The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Bayelsa’s infrastructure revolution

    At inauguration, Governor Seriake Dickson clearly spelt out the strategic value of the Restoration Agenda of his administration. His swift proclamation of this template of renewal definitely wasn’t a cheap move to join the bandwagon of political sloganeering. Rather the Restoration Agenda was in response to the people’s cry for urgent development and progress.

    The governor actually had a personal experience of the deplorable situation during his campaigns. Everywhere he went, he had to deal with emotional calls for the building and upgrading of infrastructure, meandered through bad roads and saw other dilapidated infrastructure in need of urgent rehabilitation.

    Understandably, accelerated development of infrastructure was made the core of the Restoration Agenda. And quickly Governor Dickson rallied his team to action, underscoring the sense of urgency to change the state of infrastructure throughout Bayelsa and in particular the state capital, Yenagoa.

    He tasked members of his team to appreciate that for the state government to actualize the lofty goal of diversifying the state’s economy through tourism, agriculture and industrialization, the construction of new infrastructure, including a good network of roads and the expansion of other existing infrastructure must be a priority.

    At different forums, the governor emphasized the importance of opening up the state for easy accessibility across the three senatorial districts as it would go a long way in promoting trade and industry.  He also noted the implication for investors who will be able to navigate the entire state and opening businesses wherever suitable without worrying about basic infrastructure. With a good road network in Bayelsa, farmers and agro-allied businesses will easily transport their products to markets just as tourists could move around to locate and enjoy the natural beaches and visit the numerous tourist attractions in the state.

    To the joy and relief of Bayelsans, Governor Dickson hasn’t only been talking. Many will agree and rationally too, that his actions on infrastructural development in the last two years speak louder than words. It is akin to a revolution by any serious evaluation.  Despite the marshy nature of Bayesla State which makes infrastructural development relatively costly and cumbersome, the administration has a lot to show for its short period in office.

    So far, over 350 kilometres of roads across the state have been completed. Government has also constructed 15 bridges, over 50 public buildings and 2 flyovers. Dualisation of 18 roads and two outer ring roads are in progress while the secretariat for the Traditional Rulers Council in Yenagoa has been completed. The road linking the old and new campuses of the state-owned Niger Delta University at Amassom is also completed.

    Government is set to award contracts for the construction of 15 internal roads in Yenagoa which will also be replicated in all the eight local government headquarters in the first phase of total rehabilitation and transformation of roads in the state for easy accessibility.

    The expansion and upgrading of many of the roads particularly in Yenagoa would, however, inevitably lead to demolition of some houses, not because they offended any town planning regulation but as necessary price to pay for the greater good of a modern city. The expansion of Opolo-Imiringi road, for instance, has necessitated the demolition of the governor’s personal house which is a demonstration of commitment to this cause.

    Yet the ambitious new Yenagoa city is coming on stream soon, to further open up the state to investors, which when completed is targeted to be the new Dubai in Africa especially in terms of facilities and business opportunities.

    Among other on-going projects is the construction of the state archive, museum, language centre, new secretariat annexes, governor and deputy governors’ office complexes, modern police mess, the rehabilitation of the Gloryland Cultural Centre and construction of the Government House Clinic, now close to completion. And of course, work is ongoing at the pharmaceutical storage and distribution centre, which when completed will be the first of its kind in Africa.

    Allied to the provision of roads are the strategically located bridges in the three senatorial districts in addition to the equally strategic construction of an airport and the Agge Deep Seaport. In the estimation of Governor Dickson, the successful completion of these two projects will speed up the quest for a diversified and vibrant economy, thereby making oil just one of the sources of income for the state.

    The governor’s dream is that the Bayelsa airport will, among other benefits, create a direct link to Yenagoa, thereby consigning to the past the two- kilometre drive from Port-Harcourt airport. The seaport will also jump-start the state economy so much in terms of massive job creation, boom in trade, leading to a huge leap in income for the state and of course a greater lease of life for the people.

    The people of Bayelsa, visitors and experts alike have noted with satisfaction the quality of the jobs undertaken as they were awarded to reputable construction firms including Julius Berger, Setraco and CCECC. The unusual volume of construction has also created fresh opportunities for a legion of youths as well as qualified engineers, architects and quantity surveyors in the state.

    Many won’t dispute the fact that in the last two years, the Seriake Dickson-led Restoration Government has displayed its commitment and determination to make a difference in the lives of the people by providing such massive and strategic infrastructure throughout the state.

     

    • Iworiso-Markson writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

  • Savannah Bank Plc

    SIR: It is now five years that the licence of Savannah Bank was returned to her. Since then the bank has not been able to operate. No information from the bank as to the position of things since they used the Nigerian judiciary to take back their licence thereby sitting on depositors money. The court gave the Bank 18 months to recapitalize and consolidate. Since then, it has broken all the banking rules and regulations and yet the court, Central Bank of Nigeria and the NDIC are looking the other way.

    Depositors money has been ‘judicially’ held since February, 2002 and no newspaper is writing or probing what is happening. It is part of your social services to the people to periodically probe and publish the position of things to keep the bank on its toes on its responsibility to the Nigeria citizens.

    The Societe General Bank of Nigeria which was closed five years after Savannah Bank has since reopened and paid depositors their money.

    • S. O. Balogun Akure.

  • EAGLETS: The poetry of soccer

    EAGLETS: The poetry of soccer

    Hardball had a vicarious orgasm. Sam (In Touch) Omatseye came instantly – with a poem which streamed in with the final whistle. A Mexican Tear, it is titled: The Nigerians had value for their feet/ in fit after fit, wrote the in-house bard still relishing the afterglow of 90 minutes of exciting football poetics. It had been nearly one month of foreplay as the 15th FIFA Under-17 World Cup raged in the exotic city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. At last the crescendo the Saturday finale, during which the Nigerian lads took the nation to a glorious ecstasy as they performed the final act of soccer supremacy over the rest of the world.

    Where did these lads learn to play soccer with so much poetry and even a dash of sorcery? They touched it as if it were not a running round leather object; as if it were something at their magical command: go now to Ihenacho— transport to Captain Mohammed—— find Yahaya— end up in the opponent’s net; so very simple it seemed. If the Eaglets were Indians, they would have confirmed the long held myth that they play with such subterranean powers which led to a FIFA ban. One of such tales is that when you play an Indian team you find your self contending with about 36 players on the pitch instead of 11.

    But the Nigerian team has a pedigree: this is the 4th time they are lifting the trophy. Even the Spanish giant, Barcelona Football Club, the grandmasters of the touch-touch style of play also known as tiki-taka, would have gone green with envy watching these boys from Africa. They played six matches through the tournament, scored 22 goals and conceded only five. But the goals understated their prowess. They did not only beat all their opponent silly, they treated them like kids; making them weep like babies after each match. Sweden they drew with at their first encounter and upon the second meeting, it was a resounding three goals to nil drubbing. It is same story with the Mexicans who had fallen 6 – 1 in the very first match and in the final last Saturday, the Eaglets reaffirmed that the first time was no fluke. They mauled them by three goals to zero to lift the cup.

    It is a performance from another world and the whole world must have taken note that our play was not ordinary. But can Nigeria harness its glory? Going by her previous record (having won it three times before) with no significant impact in the national team will this be different? If these young lads beat the world so dazzlingly today, the reasonable progression is that five years hence, in their early 20s, they should repeat the feat at the senior World Cup (2018)?

    This had never been the natural progression in our age-grade football. Apart from this team, Hardball wagers that with a little effort, we can raise 37 other junior teams as good as this world winners (one from each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory). Such is the great talent and the human person potentialities available to us. But we are perennially stumped by the requisite leadership to harvest our vast riches.

    One good example is that this team need not be disbanded; we can do so much with it. It can be branded and taken on a worldwide tour – country to country, continent to continent – where they would merchandise, sign autographs, play exhibition matches with youth clubs and even senior teams. Almost every country’s youths would want to watch them play. But they must be carefully packaged and marketed. There is enormous revenue to be earned and the big image boost for Nigeria.

    Hardball says there is so much more where this magical Eaglets come from – in basket ball, tennis, the sprints and races, swimming, boxing, name it. But where is that man with the magic wand who will invoke the Nigerian spirit?

  • To cheat and not cheat

    Advocates of Nigeria’s existence as an indivisible entity must be buoyed by the country’s fourth triumph in the FIFA Under-17 World Youth Championship. The Golden Eaglets underscored pedigree and spurred hopes of a fortified senior national team with a 3-0 whitewash of Mexico in the final of the 2013 edition concluded recently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    But optimism comes at a cost. The ‘youthful’ Eaglets paraded at UAE barely doused the allegations of age cheating that often attended Nigeria’s international outings. Supporters may hold successful verdicts from pre-tournament and in-competition Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests conducted by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) to critical light, but the instrument of age determination leaves room for error, however small.

    Using magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy, the MRI apparatus scans internal organs and structures to locate problems and determine age. Following years of research, FIFA’s Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-Marc) devised a six-point system to grade the fusion of the growth plate in bones.

    “MRI of the wrist is a simple, reliable, valid and non-invasive method of age determination in young male football players,” said Jiri Dvorak, the F-Marc chairman.

    “We can identify overage players at U17 competitions at no risk to the individual. This is of considerable help both to member associations and FIFA.”

    Typically, complete fusion is unlikely to occur prior to 17 years of age, with accuracy at greater than 99 per cent. So, if MRI indicates complete fusion of a player’s wrist, it is 99 per cent certain the player is older than 17. If a player registers a Grade 6, they are considered older than 17.

    But the MRI didn’t stop Eaglets skipper, Fortune Chukwudi, from featuring in the Nigeria 2009 championship and earning rave reviews which gave way to an overage saga launched by his former coach and ex-international, Adokiye Amiesimaka.

    Much may also be made of the physical appearance of the latest crop. They seemed the freshest ever put out by Nigeria, but that’s as far as the credibility claims go. In a country where certificates – dud or genuine – go for two a penny on the streets, and sworn affidavits as well as statutory declarations of age are brandished in consequence of poor record-keeping, baby-faced men of 30 often play as gifted 17 or 20 year-olds with the connivance of result-oriented officials.

    That leaves parents and guardians as the only guarantors of players’ true ages. With the finances of the average Nigerian family perpetually in dire straits and an international football career one of the quickest ways of escaping the doldrums, however, scarce is the mother prepared to prevent her hopeful 25 year-old from heeding a precious national youth team invite, or the guardian ready to reveal his ward’s true age.

    We fete the Class of 2013 as teenage heroes, but some thought skipper Musa Muhammed and his mates punched above their weight. A dazed Iran coach, Ali Doustimehr, whose charges succumbed 4-1 to the smallish but nimble Nigerians in the second round implied as much. “As national team coach for 20 years, my experience in this job tells me that the Nigerian team are not teenagers,” he said. “I don’t want to raise this issue that they are average or not … But if they are under 17, I just say congratulations because they are very good. It means that Nigeria will have a very strong national team in the future.”

    We may not admit Doustimehr’s opinion in the court of public opinion, for the simple fact that he lacks evidence, nor would personal doubt from domestic quarters count, for the same reason. As the successful sides to the China 1985, Japan 1993 and Korea 2007 tournaments did, Manu Garba’s collection of mostly youth academy prodigies deserved the gold cup and the subsequent presidential reward. Their thrilling displays in the Middle East sun reflected the wealth of technical experience supplied by Manu – a former youth international – and his assistants in the course of two fruitful years. Nduka Ugbade captained the inaugural Eaglets of 1985 while Emmanuel Amuneke earned his wings with the national Under 23 national team and the Super Eagles.

    Taken with the Super Eagles’ Nations Cup conquest in February and imminent qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the latest achievement justifies the end, but not the means of Nigeria’s football practice. In the first place, to contest age-grade competitions with the ages and appearance of players in doubt is to possibly defeat FIFA’s aim of talent development for continuity and excellence at elite levels. And for all my devotion to the cause, watching the Eaglets defy biological limitations to consistently overrun opponents mildly unnerved.

    Some claim that competing countries, especially group stage adversary and vanquished semi-final opponent, Sweden, featured physically more mature and probably older contestants. In the absence of proof that the teams cheated, however, it should be noted that players from developed countries naturally benefit in stature from good nutrition and efficient technique whereas youthful looks and stunted structure define cadet footballers typically selected from the Nigerian grassroots.

    Anyone who doubts the malaise need only visit venues of national age-grade football championships. He might glimpse a baby-faced 27 year-old win a national under-13 competition with fellow ‘men’. Privileged to witness one of the many official receptions for the victorious 2007 group, I struggled, and failed, to place the mugs of my football-mad teenage nephews beside those of Haruna Lukman and company, for instance.

    Age cheating accusations have dogged the national team for years, to be sure. Discrepancies in the birth dates of three of Nigeria’s players to the 1988 Olympics and ones used by the same players in previous tournaments led to a two-year ban from all international fixtures by FIFA, for example. Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht grabbed Canada ‘87 Under-17 World Cup star, Phillip Osondu after the tournament, but the diminutive striker faded quickly on account of age issues. Afterwards, Femi Opabunmi went from Trinidad and Tobago 2001 sensation to the senior World Cup with the Super Eagles and obscurity in quick succession.

    As endorsed by supporters and a doting Manu, immediate step-up to the seniors for the Eaglets is one thing, staying relevant is another. The same rhetoric trailed the previous three accomplishments. Neglected by clueless officials and a forgetful followership, a handful succeeded, but many of the players eventually drifted around the obscure leagues of Asia, Europe and the Americas.

    The success stories of erstwhile Eaglets and current Eagles, Ogenyi Onazi and Kenneth Omeruo resound, nonetheless. Spurred by Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi’s home-grown policy, the talented duo made the main team early. They inspire the hopeful, and the emergent crop would do well to make modest but elite European outfits for playing time and quick notice as both players managed.

    While we bask in the moment, away from the distractions of poor governance and fragile nationhood, we may examine the price of progress. Trending as a sporting question, cheating transcends all facets of national life as demonstrated by widespread corruption and institutionalised mediocrity. And true nationhood only emerges when citizens collectively relate expression, activity or occupation to conscience.

    Right or wrong may be a matter of personal opinion, but once determined, the former is the way to go. The most enduring choices in life are based on the one and never the other. And right over wrong adds more value to the system than cosmetic slogans and raucous refrains from rebranding and national orientation projects peddled by the government.

    In the same way that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) contends with substance abuse, straining to stay ahead of devious super-athletes, technocrats at FIFA must demystify the age-cheat bogey. Only by leveling the playing field will football’s governing body sustain the credibility of future tournaments. Whatever the yardstick, though, Nigeria, as demonstrated in UAE, can win, and win well.

  • Tribute to Solomon Lar

    SIR: I can rightly claim that late Chief Solomon Lar and I were political associates, he being the senior and I, junior. When the second republic beckoned, we were bonded by the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) – the platform on which the late Lar was elected governor of Plateau State and I, member of the National Assembly.

    As the chairman of the House of Representatives Finance Committee, I had to caucus with him on the party’s national issues which provided me the opportunity to observe him close-up. I make no further claim to any other special intimacy other than to say that I took personal interest on the modus operandi of this highly respected statesman on political matters concerning Nigeria.

    As an American statesman once wrote…..”Man can weather adversities with stony calm, but the true test of a man is when you give him power”. The late Lar went through both with same equanimity. He was heavily persecuted for his stout defence of his minority people in the North, treated leadership as a sacrifice and never flinched in pursuit of his peoples’ emancipation. When the opportunity came, his people demonstrated their implicit confidence in electing him their governor. At both ends, he demonstrated a unique disposition that marked him out as a true leader and statesman. The axis of three wise men- Sam Mbakwe, Jim Nwobodo and Lar stabilized the second republic by the wisdom they exhibited to enter the accord with NPN to form the government of Shehu Shagari.

    During that second republic, he demonstrated beyond doubt his love for Nigeria. As crisis erupted in the marriage between NPN and NPP, it was the late chief’s wise counsel that helped NPP navigate the troubled waters. When issues seem intractable, it was the late Lar who will most likely bring forth the solution. He made himself so reachable and accessible that most of NPP National Assembly members adopted him as their reference. At meetings, he hardly raised his voice no matter how contentious the issue or matter was.

    His progressive credentials manifested at each turn of our march to democracy. He was solidly behind SDP and ensured the delivery of late Chief M.K.O Abiola’s massive votes in the middle belt region known today as the North Central Zone. One incident I recall was the day SDP leaders gathered at the late Chief Abiola’s Ikeja residence to agree on the submission of eight names to Abacha for ministerial appointments. Just about the moment the list was to be dispatched, in walked the late Chief Lar, and moved by his awesome contributions, the late Chief M.K.O Abiola advised that his name be included following which he was eventually appointed the Police Affairs Minister, a position he discharged with distinction.

    In 1998, Lar, accompanied by Senator Aniete Okon visited me in United States to review the works of NADECO in his unquenchable thirst for democracy. He emerged the first chairman of PDP and midwifed its first National Convention that nominated Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the party’s presidential candidate. At the convention grounds, I approached him to make a last bid request to convince him that Alex Ekwueme rather than Obasanjo should be the man to lead Nigeria’s return to democracy. He pulled me aside and uttered these words…. “Ralph the tiger has not been caged yet”. I looked confused and in utter bewilderment I realized that the late chief was captive to some forces. Looking at Nigeria during and after Obasanjo, I know that the late Chief Solomon Lar must have had his regrets.

    His life calls for celebration. His passage on earth was full of accomplishments and he attained an enviable old age of 80 plus. Plateau State lost an illustrious son and leader but Nigeria lost a compass.

    • Chief Ralph Obioha.

    Abuja.

  • Ndi Anambra: These are ominous signs

    When God decided to warn King Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon about his impending unedifying fate, He did so through the mysterious finger writing on the wall. The Bible is replete with similar examples where He spoke to humanity through signs.

    Anambra in recent years, appeared to be like Babylon in Belshazzar’s time where the people could neither read nor interpret the signs.

    Today, the result is quite evident in the complete desolate, hackneyed and total wasteland the state has become in the last eight years Governor Peter Obi has been in charge. In 2009, aides of the governor were caught with a whopping N250million cash of public money. Yet, instead of reacting appropriately by shoving him aside, the same people still allowed the governor assume power for a second term one year after that appalling incident. Many had sought to explain it away that they only respected the wishes of the late APGA leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who pleaded that they should vote for Obi as his last wish.

    But today, Ojukwu is no more. Even at that, were he to be alive, he would have no doubt, in his characteristic manner, admitted his fault, apologised to the people about the errors he made in foisting the present people in Government House Awka on them.  Even sadder still is the fact that this same people were the first to desecrate what the Ezeigbo Gburugburu stood for by practically dancing and urinating on his grave.

    To show how low they could go in their credibility index scale, they plotted, wrote a letter and circulated to Nigerians purporting same to be from the Ikemba, in which he urged his beloved Ndigbo to vote for a particular presidential candidate in the run up to the 2011 election, despite the fact that he was then virtually a vegetable, incapable of comprehending what the same people fate entrusted his life in their hands in his final days were doing. How low could some human beings go!

    Even when the son, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Jnr), stupefied by such unconscionable callousness against his father came out with the truth, by telling Nigerians that he was in no state to author or direct that such an ignominious epistle be authored on his behalf, not a single word of retraction or any semblance of remorse was heard from any quarters from this camp. Instead, they took on the scion of the late Igbo leader, castigating him to no end. Today, we know who is telling the truth and who ought to bury his face in shame.

    Yet, these are the same people prancing about with bold Ojukwu badges printed on their foreheads to deceive the people. Chief Victor Umeh, the national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), even as the author of the controversial letter, without any iota of guilt, over this shameful act, particularly makes a show of this “love” for the late Ikemba, by running to his grave at the slightest excuse, usually with full compliments of a horde of journalists in tow to ensure that the pictures are splashed on the pages of newspapers and the recorded images played on prime times on television, just to hoodwink the gullible.

    These are the people who still want to ride to power in the state, on the back of the same Ikemba, who they have so desecrated his spirit that he would be turning in his grave wishing he could turn the clock back and save his people from the great danger he plunged them by not detecting that they were indeed lions in sheepskin, including recently the mindless acts of bazaar currently declared on the people’s commonwealth.

    Now, the red light signals are on once more. Recent events indicate that the handwritings have left new messages on the wall, warning ndi Anambra about more dangers ahead.

    What, for instance, would make Willy Obiano, the APGA candidate, appear at last week’s debate for the governorship candidates with a prepared speech, while others were fielding their questions from their heads?

    But should Anambrarians go to sleep because he seems to think nothing about this reprehensible act? Certainly not! They can’t afford not to see the finger of God in it. Why was he caught in the act, if not that God wanted to expose him? Now that he was so exposed, what is God using it to tell the people? That is the question that must not be lost on anybody at this time. It should also engage the minds of those who bandy his candidacy about and try to force it down the throats of Anambrarians?

    Even if they wave it aside, what about the recent incident at Ukeh, Idemili North Council of the state, when 30 worshippers reportedly died at the adoration ground after the visit of the governor, who led the APGA leadership to “worship” there? Will that sign also be lost on them?

    Of course the details of what led to that unfortunate event will always be steeped in deep controversy just like similar incidents in the past. But the issues they raise will not. Rather, they are very clear. Already the APGA leaders are all over town doing what they know best how – propaganda. As usual, they are intent on pinning the unfortunate incident on Senator Chris Ngige, who they perceive as their only stumbling block to retaining power – in fact their nemesis. They want to ensure that through propaganda and heavy oiling of their familiar channels of disinformation, they will bend public minds that Ngige who was nowhere near the venue will be made to carry the can, just as in the alleged deportation saga, where Obi, after agreeing to receive the “deportees” fled the scene on the appointed date only to turn back to make political capital out of it.

    In what ought to elicit pity from outsiders for Anambra people for being punished with such a governor, Obi, in his puerile and childish story presented as his account of the incident, while claiming that he went to Ukeh to worship rather than campaign, on the invitation of the priest in charge. Why was he in full APGA regalia with the full compliments of the party’s campaign machinery at such wee-hours of the night? He never talked about the political speeches and promises that incensed the worshippers to denounce such unholy attempts to turn their prayer ground to a campaign ground where they are forced to listen to unsolicited campaign sloganeering, which eventually led to the stampede that resulted in the deaths. He never gave examples of similar adoration prayers or vigils he participated in elsewhere in Anambra or any part of Nigeria or the world in his eight years in power prior to this. Of course, in his simple, pious mind, it never occurred to him that Ukeh is a shouting distance from Ngige’s Alor community and that some circumspection was needed. No! It is okay to wear the APGA uniform to any place including worship centres. The only place it is forbidden of course is Aso Rock Villa, for obvious reasons.

    Will Anambrarians refuse to see the handwriting on the wall even with the suffusing propaganda? Are they ready to leave Egypt and move to the Promised Land? It is their choice to make. Of course, it wasn’t impossible for God to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Yet, he preferred to do it through Moses. And it came to pass because Moses played along and because they observed the Passover ritual.

     

    •Ndukwe, an agronomist, lives in Onitsha

  • Re: Whither Oyo’s forest reserves

    SIR: I refer to the above titled write-up in The Nation few weeks ago, written by Mr. Adewuyi Adegbite. The article was a clarion call on our government to wake up to its responsibility and protect our forest resources from extinction.  Whether the government saw the article or not I cannot say, however, it is disheartening that our government focused its developmental efforts on development of infrastructures to the neglect of our forest resources and other ventures which can generate revenue for it more than the monthly allocation from Abuja.

    The article was an eye opener on the level of destruction of our forest reserves by illegal activities of unscrupulous elements in our society. Exonerating forestry officials from the blame for virtual annihilation of the reserves which is unabated is spurious and dubious. Since there are forest guards stationed at the reserves to guard the forest from intruders, there ought to be security in the place. If any untoward things happen to the forest, they should be held responsible. The illegal felling of trees in Olla Hill located in Ogo-Oluwa Local Government and Surulere Local Government of Oyo State was brazen. The operators were said to be daring that they are sawing the trees right inside the reserves. Not only that, those who are cutting the unripe trees for rafters are equally operating without hindrance. It was even said that mobile policemen stationed in the forest to guard the villages against the intruders from Osun State are collaborating with the illegal exploiters to destroy the forest.

    I believe this practice is not limited to Olla hill. Therefore, government has to be proactive if it wants to preserve the reserves for generations unborn and make it a money spinning venture which it ought to be. Illegal activities must be stopped by closing the reserves indefinitely with strict penalty for intruders.

     

    • Odelami Olatunde

    Idi Araba via Ajaawa, Oyo State.

  • Our strength lies in our interdependence

    SIR: To my mind, Nigeria is currently on the fastest lane to ‘Kigali’ or self-destruction because as a people we have failed woefully to protect our independence with our communal interdependence! We have failed to discover early enough that in tongue, religion, creed, status we may differ, but our humanity is the strongest unifying factor!

    With this we have completely jettisoned the dictum that “an injury to one is an injury to all”. This has continued to hurt and haunt us as a people so much that whenever a section of the society or the country is in crisis, instead of others to rally round to solve the problem, the general feeling was and still is always that was/is their problem after all they have offended us in the past!

    For examples, the First Republic failed largely due to ‘ethnicisation’ of politics or politicisation of ethnicity; The civil war was seen as the creation of the Ibos, annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election and the accompanying crisis was seen as a Yoruba problem; Jos crisis and Boko Haram are largely considered as the problem of the North; etc. But for how long are we going to live as strange bed fellows? As the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Said Abubakar recently queried, is it going to be possible in our generation that a Hausa will be elected as the governor in the East, Igbo as governor in Yoruba zone….?

    If this marriage of convenience called Nigeria will not experience a miscarriage in the name disintegration, the people and their leaders must urgently change the way they think by fully realising that the only way to ensure our independence is by protecting our interdependence!

    • Soji Oyeranmi,

    Ibadan

  • Chime vs. Chime: crisis in paradise

    It is strange, indeed a touch stranger than fiction. A colleague said he never imagined people at that rarefied state of wantlessness (if we can use that word) would ever have a reason to feud. It is akin to dwellers of paradise quarrelling; whatever for? Mrs. Clara C. Chime is a young beauty betrothed to Mr. Sullivan Chime, the governor of Enugu State. She is not the first wife the governor ever took; she was about half the age of his beau or more graphically, Clara is about the age mate of Sullivan’s first son by his first wife. It was a fairy tale wedding between Clara and Sullivan about five years ago. Young Clara, fresh from school and her family, nay, her entire kindred down to far-flung villages must have been over the moon at the prospect of that matrimony. Good fortunes don’t come in better and bigger packages.

    The ceremony, which set Clara’s community abuzz for many weeks, was the dream of every young woman. Governors trampled on governors, royalty stepped on royalty; while black, glistening jeeps were almost piggy-backed on top one another to find parking space at the ceremony. It was a wedding that happens once in the lifetime of a people. It was of course a marriage made in heaven for a sitting governor to have found out this belle, Clara, among all the belles in the whole wide world. She was magically transported from being another gal on the street to a First Lady.

    For the benefit of readers who cannot fathom the magnitude of this tale, in Nigeria’s queer polity where a state governor (or president) is the closest thing to the modern version of an absolute monarch, his wife is the queen of the realm. The First lady is the de facto second in command (first in one or two cases) and the prime-commissioner if we might create such a post. Appointees, contractors, party stalwarts, favour seekers and friends of the governor/president would ignore a first lady at their peril. Such is their power, influence and status in Nigeria. Lately, we have upped the ante with what we call the Office of the First Lady (OFL). This is not just a title but a physical structure set up with all the trappings and authority of office second only to the office of the governor/president.

    Today, five years down the road, Clara and Sullivan have turned full cycle from an enchanting fairy tale to a horror story. The marriage has broken down to the point that Clara, the sitting First Lady of Enugu State is crying out in anguish and calling on anyone out there to come rescue her from her paradise-turned-to-hell. “We do not have a relationship anymore and the situation inevitably led to my nervous breakdown. I have been diagnosed with severe depression and at some point was quite suicidal,” Mrs Clara Chime sobbed.

    She said further that, “The strategy of my estranged husband (mark her word) is to subject me to the most horrific and intolerable of conditions to cause my demise but my strength and will to live has kept me alive.” What eerie cry of anguish from a haunted paradise.

    Her husband the governor and his minders were so much rattled by her petition which drips with such intense sorrow that they tried some damage control by debunking her claims and to insist she is mentally challenged and in need of help. But it is obvious that Clara’s soul has been tortured almost to the point of damage. Clara may need help but away from her estranged paradise and her “estranged” husband. She eventually broke free from ‘bondage’ last Monday remarking most defiantly never go back there again and not even to wish her enemy such a marriage as she fled from.

    Sullivan too probably needs even more help but if only he can be extracted from his exertions of purportedly running a state. Finally, Clara and Sullivan sorely need our compassion and prayers.

  • Helen Ukpabio’s “Witches on the Run”

    SIR: I am writing to draw the attention of the Nigerian public to the activities of Lady Apostle Helen Ukpabio who has just announced a witch-finding and witch-delivering session tagged “Ember Months Special 2013”. The program is taking place from November 11-17, at the headquarters of the Liberty Gospel Church in Calabar, Cross River State.

    The theme of the event is ‘Witches on the Run”. Ukpabio is inviting people to come for “free deliverance”. The poster for the programme has an image of a cat like animal at the background. A cat is locally believed to be a witch’s familiar in the region. The image of this familiar invokes fears and fantasies of impending danger or misfortune in the minds of the local population.

    The poster further states “Is your family sold out to witches? Are you oppressed or tormented by the witches? Are you a victim/prey/slave/servant in witchcraft coven?

    Are you a witch or wizard? There is a special deliverance for the possessed and the oppressed.”

    In a region where people often spiritualize the cause of their problems or attribute the misfortune they suffer to malevolent supernatural and occult forces, many can easily connect and link their problems and tragic experiences to these questions.

    Ukpabio claims to have divine mandate and power to exorcize the spirit of witchcraft.  She made witchcraft deliverance the primary mission of her Liberty Gospel Church. This time, her goal is to exploit popular fears- of accidents and deaths- often entertained by Nigerians during the ‘ember months’ using witchcraft images and imaginaries.

    At this event Ukpabio will instigate witchcraft insinuations and suspicion, incite hatred and violence against children and other vulnerable members of the population often scapegoated as witches.

    Ukpabio’s witch-hunting mission is set to erode the gains made so far by state and non-state actors in combating witchcraft related abuse in the region.

    Witch hunting will not end in Africa as long as witchcraft entrepreneurs like Ukpabio continue to act with impunity and the authorities refuse to bring them to justice.

    In Cameroun, the government has ordered the closure of around 100 pentecostal churches following the death of a nine-year old girl in a local church. The girl reportedly collapsed and died during a prayer session to cast out the ‘numerous demons’ that controlled the girl’s life.

    I urge the government of Cross River to take action against the witch-hunting activities of Helen Ukpabio. The Nigerian government should act now to stop this woman from re-infecting the region with her virus of witch-belief and deliverance.

     

    • Leo Igwe

    Founder Nigerian Humanist Movement,

    Bayreuth, Germany