The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Oil theft: Weird ignorance

    Finally, this government admits that it has failed woefully but even in that admission, it still denies that fact and chooses to exhibit what someone has described as “weird ignorance” (an act of pretending to be confusedly stupid or vice-versa). In this merry state, you play at being perfectly dumb, you simply roll with all the punches and allow all the barbs to fall at your side as if you are wearing odighi eshi bullet proof. This is the only meaning Hardball could read from Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s outcry last week that Nigeria loses 400,000 barrels of crude oil to thieves every waking day!

    By this supposedly arm-wringing confession and prostrate admittance of failure, one expected her to throw in her resignation letter in the circumstance that her boss is politically forbidden from resignation. Okonjo-Iweala ought to resign and others like the Oil Minister, and all the heads of the oil parastatals ought to be cleared out for abysmal failure. How could a country lose N6 billion everyday under their watch yet they still enjoy the pleasure of clinging to their seats? Unless there is something else to the story, how could a country be haemorrhaging to the tune of about N2.2 trillion per annum yet nobody is taking responsibility and none getting fired? Are we going to be moved to act only when we lose our entire oil revenues to ‘thieves’?

    Government’s admittance that it does not know how to protect the country’s most important asset is to admit that it is no longer fit to run the economy and manage the country. They are simply admitting that the so-called oil thieves have out-smarted and grown bigger than the government, the entire military and security agencies of state; the simple import of Okonjo-Iweala’s outcry is that our sovereign state is in retreat if not surrender. If our government cannot protect what is most important to us, the implication is that the rest of us citizens are doomed.

    If President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his cabinet care, if they wish to know the truth and if they wish to escape the perdition of history, they must accept that the rampaging oil theft phenomenon if not contrived and orchestrated, is the result of unbridled corruption. When the other day the president told us that he didn’t give a damn about showing good personal examples in the fight against corruption, he never realised this singular canker could utterly overwhelm him and torpedo his government. Corruption is like the thief you come upon harvesting in your farm, if you hesitate immediately holler and chase him, he will sooner begin to holler and chase you. The day Jonathan begins to show that he no longer co-habits with corruption and starts to deal decisively and openly with the corrupt people around him most of our national challenges will begin to abate.

    We have been told that the National Economic Council (NEC) has approved a task force to tackle the problem. This is merely tunneling down the grimy paths of corruption. The legal task force, to be headed by the Attorney–General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke and to be populated by all sorts will begin by trying about 500 alleged thieves. So we actually have 500 oil thieves locked up somewhere awaiting prosecution? Who are they? Are they little pilferers or the powerful rogues?

    Finally, let’s not kid ourselves that the NNPC does not know what to do to protect our oil pipes; that the DPR does not know what metres to install to capture production figures; that the navy is supine and incapable of manning our waterways and that the judiciary could not prosecute and jail nary one oil thief of note all these years? One more point: Hardball insists that the Federal Government is up to its usual tricks again, especially with a major election around the corner. If they do not have any shame up there, we are still quite bashful down here. It will actually require an invisible sub-marine to steal this quantum of oil daily; and they forget that this is not the only oil producing country in the world. Do we need lessons from Ghana?

     

     

  • Umeh and the future of APGA

    SIR: On July 15, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu affirmed Chief Victor Umeh as national chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). The validation of Umeh’s position by the appellate court followed his appeal to an Enugu High Court judgement presided over by Justice Innocent Umezulike.

    The lower court had in its verdict on the case brought against the APGA national chairman by one Mr. Jude Okuli, ordered the removal of Umeh on the ground that his tenure had expired in 2010. It further pronounced as unconstitutional the 2011 National Convention, where Umeh and other National Working Committee (NWC) members were re-elected.

    With his latest victory at the Court of Appeal, Umeh may have breathed a great sigh of relief and perhaps can now comfortably sleep with his two eyes closed. But then, we may not have seen the end of the protracted leadership tussle in the party, particularly, as the opposing camp believed to be loyal to Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, and led by Barrister Maxi Okwu has refused to accept the defeat in good faith. So, there may be more battles for Umeh to fight.

    Rather than warming up to continue with the war, I think what should be paramount in the minds of the combatants in APGA now is the survival and sustainable growth of their party. How the party would remain in control of Anambra State should be of great concern to the members now more than anything else.

    I would implore the Okwu-led faction of APGA to sheathe their swords, bury the hatchet and shelve any further fight to see how they can work together with Umeh so that victory can be theirs in the Anambra November 16 governorship ballot and other future elections.

    • Michael Jegede,

    Abuja

     

  • NAFDAC and democracy dividends

    SIR: Contrary to the incessant accusation of non-performance heaped on the administration President Goodluck Jonathan, a lot is being silently achieved in an attempt to garner numerous democracy dividends for the Nigerian citizenry. A monumental achievement is being made in the nation’s health sector by the Paul B. Orhii-led National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

    Aside successfully securing the adoption of emerging sophistications in technological paraphernalia for anti-pharmaceuticals counterfeiting, which has empowered consumers to independently detect and discard fake, counterfeited or cloned drugs, series of dynamic and pro-life elongating achievements have indeed been recorded by the Orhii-led NAFDAC management team.

    Just recently, another feather was added to the agency’s cap when it secured a court conviction against the producers of the much publicized killer teething mixture known as “My Pikin”, which killed 89 Nigerian children. This, of course, is in addition to other several court convictions also recorded by NAFDAC in drug- counterfeited offences and cases between 2009 to date, a positive development that confers on Dr. Orhii the status of a premier NAFDAC chief executive to have achieved this feat since the agency’s inception.

    Interestingly, efforts are underway to ensure that a sizeable aspect of assets forfeited by convicted drug counterfeiters are channeled towards compensating victims of the heinous act. Already, the agency, has sustained its zero tolerance to the prevalence of counterfeited pharmaceuticals in Nigeria as evidenced in its recent extension of cooperation to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) nationwide.

    The NAFDAC’s sustained battle against die-hard counterfeiters of pharmaceutical products is being locally and internationally acknowledged. This is in spite of the fact that the agency is making frantic moves to unveil novel strategies and solutions targeted towards providing backups to those already in existence.

    The driving force behind these stellar innovations cannot be likened to a prophet without honour at home because recently President Jonathan recently honoured the NAFDAC boss with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) award. There have been other appreciation and awards. The latest is the June 24 award of Special Congressional Recognition in far away United States of America. It was an endorsement orchestrated by a notable American Congress woman, Janice Hahn. The presentation was made at a well attended reception held in the James Madison Hall at the historic Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.

    One of the intrinsic dividends of all these efforts and initiatives is the leap in the status and reputation of Nigeria as a nation committed to the cause of ensuring that only standardized and genuine pharmaceuticals are provided for the people. Through standardization of healthcare provision, the brain drain syndrome that has remained a big worry in the sector is checked, while the right and proper health services are within the reach of all irrespective of financial and societal status.

    For Dr. Paul Bortwev Orhii, Nigerians are yet to see his best!

     

    • Martins F.O. Ikhilae,

    Lagos

  • Where is Nigeria’s democracy?

    SIR: Democracy is defined as the government of the people by the people and for the people. This implies that the government would be the government owned by the people, would be by the people and also would be on the interest of the people. But conversely, our politicians have changed our definition and understanding of democracy.

    By Nigerians understanding of democracy, it is now the government of some people, by some people and for their relatives and cronies. This however has continued to make Nigerian masses wallow in abject poverty and this prompted me to ask, where is our democracy?

    The survival of every nation always depends on the commitment and the good its leadership can bring to bear on the lives of its people. No nation is assured of its continuous existence if her people are deprived of basic amenities. It is very unfortunate that our leaders cannot create an enabling environment for the citizens inspite of the elephantine resources that we have got.

    Our government have failed to live to the expectations of the people. Many innocent Nigerians have become victims of bomb blasts, abduction, robbery, and many forms of attacks. Nigerians are vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. Only the political office holders seem to be safe in this country. Is this how we are going to continue?

    We have come to realise that our democracy is make-believe. Our leaders have compromised our democracy for their selfish interest. Leadership is no longer by merit and competency but by intimacy and contribution whether financially or through thuggery. Also, people are not given the right to exercise their constitutional rights.

    Furthermore, we have been deprived of good health services, our lives and properties are no longer secured, our education is deteriorating, our roads are not motorable, no regular power supply and yet Nigerians pay huge amount to PHCN for what they do not consume.

    It is only a failed country like Nigeria that minority enjoys while majority suffers. Varsity lecturers have been on strike for almost two weeks because of the insensitive and bad leaders we have. They pay themselves huge amount of money but are always against any little increment on the salaries of civil servants. Many retirees who served the nation wholeheartedly are there waiting and begging the government to pay them their pensions and here we have our senators approving life pension for themselves in the on going constitution amendment.

    2015 is another opportunity for Nigerians to make changes and vote for credible leaders who have the interest of the nation and its people in mind. Leaders that would restore our lost glories and give us the real democracy not this kind of make-believe democracy that will are seeing now. If all this must stop, Nigerians must rise irrespective of their tribe, region and religion to demand for their rights and also vote out bad leaders come 2015.

     

    • Waziri Mohammed

    Mokola, Ibadan.

  • As countdown to Anambra guber poll begins

    SIR: The Anambra State governorship election has been scheduled to hold on November 16. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared August 13, as the kick-off date for the political activities towards the November election.

    Peter Obi, the incumbent governor, is widely seen as a prudent leader whose style of administration is devoid of profligacy. Even his die-hard critics have confessed that civility has triumphed in the governance at a time politics in the state had degenerated to dangerous dimension. He has truly transformed Anambra State in terms of infrastructure and social amenities. Roads, schools and hospitals have received a boost, Orient petroleum has been commissioned thereby making Anambra an oil producing state in Nigeria. Security has been beefed up with the latest supply of over 300 fully fitted security vehicles to all the communities in the state.

    Yet, an average citizen here still feels a sense of underachievement. The people are of the opinion that Obi should have performed better in view of his long tenure and the cash available to his government. They believe that to whom much is given much is expected, therefore, the available structures are below the expected standard. For instance, Anambra has no stadium despite producing national sports icons like Emmanuel Okala, Mary Onyali, and Michael Okpala etc. Onitsha seaport is still a mockery despite the endless promises from the government. Udoka Housing Estate, the only one built since 1992 is in shambles as civil servants report to their duties from Enugu daily. The state capital is in a terrible shape, some ministries are still using outdated cubicles including the government house itself.

    These are the deficiencies, which would be in the mind of the electorate as they prepare to cast their votes in November. But before going to the polls, let them ponder awhile and think deeply. They should know that Anambra is very important to Nigeria. She is arguably the economic hub of the South-east.

    Let the people carefully evaluate the history of Anambra state. Before making their choice, they should arm themselves with all those issues Peter Obi ignored and vote a responsible leader to fill in the vacuum. Let them know the value of their decision and how it will impact positively on the state. The burden of ruling Anambra state is enormous; the electorate should look beyond the craft and antics of Anambra politicians. Poverty is in the land, no doubt, but after collecting their rice and salt Greek gift, let them endeavour to vote in a leader with clear vision, someone with high moral standard with regards to their yearnings and aspirations. Let them know also that the people on parade now are merely pretenders; the real contenders would only emerge after the primaries of various political parties, which obviously may not produce more than four serious candidates.

     

    • Udeh Andrew

    Enugu

     

  • The case against death penalty

    SIR:Once again, the controversial issue of death penalty (or capital punishment) has been resurrected from the limbo in Nigeria. This is against a backdrop of the recent media report quoting President Goodluck Jonathan as urging the state governors to discharge their constitutional responsibility by signing the death warrants of condemned prisoners pending before them and the subsequent hanging of four death row inmates of the Benin prison, in Edo State.

    Although Nigeria has maintained a kind of moratorium or suspension on criminal execution since her return to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, the policy appears to be reversed, somehow, with the hanging of a number of condemned persons across the country in 2006, 2012 and this year. Obviously, public and political opinions are sharply divided on the ongoing heated debate on whether to retain or abolish the punishment in our penal code.

    For proponents of death penalty, the severe measure has a uniquely deterrent force, which no other formal punishment has or could have. In their argument, the fears of being caught for committing gravest crimes like armed robbery and made to face the commensurate gravest punishment would help reduce the rate of such crimes. They also contend that capital punishment would permanently remove the worst criminals in our midst, thereby providing an enabling environment for a safe and peaceful society.

    For opponents of death penalty in Nigeria, the pristine argument of deterrence of the penalty is otiose and no longer tenable. This is in the light of the futility of such harsh measure in stemming the tide of violent crimes – as criminals do not often think about the punishment that awaits them but about the possibility of being caught and arrested.

    From the standpoint of this writer, capital punishment is morally unjustifiable and unacceptable. For one, human life is so sacrosanct and inviolable and it is only God, the giver of life that has the inalienable right and control over it. For another, death penalty removes the humanity of the executed persons and the attendant chances of rehabilitation and their giving something back to society, in terms of community service. Additionally, the penalty is contrary to the contemporary international human rights standards and values- a development that made the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, through the Resolution 62/149, to call on member states to commute without delay all death sentences to terms of imprisonment.

    It is important to state that the intractable problem of violent crimes in Nigeria, which gave rise to application of capital punishment, has its root cause in our grotesquely unjust system that incubates and breeds criminals. These include awful legacy of bad governance, rampant corruption, deplorable state of the economy, inefficient criminal justice system (including the police, the court and the prisons), relative deprivation, mass poverty, chronic unemployment, widening gap between the rich and the poor, human exploitation, greed, unbridled materialism, ungodliness, immorality, erosion of the spirit of social solidarity and decline of traditional family values. In fact, if we did not push back the frontier of these often ignored factors that fuel violent crimes, our all-out efforts to surmount the upward spiral of such crimes will be in vain.

    As part of the reform of the administration of justice in Nigeria, the Federal Government should respond swiftly and vigorously to the contentious issue of death penalty. This is considering that the penalty has obviously failed as a deterrent measure against violent criminals. Removing capital punishment from our criminal laws is also made paramount by the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to internationally recognised human rights protocols, which guarantee each individual’s right to life, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (or the Banjul Declaration of 1981).

     

    • Okechukwu Emeh, Jr

    Abuja.

     

     

  • Still on the state police

    The on-going political impasse in Rivers State and its implication on the socio-political stability of the country has once again brought to the front burner the need for a more scientific and better managed police force.  The fact that an elected governor of a state is not sure of his safety under the present arrangement makes it expedient for the creation of state police.  Indeed, if  it is true, as it is being alleged in certain quarters, that the Rivers State police authorities are guilty of complicity in the crisis, by joining forces with the powers- that- be to make the state un-governable for Governor Rotimi Amaechi, then it is time for us to give serious consideration to the whole question of state police.

    If the governor that is constitutionally regarded as the chief security officer of his state could no longer enjoy the trust of his state’s police commissioner, it is obvious that the system that is currently being operated is weak and faulty. One finds it rather absurd that the Rivers State police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who was quoted in some national dailies to be calling Governor Amaechi a despot still occupies his seat. If the Inspector General of Police should by any means publicly insult the person and the office of the president, would he have stayed a day longer on that seat?

    A state governor, as the chief security officer of his state, in an ideal setting, ought to have the control of police stationed in his state. The current trend where the Police Commissioner in a state will have to take orders from Abuja concerning security issues in a state, is, to say the least, quite pathetic and unfortunate. Imagine the many agonies of Governor Amaechi as he helplessly watches the police authorities in his state, which is being partly funded by his government, turn against his administration. Imagine what he, as chief security officer of the state, could have done to stem the dangerous drift in his state. Poor man! What a frustrating experience it must have been for him when he could not even vouch for the loyalty of men that police his official residence and even his person.

    Paradoxically, almost all the governors in the country are investing heavily in the various police commands in their states. In Lagos State, for example, the government in the last 13 years has invested billions of naira on the state police command as well as other security organs in the state. In fact, the first Security Trust Fund to be established by any government in the country was initiated by the Lagos State government. Similarly, the governments of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Ogun states, to mention but a few, are examples of states that have invested hugely in security. Now, does it not amount to double standard that a governor bears such a huge responsibility, which in the first place should be that of the Federal Government, only for the system to turn around and deny him unhindered control of the same institution?

    It has been argued in some quarters that state police is nothing but a recipe for anarchy. Those who hold this view believe that it could lead to abuse of power and political vendetta by the various state governors. Others are of the opinion that it could lead to political turmoil. The reality, however, is that the present centralised structure has, over the years, been subjected to limitless abuse by the central authority. If state governors could manage other institutions of governance there is no reason why they cannot manage state police. The combined team of LASTMA, Federal Road Safety Commission officials along with the police are all collaborating and complementing one another on Lagos roads to maintain traffic and instil discipline in motorists. Just imagine Lagos roads with just only traffic police in control!

    The truth is that Nigeria is too large and complex to be policed centrally. In an ideal federal system, the issue of state police should not be a contentious matter, after all, in the First Republic, there were regional police and local police existing side by side the federal police. If we are really serious about overcoming current security challenges in the polity, the time to embrace state police is now. If our country must progress, the big question should be who is even afraid of state police and why?  Could it be that some people are comfortable harassing their real and perceived enemies with the current arrangement, or why is it that the police is always the ready tool of oppression whenever the Abuja lords want to settle scores with their opponents?

    State Police is an important component of true federalism and emblem of authority of governance, since sovereignty is divided between the central authority and federating state authorities.  It is not a new concept in Nigeria, but is rather a clamour for modification to the colonial legacy of Native Authority Police which successfully worked alongside the Nigeria Police Force till the 1970s before it was abolished and integrated into a single Nigeria Police Force by the military oligarchy (who had an infamous sojourn into politics) to achieve their unitary command system. The Native Authority police was very effective as a tool for combating crime and maintaining orderliness that time, though with some excesses and abuses typical of the party politics as it was played at that time.

    Today, party politics is more mature and robust than it used to be in time past. Though the 1999 Constitution provides for a single federal police, this precludes states from taking charge of the protection of lives and properties of their people as Chief Security Officer and denied them the emblem of authority.   It was this central nature of the police that gave the killers of the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Uncle Bola Ige opportunity to hatch their plan with ease. If Nigeria is really a federation, centralized system is a constitutional lacuna that must be addressed through constitution amendment to pave way for State Police.

    It has also been argued that many states cannot afford the cost of establishing and maintaining state police. It is worthy to note that the primary and most fundamental responsibility of any government at whatever level is the protection of lives and property of its citizenry. This is the cross they swore to carry and fortunately, no State has complained that it is too heavy for her to address.

    On a final note, State Police is a necessity in a federal system like Nigeria if we are to effectively combat crime as it is being practiced by other federating units the world over.  Given the required political will, we can successfully and efficiently operate State Police in the country. The time has come for us to give the subject the desired attention and we can no longer shy away from this.  God bless Nigeria!

    • Ibirogba is Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy

  • Erelu’s lone voice

    It can pass for infanticide, or if you prefer, prolicide which is the killing of offsprings. This is the verisimilitude of what the Senate endorsed last Wednesday when it reversed a vote to outlaw under-aged marriage in the on-going constitution amendment. The Senate actually amended Section 29(a) of the 1999 Constitution that pegs full marriage age to 18! But what rankles is not the fact that the ‘distinguished’ men and women in the hallowed chambers of the legislature have proposed the legalisation of child ‘abduction’, no, it is the fact that our women folk – mothers, aunties, big sisters and even grandmothers have kept a deathly silence at a moment that requires tirades, placards and even chest-baring.

    The Senate’s stealth, slimy legalising of girl-child abuse had gone almost unnoticed except for the vigilance and lone voice of the wife of the governor of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi who was reported to have ‘slammed’ the Senate. What could the Senate be thinking to have tampered with Section 29(a), what is the rationale, what is the nobler motive, what is the edifying thoughts that informed the un-pegging of marriage age from 18 years? Now that they have left it loose where do we draw the line? If there is no upper limit of marriage age, is there a lower limit?

    Man’s wickedness and inhumanity is best symbolised in the girl-child living with the open, smelly and festering sore of a damaged vagina. It is an ugly condition called Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF). It is caused by under-aged pregnancy and childbirth which leads to the damage of the victims’ reproductive organs. But sadder still is that these little girls are often abandoned and left for dead once they have met this horrid fate. The man walks away to seek yet another prey leaving behind a life nipped in the bud. It is estimated that there are about 400,000 ‘little girl-mothers in the North suffering this fate. It is also instructive that most of the Senators who voted for this callous amendment are from the North.

    Does the Senate require special seminars to learn that age 1 to 18 of a child, especially the girl child, is key for parental care and mentoring, physical maturation and development of vital feminine organs? Does the Senate need to be reminded that this is the crucial period of a child’s life for life training, education, social and psychological stabilising required for adulthood? How on earth could a Senate legislate that marriage could be consummated before a girl-child is 18 years of age? What is the great hurry to get a little girl married off if it is supposed to be a life-time commitment? What manner of adult man would put in a family way, a little girl who hardly has breasts to suckle a baby?

    Hardball wagers that the Senators in proposing this amendment were thinking with their phalluses. It is a vile piece of legislature concocted in the heat of a weird libidinal seizure. Unfortunately, bizarre legislature like this takes its toll mainly on the poor and downtrodden; no little girl of any Senator will be married of at 12, never. But this law will not stand; all the Senators in the land will have to give away their all 12-year-old girls in marriage first. Just because Nigerians accepted it when a grand-father Senator took a 13-year-old for a wife the other day, now they have made it a law.

    Mrs. Fayemi has made the clarion call: “I want to charge the women to rise up and reject the action by pressing for the criminalisation of early marriage in Nigeria.” This is the fight for all mothers in Nigeria, a just fight. March down the Senate if you must but this masochistic, primitive law must not stand.

  • George Zimmerman, Not Guilty: Blood on the Leaves

    The not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial came down moments after I left a screening of “Fruitvale Station,” a film about the police-shooting death of Oscar Grant four years ago in Oakland. Much of the audience sat quietly sobbing as the closing credits rolled, moved by the narrative of a young black man, unarmed and senselessly gone.

    Words were not needed to express a common understanding: to Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, the seventeen-year-old he shot, fit the description; for black America, the circumstances of his death did.

    The familiarity dulled the sharp edges of the tragedy. The decision the six jurors reached on Saturday evening will inspire anger, frustration, and despair, but little surprise, and this is the most deeply saddening aspect of the entire affair.

    From the outset— throughout the 44 days it took for there to be an arrest, and then in the 16 months it took to for the case to come to trial—there was a nagging suspicion that it would culminate in disappointment. Call this historical profiling.

    The most damning element here is not that George Zimmerman was found not guilty: it’s the bitter knowledge that Trayvon Martin was found guilty. During his cross examination of Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, the defense attorney Mark O’Mara asked if she was avoiding the idea that her son had done something to cause his own death.

    During closing arguments, the defense informed the jury that Martin was armed because he weaponized a sidewalk and used it to bludgeon Zimmerman. During his post-verdict press conference, O’Mara said that, were his client black, he would never have been charged. At the defense’s table, and in the precincts far beyond it where donors have stepped forward to contribute funds to underwrite their efforts, there is a sense that Zimmerman was the victim.

    O’Mara’s statement echoed a criticism that began circulating long before Martin and Zimmerman encountered each other. Thousands of black boys die at the hands of other African Americans each year, but the black community, it holds, is concerned only when those deaths are caused by whites.

    It’s an appealing argument, and widespread, but it’s simplistic and obtuse. It’s a belief most easily held when you’ve not witnessed peace rallies and makeshift memorials, when you’ve turned a blind eye to grassroots organizations like the Interrupters in Chicago, who are working valiantly to stem the tide of violence in that city.

    It is the thinking of people who’ve never wondered why African Americans disproportionately support strict gun-control legislation. The added quotient of outrage in cases like this one stems not from the belief that a white murderer is somehow worse than a black one but from the knowledge that race determines whether fear, history, and public sentiment offer that killer a usable alibi.

    The thousands who gathered last spring in New York, in St. Louis, in Philadelphia, in Miami, and in Washington, D.C., to demand Zimmerman’s arrest shared a narrative and an understanding of the past’s grip on the present. Long before the horrifying images of Martin lying prone and lifeless in the grass ever made their way to Gawker, he’d already begun inspiring references to the line about “blood on the leaves” from Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.” Those crowds were the response of people who understand that history is interred in the shallowest of graves.

    Yet the problem is not that this case marks a low point in this country’s racial history—it’s that, after two centuries of common history, we’re still obligated to chart high points and low ones. To be black at times like this is to see current events on a real-time ticker, a Dow Jones average measuring the quality of one’s citizenship.

    Trayvon Martin’s death is an American tragedy, but it will mainly be understood as an African-American one. That it occurred in a country that elected and reëlected a black President doesn’t diminish the despair this verdict inspires, it intensifies it. The fact that such a thing can happen at a moment of unparalleled political empowerment tells us that events like these are a hard, unchanging element of our landscape.

    We can understand the verdict to mean validation for the idea that the actions Zimmerman took that night were those of a reasonable man, that the conclusions he drew were sound, and that a black teen-ager can be considered armed any time he is walking down a paved street. We can take from this trial the knowledge that a grieving family was capable of displaying inestimable reserves of grace.

    Following the verdict, Sybrina Fulton posted a benediction to Twitter: “Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have. At the end of the day, GOD is still in control.” The Twitter account of Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, features an image of him holding Trayvon as a toddler, a birthday hat perched on the boy’s head. At the trial, they sat through a grim procession of autopsy photos and audio of the gunshot that ended their son’s life. No matter the verdict, their simple pursuit of justice meant amplifying the trauma of their loss by some unknowable exponent.

    There’s fear that the verdict will embolden vigilantes, but that need not be the concern: history has already done that. You don’t have to recall specifics of everything that has transpired in Florida over the past two hundred years to recognize this. The details of Rosewood, the black town terrorized and burned to the ground in 1923, and of Groveland and the black men falsely accused of rape and murdered there in 1949, can remain obscure and retain sway over our present concerns.

    Names—like Claude Neal, lynched in 1934, and Harry and Harriette Moore, N.A.A.C.P. organizers in Mims County, killed by a firebomb in 1951—can be overlooked. What cannot be forgotten, however, is that there were no consequences for those actions.

    Perhaps history does not repeat itself exactly, but it is certainly prone to extended paraphrases. Long before the jury announced its decision, many people had seen what the outcome would be, had known that it would be a strange echo of the words Zimmerman uttered that rainy night in central Florida: they always get away.

    • Culled from The New Yorker

     

  • N150 million lie against Sylva

    SIR: Our attention has been drawn to a strange report by an online medium that alleged that a certain Lt. Col. David Ahangba, a former special assistant to the late National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi, received N150 million on behalf of his boss from the Bayelsa State government under Chief Timipre Sylva.

    The money was alleged to be an inducement to the then NSA to help the former governor’s second term ambition.

    The report as it concerns Sylva is wholly untrue. Sylva did not give any money to Azazi and could not have done so for the intention suggested in the story because Azazi was not in a position to stop the organised political onslaught against the governor at the time.

    The decision to exclude Sylva from the Bayelsa State governorship race was taken at highest level of government and politics in the country. And Azazi was just an errand person in the process and was never in a position to halt the well-calculated course of action.

    We are concerned that even when Sylva has been unjustly prevented from re-election and made to face a series of persecution by the same elements that orchestrated the injustice, his name is still being undeservedly dragged in the mud. Sadly, this latest assault is coming when Azazi is late and unavailable to respond to the charges against him.

    Sylva wishes to be left out of this alleged transaction between the former NSA and his aide, as he has nothing to do with it.

     

    • Doifie Buokoribo

    Media Adviser to Chief Timipre Sylva

    Yenagoa