The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Okupe’s excuse for presidential lethargy

    Okupe’s excuse for presidential lethargy

    The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, is giftedly verbose, among other lofty talents he exhibits, sometimes to our surprise, and at other times to our dismay. This column once said this special spokesman, whom some media outfits lavishly described as President Goodluck Jonathan’s attack dog, was capable of defending two contrasting positions with equal plausibility, or attacking them with equal venom. We obviously underrate him. He is in fact capable of so much more. In attacking the nine governors of the proposed All Progressives Congress (APC) who visited Borno State last week, Okupe showed his other talent for arguing without logic and saying nothing in a grand manner. Hear him: “The APC Governors’ visit was hurriedly packaged to preempt the visit of Mr. President, which had been planned and scheduled several weeks ago. This is surely an act of crass opportunism and political desperation on the part of these governors and the party they represent. We regard that visit as a media circus, stunt and photo-ops by these governors who were apparently in Maiduguri to feather their political nests.”

    Try as hard as you can, you are never going to find rhyme or reason in Mr Okupe’s statements. Assuming the president planned his visit earlier than the governors, and he needed all of the more than 21 months he has been in office to get round to it, why blame the enterprising opposition for seizing the moment? In any case, the president’s security agents knew the opposition planned to visit Maiduguri; why didn’t the president’s advisers coax his immobile majesty into bringing his own plans forward? The essence of opposition politics is to always take advantage of the ruling party’s or president’s lethargy by stealing, subverting or adapting their plans. It is a sensible and perfectly legitimate enterprise.

    But Okupe does not normally stop at bad; he must proceed to worse as unalterably as he sleeps at night. Hear him again: “If I may ask, where were these governors in the last 18 months that they had been in office? It is obvious that it is part of their mobilisation drive that took them to Borno State rather than any patriotic call to duty. These are desperate power mongers who flock together in spite of their obvious conflicting political philosophies and inordinate ambitions.” Only Okupe is capable of drawing a line in Maiduguri between mobilisation and patriotism. No one else can; not even Pythagoras.

    Yet, as everyone knows of politics, mobilisation is an integral part of winning elections. And as if justifying the pejorative label the media gave him, the presidential spokesman then abusively described the APC governors as desperate power mongers. In addition, he gleefully announced that the governors, whom he called opportunists, could not agree on a unifying philosophy nor moderate their ambitions. He gives the impression the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has agreed on a philosophy and does not suffer from inordinate ambition. Apart from not having an explanation for the president’s delay in visiting Borno State, and rather than conceding they’ve been trumped, Okupe instead added the incredible fatuousness that whenever elected officials worked, they did us a favour. Well, let Okupe continue to put his nose to the propaganda grindstone; for as his service under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo showed, he is unlikely to ever rise beyond the level of the intolerably mundane anyway.

  • Kenyan polls re-enact history’s quirkiness

    Kenyan polls re-enact history’s quirkiness

    The two leading contenders for the Kenyan presidency are Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, sons of Kenya’s two leading nationalists, Jomo Kenyatta and Oginga Odinga. The two equally eminent children have not only followed in the footsteps of their late fathers, they have also sustained the rivalry between their fathers that hallmarked the turbulent post-independence history of their country. But much more quirkily, and as if history sometimes likes to mock its great statesmen, it is easy to imagine how things could have turned out differently had Kenyatta senior and Odinga senior taken a different fork in the road in the mid and late 1950s.

    By yesterday, Uhuru Kenyatta, 51, of The National Alliance (TNA) was leading Raila Odinga, 68, of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in vote count by as much as 12 percentage points after Monday’s presidential election. Before the end of today or tomorrow, it is expected that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) would have tallied all the votes and announced the final results. Analysis of the tally so far does not fully indicate that Kenyatta, who is currently a Deputy Prime Minister, will win. This is because early returns have come from Kenyatta’s Kikuyu and allied strongholds while Odinga’s Luo and allied strongholds have been slower in reporting returns. Odinga is Prime Minister. Of the eight contestants for the presidency, the winner must win more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff.

    If Kenyatta wins, he and his running mate, William Ruto, will spend most of their time in office facing trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity as a result of their indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the 2007 polls in which more than 1000 people were killed. Kenyatta and Ruto are accused of instigating the violence that followed that year’s disputed election. Indeed, their victory would mark the first time anyone accused of crimes against humanity had been voted into office in spite of ICC indictment. In a veiled attempt to influence the direction of voting on Monday, a few Western nations sent out signals that they would be loth to interact with Kenyatta should he emerge winner today. It remains to be seen what part those subtle hints would play in the election.

    But the real quirky part of the election and rivalry between the two sons of eminent Kenyan leaders is how the pre-independence politics of the country continues to shape the current political and electoral struggles between the two families. A few years before independence, Kenya’s British colonial rulers indicated very strongly they were reluctant to hand over power to radicals or anyone associated with the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta had been arrested as one of the famous Kapenguria Six in 1952 at the onset of the rebellion. After a six-month trial, the six – Bildad Kagia, Fred Kubai, Paul Ngei, et al – were jailed for leading or sympathising with the Mau Mau. But rather than offer himself to be propped up by the British, Oginga Odinga remained faithful to Kenyatta and held the fort for him until he was released in 1961.

    Not only was Odinga, an engineer, also charismatic and highly respected, he was even much truer to the sentiments that motivated the leaders of the Mau Mau rebellion, some of whom were Dedan Kimathi and Waruhiu Itote a.k.a. General China. Indeed, after independence, Kenyatta all but scorned the leaders of the Mau Mau.

    It is remarkable how history could have turned out differently had Oginga Odinga offered to be the liberal face of Kenya sought by the British between 1957 and 1961. Had he befriended the Mau Mau leaders who survived, worked the crowd as deftly as he evoked reverence from the Luo, and exploited his friendship with Tom Mboya, a fellow Luo like Barack Obama’s father, he would have stood a fair chance of replacing Jomo Kenyatta and becoming the first president of independent Kenya. He would have been aided by the fact that Kenya is an ethnic pastiche, with no tribe dominating the others. The kikuyu, the most populous ethnic group, are only 22 percent, while the Luo, Lubya and Kalenjin are 13, 14 and 12 percent respectively. But Odinga kept his principles, never became president in spite of all his subsequent efforts, and his son has struggled against even greater odds to be relevant. The younger Odinga is best placed to win today, for he is respected domestically and internationally, but he faces tough, almost insurmountable hurdles. However, it remains to be seen whether the principles his father kept during decolonisation would prove to be an enduring jinx on the family or just a mere hiatus.

     

  • Nigeria: The developmental challenge

    The speech delivered by the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the monthly seminar of Weatherhead Center For International Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts, on Wednesday, February 20.

    • Continued from yesterday

    The Leadership question

     

    For me, by far the most challenging dimension of our development problem is that of leadership. Our inability to overcome other identified obstacles to development in the country, including the historical tragedies of colonialism and the Slave Trade, are a function of leadership failure. As formidable a challenge to development as the colonial heritage is, its persistence and resilience can only be put down to a conscious choice on the part of the country’s leaders not to change it. At any rate, there has been the intervention of time and we can no longer blame colonialism for our woes after 53 years of independence. Yes, colonialism determined the trajectory of our development in 1960, but we could have changed that since then.

    Again, the pervasive underdevelopment of nigeria can be used to illustrate the crisis of leadership in the country. The Nigerian ruling elite, due to its own perverse socialisation and reinforced by the dysfunction of the colonial state, has tended to be smugly accustomed to maintaining a lifestyle that is disconnected from economic productivity. Aided by its long hold on political power at the centre, this has in turn furthered the view of the state and public office as means of wealth acquisition. Thus, the situation is typical of Claude Ake’s insightful observation about the country that ‘wealth is tendentially dissociated from effort, from productive capitalist enterprise. [With the effect that it] has deprived Nigerian capitalism of its competitive and developmental impetus’.

    Any development effort that tends to take away their privileges is sure to have a ‘shock and awe’ impact on a culture of indolent wealth acquisition.

    The point being made here is that leadership crisis is the basis of the violent eruptions in the North and similar occurrences in other parts of the country. This is not peculiar to the North. Other parts of the country are embroiled in varying degrees of violence and will soon catch up with the North, except effective leadership emerges at the national and local levels.

    Hence, what Nigeria requires above all else is leadership. This is visionary leadership that is conscious of its mission; leaders whose convergence of interest and internal solidarity and cohesion would crosscut societal cleavages. Leaders who would be able to establish effective hegemony over the society and break the nation out of the vicious circle of misery and underdevelopment to the virtuous circle of development and progress.

    The need for leadership in our country is so stark that there is little disagreement about it. Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, the Governor of Niger State, affirms this unassailable fact in his speech to the Chatham House last year. He contended:

    ‘Indeed, surmounting the challenges of today’s world requires leadership with a moral compass — character, vision, integrity and courage to take difficult decisions to enhance socio-economic development, irrespective of whose interest is at stake’.

    The difficult decisions required to enhance socio-economic development in Nigeria must necessarily include addressing the structural imbalances in our polity, particularly with regards to our federalism. This will liberate the states from centrally imposed encumbrances and enable the people to enjoy the full benefits of good leadership.

    A major challenge of leadership in Nigeria is the institutionalisation of a fair and legitimate process of political contestation through which genuine leadership emerges. Notwithstanding that there has been four cycles of elections of a four-year term since Nigeria’s return to civil democratic rule, it is still very difficult to have free and fair elections in which choices are freely made and the people’s votes count. This is the biggest problem of post military Nigeria from which every other problem derives. Leaders that do not derive their legitimacy from the electorate will not be subject to their control and will not likely take policy options that are acceptable to them.

    Secondly, in the process of manipulating elections to impose a particular, usually an unpopular leader, certain institutions would have been compromised or emasculated with consequences that would reverberate long after the dust of election has settled. For instance, a judge that was compromised at the election petition tribunal can also be compromised in civil and criminal suits after the election. Law enforcement agencies that were used to rig elections would be handy to silence protests emanating from politically robbed citizens. The possibilities are endless.

    I am one of the few fortunate ones that were able to assume their mandate after winning election, but this was after almost four years of exertions and legal fireworks. I was persecuted and unjustly incarcerated. Our state was under virtual siege while our supporters were killed, hounded into exile and jailed on spurious charges. We were not deterred. We confronted the terror of the Nigerian state and against all odds, we triumphed. I believe the international system can help better by taking more than passing interest in Nigerian elections. If international observers, foreign governments and organisations can help to enthrone a regime of free and fair elections, they will have fewer interventions to make in Nigeria’s affairs. Politics is the father and mother of development; we have the lesson of history that no nation can climb the ladder of development without getting its politics right.

    I cannot end this piece without mentioning the impact of globalisation and global capitalism on the development effort in Nigeria. One visible impact of Western popular culture as expressed in entertainment and lifestyles is the swamping of indigenous cultures and erosion of values. In the West, the values that drive innovation, enterprise and production are separate from the popular culture. However, when this popular culture hits a developing country, it took over the youths and disconnects them from their own culture and its values that promote innovation, enterprise and production. Large swaths of young people have been disconnected from the values in their own cultures that predispose them to development and have been left disoriented. We discovered this after my inauguration and one of our first acts in office was to start a campaign of mental reawakening by reminding them of whom they were and of their past greatness. Our people were virtuous and these virtues manifest in codes of chivalry, hard-work and ability to triumph over vicissitudes and challenges. We have to provide this mental infrastructure as a foundation before we can begin to build the superstructure of development on it.

    However, global capitalism, with free movement of goods and services, is killing the local industrial capacity, taking jobs from people and creating an army of malcontents. Agriculture (for food and industrial raw materials) has been under siege. It has become far more profitable to trade in goods manufactured in Asia and other parts of the world than to engage in industrial production. Other consequences of unbridled capital like debt peonage and capital squeeze by the West have indeed arrested development and helped to foster large scale poverty. We have the lesson of history on this that we cannot really be rich when we are surrounded by poverty.

    I must enter a caveat here that outsiders are not responsible for our condition, even if they have played some roles in it. We must take responsibility for our underdeveloped state and work out our own salvation. Nigerians have to create the right leadership for themselves who will mobilise them for development.

     

    Leadership in Osun

     

    Permit me here to share with you how we have surmounted some of the leadership challenges we faced when our administration was inaugurated on November 27, 2010.

    We discovered that the greatest challenge facing our people is jobs and within 100 days, we created 20,000 public sector jobs in what looks Keynesian. This should not sound strange. I am abreast of the literature that put job creation largely in the public sector purview. However, for developing countries at this critical stage, critical state intervention of this nature is necessary. But I digress. I must let you know that this intervention reinflated the economy of the state with immediate impact in every sector. The policy was so successful that the World Bank commended us, asked to understudy it and immediately recommended it as a model of youth engagement and mass employment for other states.

    As part of our education reform, starting from next month, we are introducing Opon-Imo, an IPad-like computer tablet, which is a smart electronic teaching aid, to our secondary school students. This tablet is pre-loaded with 17 subjects that students offer during West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) in the form of lesson notes and textbooks. It also contains six extra-curricular subjects in sex education, civic education, Yoruba history, Yoruba traditional religion, computer education and entrepreneurship education.

    Also to be included in it is 10 years past questions and answers to be provided by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

    The tablet has bridged the gap of carrying books in sacks, their wear and tear and subsequent replacement and also provides ready learning tools. Opon Imo neither has internet connectivity nor does it interface with other devices in order not to distract the students. Knowing that power is still a problem, especially in rural areas where there is no electricity, a solar charger will be supplied with it.

    Through this initiative, the state government seeks to expose pupils of its senior secondary schools to information technology at an early age.

    Our investment in computer for secondary school pupils was born out of our conviction that the future belongs to the digital age and it will be disastrous if our youth are not prepared for this. The computer has become the centre of the universe whether it is mainframe, desktop, laptop, handheld (as telephone) or palmtop.

    In addition, we have commenced the construction of 100 elementary schools, 50 middle schools and 21 high schools. We are the only state providing free meals for elementary 1-3 pupils and free uniforms to all pupils in public schools.

    Our agriculture development programme is ambitious. We established Osun Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Programme (OREAP), a multi-ministerial programme that straddles the Ministries of Agriculture, Local Government, Youth Development, Works and Finance. This programme has provided at the last count about 15,000 direct jobs in crop farming, fishing, apiary, poultry, beef chain and related industries. Our target is to capture five per cent of the huge daily food market in Lagos and the South West.

    In our drive to change the lot of our people we are propelled by the singular idea that effective leadership is the surest and quickest path to development. Overcoming our development challenge is not as impossible as it has seemed over the years; what has been missing is leadership, and this is what we are determined to provide for our people. We are convinced that by giving good leadership to the people, we will inspire them to rise to the challenge of developing themselves and their society. We subscribe to the wisdom of late President Ronald Reagan that ‘[t]he greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things’.

    I thank you for giving me your valuable time.

     

  • Don’t stop the tsunami in judiciary

    Don’t stop the tsunami in judiciary

    SIR: In any progressive clime, the essence of the rule of law is basically for the creation, preservation, enthronement and advancement of a civilized society, hence, when judges responsively punish wrongs, protect rights and resolve discord by thoughtful, independent and unbiased application of laws, the justice system secures the freedoms, tranquility and equality that engenders a social environment in which man’s highest aspirations and evolution can be realized.

    A weak judicial system, on the other hand, is manure to all forms of social ills.

    Sadly, Nigeria has not been particularly fortunate in its drive at evolving functional democratic governance, which could deliver the often-touted, but elusive dividends to the people, principally because of the credibility crisis bedeviling its judiciary.

    A ray of hope glittered in what can be best described as a judicial tsunami, when the National Judicial Council spurred President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State into the sacking of two suspended judges – Justice Charles Archibong of the Federal High Court, Lagos, and Justice T. D. Naron of the High Court of Justice, Plateau State, respectively.

    The two judges were accused of joining the bandwagon by delivering controversial judgments that many described as ‘embarrassing’ to the judiciary.

    Specifically, Naron drew the anger of the NJC over his poor handling of the governorship battle between ex-Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola while Archibong’s indictment bordered on his controversial ruling in the case involving a former managing director of Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola.

    President Goodluck Jonathan has since approved the compulsory retirement of Justice Archibong, following the recommendation of the NJC.

    While the latest action of sacking is commendable, it is worthy of note that these two judges are not the only ones delivering or have been found to have delivered kangaroo and controversial judgments.

    The NJC should then, beam its searchlight on other judges who might have been compromised by flushing them out of the bench, if we are ready to win the war against electoral and other forms of judicial corruption in the country.

    The Nigerian Bar Association has promised to clean the Augean stable by effectively punishing its members – irrespective of their status – who contravened the ethics of the legal profession.

    Cases of corruption in the judiciary seem to be more prevalent in the political turf. For instance, it is alleged that since 1999, nearly all elections into major political offices in the country had resulted in petitions as the losing parties challenged the outcome of the polls.

    It was reported that over 7,000 suits were filed at the various tribunals after the 2007 general elections alone!

    No wonder, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola raised some concerns when he said, “Time was when a lawyer could predict the likely outcome of a case because of the facts, the law and the brilliance of the lawyers that handled the case. Today, things have changed and nobody can be sure.

    To get out of this quagmire, the judiciary must be well funded, corrupt judges sanctioned, courts should be adequately equipped and most importantly, the government must summon the political courage to put an end to judicial corruption.

    The NJC has taken the right path with the tsunami – and even going the extra length – by setting up a fact-finding committee to investigate allegations brought against Justice Abubakar Talba of a Federal Capital Territory High Court, who recently gave a convicted pension thief, John Yusufu, an option of N750, 000 fines for conniving with others to defraud the Police Pension Office of N27.2bn.

    This portends a good sign since what the nation badly needs now is a break-away from its past in entrenching a courageous, independent, unbiased and financially autonomous judiciary that will have the muscle to stem the continued gangrenous reign of the hydra-headed monster called corruption.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

  • Extend the death penalty to treasury looters

    Extend the death penalty to treasury looters

    SIR: “No one can be a billionaire in Nigeria today without being corrupt. If you are a businessman, you would have evaded tax or other levies like import duties with the active connivance of those in charge”…Prof Bolaji Akinyemi.

    A few days ago, the media reported that Bayelsa state Governor Mr. Seriake Dickson has signed into law The Anti-kidnapping and Connected Matters Law. The law is said to impose the maximum punishment of death without an option of fine on any convicted kidnapper. Of course, kidnapping is a condemnable offence in any society in view of the embarrassment to the nation and psychological trauma to the victim and family of the victim.

    Today kidnapping has assumed an alarming dimension in the Nigeria. For instance, the mother of finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was kidnapped, the Nollywood actress and Special Adviser to Gov Okorocha was also abducted and lots of others. It is an open secret that ransom is paid to secure the release of the captives.

    After all there are news report that kidnappers often smile to the bank or where the money is lodged to enable them claim it before releasing the captives. Evidence has shown that graduates, undergraduates, serving and retired military personnel mastermind some of these kidnap. The conclusion is that poverty has overwhelmed the entire nation. And this is caused by massive looting of the nation’s treasury that is gradually becoming a family affair among a certain clique.

    It is equally no longer news to hear a public servant or political office holders arraigned for offences of Corrupt Practices like embezzlement of public fund. Indisputedly, our greatest problem today as a nation is corruption. Individuals now build plazas, hotels, estates, mega stations and oil depot from looted public funds whereas government cannot even build a block of toilet. The looters become proprietors of private schools and charge exorbitant school fees. Infact, the easiest way to join the league of millionaires (or billionaires) is to loot the treasury.

    Despite these heavy looting, it is the fowl thieves, handset thieves, pick-pockets that get maximum prison sentence. The treasury-looter gets off the hook through plea bargain; a concept that has abused through wrong application in Nigeria.

    It is commendable that Bayelsa State governor signed into law, death sentence for kidnappers. Let me quickly add that treasury looters also deserve such punishment because they do more damage than kidnappers. The treasury looters divert money meant for pensioners, money budgeted to buy drugs, books, rehabilitate our roads, provide potable water, revamp our ailing industries.

    I call on the National Assembly to compliment the step taken by National Judicial Council by amending our laws to provide for death penalty for treasury looters. The NJC just sacked three High Court Judges; let us have speedy amendment of the Penal code, Criminal code, EFCC Act, ICPC to provide for death penalty so that resources won’t vanish like smoke into thin air. The obsolete Sections in our penal laws should be amended to conform to present trend.

    So it’s unfair to have death penalty for kidnappers alone. The sooner we impose capital punishment for treasury looters, the better for our nation.

    • Danlami Alhaji Wushishi

    Minna

  • From the cell phone

    For Olatunji Dare

     

    “2015: So you want to be President?” I may not like the Talban Minna but I appreciate people who are bold and can stand to call spade a spade especially at a moment of political uncertainty, manoeuvres, insincerity, etc. Anonymous

    I am not surprised at Governor Aliyu Babangida’s audacity. He has always shown his disdain for the South-South. Anonymous

    Governor Aliyu can be President as long as he has the endorsment of his party. We should not shy away from the truth to tell the President to honour the gentle men agreement he entered into with the governors. He is going to use EFCC to silence those who he perceives are agaist his ambition but Nigerians are not ready to elect a leader who is not consistent. He signed zoning agreement and later said no zoning, he signed one term of four years with the PDP governors and now his body language is telling us that he will not stick to it. Let the President honour the pact he had with the governors and respect himself. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Dockyard Apapa Lagos.

    Olatunji Dare. I hail you for this master piece. I have never seen so cowardly a group of confused leaders we have like those in the leadership position of our country. EFCC, ICPC and the police are the same as the leaders. All of them are corrupt in one way or the other. They all chicken out into irrelevant issues when real issues emerge so you can see how naive those who do not want a change remain obliviously in delusion. From Ikemegbunam J. Nwafor

    We have other parties to vote for, why worrying over who PDP is fielding? In Edo State we drove the demon and it fled, why not do the same in Nigeria? Anonymous

    Sir, The ability to keep cards to the chest and hurl surprises at opponents can be a virtue in any human endeavour. In the game, victory is the ultimate goal and it can be attained quite often, through means not always governed by moral principles. It will be in order for Dr. Jonathan to use his idiosyncratic uniqueness by caging all known and unknown presidential contestants in his party. If distracted, how will PDP implode to the advantage of opposition parties? From Adegoke O.O., Ikhin, Edo State

    Oga Dare, thanks for your column tittled: So you want to be president? The Niger State Governor is not a material for the office of the president. He can talk, but certainly will not deliver. His state capital is nothing, but a glorified Local Government Area, and Talban has blatantly refused to add value to it for the years he has been piloting the affairs of the state. Well, nothing is impossible with God, but…. Anonymous

    The constitution is very clear on who can be President. Yes Talban is more than qualified to contest and be President. But why wait until now before informing us about a dubious agreement of 2011? Also the Northern Governors Forum chaired by the Talban and similar governors fora did not split the NGF but the PDP Governors Forum would do just that. Haba Talban, let us be Presidential in our talk. In the past you were a defender of Arewa and suddenly turned an emergency nationalist because of 2015. Nigerians should watch out as the journey to 2015 starts. Anonymous

    ‘So you want to be president?’, just say ‘yes, I want to be president’, get your invitation from EFCC and ICPC. When you are in doubt, ask Governor Sule Lamido. From Alhaji ADEYCorsim, Osodi, Lagos

    Why is it now that Babangida Aliyu is coming up to say there is gentleman agreement with President Jonathan over one term pact? I believe the game of politics is too early to discuss now. Why did the Governors not tell Nigerians in 2011 that there was arrangement they had with the President over one term pact? If the servant of Niger State wants to contest, the door is open for him and others who are interested in the presidential race. The electorate would decide President Jonathan’s second term in office. From Gordon Chika Nnorom. Umukabia, Abia State

    Dear Sir, Sule Lamido’s son was caught red-handed trafficking money. Should he not be prosecuted because Lamido wants to run for President? From Onyi Ukaegbu.

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

     

    I am sure President GEJ might have been satisfied with a term ab initio but since one or two geo-political regions, more especially the north’s ACF began to heat the polity, the caucus within the Niger Delta might have compelled GEJ to damn the consequence and head for a second term. My appeal to all is to see caution and stop beating the drum of break-up. That, to me, is the conclusion in which the president is – He did not sign a one-term agreement. The same thing happened to dissuade OBJ by the same clique. We need unity and peace. From Lanre Oseni.

    Tunji, are you able to convince me that we are not a one-party state now? A country that says it is practising democracy? Are all our institutions compromised? Are Nigerians a captured people? Are we not able to articulate the advantages deriving from our very incisive debates and reviews? This must not be so in the 21st century. Tukur and Anenih are spent forces that should be ignored. If elections can be free and fair, and voters serious enough to defend their votes, the PDP will fail, even in Bayelsa State. Nigeria is in labour pains to be delivered soon. From CJ.

    The piece is interesting. It is true that this country has been in the grips of the Judases since independence; meaning that the present ruling class has no new ideas or honesty. But who will blame the rulers if the oppressed are not organised enough to take power from them? From Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna.

    Tunji, God will increase your wisdom. We need people like you. Do you know most Nigerians have forgotten that the idea of seven-year single term was proposed by the president? Kudos to you. Anonymous.

    Hello Tunji, after reading your comment, I will advise you to mobilise Nigerians to vote President Jonathan out of office than to believe Aliyu and Amaechi. From Mr Natto.

    Hi Tunji, the Nigerian constitution is clear on who can contest presidential election. And this is the way to go instead of an unconstitutional one-term agreement that is not binding on Nigerians. Can’t Governor Babangida Aliyu be tried for felony through this one-term plot? From Tony.

    When was one-term agreement signed between President Jonathan and the governors? How can 36 governors say they had a pact of one term tenure , which anyway is unacceptable to Nigerians? Why are Nigerians not aware of the gentleman’s agreement? The presidency door is open to anybody who has the zeal to deliver good governance; after all, the constitution permits people to contest for two terms. It is only God and the electorate that can decide the fate of the candidate for president. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

  • Suspension of four lawmakers in Ogun

    Suspension of four lawmakers in Ogun

    SIR: What distinguishes man from animals is the observance of law and order. Developed societies of today attained such status because of adherence to the rule of law. Any right-thinking person should therefore support any measure taken to enforce law and order in order to keep the society a going concern.

    Given the above background, the suspension of four members of the Ogun State House of Assembly by the House leadership should be commended. Three weeks ago on a radio programme, one of the suspended legislators threatened to precipitate a crisis in the legislative chamber. She collected a handful of three other lawbreakers and violated Rule 38 of the House at the penultimate sitting of the legislature.

    What is more, after they had been suspended at the plenary on Tuesday they decided to break the mace of the House in order to prevent further legislative business. They even went further to announce the suspension of the leadership of the House after destroying the mace. We must not condone this brazen display of lawlessness anywhere in the country.

    Of course, any discerning mind could see the hand of the discredited opposition in the attempted crisis. Having failed to create a state of insecurity in order to stall the ongoing development strides in the state, they have now shifted to the House in order to present a façade of crisis in Ogun. That won’t gel.

    I advise the House leadership, led by the Speaker, Suraj Ishola Adekunbi, to stick to the rules of the House. While we call on the police to investigate the criminality of the lawmakers with the aim of prosecution, they should be allowed to return to the chamber at the end of the maximum number of days prescribed by the House Rule. That way, we will all be seen to be promoting the rule of law in Nigeria.

    • Steven Oladele,

    Abeokuta.

  • Boko Haram’s Shekau confirms cyber war

    Boko Haram’s Shekau confirms cyber war

    In case anyone still thinks the Federal Government is not already warring against its enemies and opponents in cyberspace, that person had better think twice. Thanks to the recent video released by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, we now have a confirmation that the Nigerian government is very active in the so-called fifth domain of warfare, the cyberspace. If in 2009, the United States could declare its digital infrastructure a strategic national asset, and the Pentagon could one year later also set up its U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) to defend American military networks and attack other countries’ systems, surely it is no big deal for the Nigerian government to hack into Boko Haram’s cyber operations network and undermine it.

    The Shekau confirmation of cyberwarfare comes after he tried to explain why he took so long in refuting the claim of one Abu Abdulazeez who claimed to have had the mandate of the Boko Haram leader to declare ceasefire and request for dialogue with the Federal Government based on some tentative agreements with the Borno State Government. According to Shekau, he made several attempts to upload a video message denouncing the call for dialogue or announcement of a truce. Every time an attempt was made, he moaned, the Nigerian government either summarily removed the message from the internet or blocked it altogether. Shekau did not say whether the sect has finally got the software to override the government’s interference.

    Hardball intends no insinuation, but it is significant to note that al-Qaeda is fairly adept at cyber war and would not mind pursuing its nihilist intentions by generously distributing to agents and affiliates the skills to conduct their own successful operations in cyberspace. So, too, is Iran, which seems to be giving both Israel and US a run for their money in cyberwarfare. Who can forget that in December 2011, Iran claimed to have hacked into a US spy drone called RQ-170, compromised it, and brought it down safely in Iranian territory? Naturally, the US denied losing any drone through cyber war, insisting, however, that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed after handlers lost control of it.

    But more spectacularly, there was the recent combined US/Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear programme, particularly its uranium enrichment program, which is at the centre of its nuclear militarisation process. In 2009 and 2010, the US and Israel deployed the so-called Stuxnet computer virus to sabotage the enrichment process. After Iran recovered from that attack, the two countries deployed an even more virulent cyber weapon identified as W32.Flame said to be “capable of penetrating a system, stealing sensitive data and turning on cameras and computer microphones to obtain additional data or change settings on computer systems.” The war continues, with all manner of footloose cyber warriors, some of them young and independent, causing havoc and gloating with satisfaction.

    Nigeria’s Boko Haram commanders will be bracing up for more attacks. Let us, however, hope that they are not quite stable or smart enough to be on the offensive in the fifth domain of warfare. For if the Americans and their Israeli partners are having headaches coping with Iranian cyberspace affront, imagine what migraine the lowly placed Nigerian government cyberspace managers could have from motivated cyber militants. More importantly, while it may be in the national security interest for Nigeria’s cyberspace warriors to subvert extremist groups like Boko Haram, we must hope that the government ninjas would not be tempted to expand the frontiers of cyberspace war to undermine civil liberties and invade the privacy of citizens. To this extent, therefore, it may not be inappropriate to ask whether the National Assembly Intelligence Committees (House and Senate) are really carrying out their oversight functions in these delicate areas.

     

  • That unfortunate crisis at Nasarawa varsity

    SIR: Nasarawa State University, Keffi, has over the years earned an enviable reputation as one of the few universities in the country where industrial and academic harmony reign supreme. This record is particularly significant against the backdrop of the sundry strikes, students’unrest and disruption of academic activities that have characterized the life of a typical higher institution of learning in recent times.

    It therefore came as a cude shock to not a few persons across the land, when Nasarawa State University (NSU) was closed indefinitely a few days ago, in the heat of the students’ protest over water scarcity. No less surprising was the circumstances that led to the protest in the first place, and the eventual closure of the school that is otherwise universally acknowledged as a model in serenity and stability.

    It all started some three weeks ago when water scarcity became prevalent throughout Keffi and, by extension, NSU. Hopes had been raised that whatever was responsible for the scarcity would be dealt with sooner than later. But, alas, one week stretched into another without any respite. Not unexpectedly, the residents of Keffi in general and the university community in particular, started to lose patience as the scarcity stretched on for what, to some, appeared like eternity.

    The university management, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. S.O. Amali, swung into action. Following a series of meetings and consultation on the best ways to deal with the nagging problem. Water was to be made available to all and sundry through the boreholes and water tankers. It was hoped the effect of the prevailing scarcity on the university would, at worse, be minimal.

    One could, therefore, imagine the management’s utter dismay, even as plans were being fine-tuned to implement these and other far-reaching measures, a group of students commandeered their colleagues into a supposedly peaceful and orderly protest. Sadly, this particular protest wasn’t all that orderly. Tempers began to flare when, in the course of the protest, the ever-busy Akwanga-Keffi-Abuja highway was blocked for some hours, with thousands of innocent travelers stranded against their will. In other words, the students’ freedom of assembly/association eventually became a hinderance to other innocent citizens’ freedom of movement along the veritably busy expressway.

    Although the students were expressing their grievances by protesting, they were however misled by miscreants who eventually took over the crisis, using the moment to rob residents of their phones and cash, even inciting the wrath of the soldiers.

    From the foregoing, it is clear that some elements within and outside the university decided, for reasons best known to them, to turn this unfortunate and unforeseen situation (water scarcity) into an opportunity to indulge in mischief and mayhem. That notwithstanding, it is our hope and belief that this unfortunate chapter shall not only pass as soon as possible, management will put in place some measures with a view to ensuring that never again shall this type of bitter pill be forced down the throat of our students.

    • Akum Pamilu

    Keffi, Nasarawa State

  • PDP’s imminent demise

    SIR: After a long spell of brutal and excessively corrupt military dictatorships, Nigerians peacefully drove the soldiers back to the barracks in 1999 but not until the military ruling class, in collaboration with their civilian counterpart programmed and arranged pseudo electoral contests in which the retreating soldiers formed and financed a party that produced one of them whom could protect their interests.

    And since May 1999, PDP hijacked the political space of Nigeria and it has dished out to Nigerians more than enough of toxic of maladministration, misgovernance, mismanagement and directionlessness in terms of leadership.

    For the past 14 years, Nigeria has been groping in the dark and it is on the verge of collapse. Except the PDP and its current lords are clinically entombed, Nigeria risks violent implosion.

    Jonathan happens to be the worst President in Nigeria so far in terms of cluelessness, colourlessness, ineptitude and incompetence.

     

    • Akinrolabu Tunde,

    lkeji-lle.