The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Can ASUU get it right for once?

    SIR: You can’t judge a book by its cover – but you can tell a lot from the title. The disposition of Federal Government and state governments to the ongoing ASUU strike is not only disappointing but also a coward attempt to destroy the future of the Nigerian youth. If government is deceitful, ASUU will be more deceitful and callous to call off the strike when the agreement is not fully implemented.

    The proper word to describe the condition of our public universities is not ‘disintegration’ but ‘degeneration’ without any hope of redemption in the near future unless the government at all levels muster courage to salvage what is left. How long shall we keep the institutions alive on artificial oxygen and that, too, at the expense of the future of Nigerian youth? How long shall we keep pretending that all is well and that ASUU is only seeking pay rise? How long should we allow the business men and women in government to trade the future of our children in their spurious attempt to build business empires?

    Three things are basically responsible for the worsening situation of our universities. One, children of the policy makers and the power brokers that dictate what becomes of our educational system do not attend public universities. Their wards are either in private ones or abroad. Two, many of the power brokers and policy makers are proprietors of private universities. Any betterment of the public ones would affect their patronage and profits. Three, ASUU’s approach to negotiations give impression that the union seeks momentary attention. These three facts are glaring and would not allow the government to develop a road map toward revamping our shameful educational system.

    In the wake of the mushrooming of private institutions and reckless setting up of private universities as a result of myopic legislation in our country, there is an increasing demand that the NUC and other regulatory bodies must step in to check the rot by calling on the government to be more responsible. It is hypocritical and laughable that Gabriel Suswan-led committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities could wait until ASUU went on strike to become visible. It is a deceit and bait; that would not go beyond normal rounds of talks.

    There is no other better opportunity for President Goodluck Jonathan to show he is both serious and committed to the nation’s education than now. At least two urgent issues need to be addressed as aggressively as possible lest Nigerians begin to cast aspersion not just on his person but also his government. His government is noted for parading ministers of high academic achievement but nothing to show for such. His government is equally known for exposing Nigerian youths to crimes and prostitution by deliberately forcing them out of the campuses in order to breed more thugs and child-brides. It is unthinkable that a government could be so comfortable to allow Polytechnics and universities to frequently embark on strike because of nonchalance and lack of focus on the government side.

    No doubt ASUU’s strike is becoming boring and irrelevant. The situation where the union goes on strike for months and returns to work when the reasons that necessitated the strike action were not met is counter-productive and meaningless. Why the strike in the first instance?

    ASUU’s strength and commitment to revamping the educational system is measured by the results of this particular strike. Should the lecturers call off or suspend the strike (when the agreement is not implemented) and declare another strike in future due to non-implementation of the agreement, Nigerian will be left with no option than to move against ASUU. It is either now or never to save the public universities. ASUU must bear in mind that the world is watching and its failure at this time will change public perception about the motive of the union.

     

    • Tola Osunnuga,

    Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State

     

  • Atiku’s lamentation of PDP’s loss of South-west

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s piece in The Nation on July 2, titled “How to Resolve PDP Crisis” was such an interesting read. Atiku seems to believe that the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party is largely self-inflicted because it had derailed from the vision of its founding fathers. The Turaki Adamawa also harped on what the party must do to reclaim its lost glory in the piece.

    Although, Atiku may have riled a significant segment of his supporters and admirers for being unprincipled, having gone back to his own vomit in light of the humiliation he suffered as a sitting vice president from his boss. But consistently principled he has been in denouncing the crude and reckless power play of his party’s leadership hierarchy. As a key founding father, one can hardly fault Alhaji Abubakar for shouting himself hoarse in his attempt to draw attention to a party that seems to be taking a rapid nose dive less than five years after, in his exuberance, a top party apparatchik boasted that the party would rule for the next 60 years.

    Atiku’s piece can be divided into three distinct parts. In the first part, the former vice president went down memory lane as he tried to acquaint his readers with what seems to be the philosophical underpinning and vision of PDP’s founding fathers that conceived and gave birth to this behemoth, which Atiku probably believe, and rightly so, that may have lost its soul. As one of the founding fathers, Atiku’s conviction that a party platform with “credible internal capacity to produce leaders who will be committed to the public purpose…because it is within such a national party that…can guarantee national harmony, promote human development and safeguard the freedom and dignity of all citizens” is no doubt noble.

    But it appears Atiku is probably the only founding father with this noble ideal. And if not, it had since been jettisoned and replaced with acquisition of power in its crudest form, flagrant violation of the rule of law, inordinate and reckless pursuit of personal wealth in the name of politics, and in-your-face looting of the collective patrimony ever since those founding fathers made that singular blunder of inviting the chicken farmer from Ota to be the party’s CEO. The party had never known peace since and probably never will as the acorn seed of discord he sowed before he left the helm had grown into a mighty oak.

    The mid-section is the former vice president’s lamentation of PDP’s loss of the South-west to the opposition and his admonition to the South-west party leaders that the “trend be reversed” in the region. He also suggested what needs to be done for the party to rid itself of its self-inflicted crisis and return to that philosophical ideal for which it was founded in the last leg of his piece.

    One is especially curious as to why the former vice president suddenly developed this nostalgic feeling about the South-west and hence, his insistence that “PDP cannot afford to depart” from the region. If the basis of his reasoning is that any government in Nigeria can hardly be considered relatively successful if it’s not at peace with the South-west, then he’s probably on point. But if he had chosen the South-west as a case study in order to show the extent of the party’s degeneration in the region’s body politic, then he’s being clever by half as the facts did not support his case study.

    As a veteran politician who has been in the trade probably longer than he can remember, Atiku knows full well now that a party does not need the South-west to be the government at the centre. But he is also politically astute enough to know that God helps that government at the centre that had not only lost the South-west but also the respect and acceptance, no matter how tacit, of the people of this region as that government may never know peace in its lifetime. It’s politically naïve of the former vice president to think that his PDP have even a fighting chance, outside of doing what it does best, in coming back to political reckoning in the South-west geo-political zone. And this is why.

    Contrary to his assertion that “PDP became a very strong political party in the South-west as a result of the efforts and commitment of leaders who commanded the respect of the generality of the people of the South-west” which culminated in its control of the region’s levers of power, its control was primarily due to the massive and blatant rigging of the 2007 elections which have gone down in infamy as the worst election in Nigeria’s history. It was an election in which INEC, the electoral umpire was in full collusion, and the stage for it having been set by then President Obasanjo with his “do or die” declaration. The rigging was so egregious that the facts of any case in respect of that election brought before any judge with any iota of conscience left in him/her could not have been overlooked. And that was why the courts overturned the governorship elections in three South-west states of Ekiti, Osun and Ondo.

    The “startling reverse” that the fortunes of the party took from 2011 in the region was not only due to the people’s realization that the party is really clueless as to what governance was about, but they had come to terms with their inherent progressive political philosophy, which is fundamentally opposed to the conservative political ideology of PDP at the centre. His assertion that his “party didn’t come to this sorry state in the region because the party men failed to deliver good governance to the people” where their “landmarks of achievements…dot the region” is at best delusional.

    It is also important to put into proper perspective the emergence of PDP in the political landscape of the South-west, in case Atiku did not know or conveniently choose not to know. The emergence of PDP in the driver’s seat of the politics of the South-west in 2003 was the result of the dummy sold by Obasanjo to the region’s progressive governors before the elections, but which was steadfastly rejected by then Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu who consequently became the last man standing among them. Secondly, the people of the South-west, with their votes, made it abundantly clear to their leaders then that they were in a hurry for development in all its facets.

    Atiku Abubakar would do well by focusing his attention to fixing the big umbrella at the centre as well as the smaller ones in other geo-political regions that are drenching their members and the hapless people where these umbrellas are still open. The only renegade state left to be liberated and brought back into this regional family of progressives is the degenerate government in Ondo. And it’s only a matter of time.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.

  • Re: Soldiers everywhere

    SIR: The Nation newspaper has endeared itself to its readers not only for its exclusive news and rich opinions, but also editorials. While it hardly commends or praises institutions and individuals in its editorial contents, it nevertheless provides critical analyses and constructive criticisms on most issues.

    The editorial of Thursday July 18, titled “Soldiers Everywhere” is yet another critical editorial that touches on the present security challenges in the country. The editorial made reference to the recent appeal made by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki on the need for better cooperation and understanding between civilians and military as the nation wages war against terrorism in some parts of the country. It expressed concern with soldiers’ presence in most states, which it described as “the militarisation of our democracy.” It argues that the deployment of troops by the government is not an answer to the increasing security challenges posed by terrorists, armed robbers, kidnappers and other anti-social elements making life unbearable for law-abiding citizens.

    It is necessary to say that the current security challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria but it is a global phenomenon. Some countries have witnessed lawlessness at its peak where vagabonds, masquerading as freedom fighters attempted or succeeded in taking over governments. The changing role of the military in fighting terrorist groups, like the Nigeria’s Boko Haram, has brought soldiers closer to communities and the people who reside in them in a way that has been unexpected. This definitely creates the anxiety and tensions as both groups (civilian and military) chart a new way to accommodate each other.

    The question we must ask is: are the police ready to cope with the current challenges when their officers (including DPOs) are ambushed and killed arbitrarily, when their formations are routinely destroyed with highly explosive devises, and when they themselves are overwhelmed? A logical solution, which is in existence, is efficient delivery of the Joint Task Force (JTF) which has membership from all relevant security agencies to tackle the high level of insecurity in the country.

    The setting up of the JTF is in the realisation that policing the domestic arena is not the duty of the military, whose training is directed against external enemies of the state. However, we must realise that the military’s participation in joint activities with other paramilitary outfits to confront the tasking new Millennium security challenges are for strengthening efforts to protect our people from devilish and wicked marauders.

    While we must urge other security outfits to brace up to the new challenges of policing and protection of lives and property; the military’s intervention in the war against terrorism should be sustained till normalcy returns to the enclaves. The civilians themselves and the media should be security conscious and alert relevant security agencies of suspicious movements, behaviours and objects that could pose security threat to our national integrity.

    We should accept Dasuki’s plea that Nigerians should consider the military presence as a necessity to protect our people in dangerous zones, pending when those terrorists with their well-armed lethal armaments and sophisticated gadgets are completely uprooted and eliminated from our national lives.

    • Ola Lookman

    Abuja

     

  • No to anti-workers’ constitutional amendment

    SIR: The Social Justice Institute (SJI) strongly condemns the attacks on democratic rights proposed through the amendments to the 1999 Constitution carried out by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The most maddening is the legalization of child marriage which represents a mighty attack on child’s rights in Nigeria through the retention of Section 29(4) (b) in the Constitution.We express our total solidarity with the opposition against this move and the mass actions being held to reject it.

    We reject the life pensions that the members of the National Assembly through the same amendment process. It validates the fact that the entire ruling elite in Nigeria are bankrupt, backward and anti-development. While the ruling elite has failed to achieve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy as contained in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, it is showing its neo-liberal character by awarding life pensions to themselves. Yet, many working class pensioners are suffering from unpaid pensions.

    We are equally opposed to the planned total exclusion of Labour matters including the minimum wage from the Exclusive List and its transfer to the Concurrent List. We express our solidarity with the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress which has also rejected this action. We hold that this represent a monumental attack on the mass of Nigerian workers and call on the two labour centres not to limit their opposition to press statements but also mobilize mass actions including but not limited to two-day general strike to show their total and vehement resistance to such move.

    We are equally opposed to the proposed amendment by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Electoral Act 2010 (2011 as amended), and the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Among other things, INEC is currently seeking, as evidenced by a letter dated June 13, the power to “disqualify candidates who evidently do not satisfy the requirements for the position, he or she is vying for as provided in Sections 65,66,106,107,131,137,177 and 182 of the Constitution”. The condition for this unilateral disqualification is that if “there is a prima facie case shown from the presentation that the candidate is unqualified”. How this is to be determined, INEC did not state! We hold that if the National Assembly allows these proposed amendments, they would trigger anarchy and disaster.

    On the contrary, we call for the immediate removal of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (2011 as amended) and the 1999 Constitution (as amended) that restricts genuine multi-party democracy in Nigeria. We call for the deletion of the arbitrary provision of Section 78(7) (a) which empowers INEC to deregister political parties. We hold that this provision is a graveyard for democracy in Nigeria and amounts to sheer tyranny. We oppose the statutory disbursement of grants to political parties, which is the major ground upon which INEC came up with this provision and submit that the internal funding of political parties be driven through subscription by their members.

    We hold that Nigeria’s warped polity is a reflection of the lopsided socio-economic arrangement, wherein one-percent of the population control 99 percent of the oil wealth, which is the mainstay of the economy in Nigeria.

     

    • Ayo Ademiluyi,

    Director, Social Justice Institute,

    Lagos

  • Nigeria’s emergency child-marriage activists

    SIR: Nigerians are at it again, the band wagon ego trip! Almost everyone of us has morphed into child rights activist overnight, no thanks to the inelegant handling of issues on the legislative floor of the Senate. If this facade of child rights activism we all project truly represent us, who then employs the services of pimps to assemble under -aged girls whom the gleefully refer to as conference materials or second pillow at conferences and functions for the attendees?

    Who takes advantage of under -aged girls in the guise of spiritual mentorship to have carnal knowledge of them? Who extorts money and sex from our helpless under -aged girls for marks in our higher institutions? Who takes advantage of them in our various homes and offices and intimidate them into submitting to their lecherous dispositions? Who sleeps with a six year old girl in the believe that it will help him to acquire political and economic invincibility?

    And finally, who batters and maims underaged house maids on the allegation of child witch craft? etc etc.

    The same people, some of who have suddenly become the proselytes of the new sing song, child marriage activism, are the perpetrators of the evils enumerated above. It is the bandwagon thing in Nigeria. No depth or sincerity. Check yourself. Is there any extenuating feature in any of the above evils that you may be guilty of that makes any one of them a lesser evil than the child marriage for which you have become an overnight activist? You be the judge!

     

    • Chris Edache Agbiti, Esq,

    Abuja

  • Corruption and anti-corruption watch

    The world over, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are to agencies, organizations or social movements that open up the liberal political space, engender equalization of opportunities; improve the circumstances of disadvantaged peoples and institutions and hold governments to account.

    Ordinarily, NGOs are expected to be not profit-oriented and are supposed to be independent of the control of government. These usually value-based institutions or organs pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.

    But in Nigeria, the mushrooming phenomenon in the third world has prompted some scholars to contend that it has suffered some “explosion, derailment, and displacement”. This is because charlatans who merely masquerade as NGO operatives have infiltrated the rank of these social, popular democratic movements.

    Drawing from his experience with his hitherto leftist friends, associates and acquaintances, Edwin Madunagwu in 2006 underscored the proliferation and bastardization of the NGO sector thus: “Almost every friend I know, every comrade of mine has an NGO. I know someone who is running three non-governmental organizations, is involved in about five others, and has about four others already registered awaiting activation when the need arises.”

    Any keen observer of the events that have shaped the nation’s politics in the last few months will discern the unwieldy tendency of political actors to use these “change-agents” to foster acrimony and disunity in our dear nation. A case in point is an unknown organisation that goes by the name, Anti-Corruption Watch and its recent activities.

    Existing only on newspaper advertorial pages, it has made it a business to teach independent government agencies their modus operandi only to please their paymasters.

    Currently, the amorphous Non Governmental Organization played the devil’s advocates by inciting the public and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to beam searchlight on Niger State over some spurious allegation that first sprouted in 2009 at the height of the political shenanigans orchestrated to filibuster the job of the Chief Servant, Dr. Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu. Being a whistle blower, the Anti Corruption Watch can only be applauded if the job that it has elected to do is anchored on truth. But the present exercise is a failed attempt to put spanner in the work that has been internationally acknowledged as exemplary.

    The climate has gone sully again because of 2015. Now, time is ripe for political do-gooders to dig into things known and unknown to convince their paymasters that the Aliyu administration does not justify the rating that has put Niger as a frontline state in terms of poverty reduction and great developmental strides. The same state that is currently rated as the least poverty-stricken state is now being tarred by those without empirical basis as corruption-riddled and enmeshed in sharp practices. Had they known that the allegations of wrong-doings have been investigated and dispensed with by the agencies accused of ineptitude, they would have covered their faces in shame.

    Scooping money from their gullible promoters to incite the masses against the administration only exhibit the limitations of the paymasters and their hack men. This was the same route of perdition that ended grievously and many of them had to eat their words when the administration set out to develop all the sectors of socio-economic life of the people.

    It is understandable that the mouth of detractors who had failed woefully to wrestle power by hook or crook should be filled with sour grapes.

    Now in collaboration with people who feel the Governor has an eye on the top or would not brook the idea of leaving the top seat as an exclusive preserve of present occupants, they have gone back to their pastime to rake up muck. The real and behind-the-scene motives for the unrelenting mischief making by well-known detractors of the current administration in Niger State should be obvious to all thinking people.

    No one who visited Niger State before and after Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu came to power will fail to attest to the fact that he has filled the void of the same devastated state that had been abandoned in a state of helplessness.

    Because of the yawning developmental gap left between what was and what is now, it has not been easy for these lily-livered rumour mongers to come to terms with the giants stride being made to make the state one of the three most developed states in the country by 2020, a major plank of the Babangida Aliyu transformation agenda code-named 3: 2020.

    It is no wonder that as a way of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people, these shameless detractors who obviously do not have the interest of the masses of Niger State and by extension, most northerners and indeed Nigerians in mind have resorted to various arm-twisting tactics to sow the seed of discord in every venture that Mu’azu Aliyu supports.

    It will be recalled that the Anti-Corruption Watch is aping what an article written in 2009 under the pseudonym Engineer Yahaya Mahmood spawned through a ridiculous petition, sent to the Niger State House of Assembly, leveling all manners of tendentious allegations against the Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu administration.

    Needless to state that from the mediocrity of the presentation of the ‘facts’ in the silly petition, it was obvious that the so-called engineer who allegedly authored the report was just desirous of dragging everybody else into his natural habitat. The only aim of the allegations is to distract and divert the attention of the executive and legislative arm of the government from their busy schedule of work for the people. The writer of the petition knew that there was no chance of them coming before the state House of Assembly to substantiate their wild allegations as the petitioners are mere ghost writers.

    So how does Anti-Corruption Watch corroborate the allegations they have raked up or they simply want the taxpayers’ monies spent on spurious allegations, simply because they hate the guts of the Chief Servant?

    For the records, it is obvious that the beer-parlour gossips cannot justify the developmental strides of this administration in terms of health care delivery, sanitation, agriculture, education and road construction and rehabilitation.

    Stealing from the poor state will only be Satanic, it is a venture a God-fearing servant of the people like Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu will not toe. There is however no doubt that attempts to erect such red-herrings would collapse.

     

    •Ndayebo writes from Minna, Niger State

  • Soldier meets futurologist

    Wide-eyed observers must have contemplated the very first move by Major Hamza Al –Mustapha following his freedom after 15 years of detention and trial for alleged murder. The former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late military dictator, General Sani Abacha, made a beeline for the Synagogue of All Nations of Prophet T.B. Joshua at Ikotun, a Lagos suburb.  It was intriguing that Al-Mustapha, a Muslim, had Joshua on his mind, for his relations and friends left no one in doubt about his religion as they reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” as the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos discharged and acquitted him on July 12. For those who believe in the oneness of God despite the multiplicity of religions, it must have been a vindication of sorts.

    However, this particular drama transcended such narrow interpretation. Could it also have been a meeting of confessors, one being a priest who hears confession and gives absolution, and the other someone who makes a confession and seeks forgiveness? It is incongruous that Al-Mustapha concealed his mission but exploited the photo opportunity to publicize his visit.

    Interestingly, the whole game was not lost on Joshua who seized the moment to sell his alleged prophetic powers. After giving background information on how he met Al-Mustapha and Abacha while his church was being investigated for alleged involvement in hard drugs, Joshua went on to claim bragging rights. He said: “I was able to reveal to them who I am by telling them what was to come as a prophet. One of those things I mentioned to them, and to Al-Mustapha in particular, was what he went through, though he did not believe me then. That was why, when it came to pass, I was the first person he remembered.”

    Joshua said further, “I told him that he would spend several years in prison and would be finally released, which no one else had ever told him. That is why you see him coming here as his first port of call.”

    It was disappointing, though, that Joshua didn’t go far enough in proving his claimed prophetic gift. He should perhaps have supplied the particulars of his prophecy to the soldiers. Did the priest tell Al-Mustapha of the murder charges he would face from 1998 on account of the daylight Lagos shooting of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in June 1996? Was Al-Mustapha told that he would be set free on account of his innocence, or despite his culpability?

    Did Joshua foresee the death sentence pronounced by Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court on January 30, 2012, after finding Al-Mustapha and co-accused Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan guilty of conspiring to commit the offence? Did he also anticipate the release of the two men by the Appeal Court, which contended that there were “gaping loopholes” in the prosecution’s charges?  If, indeed, Joshua had foreknowledge of Al-Mustapha’s troubles in connection with Kudirat’s killing, did he also know in advance that Sofolahan too would be involved as an alleged co-conspirator?

    How much really did Joshua know of the future?

    As things stand now, with the matter still open to further appeal by the prosecution at the Supreme Court, what does Joshua know of tomorrow? Can he tell whether the prosecution would assert its right to appeal? If such happens, can he tell how it would end?  Has he told Al-Mustapha of future developments, if any, in this matter?

    Joshua’s epistemological arrogance has significant implications that are truly disturbing. It is easy to see a fatalistic viewpoint in his position, which is perhaps unsurprising, given his priestly status. Beyond Al-Mustapha, however, is the more serious suggestion that Kudirat was fated to be shot to death on the road. There is a grave danger for social relations if such supposition is unchallenged.

    Kudirat’s murder apart, the spiritualization of material conditions, which is unmistakable in Joshua’s utterances, has tentacular dimensions. The logic of fatalism is not selective, and cannot be applied to some cases while excluded in others. Taken to a logical conclusion, the concept in its inclusiveness is supposed to determine every aspect of life on earth. In other words, everything that happens is predetermined and inevitable, and human beings are powerless to change them.

    By such reasoning, it would be permissible to overlook not only Kudirat’s murder, but also other politically tainted killings. However, there is no doubt that the events leading to Kudirat’s elimination had the stamp of politics. She was a politically conscious and active figure whose visibility in the campaign for the restoration of her husband’s annulled democratically given mandate in the June 12, 1993, presidential election gave the Abacha regime sleepless nights. Her assassination in a shady context was a big blow to the pro-democracy movement at the time, and even the acclaimed winner in that election and presidential claimant, Chief MKO Abiola, succumbed to death in mysterious circumstances two years later while under detention by the military authorities. Their unnatural exits in highly suspicious situations deservedly remain on the front burner years after, and it is a wonder that the country’s justice system is yet to address in a definitive way the gross injustice of their deaths.

    The Appeal Court’s unanimous lead judgment delivered by Justice Rita Pemu formulated the central question in the case in rather restrictive and counter-productive terms. According to her, “One thing is clear, Kudirat was shot, but the big question is who pulled the trigger? Certainly not the appellants. This court is not interested in the politics of the matter, nor in sentiment.”   Certainly, this matter was not only about “who pulled the trigger”. Equally important, it was also about who sponsored the killing, who abetted the killers, who had a motive for seeking her death. If the circumstances of her death indeed had political overtones, why should the judges not be interested, or why should such reality put them off?

    Also, should the expression of natural emotion by the public in reaction to the killing count against the cold facts surrounding the incident?

    It is interesting that the Appeal Court verdict bore the seal of three women, comprising Justice Pemu, Justice Amina Augie and Justice Fatima Akinbami. Could it be that they were anxious to avoid the charge of gender bias? Now, that would be sentiment! Equally fascinating is the fact that Justice Dada who initially gave the death sentence against Al-Mustapha and Sofolahan is a woman. Could she have done so on the grounds of feminine prejudice? Again, that would be sentiment.

    Besides the controversy triggered by the duo’s release, however, the elasticity of the trial is truly confounding. Why did it take so long to arrive at this juncture?  Ironically, in the light of his acquittal, Al-Mustapha’s complaint that he was kept in solitary confinement for five years and three months, and subsequently detained in about 32 facilities across the country, the last being Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos, tends to give him a moral platform he may not deserve.

    One nagging question: Could the trial have been an instance of planned failure?  This possibility stretches the imagination, but it is remarkable that the Justices faulted the original death sentence, describing the charges as “a baseless indictment without evidence.”  Lamentably, the kernel of the failure, as pinpointed by Justice Pemu, was prosecutorial. “For an offence like murder, I wonder why the Nigerian police did not do a proper investigation,” she said. This statement may tragically turn out to be the defining perspective in the Kudirat murder.

     

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • 2015: North has no grounds for demanding power

    The agitation for power shift being mounted by northern leaders has reached a deafening crescendo. This high octane demand is coming from a section of the country that has held power for nearly 40 out of the 53 years of Nigerian independence. Even more irrational is the fact that this vociferous demand is being couched in terms of the morality of power rotation. But Nigerians ought to understand that as far as central executive power politics in this country is concerned, the only moral imperative is the concession of the presidency to a Nigerian citizen of Igbo extraction.

    In a recent public statement credited to “northern leaders”, aspects of which were meant to insult other sections of the country, Professor Ango Abdullahi, the putative spokesman for the “leaders”, said, among other things, that “if you look at other parts of the country that are making noise, they are small enclaves, perhaps may not be bigger than Kaduna State.” Njiko Igbo accepts that in a democratic setting, it is the political right of every section of this country to aspire to the presidency, but insists that such an aspiration must be based on considerations of the democratic ingredients of justice, equity, fair play and genuine moral conduct. The arrogance that frequently erupts from certain sections of the country is not conducive to the realisation of equality of opportunity in a pluralistic, multi-cultural and multi-religious society such as Nigeria.

    To refer to other regions of Nigeria, populated by patriotic and freeborn citizens as mere enclaves is to suggest that such regions are not qualified either to aspire to or to remain in the central executive position in this country. As far as we know, the South-East and South-South are, respectively, the major contenders for the presidency in 2015. To dismiss these regions as mere enclaves and the inhabitants who are seeking the highest office in the land as mere noise makers is the height of arrogance and betrays the imperialistic instincts that have thwarted democracy in this country and retarded its progress.

    The demographic superiority claimed for the north is a complete sham because if the regions dismissed as enclaves were to withdraw their support, no northerner can ever fulfil the constitutional requirement to ascend to the presidency of this republic.

    This point is proved by historical evidence which shows in crystal clear terms that all northern democratic heads of government had depended on the support of these regions that are now being described as mere enclaves to win general or presidential elections, and to sustain central government.

    And practical statistics tell a more powerful story: In the last presidential election, of the 13 states that delivered one million or more votes to any of the presidential aspirants, more than half of them are located in the South. Among those 7 states are Imo, Abia and Anambra.

    Others are Delta, Lagos, Rivers and Akwa Ibom all of which drew heavily from the Igbo votes to reach and exceed the one million mark. Furthermore, the northern states that reached the one million landmark also drew heavily from the Igbo votes and they include Plateau, Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi.

    In the light of these statistics, therefore, to dismiss the citizens that have such a rich and significant electoral impact as “noise makers” is not only a demonstration of political naïveté and ignorance but amounts also to a total misconception of the dramatically altered post-Boko Haram realpolitik of this nation.

    The negotiation of the power equation in this country should not be conducted on the basis of aggression, intimidation, insults or ethno-religious arrogance. It must be done on the basis of mutual respect, understanding and sympathetic consideration of the sensibilities of other elements that make up this complex nation.

    The old simple ways must yield to the sophisticated complexities of today. These are serious times ovulating serious issues that require serious people’s attention.

    The justifiable anger emanating from those who feel that they were cheated in the power game because ambitious people chose to honour a gentleman’s agreement in the breach should not form the basis for elderly patriots to shut their eyes to the fundamentals of justice and equity as well as the imperatives of morality. Njiko Igbo insists that the only moral imperative in this republic is for an Igbo man or woman to be elected president in 2015.

    It bears repeating for the benefit of those who are yet uninformed about Njiko Igbo and its mission: NJIKO IGBO is an organisation dedicated to the struggle for the ascent of a citizen of Igbo extraction to the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015.

    We are fully committed to the security and peace of our nation, and to the comradeship of a common justice for all Nigerians. We are neither a political party nor are we affiliated to any political party.

    Our primary mission is to enlighten and mobilise the Igbo population, both at home and in the diaspora, to stand firm and united in the pursuit of our collective goal. Our secondary duty is to connect with and persuade the rest of the Nigerian population about the justice of our cause.

    · Senator Onwe is Director of Operations, Njiko Igbo

  • Dialogue for national educational development

    Improving the nation’s education sector has become one of the most contentious issues in the country. After several years of neglect, Nigerians from all walks of life are enthusiastic about the total revival of the education sector. Since the return to democracy, the executive and the legislative arm of government have been battling to ensure that the sector becomes the pride of the nation once again.

    The factors that have subdued the development of the nation’s education sector are well known to every stakeholder. These reasons for the failure of the system are recounted at every forum and the picture clearly painted on the sorry state of the sector.

    The National Education Summit organised by the House of Representative Committee on Education was no different. The stakeholders who participated at the historic summit were drawn from the universities, polytechnics, basic education institutions, research institutions, parastatals, the executive and legislative arms of government.

    The interactions at the House of Representatives initiative were frank and productive. Participants agreed quite early in the day to focus on the prospects of resolving the challenges of the education sector, rather than dwell on the sorry nature of the sector, without clear-cut means of achieving the required improvement.

    At the summit, one clear point was thrown up. Most of the stakeholders erroneously insist that almost every single challenge confronting the education sector should be placed at the doorstep of the Federal Government. Challenges such as the decay of primary and secondary school infrastructure were freely placed at the doorstep of the Federal Government.

    However, a major take-away at the summit was the resolution that the amendment of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Act should be fast-tracked to ensure that the senior secondary level of education is legally accommodated. The deputy chairman of the House Committee on Education, Dr Rose Okoh, informed that the amendment has reached an advance stage; with deliberation at the plenary being the very last hurdle.

    The lead paper and keynote address at the meeting was delivered by the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.

    The principal thought placed on the table for deliberation by the minister was the fact that states, local councils and other stakeholders should raise the bar as regards their implementation of programmes and policies aimed at improving the quality of education across the country.

    To the minister, the profound investments and successes recorded by the Jonathan administration in the last two years in the education arena would only be appreciated when other tiers of government start playing their legal roles.

    He declared that the massive transformation and reforms of the education sector being implemented by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in the near future have positive multiplier effect on the nation’s development process. Barr. Wike stated that the administration’s Four Year Strategic Plan on the education sector is part of 10-year year rolling plan aimed at placing education at the front-burner of national rebirth.

    The minister stated that all stakeholders in the education sector must take responsibility for the general decay that the sector has witnessed over the years and join hands with the Jonathan administration for the success of programmes and policies designed specifically to lift education from its present unenviable state.

    It was agreed that the platform created by the House Committee on Education for the cross fertilisation of ideas on the development of education was a right step in the right direction. The House being one of the pillars of democracy, participants agreed, provided the podium for most stakeholders to push their suggestions for improvements.

    The democratisation of the education development process under the current administration is indeed progressive.

    – Simeon Nwakaudu,

    Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education, Abuja.

  • Anambra 2014: The candidates and electorate

    Election period is usually very much anticipated and expectations high, this applies to both developed and developing nations. The reason is simple; people always crave change irrespective of the conditions they currently live in. For those living in desperate situations, the desire for change is also desperate. The latter seem to apply to the present situation we live in, considering the high level of insecurity and mismanagement in the country. Until we realize this we may not do the right thing at the right time. Although the country’s democracy is still very young, it is not an excuse to continue to allow clueless politicians run the government else we head towards an imminent end to the fragile peace we currently enjoy.

    In a few months another governorship election would be held in Anambra State and up till this day we do not know all the candidates that are interested in the post. In more civilized countries, candidates would have shown interest and would have started campaigning. The electorates would have known the candidates and their manifestos. A date for an initial debate would have been fixed and the parties would have held their primaries or at least know all those that are interested. Anambra Lineage Forum has noticed the posters of some candidates within the state. Posters of Senator Chris Ngige, Walter Uba Okeke, Uche Ekwenefi, Afam Ogene, Mr Obi Obigbolu, Chief Mike Okoye, Chika Jerry, Dubem Obaze, who is current Secretary to the Anambra State Government and Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah are the only ones seen for now. Unlike the others, posters of Ubah were also seen in Yenagoa environs. Out of curiosity, Anambra Lineage Forum (ALF) with the slogan ‘massive ballot protection right’ is responsible for having Ubah’s posters in Bayelsa. ALF is not interested in whom or where the candidate is from but why he/she has your support. Thereafter questions like; are these candidates interested in contesting or are they being coaxed, is their support based on hitherto knowledge of the personality and his/her capacity to deliver on commitments. ALF is committed in ensuring that the right thing is done and that whoever emerges as the future governor is someone that can be trusted to deliver on his promises, someone that is steadfast and would not compromise. We also want to stress that interested candidates should make themselves known and a debate should be organized and coordinated by a competent body in other to assess the level of exposure and experience each have. That way the electorates would be rest assured they are voting for the right person.

    Chief Ndubuisi Elodimuo Chukwudi Okaigbo

    Chairman Secretary