigarettes especially with the young and restless. Many young people, having access to the cheap, ubiquitous cigarettes, with their systems laden with nicotine and yearning to attain  more ‘highs’, easily ‘graduate’ to those substances. It is then necessary to limit this easy access and prevent that dangerous possibility.

    Even with this indicting finds, Big Tobacco continues to target the lungs of young people, indeed young Africans. It is an open secret that due to stringent legislations in Western countries, the bulk of tobacco marketing has shifted to the developing nations and Nigeria is one of the topmost ‘customers’ of tobacco multinationals. In their crooked logics, they would need to replace their lost grounds, replace the dying populations of addicted smokers (many already down with tobacco-induced cancer, heart diseases and other terminal ailments) in the West with young, agile persons here. With current trend which shows that one billion sticks are smoked in Nigeria annually, we are already contributing casualties to the six million lives which the WHO says are killed every year due to tobacco use. Saying therefore that a large percentage of our promising youngsters are represented in that grim statistics is simply an understatement. Think of a soulless business and the tobacco industry comes to mind!

    Indeed, so angered are governments all over the world with ‘Big (‘Damaging) Tobacco’s contribution to degeneration of public health especially with their targeting of the most productive mass of the population that they have put up the most stringent of policies to curb the smoky menace.

    India is a salient example: highest incidence of oral cancer in the world; One third of all cancer patients in the world; one out of 10 Indian adults dying of tobacco-related diseases. Faced with the gory statistics, the Indian government has now woken to its responsibility. Besides comprehensive smoke-free public places (which protects non-smokers from the harm of tobacco smoke), gory images of cancerous mouths, noses, necks, damaged lungs, perforated hearts among others now ‘grace’ the covers of cigarettes all in a bid to discourage smoking. In 2010, Australia dealt the last straw when it pioneered the ‘plain packaging’ policy whereby cigarette covers no longer bear any brand names or attractive logos other than badly distorted body organs so that smokers, not knowing what they were even about to puff, would reconsider their risky lifestyles. And so far, it has proved successful, witnessing, according to recent statistics, a 15 percent reduction in smoking nationwide.

    Increasing taxes will also take away youngsters’ buying power as has been shown to have worked world over. Only last year, New York City which has the most comprehensive law on smoking, celebrated its 10 years of its smoke-free laws which has witnessed a 31 per cent decline in smoking since 2002, from 21.5 to 14.8 percent, while youth smoking has been cut by more than half since 2001, from 17.6 to 8.5 percent. This law owes its success to the cigarette tax which stands at  $5.85 per pack, the highest in the USA.

    Given the above grim facts, it behoves on our lawmakers therefore to heed the voice of conscience and pass this important bill that would both secure public health and our children’s future. It is a battle between public health and soulless profiteers. And, lest we forget, a country is deemed great that truly cares about its children, and the most vulnerable. Already, the international child’s rights group Save Our Children shows Nigeria cocooned near the bottom in the line-up of child-friendly nations owing to gross neglect and ramshackle healthcare system. Already the world’s searchlight is on Nigeria over the Chibok girls’ abduction saga, and Boko Haram’s murderous rage which do not spare children. Already, we are wrestling to disarm many of our young people from violence in the wake of the insurgency’s nightmare. We need no dibia to tell us that we can’t stomach any more epidemic, no, not with an already comatose healthcare. This bill must by all means make a difference.

    History’s big eyes are set on us. We must do all we can to protect, to salvage our future. We must summon the courage to go the way of other countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Togo among others that passed effective smoke-free laws. We must summon the courage to say ‘no, not again, not our children, soulless Big Tobacco’.

     

    • Abah, a child’s right and public health advocate, writes from Lagos

  • Harnessing Nigeria’s internet .ng domain for economic development

    EXPERTS in the communications and internet industry say that Nigeria, and indeed many African countries are yet to tap into the potential of the internet for the overall development of their countries.

    They say that the United States generates 600 million dollars annually from its domain name industry, which is part of the potential of the internet.

    According to Google’s annual income statement, it generated 23.6 billion dollars in 2009, which translated to 1.9 billion dollars a month.

    Similarly, the .com, .uk, .us, and many other domain names in the western world have made huge profits from their domain names; while some domain names have been sold as high as 13 million dollars.

    Mrs Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication Technology, said African countries must harness the potential of the internet in order to fast-track development on the continent.

    The minister who spoke recently in Abuja at a conference said that “Internet can contribute up to 300 billion dollars to Africa’s GDP by 2025; and this is from an estimated 18 billion dollars in 2013.’’

    She stressed that the internet is more important for Africa than the rest of the world, as the continent “lags behind in almost every economic indicator.

    “The internet, and the connectivity network present opportunities for improving the social welfare of Africa and Africans,” she said.

    Aware of the potential of the internet, the Federal Government, in collaboration with UNESCO introduced the first internet link in Nigeria at the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1995, using Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT).

    In 1996, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) licensed 38 internet service providers to sell internet services in Nigeria; and Linkserve Limited immediately began commercial operations in the country.

    Though advancement was recorded in internet connectivity with the use of mobile networks, fiber optics and even satellites, yet “Nigeria is yet to tap into the potential of cyberspace,” experts say.

    In 2010, Nelson Mattos, Vice President (Technology) of Google said at a briefing in Lagos, that Nigeria had an IT infrastructure problem in terms of availability and accessibility.

    He said that the entire African continent could never become market potential for internet-broadband access due to poor internet infrastructure and penetration.

    Mrs Mary Uduma, the President of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA), said the nation still loses billions to the internet economy.

    “Over $600million was made by the U.S. through the domain name industry, internet businesses have been growing so much and other countries have been taking advantage of it.

    “Our internet economy and e-commerce have not started, our Domain Name System (DNS) industry is till at the lowest ebb. “Internet access is a challenge, so for that reason we are losing a lot of money which we would have retained,” she said. In spite of achievements recorded in the payroll system on the internet, e-government platforms as well as creating the.ng domain name, Uduma insists that a lot still need to be done.

    She said that Nigerians, especially the private sector operators need to connect to the .ng domain to stem capital flight to other countries whose domain names we patronise and pay huge sums.

    Uduma defined domain name as a “unique name that identifies an internet resource, such as a website, it is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control on the internet.

    “Let me give you a statistics; if there are 1,000 registered domain names in Nigeria, only 10 will be on .ng, 990 will be on .com and if they all pay N1,000 that is one million naira.

    “So while 990,000 naira will go abroad, only 10,000 naira will be in Nigeria, so we are losing money because people are not taking the .ng as their domain name.

    “What we are doing is that we are sensitising Nigerians that just as naira is our currency, .ng is our currency on the cyberspace; we should take .ng as our string on the cyberspace instead of using .com or .uk.

    “We are working with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to make sure there is intervention for people to be online as soon as they take the .ng domain name,” she said.

    Uduma said that there were 17,000,000 Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria that could take advantage of the mutual benefit of the .ng domain to do their businesses online with ease and speed.

    Uduma, at a conference organised by NIRA ( a regulating body and mangers of the .ng national resource) to popularise .ng domain name, said that the domain is even safer than other domains, adding “with .ng, fraud

    is made more difficult as it is traceable.

    “Even to scam with .ng is very difficult because we would be able to know the person that registered the domain name.

    “Others do proxy, but we don’t do proxy in Nigeria. We know who is registering what; the registry is here with us.

    “We are hoping that by 2020 we would have hit one million users of the .ng domain name,” she said.

    Stakeholders want Nigerians to connect to the .ng domain name in order to avoid capital flight as well as promote the nation’s economic development.

    They also want the relevant authorities to sustain enlightenment campaigns on the .ng domain.

    •Nwoko writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

  • Jonathan’s unbridled ambition will destroy Nigeria’s democracy —Tinubu

    Jonathan’s unbridled ambition will destroy Nigeria’s democracy —Tinubu

    THE Presidency and the ruling PDP forcefully had their way in Adamawa. Governor Nyako has been impeached. Nigeria’s constitution suffers violence.

    Democracy has been setback. Under the constitution, a governor can only be impeached for “gross misconduct.” For the PDP, Nyako’s crime was not the false allegations contained in the articles of impeachment. To them, his gross misconduct was leaving the reactionary PDP to join the progressive APC. His misdeed was to exercise his constitutional right of freedom of association and political expression by leaving their corrupt assemblage and joining the party that just may represent the best hope of rescuing Nigeria from its present descent into authoritarian darkness.

    Perhaps, Governor Nyako’s greatest sin is his temerity to speak truth to power albeit in a courageous way. On two different occasions, he gave an unvarnished insight into the Boko Haram menace and the insecurity engulfing Northern Nigeria. At the Institute of Peace in Washington DC this year when he visited with other Northern governors, he placed the blame for the Boko Haran insurgency on the Jonathan presidency. He then followed this up with a detailed letter to the forum of the Northern governors in which he accused the Jonathan led government of genocide against the North. This rattled and unsettled the government.

    Repeated attempts to have Gov. Nyako withdraw his letter and apologize to the President failed. From the moment he wrote that letter, he became a marked man. The government savaged the governor through the media. This kangaroo impeachment is government’s way of punishing Nyako. The plan is to use the contents of the letter he wrote to the Northern Governors as a basis to try him for treasonable felony and eventually sentence him to life imprisonment.

    Nyako’s frank, if rough-edged, letter concerning the security situation apparently infuriated the monarch of Aso Villa who has become so arrogant as to believe no opposition against him is justified, thus he has the liberty

    to impose his brand of injustice to crush those who oppose him. Before our eyes and under Jonathan’s watch, Nigeria gradually descends into fascism. We must all act now before it consumes us all.

    In impeaching the Governor Nyako, the PDP used the constitution to abuse the constitution and the democracy it is supposed to enshrine. Governor Nyako’s impeachment must be seen completely as political move to punish him and deter others from leaving the PDP. It was a sanction imposed against political freedom and freedom of expression.

    It had little to do with alleged financial or other wrongdoing. A view of the alleged charges against him reveals that his purported wrongdoings revert to when he was still in the PDP, some dating back three years.

    His actions were known to the House of Assembly then. While he still adhered to the PDP, there was no talk of misconduct. Upon leaving the PDP, his actions suddenly became the meat for impeachment. There is only one thing new which was not then present. The governor’s political party affiliation changed. In the PDP mind, his party change transmitted him from the list of those to be praised to the list of those to be persecuted.

    He gave green light to this move and winked approvingly as his minions poured cash into the pockets of the pliable Adamawa State Assembly members who would do their bidding.

    That the impeachment came on the same day that PDP governors and National Assembly members scurried to Aso Villa to endorse another term for their king is no accident.

    This was orchestrated to appear that all the wind is at the PDP sails and that the APC has been stalled by PDP strong-arm tactics. They want to create the impression that all is well and that the president rides high on popular acclaim. But there is a large crack in their wall.

    Because they profit from and love the wreckage they have done to us, the president and his subordinates delude themselves into believing the average Nigerian also loves them for the damage they have caused. After over three months of avoiding the parents of the Chibok victims, Jonathan was shamed by the visit of a heroic teenager from another land, Pakistan’s Malala, into agreeing to meet them. However, after being shunned for months by the President’s cold indifference to their plight, the aggrieved parents refused to be party to the President’s slick public relations game. The parents shunned the man who would not meet with them when they wanted to meet him.

    He only decided to meet them to gain publicity. The parents saw through his uncaring charade. They decided not to add themselves to the farce.

    In the universe of his political hacks and courtiers, President Jonathan can do no wrong because his pockets are deep and seem never to run dry. For him, this is popularity and legitimacy. But if he truly wants to gauge how the people of Nigeria truly feel about him, he would seriously consider why the parents boycotted his meeting.

    These parents more accurately represent the mood of the nation than do all the processions of politicians who come to the Villa to lay themselves at the feet of their monarch.

    He and the PDP contrived the removal of Governor Nyako from office. This is a temporary and costly victory for it reveals more and more the undemocratic heart of the man who rules over the nation. He now justifies his illegal and immoral acts by claiming that any show of dissent or opposition to him is the product of partisanship and thus not to be seriously considered. This is what all dictators tell themselves and he has become one. As such, he believes he can turn his back on the will and welfare of the people in order to attain his personal ambitions. Yet, while he may ignore the people, even he cannot make them disappear nor can he keep them for seeing him for what he is.

    If he truly believes the false acclaim of his coterie and party dregs are genuine, let him stop these contrived attacks against opposition politicians. If he believes so much in himself, let the people decide things at the polls.

    He will not do this because he rightly fears Nigerians will do unto him what he has done unto them. When he calls unto the people, they will turn their backs to him in just reward for his sad and indifference misrule of this precious nation. Impeaching duly elected opposition politicians will not increase his popularity. These acts only undermine our democracy. The one party state and quasi-monarchy the PDP seeks are relics of the past and will not again stand in Nigeria.