The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Gubernatorial politics and Oyo elite

    Since the return of participatory democracy in Nigeria, the question of who occupies the Agodi House has always been a peculiarly crucial one. So far, primordial sentiments have played more domineering role than merit on most occasions the ballot box has beckoned on the electorate to proffer an answer. AsNigerians who are mostly true to type, who or what a candidate is becomes less important. For us in Oyo State, we have mostly emphasized where he or she

    comes from.

    The secret beneath the emergence and sustenance of this negative political culture, which has successfully exalted mediocrity above excellence in matters relating governance, I am convinced, is the flawed orientation of Nigerians generally, through the seemingly traditional perception of power as not only as self-enrichment tool but also a necessarily divine blessing for the ‘lucky’ relatives, kiths and kin of the man or woman at the top. This is just why, in mostcases, communities, far flung in blood and origin from a governor, usually hit the heavens with their heads in dance of appreciation over perceived ‘magnanimity’ and ‘kindness’ of His Excellency through the location of projects, mostly of poor quality, in their domains.

    Why not? Once a governor is neither our son nor daughter, we are not entitled to enjoy his tenure as much as his people to whom he obligatorily owes allegiance. The best we can do is to shoot him down, by fire-by force, when theopportunity presents itself in favour of any of our own. It is even worse if he is not our partyman. Then, nothing can be good or commendable about him, and so he must be haunted and hacked into an untimely grave.

    Another undeniable decider of our fate, so far, has been godfatherism.At some crucial points in our ‘democratic’ history, the voice of a single man was equal tothe voice of the people, just as the service of the people was usually commensurate to the satisfaction of the godman by the resultant product of hisalmighty hand. As long as any ordained governor abided by the dictates of his programmed destiny in office, as plotted by his benefactor, the ordinary man on the street would know the type of peace and comfort we used to know too well.Otherwise, heavenly hell would scorch earthly beings in a manner reminiscent of the Ladoja-Adedibu saga.

    For close to two years, the global audience had every cause to mock the originalroot of socio-political and economic development in Africa, Oyo State of Nigeria, which holds the enviable record of the first in many spheres. No thanksto the scuffle between the then Governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, and his Estranged godfather, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, in a theatre of the absurd that seemed like the proverbial fight between a thief that steals palm oil from a roof and the receiver of the loot.

    What is more? Commonsense had a quick conversation with its legs, as the largest city in West Africa got transformed into a jungle where developmental project conception became impossible, let alone implementation.

    In the same vein, the succeeding administration was nothing but an attempted affirmation of the seeming invincibility and superiority of godfatherism as an ‘essential’ ingredient of our politics in the Pacesetter State. By the estimation ofthe average indigene and resident, the Alao Akala regime was only a self-serving contraption of the godman, a metaphorical instrument devised by the same proverbial palm-oil thief to reclaim his ‘rightful property’ from the usurping receiver.

    Political ‘generosity’, as an important character-trait in our political culture, wasat its best during the compensatory four years of the Ogbomoso-born chief executive. It brought with it pseudo development and distressing motion without movement.

    However, in a manner similar to the restoration of power to the Nigerian people in 1998 through the demise of the late despot, General Sani Abacha, death, I believe, came to the rescue of the good people of Oyo State, exactly 10 years after, 2008. Perhaps, even if the current Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, would ever be what he is today, it probably would have been through, at least, the passive consent or fictional indifference of the godman, if not dead.

    As a patriotic Nigerian with keen interests in what becomes of my country and state, I make bold to say that the 2011 gubernatorial election was a real turning point in Oyo State. It was the first time I joined my fellow citizens to freely express our wishes through the ballot. In the past, the voice and image of a real live Big Brother loomed large in our consciousness, warning us against the prospects of wasting our votes through a free-will vote, foretelling of a pre-determined outcome that we would never be able to alter even with an overwhelming majority strength.

    This is where the issue of the elite populace in Oyo State politics comes in. As the most enlightened specie of any society, this set of people ordinarily helps to influence the political behaviour of the masses through informal education. But,in our own state, I have noticed partial political apathy amongst my contemporaries. Most usually register, obtain the voter’s card, but stay awayfrom the polling booth on the day of decision.

    It is instructive to note that as a great fraction of registered voters stayed away, the availability of a large number of unused ballot papers, during past elections,was usually a ready tool for the agents of multiple thumb-printing.

    If you probe those who indeed know that their vote is their power but, nevertheless, chose to stay aloof in the past, you would get a sure answer – itwas needless risking their precious lives in the avoidable insecure air of Nigerian elections which end-result had been determined by a godman and his cronies who were really visible but supposedly invincible.

    My narratives, so far, with seeming judgemental leanings are never a prejudicedtale crafted to cast aspersions on some characters while promoting some others.Rather, it has been sincerely motivated by undenible change in reality courtesyof a noticed change in our electoral behaviour.

    The widespread, non-selective nature of the qualitative dividends of democracy that has, so far, characterized the on-going tenure of Senator Ajimobi is, to me, a pleasant end-result that justifies the means of its coming to be – a free choice devoid of the godman’s influence, an everybody’s choice devoid of tribal consideration, a fact that has reduced the entire state into a single constituency for Ajimobi.

    It is against the background of the foregoing analysis that the real issues at stakein the current rundown to the 2015 Oyo State gubernatorial election come to thefore.

    Summarily put, Oyo State is at crossroads. The real issues at stake, in my view, combine into a single poser. Do we want to reverse into the immediate past of selfish patronage and its tragedy of socio-economic advancement of the few or prefer to sustain and consolidate the new political culture of enlightened self-interests with its attending selfless development by all and for all?

    In making a choice, our elite class has a great burden their vantage position has placed on them. Aside from full participation, they have the duty of liberating our good-minded people from the on-going deliberately mischievous misinformation being perpetuated aggressively by a cross-section of the political class. These politicians and their cronies are not the enlightened compatriots I earlier referred to. Rather, they are the very dangerous specie amidst us we need beware of, as they are bent on colouring our perception, suchthat, on their prompting, white would no longer be white but seen as black.

    • Abolade writes in from Yemetu, Ibadan.

  • Chiwetel Ejiofor: Success has only one father!

    The British Press calls him British but Nigerians want his Nigerian root to be acknowledged or perhaps be called a Nigerian outrightly. It is unBritish to share a glorious moment!

    The British are right to call Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor, the Oscar nominee and British Independent Film Awards winner a British man; he was born and raised in Great Britain. And Nigerians are also right to call him one of their own; his dad, Arinze Ejiofor was a Nigerian-born medical doctor practising in the United Kingdom when he died in a fatal auto accident in Nigeria in 1988 while visiting with his son, Chiwetel, who, as fate would have it, was the lone survivor in the mishap.

    Chinwetel’s mum, Obiajulu, a UK -based pharmacist is also a Nigerian.

    The British culture is to lay 100 per cent claim to success! Anything great is Britain’s, anything British is great! Anything short of that is shared with the isles and where inapplicable, then with other countries.

    Andy Murray is British as long as he is winning; otherwise, he is a Scot! It is the same measure for other sportsmen.

    The British Press is neither ignorant of the Jamaican root of Jessica Ennis-Hill nor has it forgotten that Mohamed “Mo” Farah only came to join his father in Britain when he was eight years old but as long as they remain great as they are, they can only be British. Their roots will hardly be mentioned.

    In contrast, when your surname is Adebolajo, notwithstanding the fact that you were born and bred in Britain and you have never visited Nigeria, your Nigerian root takes precedence with the British press.

    The story of Kweku Adoboli, an investment bank whizz kid and promising young British trader who just overnight became a Ghanaian rogue trader is still fresh in our memory.

    Unlike the saying that “success has many fathers, failure is an orphan,” to the British, success has only one father while failure has many fathers. Obviously, the lone father is Britain!

    What about Nigerians? Are Nigerians very different from the British Press? No!

    We are a people often divided along the major ethnic lines and to a lesser extent, by religion! More than ever, the north and south dichotomy is more pronounced under the current administration and is only overshadowed by the fierce Hausa-Ibo-Yoruba unhealthy rivalries, suspicions and superciliousness. These are the three major ethnic groups in the country.

    The animosity among these tribes cannot be better captured than what Azuka Onwuka, the erudite columnist wrote a few weeks ago in an article titled “Why the South-South has the upper hand”when he said:

    “…any time an Igbo, Yoruba, or Hausa-Fulani in any sphere of authority takes any action or makes any comment, no matter how innocuous, it is viewed with suspicion and subjected to the strictest scrutiny, to ascertain its underlying ethnic motive. Most times, it is even extrapolated, embellished and twisted to suit long-held suspicions…..”

    Regardless of this seemingly ethnic detestation and suspicion, the same people unite to celebrate achievements and successes of their compatriots.

    In the time of success, we often forget our ethnic colouration. We forget someone is Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or other tribes; we only remember that they are Nigerians.

    Every Nigerian regardless of his/her ethnicity celebrates the literary heights attained by the likes Chinua Achebe (of blessed memory) and Wole Soyinka or the business success of the likes of Dangote. In a like manner, we proudly celebrate our sporting teams whenever successes come their ways.

    In January 2013, when Stephen Keshi, the Nigerian national football coach named his 23-man team to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the team was scornfully regarded as an Igbo team by many because majority of the players were of Igbo extraction; some even called it a Biafran team in reference to the secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed during the civil war. The same Igbo team that Keshi took to South Africa returned to Nigeria as a celebrated national Super Eagles team to the delight of all; that is of course after winning the 29th edition of the continental football championship.

    When the news are great, our national identity comes to the fore as Nigerians. We proudly unite to celebrate our country or countrymen for their strides to greatness but when the news are ordinary or unpalatable, we scornfully deplore the ethnic tags like Ibo boy/girl, Omo Ibo, Yamurin, A’jokuta mamomi, Ndi ota oji, Molar, Malo, Omo mola, Ndi Ofe Mmanu, Ngbati Ngbati, Ndi Ngwatingwa, Bairabe, Omo Yoruba….

    Can you imagine If Chiwetel was involved in a scandal, the other tribes would have hastily disowned him; called him different ethnically scornful names; attached only his Igbo root to him; and then attacked his entire Igbo ethnic group for bringing Nigeria’s image to disrepute.

    Success is it that unites us. But as a nation, we should be united beyond instances of success. We should be united in the good times as well as the bad times. We should identify with the successes and failures of our compatriots from other ethnic groups.

    As the British press must have to accept that their system that produced the Chiwetel Ejiofors also produced the Michael Adebolajos, so must we accept that Chiwetel Ejiofor and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are Nigerians. Sadly, we have to accept that as a nation, we will always have them.

    There is no great nation without some less greatly behaved people; there is no champion/winner who does not lose? Britain Press must come to terms with the fact that a losing Murray is worthy of being a British as a winning Murray and as long as the Ejiofors are British, the Adobolis should be or if Kweku is a Ghanaian rouge trader, then Chiwetel is also a Nigerian actor. Every nation has the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not great to embrace the good and abnegate the others.

    “If you have some thorns in your back, somebody needs to pull them out for you. We need buddies. The sense of belonging is born in the family and later includes friends, neighbors, community and country. That is why the idea of a nation is really important.” -Hiroo Onoda (1922 – 2014), the Japanese soldier who kept fighting in WWII 30 years after it ended, in his book “No Surrender: My Thirty-year War.”

    And to Chiwetel Ejiofor, ‘nke a ka wu mbido. I meela wetere anyi ugwu.’ Thanks for doing us proud and this is just the beginning! You will forever be a Nigerian and a British man. And more aptly, a British born Nigerian or a Nigerian born British.

    Rufus Kayode Oteniya – oteniyark@hotmail.com

     

  • Privatisation or laissez-faire capitalism?

    To all intents and purposes the behemoth “Privatization” has been variously described, differently practised with geocentric connotations and generally abused and exploited in varying degrees from country to country across the globe. Often referred to as a “public enterprise reform agenda” of any nation supposedly desirous of global relevance, growth and sustainable development, privatization is ideally at the end of a calibrated economic liberalization phenomenon – a continuum or an ensemble, encompassing monopoly, corporatization, deregulation and lastly, privatization – that the world first witnessed, sequel to the transfer of Chilean public assets and businesses to private operators in 1973 before 140 or so, other nations including Nigeria, gradually joined the fray that is still as fresh and controversial as when it began, four decades ago.

    Starting from Chile in Latin America in 1973, the capitalist nations of the West and even the Eastern Bloc countries, exemplified by the “Perestroika and Glasnost” policy of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, to the “copycat or minion” countries of the African Continent; the intents, resource management and effects of privatization visibly differ – especially when viewed and evaluated from the perspective of the state of economy of the relevant nation at the instance of implementing the scheme and subsequently, too.

    UNITED KINGDOM

    Referred to as “privatization boom” or “economic transformation”, the British privatization programme was used as one of the core methods of reversing the perceived “corrosive and corrupting” effects of socialism, according to late Baroness Margret Thatcher – the then conservative-party British Prime Minister and privatization grand initiator and czar – as the privatization obsession gained worldwide momentum and swept the world, at her instance. The British privatization scheme that took off in 1979 saw more than 50 companies in private hands of over 10million shareholders in a population of about 52million then, raising more than £50billion for the exchequer. This was in contradistinction to the widespread nationalization of industries – being the pith and core of the collectivist agenda by which preceding Labour Party governments structured the British society, hitherto. Most notable amongst the privatized companies are – British Aerospace, British Gas, British Petroleum, British Steel, the Power, Water and Mining industries and British Telecom (BT) that was divested in 1984. BT currently holds sway in about 170 countries whilst enjoying healthy competition at home, unlike its counterpart in Nigeria – the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), presently facing the threat of liquidation – having earlier been subjected to unwholesome, febrile and non-sterling but forlorn privatization exercises, in a seemingly endless and tortuous odyssey.

    FRANCE

    Spurred by the tradition of the State’s acceptance of leadership role in managing her economy herself, rather than by “cartels”, the French society was inundated with an unremitting series of nationalizations and interventions by government, until the 1980s when Thatcher’s irrepressible tidal wave of privatization coupled with the effect of the extant globalization and the influence of European integration, eventuated in France’s gingerly but vacillating plunge into the privatization fad that brought more than 70.8 billion francs to the public treasury. It should however, be noted that whilst Thatcher’s open bidding approach (Share Issue Privatization – SIP) in which the shares of all the companies to be privatized were floated on the stock market, was pointedly unregulated, the French method – sensu stricto, was highly controlled, wherefore the Ministry of Finance allotted the shares in percentages to potential holders or owners – firms, employees, public and a vanishingly few foreign investors. Indeed, the scheme was colloquially referred to as the “people’s capitalism” as it encouraged and ensured widespread share-ownership by employees of the privatized companies as well as the general public.

    NIGERIA

    From 1988, the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) held sway on the new paradigm but metamorphosed into the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) as implementer – under the supervision of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) that took charge of Nigeria’s privatization scheme in 1999. After many years of rough, undulating, tumble and controversial privatization undertakings, many public corporations and enterprises were either deregulated or privatized. The relevant industries affected include: Aviation, Banking, Education, Entertainment, Insurance, Health, Manufacturing, Power, Telecommunications, Transport and Downstream Petroleum industry. Indeed, the most successful exercise in the cauldron of these undertakings is the deregulated telecoms industry that brought in about $772million – having sold two Digital Mobile Licences (DMLs) in 2000, one DML in 2002 and one DML in 2007.

    The process of privatization has been relatively painless in western European countries and Japan, not only because efficient financial and legal structures existed in those places, but also, the institutional shareholders willing to guarantee the success of public floatation consummated the new paradigm more so, at the instance of disciplined financial markets that were imposed. Understandably, in developing nations, the story was not only dissimilar, it has been very difficult as the shareholder-owned corporations were and still are, less established or structured. In the end, the intellectual battle and to a large extent the practical one has been won – as the state has proved itself not to be a very good owner or manager of commercial operations. Whilst the motivation for privatization in the United Kingdom and Latin America was infusion of capital to relieve government of subsidy and budgetary burdens, decentralization of government structures was the raison d’être in Eastern European countries. The Nigerian case hinged on a multiplicity of burning, competing and compelling issues – employment generation, search for performance, efficiency, transparency and accountability, in public enterprises; support for social sectors – education, health and rural development; budget deficit leverage, consolidation and development of the capital market and the urgent need to reduce all manner of debt and also limit external borrowing.

    In Nigeria, the authenticity of the touted “efficiency hypothesis or theory” regarding private service delivery broke down under intense intellectual and detailed scrutiny (cost-benefit analysis) of available data. The RORO Port case is a glaring example. Again in Nigeria, even the transparency and accountability claim for private investments tumbled without equivocation – the Ajaokuta and Daily Times sagas speak volumes as they were riddled and ridden with corruption. The comatose state of the Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company (NNMC) at Oku Iboku, Akwa Ibom State – renamed Oku Iboku Pulp and Paper Limited, after it was sold for $32.5million in 2008 to Negris Holding, is yet another “commission” in the cockpit of unceasing aberrations.

    Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, that even got waivers from the Nigeria Customs Service without producing since 2007, is yet another piece in the melting pot.

    Amongst many other preposterous transactions, one striking abnormality that is even unconstitutional is the privatization of the Nigerian Security Printing and Mint Company (NSPMC). Even United Kingdom – the indisputable owners of the privatization mania, did not have the temerity to privatize the British Royal Mint, as they are fully convinced of its strategic and incontrovertible importance to the British economy, besides their commitment and allegiance to the Union Jack.

    The epic telecoms case regarding the sale of NITEL/M-TEL is yet another recurring decimal in the laundry list of incalculable anomalies. This attempted but forlorn sale experienced various scenarios of mercurial unbundling, re-bundling and unbundling – in the labyrinth of a long and tortuous privatization odyssey without any sale to-date, after 12years and losing N100billion to the “Pentascope” management contract scam at some point, in the shameful and ignoble outings.

    • Bello is a retired Managing Director of M-Tel

  • 2015: Imperative of a North-east Presidency

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just released the timetable for the 2015 general elections. This means political activities will soon pick up and the atmosphere will once again be charged. The most important of all the political horse-trading that will soon ensue is determining who occupies the presidency by the year 2015. There is so much interest and calculations across a spectrum of stakeholders on this all important position. Many political gladiators are jerking up their sleeves for a showdown in the contest of who grabs his party’s ticket for presidency.

    As it can be recalled, the North ought to have taken over the presidency in 2007 for a period of eight years; that is after President Olusegun Obasanjo had ruled for a stretch of eight years. It did take over. But fate conspired to deny the North of the eight years. Expectedly, and as provided for by the constitution, then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan took over from late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, first as acting president and later (on Yar’Adua’s death) as president. However, instead of President Jonathan to complete what remains of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan tenure and let the position come back to the North again, he manipulated his way to getting a fresh mandate.

    However, as the political mill begins to roll once again, there is a resounding agitation to send President Jonathan parking. First, to most patriotic Nigerians, the man has only managed to hold the country in one place: stagnant, without any progress. On the extreme side, others are even lamenting that the country only witnessed retrogression on many sides, under the watch of President Jonathan.

    For the North-east, the six years or so of Jonathan presidency have been most uneventful ones. For us, it has become what the Latin would call annus horriblis (year of horrors). The time-bomb planted by years of neglect of this area has suddenly gone off and to the chagrin of all, the government seems helpless on the two expected directions: containing the insurgency, and cushioning the impacts on the victims and the affected towns. While the government’s security forces daily avenge attacks on them by the insurgents on the hapless civilian population, the civil government has shown no willingness to help victims recover psychologically and materially. The pointer to this is the paltry budgetary provision of N2 billion for the entire North-east, after all the promises.

    For the average person from this region, our people are being treated as second-class citizens in their own country. First and foremost, federal presence in this vast zone is, for lack of better word, abysmal. Strategic and key institutions of governments have not been sited here. There appeared to be no deliberate industrialization policies by the federal government to develop the region. The scattered industries around have also been left to rot in neglect.

    It is the opinion of our people here that things have been allowed to degenerate over time in this region because its capable and competent persons have been tactically shut out of power at the highest decision making level. For a very long time, there seems to be silent but dangerous trend in the politics of the North, and Nigeria in general where there appears to be a sort of consensus or conspiracy against the North-east geopolitical zone.  This dangerous trend, whose unfortunate manifest is now the insurgency in parts of the area, which goes on unabated, is a direct result of neglect and marginalization.

    Anytime opportunity presents itself for the North to present head of government, it goes to the North-West or the North-Central, as if by act of commission – and omission for the North-east. Despite producing senior thoroughbred military officers, the region was never for once accorded the honour of producing the head of state. Those fine officers, therefore, were only used (or, expended) in military operations where, thank goodness, they proved themselves to be brave, professionals and good managers of humans.

    A quick rundown of the history of Nigeria’s military rule shows that when General Ironsi was toppled in July, 1966, the then Colonel Yakubu Gowon (from the North-Central) was handed over the mantle for eight years. From Gowon, the North-west took over via Murtala Muhammed. There then come Buhari (from the North-west) who removed a fellow North-west person – Shehu Shagari. General Babangida, from the North-central succeeded Buhari and he in turn was followed by Abacha (from the North-west). The military era ended with General AbdulSalami Abubakar, also from the North-central, succeeding Abacha. This shows North-central alone has spent 19 years ruling this country while North-west held sway for six years under the military, in addition to the Shagari and Umaru Yar’Adua years as civilian leaders.

    Yes, it is it true that late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa from the present day Bauchi State was the first and only Nigeria’s Prime Minister. But it is also true that he was just there as the errand boy of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna, who was the leader of the of the ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) then. Obsessed with playing at the regional level, where he was working towards his ambition of becoming the Sultan of Sokoto, he ‘sent’ Balewa to the centre while retaining his own role as the party leader. Meanwhile, there was a president in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

    Therefore, as the calculations begin for 2015, it is our prevent hope that this time around, the larger North plays the fair card for the North-east in picking a presidential candidate. Yes, in 2011 something of that nature was reflected but some of us who are keen students of power knew that it was not going to work. This was because President Goodluck Jonathan’s chance of getting the PDP ticket at the time was a fait accompli. But this is 2014 and all hopes for who produces the president lies with the All Progressives Congress (APC). Yet, North-east is not lacking in competent and vibrant personalities that have the qualities to be presidents, from within the APC.

    Having tried many options in the past, and bearing in mind the dynamism of the world and diversity of Nigeria, key stakeholders in APC should have a deep reflection of who the party gives its ticket. The opposition coalition this time around is in a form of make or mar union which has the vibrancy of upstaging the present administration of PDP. But to achieve that there is need to have a decent leader. Such a person should be a leader who everybody will be comfortable with for his decency, pan-Nigerian spirit, honesty and modernity. Needless to say, the North-east as a geopolitical zone have an array of personalities that have passed the credibility test and have the broad-mindedness to superintend over one united and stronger Nigeria. Moreover, we from the North-east will have the rest of mind that the current disturbing challenges here will be easily solved. The saying that only the owner of the room knows where it leaks is true in this case.

    • Bukar writes from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State.

     

  • The Punch’s crusade against Aregbesola

    Newspapers have a critical role to play in any society. This is why I agree with the American statesman and former president, Thomas Jefferson, who once wrote: ‘If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter’. Jefferson simply meant that a well informed society is more important than political governance per se.

    If newspapers, according to Jefferson, are preferable to government, then they have greater responsibility than governments. A newspaper has the duty to inform, educate and work towards a better society. In this third duty, it is looked upon to act as the gadfly and rein in the government on its excesses. It is also expected to fight the cause of the common man and work towards the enthronement of justice in society.

    However, this is only the good side. A newspaper can be as tyrannical as an evil government; it can hide under a seemingly noble mission to perpetrate evil. It can project a lie as truth and truth as lie. It can also foster its own agenda on the public and masquerade it as an altruistic public service. A newspaper can hoist and sustain an evil government as well as seek to pull down a good one. These are not postulations. They are complex issues that emanate from the contradictions of media practice in any society.

    It is with this in view that I am saddened by the editorial of The Punch of Tuesday, January 21, on Governor Rauf Aregbesola titled ‘Aregbesola’s misguided church project’. The editorial was an undisguised attack on the Osun governor for the policy of his administration on proposing a 200,000 capacity crusade ground in the state. The language was intemperate and disrespectful of the office and person of the governor and a poor attempt at ridiculing him before his constituents and in decent gathering.

    This is rather disturbing. An editorial is the voice of the newspaper – what the owners are saying on any issue and it carries the biggest weight. That is why it is often very thoughtful, incisive, well researched, well argued and written in persuasive and diplomatic language. Regrettably, these are clearly missing in this particular editorial.

    This leading article accused Governor Aregbesola of profligacy and misdirected government spending – a clear misprioritisation of government expenditure. It accused the governor of dragging government into matters of religion. It also portrayed the governor as a manipulator trying to bribe the Christians, in light of previous allegation of his bias against them in the state. It ended with not so subtle incitement of Christians against the governor.

    First, having been very close with the governor and part of his campaign team, let me say that the worship centre is not a hurriedly put together policy. He had enunciated this as part of his campaign promise as far back as 2006. Much later, he reiterated the promise soon after his inauguration at an event at my alma mater, Ilesa Grammar School, on December 4, 2010. This was not done in the closet; it was in the full glare of eminent personalities such as Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Justice Belgore, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran and others. This project was also announced to Pastors Adeboye and Mathew Ashimolowo during their different visits to the governor in December 2012. It was also repeated by the governor at the convocation ceremony of Joseph Ayo Babalola University at Ikeji Arakeji.

    Evidently, The Punch did not carry out due diligence on the matter or else it would have been restrained. How could the governor be accused of acting in bad faith by fulfilling a campaign promise, in a democracy?

    Secondly, government did not buy the land as erroneously alleged by the paper. It was a freewill donation by the people of the community through their traditional ruler, Loja Adelekan of Odo-Iju in Atakunmosa West Local Government. The compensation recently paid that was mischievously reported by The Punch was the government’s way of supporting the people of the community for their high sense of patriotism. It is a voluntary gift from the community.

    Thirdly, The Punch’s notion of separation of state from church is false. Where it began in Europe and the Americas, it was to stop the state from adopting Christianity as state religion; promote it above others and criminalise non-participation and membership by citizens. It does not connote absolute disengagement from religious activities. In the United States, for instance, the community church is part of the soul of the community through which the government sometimes relates with the citizens on matters such as civil rights, sex education and HIV prevention.

    In the United Kingdom, the Queen is the Head of State and Head of the Church of England. Her titles include ‘Defender of the Faith’. How then do we separate the Church from the state? It was atheists and modern day liberals who wanted God and every religious symbol removed from the public space that recreated the concept in their own image by asking for prohibition of prayers and Bible in schools, removal of crosses and Biblical images from public places and refrain from mentioning God in what might constitute a public gathering. This of course is not separation of state from church. It is waging a systemic war against organised religion with the consequence of citizens now having utter disregard for human lives and we now have school children taking guns to school and hacking their teachers and colleagues to death.

    In our land, at the inauguration of public officials and before courts, we are made to swear by Bibles and Qurans and end our oaths with the sentence ‘So help me God’. Is there a delinkage therefore between state and faith? We may pretend. But religion remains part and parcel of our daily life.

    Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a committed Christian and his Action Group (AG) had an official Christian chaplain. That was the spiritual guide of the party. Yet he was the first to establish Muslims Pilgrim Welfare Board when he saw the hardship Muslims went through while performing the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca.

    We cannot also pretend there is no economic side to religion. Every year, millions of people make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Jerusalem, Rome and other religiously significant places. There are religious monuments and shrines in France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and other places that have practically fallen into state ownership, maintenance and control.

    It should therefore not be surprising that the motivation for the Open Heaven Arena project is the realisation that Osun State, particularly Ijesaland, is notable for producing many of the Christian leaders in the country. These include Pastor Adeboye, Pastor WF Kumuyi, late Prophet Timothy Obadare, Prophet Gabriel Fakeye, Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo and many others. This is a huge tourism potential that could help shore up the revenue profile of the state. Apart from being a centre for spiritual retreat, there is an eminent economic sense in having 200,000 people visit your state at least once in a week. If each visitor spends at least N1,000.00, the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be boosted by N10.8 billion in a year.

    However, this editorial is not about a worship centre but a demonstration of deep hatred and animosity against the person of Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his administration with the malicious intent to pull him down. On a regular basis, The Punch takes an astigmatic look at every intention and policy of Aregbesola’s government, savagely attacks him and portrays him in bad light, sometimes using half truths and outright falsehood. Last week alone, the newspaper did two feature articles and a news item on Aregbesola, all hostile, biased and unfavourable. There was a time the paper reported that Governor Aregbesola bought cars for traditional rulers when nothing of such happened.

    The Punch has taken a very hostile and adversarial position on school uniform, school reclassification and now the revival ground. The interest of The Punch in Governor Aregbesola is beyond the ordinary. In these instances, there is an unmistakable instigation of Christians against the governor with the capability of triggering religious crisis, if not for the maturity of the good people of the state. The paper has fanned the embers of religious schism in Osun and by extension in the West, where hitherto none has existed and where people have lived in harmony for centuries.

    There is a pattern of jettisoning objectivity and every rule of professionalism. Discourse degenerated to personal abuse, name calling and utmost disrespect for the person and office of the governor. This is a great disservice to the memory of the founder of this newspaper.

    I began with responsibility. A newspaper is a public trust with a mandate that is superior to the personal interests and fancies of its minders. I daresay it is a sacred responsibility that should not be abused. The Punch has over the years built a reputation as a liberal medium in the quest for societal liberation. It is my sincere wish that it will learn a lesson or two on fairness and balance. When a newspaper deliberately diffracts facts to serve its prejudice, both the public and the newspaper are ill served.

    Prof Adeyeye is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • Military veterans and national conversation

    When societies honour their military veterans wholeheartedly, they do so in appreciation of the valuable services this class of citizens rendered to their fatherland. Where servicemen and women who have fought and died to secure social, political and economic progress of their fellow countrymen, honouring them becomes a totally cultural, high-minded gesture expressed in numerous ways and forms. But where the military violates its codes of honour or soils its own uniform, serving and retired members tend to be treated with resentment and scorn.

    Public perception of serving and retired military personnel varies from country to country. So do opinions on how to honour them seem to flow from the history of a given society. Under ideal state of affairs, ex-servicemen are celebrated in ways and manners that buoy their sense of citizenship. Retired soldiers are members of a unique professional group whose services to their nation fill with evident pride.

    In some countries, military service, knowledge, skill and experience often stand ex- servicemen and women in relative advantage in election into public offices and matters of employment in general. In other climes, veterans are especially sought after in recognition of the tremendous civil applications of the various skills they bring from their years in military service. In those places, the notion that retired servicemen lack capabilities with which to contribute to national well-being or that the relationship between military service and civil responsibility must be necessarily adversarial stands wholly rejected.

    If any was ever required, the commemoration of Remembrance Day in this country every January 15, is proof that up to a point, Nigerians celebrate their military retirees. ‘Up to a point’ in the sense of a seemingly unending divergence of public opinion on the subject considering, especially, utterances from some quarters suggesting that our ex-servicemen do not deserve to be honoured with ceremonies of the kind held nationwide on that date. In response to this, retired soldiers insist that, given their sacrifice, they deserve more honour and respect than they currently get from the nation. If only military retirees are willing and ready to state their case by telling their extraordinary stories as only they can! But they do not. And yet, to do so would help lift the veil on the many issues involved in this matter the discussion of which must start urgently especially at this time when our nation is on the threshold of charting a new course for itself.

    Like their counterparts worldwide, Nigerian ex-servicemen have a keen awareness of the hazardous and matchless nature of their duties. As witnesses to losses of lives and limbs in unspeakable circumstances, they have a sense of entitlement to respect, honour and care from a country to which they have given so much. It explains why so well organized, respected and influential is this demographic group in other climes that politicians pay special attention to them by campaigning for the votes of ex-service men and pursuing legislations for the social welfare of defence personnel and ex-servicemen. Witness the domino effect that followed General Collin Powel’s endorsement of Barack Obama forward to his election as the 44th President of the United States.

    In Nigeria however, the view in some powerful quarters is that, regardless of their sacrifices, ex-servicemen deserve no special attention than do other citizens. ‘‘After all’’- so the argument goes- ‘‘retired soldiers are not different from other citizens. As such, they are parts of civil society who are supposed and required to be dealt with according to the laws of the country.’’ Many give the prolonged involvement of its military in politics as the ostensible reason for this posture.

    But because it can yield information capable of enriching the glue of national unity, peace and progress for which ex-servicemen sacrificed their lives in the first place, those with genuine interest in understanding the issues involved in the welfare of serving and retired military personnel beyond superficial limits recognize as imperative the need for informed discussion of the subject.

    In recent times, difficulties with the payment of retiree’s pension, allowances and related entitlements have caused Nigerian ex servicemen to embark on demonstrations in protest against what they regard as tardy handling of matters affecting their well-being. Consequently, Nigeria’s retired soldiers have been created in the image of ‘Oliver Twists’ in certain minds, robbing members of the public of the opportunity to hear the true stories of their ex-servicemen in many of which are to be found matters of greater interest to military retirees and by extension, to Nigerians in general.

    Pedestrian as it may seem, foremost among issues that dominate the thoughts of our military retirees are democracy, national unity, integration, peace and progress. This is based on the conviction that, it is only under such conditions that enhanced, prompt and regular payment of their pension, access to the type of medical care suitable for them, improved housing, affordable and qualitative family education as well as opportunities for post service employment, etcetera, are feasible. Apart from the harrowing tales they have to tell arising from the frustratingly abortive pursuit of such necessities, Nigerian ex-servicemen have a rich repertoire of stories with which to inform, educate and entertain their fellow countrymen.

    The quality of recent interviews of their members published in the media attest to this. So do the books some of them have authored on the Nigerian civil war. The Tragedy of Victory by General Alabi Isama is among the latest in the impressive list of such offerings. So is Major Debo Bashorun’s Honour for Sale. Max Siollun is not an ex-serviceman. But his work, Soldiers of Fortune, is replete with intimate, insider accounts of some of the coups d’état in Nigeria. In it, some of the key actors and diverse events in the years of military involvement in governance are chronicled in a style that reflects how the military was itself the main victim of some of its ill conceived and often misguided initiatives in governance.

    The human angle dimensions of international peace-keeping operations and domestic internal security operations; how military retirees perceive the disposition of their serving colleagues, the political and academic elite towards them are among the issues Nigerians could be better informed citizens coming into the knowledge of. Even with the stories that have been told so far, there may be strong reasons to believe that as at today, the most revealing tales known to Nigerian ex-servicemen are yet to be told.

    The natural disinclination of military personnel to talk to the media even in retirement may well have something to do with this. But concerns about whether or not the nation is ready for such narratives account to a large extent for the silence being contended with at the moment. What purpose telling such stories would serve the nation at this point now may be a reasonable question to ask. But then, so would what purpose not telling it serves would be.

    Against the background of roles that the military has played in the history of our country, the immediate and long term value of ex-servicemen’s contribution to the ongoing resort to national reinvention need not be played down. Arguable as it may be, Nigeria will lose nothing to encourage them to tell their stories for the fact that their telling could serve to catalyse the healing process that our country sourly needs at this time.

    Thanks to more than 15 years of democratic rule in our country, views are today being freely and increasingly expressed in relation to who did what and for what motives in the years of military rule. Thus, no discussion of what they have been through for fatherland’s sake and therefore the form of honour, or how much gratitude the nation actually owes those who have served their country as professional military men and women can be out of place at this time. Without the nation hearing the ex-servicemen’s side of the tale, there can be no enduring closure on this matter as the Nigerian public will persist in the error of perceiving pension, allowances and other sundry payments as the dominant thoughts in the minds of Nigeria’s military retirees. On their part, ex-servicemen need to understand that this cannot be achieved except they tell their story the way no one else can.

     

    Olaniyan, a retired Colonel, was former Director, Army Public Relations

     

  • African-American history month

    African-American history month

    Introduction:

    To celebrate African American History Month 2014, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate Lagos in partnership with The Nation, is pleased to present every day, throughout the month of February, events and people who have shaped U.S. democracy.  The right to vote and to be counted in a free, fair, and transparent electoral process is a privilege that has been attained through a long tough struggle.  Efforts to refine and perfect the process continue throughout the world.  Each day in February, we will highlight in chronological order an event or a leader who has made significant contributions to universal political franchise.

    We share these stories to highlight historic events, history makers, and ordinary people who “spoke and marched and toiled and bled shoulder-to-shoulder with ordinary people who burned with the same hope for a brighter day.  That legacy is shared; that spirit is American. And just as it guided us forward 150 years ago and 50 years ago, it guides us forward today” (President Obama, February 2013).

    “Today, because of that hope, coupled with the hard and painstaking labor of Americans sung and unsung, we live in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is within reach for people of every color and creed.  National African American History Month is a time to tell those stories of freedom won and honor the individuals who wrote them.  We look back to the men and women who helped raise the pillars of democracy, even when the halls they built were not theirs to occupy” (Presidential Proclamation 2013).

    Saturday, February 1, 2014

    U.S. Declaration of Independence Adopted – 1776

    The United States Declaration of Independence gave equal rights and political franchise to white men and this was not extended to black men until 1870 and to women until 1920.  Here is an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence that relates to political franchise and people’s right to elect and get rid of their leaders.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

    Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

    Reference: The African American Desk Reference, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Copyright 1999 The Stonesong Press Inc. and The New York Public Library, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pub.ISBN 0-471-23924-0, http://saintpaulrepublicans.us/

  • How to build a united society, by Fashola

    How to build a united society, by Fashola

    For Nigeria to be one indivisible nation of diverse ethnic nationalities, there must be values and character that must propagate ideals of unity among the people, the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said.

    While pushing for national development, Fashola said it was imperative for children and youths to be inculcated with the right “social and religious values” to engender the kind of nation the people crave.

    While urging missionaries to teach progressive religious knowledge to the youth, the governor noted that the nation’s history could not be separated from church activities.

    Fashola, who spoke at the annual General Conference of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, said God’s purpose for His creature was clear but the challenge, he said, remained the purpose of the people themselves.

    He said: “Nation-building is a continuous undertaking that passes through phases of processes. After we gained independence, nation-building was in the context of developing human capital and keeping Nigeria one. At another time, nation-building was in the context of economic development and managing our resources. It has been about enthroning democracy at one time but at this time, it is about speaking with one voice.”

    “It is through the mission schools that the first seed of nation-building is first planted in the minds of children. It is a share responsibility between the state and church. On Sundays when parents take their children to asalatu (Muslim prayer) or Sunday school, learning the way of God and how to worship. This is where they imbibe the fear of God. The question is: are we playing our responsibility very well to make us a one nation? This is the area we have to focus on and we must pay attention to character of mankind in reforming the society.”

    Fashola, who declared the conference open, said the theme: “I will make them one nation” could not have come at the appropriate time, given the efforts to make Nigeria a one nation.

    The governor, who said it was his first time in a white-garment church, commended the Spiritual Head, Olorunfunmi Basorun and the Supreme Head, Abel Akinsanya, for organising a conference seeking to promote unity among the people.

    The week-long conference would also focus on development of the church’s Ecumenical Centre and proposed Moses Orimolade University in Omu Aran, Kwara State.

    There will also be seminars and human capital development programmes for the youth.

    At the ceremony were Adeboruwa of Igbogbo land, Oba J.O Fatola, Commissioner for Rural Development, Hon Cornelius Ojelabi, and representatives of Senator Gbenga Ashafa.

  • TA Orji: Much ado about senatorial endorsement

    Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the political atmosphere across the country is becoming tense. Politicians are busy jostling for political relevance and are already doing everything possible to run down anybody who poses a possible threat to their ambitions. Already manifesting in this direction was the recent media attacks and campaign of calumny by some politicians and cynics against Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji and his family members, after he was reportedly adopted by major stakeholders in Abia Central senatorial district as PDP consensus senatorial candidate for 2015.

    One of such critics is one Chuks Akamadu who in his article in one of the national dailies recently launched an attack on the governor and his family. Instead of dwelling on issues, legalities and facts concerning the endorsement of the governor, Akamadu took on the governor’s wife, Mercy Odochi Orji, and son, Chinedum Orji levelling all sorts of unfounded allegations against them. More of such frivolous and malicious attacks sponsored against the governor by those envious of his personal success as a renowned technocrat are expected in the days ahead. This is against the background of his achievements, rising political profile and endorsement by various groups in his zone.

    The truth is that Governor Orji is not the only governor that has come under such orchestrated attacks in the media ahead of the 2015 general elections. His Akwa Ibom and Delta states counterparts, Godswill Akpabio and Emmanuel Uduaghan are being attacked in the media by some forces in their respective states for legally nursing senatorial ambition in 2015. It is quite clear that the forces behind the attacks are failed politicians who have lost relevance and touch with their people, while still living in delusion that election could be contested and won on the pages of newspapers. No wonder they have not advanced any superior arguments backed by any constitutional provision to buttress their reasons for being against the senatorial ambitions of these governors. Sincerely and legally, every Nigerian knows that there is nothing absolutely wrong in Orji’s endorsement by groups in his zone.

    Instead, the endorsement should been seen as true manifestation and confirmation of his wider acceptance by his people because of his performance and track record right from his days in public service till date. After all, how many politicians today, including Governor Orji’s contemporaries, had enjoyed such early endorsement and pressure from their people to contest for senatorial seat in 2015? Some of those who tried their luck at the polls in the past against the people’s wishes were rejected by the people. The likes of Akamadu should kindly advise his paymasters to brace up for the challenges ahead by trying their luck at the polls in 2015, instead of engaging in cheap blackmail and campaign of calumny against possible contenders or potential winners. There is no doubt that such exercise will surely end up in futility in 2015 because the gimmick is not new to Nigerians especially the people of Abia State. Despite media propaganda by some failed politicians in Abia State to run Governor Orji and his family down, the people will definitely speak through their votes at polls and not on the pages of the newspaper when the time comes.

    On Akamadu’s attacks on the governor’s wife, Mercy Odochi Orji (Osinulo), it is a calculated attempt to rubbish the integrity and personality of the woman of substance for no just cause. Mrs. Orji unlike got married to Governor Orji when he was in secondary school. Like Siamese twins, they grew together, bore children and have built a united family blessed today with humble and dedicated children and grand children. Since his husband assumed office as governor of Abia in 2007, she has been a major pillar behind her husband’s success in all direction. She is and has always been there as a wife, mother and comforter, because the governor, being the only child of his parents has no other person, except his immediate family. That has been the common bond binding the family together from inception, and it has not changed.

    As the first lady of the state, Mrs. Orji has been quietly touching the lives of the less privileged ones in the state, especially the widows whom she has been putting shelters on their heads. That was not case in the state before Orji came into office.

    Also, their son, Chinedum Orji, a first class graduate of Engineering is an example of a good and well-trained son who has never allowed himself to be carried away by his father’s position. Apart from his generous support to the non-governmental organisation, Ochendo Youth Foundation that collaborate with the state government and other public spirited individuals and organisations to empower the teeming unemployed youths in the state, he has no direct or indirect involvement in the business of governance in the state. This is because the governor has always drawn a line between family and business of governance even if there is nothing wrong or illegal in appointing his son as a government functionary in his government. After all, heaven has not fallen in Plateau State since August 2011 when Governor Jonah Jang appointed his son Yakubu Jang as Special assistant on Special Duties, a position he is still occupying till today. After serving as governor of Yobe State for eight years, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim and his wife have been in National Assembly since 2007 till date. The people of the Yobe and Plateau have not taken to the streets for that and they have not been sponsoring spurious media attacks against Jang or Abba Ibrahim.

    Akamadu’s postulation in the article that the present government in Abia is a family affair is therefore a barefaced lie because the government unlike the immediate past one is not only accessible and people-oriented, it is transparent and accountable to the people of the state. For sure, the government is not under probe by any anti-graft agencies; neither Orji, his wife, son nor any member of his family is under investigation for any alleged criminal or civil offence. Those who tried to drag their family name in the mud before now under any guise have always been exposed and shamed. Those unsettled or worried by Orji’ senatorial endorsement should do the needful by getting ready to challenge him at the poll if he accepts to run instead of lazily casting aspersion on his government and family members on the pages of newspapers.

     

    • Dr. Uwa, a medical practitioner wrote from Aba, Abia State

  • How not to be a Senator

    As the jostling for positions ahead 2015 heightens, it would be patently unpatriotic and downright insensitive on the part of stakeholders in the Edo North project to gloss over the reported schism between the senator representing the Edo North Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Domingo Obende and constituents from his Akoko-Edo local government area, one of the six council areas which make the district. Most national dailies reported last Monday the story of how a meeting of his party, APC, leaders and stakeholders in his local government area called by Senator Obende was shunned by the party leaders.

    As reported by one newspapers: ‘’In what looks like a vote of no confidence, prominent leaders from Senator Domingo Obende’s local government area of Akoko-Edo, weekend in Benin City, shunned an Elders’ Forum meeting  of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled to hold in his residence.’’ The story, which is of significance to the other five local governments of Etsako East, Etsako Central, Etsako West, Owan East and Owan West, said the ‘’meeting was boycotted by 90 per cent of the leaders of the local government’’.

    Political watchers and followers  know what it means for leaders, described as ‘’political living ancestors’’, such as Bayo Adams, Joseph Arogundade, John Bello, Stephen Amineshi, L.P. Okogun, J.A. Alao, Jolly Ashore, E.O. Omozuanfo, Veras Ashefor, A Adesunloye, House of Representatives member representing the local government area,  Hon. Peter Akpatason, the two state House of Assembly members from the local government area, Honourables Dele Oloruntoba and Kabiru Adjoto, Segun Oseh, Anselm Agbabi, Honourable Commissioner for Arts And Culture, Jemitola Anena and Olu Dania among several others, shun, boycott or collectively fail to attend a meeting called by a senator, especially one who has made known his ambition for a second tenure in 2015.

    Simply put, the boycott of Senator Domingo’s meeting by party leaders from his council area is a definite vote of no confidence and, coming from his home local government area, should serve as notice to the senator that his name has thus been added to the list of ‘’those who will stay at home in 2015.’’ The leaders, without holding their brief, would have their reasons for their action which, in the main, can be summarised as the Senator’s inability to meet the yearnings and aspirations of Akoko-Edo people. His representation at the National Assembly has come under scrutiny as the tenure winds down and the report card shows a poor rating for the senator. It is no surprise, therefore, that there appears to be a determination by Akoko-Edo political leaders to teach the Senator,  a church Deacon, a lesson or two in how not to be a senator.

    Last December, I received a copy of Senator Domingo’s REPORT CARD 2013 in which he enumerated the bills he either solely sponsored or co-sponsored with other senators, those constituents he had placed in employment in federal agencies, those he had assisted to undertake religious pilgrimages to either Mecca or Jerusalem, those he had provided training in skills acquisition and start up materials as well as federal projects he attracted to the senatorial district since he was elected in 2011. It would appear to me, like the leaders from Akoko-Edo, that our Senator Domingo Obende has not done enough especially in the area of physical and infrastructural development.

    An analysis of his report card as prepared and presented by him shows that the senator attracted only three federal projects (a model primary health centre, a community town hall and a community centre and sports facility) to Etsako Central local government area. Other local government areas in the senatorial district fared better with federal projects attracted by Senator Domingo spread as follows: Etsako East (four projects), Etsako West (10 projects), Owan East (six projects), Owan West (five projects) and Akoko-Edo (18 projects). Aside the disproportionate distribution of the projects, Senator Domingo attracted projects which are clearly in the competence of the local government councillors working in close harmony with their community leaders.

    For example, what pride would a senator derive from attracting a federal government financed hand pump borehole to Ikhin and Ihievbe-Ogben in Owan East or Okpella in Etsako East or Iyuku in Etsako West? These are certainly projects that are within the financial capabilities of local councils. Why is the Senator unable to attract road construction, industrial borehole construction or rural electrification projects to Edo North? While other local government areas had hand pump boreholes, not one community in Akoko-Edo was provided with a bore hole. Of the 18 projects in Akoko-Edo, half are community hall /sports centres. The others are either classroom blocks, model health centres, or electricity transformers, placing the local government far ahead of others both in number of projects as well as quality and impact of projects on constituents.

    It is instructive to note that everywhere our senator has gone recently in Edo North, he has been received with passive indignation or polite aloofness. In Etsako East and the Owan local governments, Senator Domingo got the “we have been seeing you on television” treatment, signalling a total lack of connection with the grassroots constituents. He was either bombarded with questions which embarrassed him or ignored totally.

    Where the senatorial seat goes in 2015, in my view, is known to those in Akoko-Edo and the other five local government areas who have turned their backs on Senator Obende. It is pedestrian to pontificate, as Senator Obende’s agents have sought to do, that ‘’Etsakos have had it twice and Owan once. Now that it is Akoko-Edo’s turn, they think they can arm-twist us to it. They should wait for their turn’’, without considering the goodwill squandered by them since 2011. No one requires a soothsayer to see that the light shining on the Edo North senatorial seat is coming from the east, not the east of those seeking promotion from the Green Chamber of the National Assembly to the Red Chamber but the east of a political giant whose credentials in learning, character and practical application of same have assumed gargantuan heights not only in Edo State but Nigeria as a whole. Interestingly, APC leaders, elders and faithful of Owan extraction have endorsed the Secretary to Edo State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, as their choice for the seat. It is a case of ‘’the voice of the people is the voice of God’’.

    • Comrade Jamgbadi, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin City.