The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

  • Pittance or politics?

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai drew the first blood early this April when he needled the National Assembly to open up on its notoriously opaque financials. Speaking in a goodwill message at the closing of a five-day retreat ýof NASS management personnel held in his domain, the governor flagged NASS’s reputation for lack of transparency in its budgeting and advised urgent redress. “The National Assembly is seen as being in opposition to the fight against corruption…and that image has to be worked on now that we are going towards the election year,” he was reported saying.

    There is, in my view, substantial integrity deficit in the self-confessed motivation for el-Rufai’s advice to the NASSists, namely image reengineering towards the election year, rather than what is right for public officials to do at all times – even outside remote eyeshot of elections. But that is just by the way.

    Politics has a way of poisoning the well. And it isn’t unlikely that NASS chieftains had the election year in mind as well, with their sharp rebuff of an ordinarily helpful counsel by the governor. Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan, was diplomatic; he professed valiant exertions by the Legislature in fighting corruption, adding: “Nigerians would change the country (its leadership?) if we  ýfail to perform.”

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara took el-Rufai’s open admonition more sourly. “We are not happy with the statement of the governor that the budget of NASS is not transparent…I will like to challenge you (the governor) to champion the call for transparency in the budgetary processes of NASS to other arms of government. We want to see clearlyý how chief executives of states are paid, what they spend monthly as security vote, and also publish what happens to local government funds,” he said.

    el-Rufai is reputed as battle-tested in political warfare, and it didn’t take much for him to square up with the Speaker’s challenge. My guess is: posturing towards 2019 can’t be ruled out in the ripostes that ensued, but these were helpful for transparency in governance.

    The governor outed with Kaduna State’s security financials for 2017 and directed Dogara to online sites where the state’s budget and that of the local governments had been published since the previous year. For icing, he released his February 2017 pay slip that showed his net earning at N470, 521.74. “The amount may appear puny, but it reflects what the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) approved as the salary and allowances of every state governor, adjusted to reflect provision in-kind of accommodation and transportation,” his spokesperson said in a statement laced with taunts for NASSists to follow suit.

    It would have been an obvious defeat for the Speaker not to respond, if only by half, and he did that in a barrage. Details of the NASS budget remained work in progress that must be awaited because the leadership had even before now directed the Clerk of the National Assembly to publish its budget for 2017. But not so the details of Dogara’s personal emoluments, on which he obliged pay slips for the past six months that showed his net earning as N346, 577.87. NASS didn’t spare el-Rufai some mudsling, though. “We wish to advise the Kaduna State Governor, Malan Nasir el-Rufai, to concentrate his efforts on governing his state and stop undermining and distracting the National Assembly from playing its constitutionally assigned role in nation building…We are aware that there are serious security issues he should be grappling with in southern Kaduna and other governmental issues facing him. He should not give the impression that he has no challenging work to do in Kaduna State,” the Chair of House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, sniped.

    There have been loud plaudits for their excellencies in some quarters over the respective pay slip publication. But perhaps I need to be educated, because I don’t get it. The official (emphasis intended) pay line of public officers, including that of the President, is in the public domain from the RMAFC. That body, in 2015, publicised the approved ‘Remuneration Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders’ that showed State Governors’ inclusive annual salary as N11, 540, 896; that for Senators as N12, 939, 549; and for Representatives as N9, 740, 310. The document outlined the emoluments of all other public officials – down to councilors in the Executive arm and magistrates in the Judiciary.

    And so, while their courage in the ego match was remarkable, their excellencies stole no one’s thunder by outing with pay slips on their official remuneration. Suspended lawmaker Abdulmumin Jibrin raised the flag on Dogara’s pay slips, saying if the indicated figures were true, it meant that he as a floor member earns more than the Speaker. But that offered no help, because he stopped short of disclosing what he earns.

    The issue with rewards for political office in Nigeria is the unofficial earnings that fuel manic desperation for access to power. Some Nigerians saw through the foil even while the Dogara vs. el-Rufai drama raged. Activist lawyer Festus Keyamo, for instance, tweeted on his handle: “The latest comedy showing at cinemas is some guys showing their 300k-a-month pay slips, but spent billions to get the job!” And that is the point.

    Let’s face it: many of our politicians do not break banks, spend insanely, kill mindlessly, bribe electoral officials with mind-boggling sums and infract statutory procedures to no limit, just to land some pittance job that they must rebid for if they would – and they always do – four years after. It simply doesn’t add up. There are countless jobs in the private sector, even consultancies in the public sector, where they would earn multiples of that without inputing a jot of the desperation being levied in ‘capturing’ political offices.

    The gravy train is obviously outside the pay slip items; and much of that, I dare say, is illicit. The least in this regard are monetary benefits from contractors’ patronage that have afforded some low-level officials, who were tenants before contesting elections, erecting lavish estates within early years of their getting into power. And that isn’t counting the access to the public treasury that some, at least from past experience, have stolen blind. That is where the typical desperation for power comes from, not the earnings indicated on pay slips. These are the areas to look at in defusing the characteristic desperation.

  • Criminality, insecurity and judicial quandry

    We are in a maze of path mired in criminality, insecurity and political brigandage.  Corruption is at the root of criminality and other national malaise which we have been grappling with and unable to tackle.  Some President once upon a time tried to define corruption and stealing but left the word more confused.  In spite of what appears to be a quaint understanding of our developmental problems, we have not been able to deplore the right tools and political will to arrest the situation.  The nest of corruption is at the heart of the bureaucracy of different levels of government.   Government officials swim in the cesspool of corruption, stealing monies meant for providing infrastructure and other developmental programmes for the wellbeing of the people.  The government is not able to deal decisively with the felons because of weak institution and politicking.

    How can an anti-graft agency of government tell the world that they recovered sacks containing huge sums of money at an international airport and are not able to apprehend the person behind it? Not even with the aid of security cameras in the vicinity of the airport.  Strange things indeed happen in this country!  There have been other hauls since that time and it increases in its mind-boggling harvest each time.   The latest is the $43 Million (United States Dollars) found in a high brow apartment building in Ikoyi Lagos.  The government appears complicit unveiling the identity of the owner.  If indeed it was an agency of government that owes the money, it speaks volume of the ways and manners we run government.  In the first place, machinery would have been put in place to secure the building and give notice to any other government agencies of their presence.  Secondly, it would beat any sound security thinking to keep such money for government agency in a private apartment building; this sounds too good to be believed.

    There is armed banditry in our neighbourhoods and on the highways because the rich and powerful have denied the ordinary citizens the opportunity of living by stealing monies meant to provide basic infrastructures.  There is kidnapping and militancy across the country because the poor have since discovered that it is only the force of arms and violence that will bring our leaders to their senses that those on the fringe of society have the right to live.

    It is not in doubt that President Buhari has a resolute commitment to the fight against graft in the country especially those in government.  The major problem is that he does not seem to have people around him committed to the same course; so, he is a lone ranger.   It is a vain wish for the people to expect the federal government and its officials to engage in a true war against corruption.  The reason is that those behind the graft are the same government officials and their minions who control institutions and agencies of government fighting the war.

    We have no reason to be borrowing money from London or Paris Clubs or the World Bank. The loots that our leaders have frittered away properly harnessed would be enough to make our country one of the richest in the world. We should ask the right questions and drop the divisive sectarian consideration of ethnicity and religion.  Look at the political leaders; they are Muslims and Christians, northerners and southerners alike in the same parties.

    While our leaders compete to outdo one another in stealing public fund, other countries have since left us, carving out territories in Space, including those that had the misfortune of the same historical and colonial experience as Nigeria. The return of crime is so huge in Nigeria that it has become a thriving enterprise; stealing in government offices, armed robbery, kidnapping just name it.  Everybody is involved, including the security agencies.

    Insecurity did not begin and will not end with the defeat of the Boko Haram insurgents.  The arteries of insecurity have spread to all nooks and crannies of the country.  Insecurity manifest all around us as we travel the roads around the country where you see street urchins and bandits mounting road blocks and harassing road users and extorting money from them while the security agents look the other way.

    Who is to be blamed?  As saying goes, the fish begins to rotten from the head.  The government has failed to play its part in tackling issues of criminality, corruption and insecurity.  What people in government have done and continue to do is to equate their personal safety and security to the security of the citizens and the entire state.  That is why almost the entire personnel of the Nigeria Police Force have been turned into personal guards and security details to government officials and their minions leaving the whole country at the mercy of the criminal gangs.

    For those who are regular commuters on road Abuja – Kaduna, the import of this will make some impressions on you.  As soon as the Abuja Airport was shut down for the so-called repair of the tarmac, the Abuja road that was a death trap and nightmare to travellers was quickly fixed and with armed security at every other kilometre.  This is complemented by Police and the Nigerian Air Force aerial patrols and surveillance.  As if that was not enough the government took it upon itself to charter vehicles for commuters between Abuja Airport and Kaduna Airports with tax payers’ money.  These are people who can and are ordinarily able to pay because they have the wherewithal.

    When ordinary citizens die daily on that road due to lack of maintenance and blind sports created by robbers and kidnappers, it mattered not to the government.    The same government cannot provide and sustain mass transit for the citizens at a subsidized rate.  This is the same government that would not allow ordinary citizen to enjoy fuel or kerosene subsidy.

    Do we blame the people?  The people have failed to take the government to task. The Civil Society and Non Government Organisations including organized labour are not serving any useful purpose of ensuring good governance and accountability.  They allowed themselves for pecuniary consideration to be used to protect the interest of appointees of government and contractors holding the short end of the stick having fallen out of favour with the government of the day.

    The Nigerian judiciary has been the weeping child over the failure and inability to rein in the criminals on the streets, the thieving government officials and their minimal pairs in the National Assembly.  The lawyers and judges do not see themselves as any different from the maddening crowd.  The philosophical and intellectual bearing associated the Nigerian judiciary of the past has atrophied as merchants and traders have taken over as lawyers and judges.   The people cannot go to sleep and expect miracle, we have to occupy Nigeria as the civilized world is doing and put our demand for a true change and purposeful leadership.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.

  • El-Rufai and his disruptive memo

    Asked to substantiate his allegation that some Senators demanded gratification from him to approve his appointment as minister in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai had said God was his witness. Not a few wondered at the time if God would come down from heaven to testify in his case. It was around year 2000. El-Rufai had appeared before the Senate Ethics Committee, which summoned him over the allegation. Some Peoples Democratic Party leaders, particularly then Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had to intervene in the matter to pacify the Senate before el-Rufai was cleared for the ministerial job. He was subsequently appointed Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister by President Obasanjo. He did not leave that office without leaving behind some footprints. El-Rufai did some remarkable things in that office quite alright, but as is his tradition, he ended up a baggage for the Obasanjo government, destroying and demolishing the houses of mostly his critics and political foes under the guise of restoring Abuja master plan.

    The ways of el-Rufai, now Kaduna State governor, have always been puzzling. Attempting a de-construction of the governor in his memoir, ‘My Watch (Vol.2),’ President Obasanjo said el-Rufai was loyal to nobody but himself. “Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent and brilliance. At the same time, I recognised his weakness,” the former president wrote in the book. “The worst is his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai,” he added.

    Nothing can be more accurate than that Obasanjo’s categorization of el-Rufai. This classification of the Kaduna governor has been further exemplified by the way he treated President Buhari recently. Though he called the president his leader and mentor, yet he fired a damaging memo to Buhari, where he took his administration to the cleaners. He said Buhari had failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians and that the nation was drifting away under his watch. Since he had access to the president, would it not have been better for el-Rufai to have sought audience with him and communicated his views directly to Buhari? But that was vintage el-Rufai. That memo was to become a ready tool in the hands of critics and opponents of the Buhari administration to launch a blistering attack on the regime. That move by the Kaduna governor also seemed to have exacerbated the division and dysfunction in the presidency. I shall return to this shortly.

    In the 29-page memo, el-Rufai scoffed at the president, saying he surrounded himself with inexperienced and clueless officials. After the memo went public, the Kaduna governor claimed his secret correspondence to the president was leaked ‘from the Villa,’ apparently suggesting that the same people he had labelled inexperienced had leaked the memo. With that squabble, the battle line seems to have been drawn between those ‘inexperienced’ officials and el-Rufai and the Kaduna governor appeared to have been crushed by the same ‘inexperienced’ men in the seeming power tussle at the Villa.

    El-Rufai’s memo reeks of hate. He claimed the memo was not ill-motivated but he gave himself away when he cast aspersion on the group he called the Lagos group led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He claimed the contribution of the group to Buhari’s victory in the 2015 election was exaggerated. This is how he put it on Page 23 of the memo: “The Lagos group more or less led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the most organized and proactive. This group made a key contribution in our electoral success, but like all groupings it naturally exaggerates its role in order to increase its influence in the coming administration”. To put down such in a memo to the president clearly reinforces the depiction of el-Rufal as a disloyal, divisive, ungrateful and unappreciative person who recognises only himself and his interests in the scheme of things.

    El-Rufai was being mischievous when he sought to create the impression that Tinubu’s only contribution to APC’s victory at the centre in 2015 was in influencing the party’s victory in the South-west. Yes, this was crucial, indeed vital, to the outcome of the election. This is because in Buhari’s three previous failed attempts at the presidency, he never enjoyed the support of a South-west mistrustful of his perceived ethno-regional parochialism and Islamic extremism. But the truth is Tinubu’s contribution to the displacement of a sitting president at the centre goes far beyond what el-Rufai describes as the South-west support. Tinubu and the South-west galvanised the entire nation to back the candidacy of Buhari, leading the way for others to follow.

    The former Lagos governor has one of the strongest relationships with key elite groups across the North. It is on record that he criss-crossed the North and worked hard to win over many influential elites in that region who were suspicious and distrustful of Buhari to support him in 2015.  In his three previous abortive attempts at the presidency, Buhari had considerable grassroots support in the North but at best only very lukewarm acceptance among the region’s influential elite. Jagaban Borgu was a crucial factor in helping to build the very vital support for Buhari among critical power centres in the North that also played a major role in the outcome of the election. This is not to mention Tinubu’s ceaseless and clearly incomparable intellectual, tactical, strategic, organizational, logistical and material contributions to Buhari’s victory. And of course his leading strategic and organizational role in moulding the APC into the awesome political coalition that it became.

    Ironically, the same el-Rufai was in the fence-mending delegation led by Buhari to Tinubu’s Bourdillon, Ikoyi home to plead for another alliance with his ACN after the CPC bungled the earlier one in the build-up to the 2011 election. Buhari’s arrogant CPC had unilaterally picked Pastor Tunde Bakare as presidential running mate without consultations with the then ACN with which it had an alliance. Of course, ACN opted out. The result: Buhari lost to President Jonathan with all the states in the South-west except Osun voting for Jonathan.  At that fence-mending meeting at Bourdillon, which also had Bakare in attendance, el-Rufai was on record to have said that the delegation knew that without Tinubu, Buhari was going nowhere with his presidential ambition. The former FCT minister specifically told Tinubu that “you have been proved right too many times for us to refuse to listen to you”.

    Therefore, to insinuate that Tinubu- led ‘Lagos Group’ was exaggerating its contributions to Buhari’s victory in the 2015 election and on that basis seeking to clinch plum and financially-viable positions in the Buhari administration also shows that el-Rufai is one of those principally responsible for poisoning relationships within the APC and sowing the seed of the mistrust, disharmony, fractionalization and ill-will that has plagued the party till date. This perhaps must have been responsible for the way Buhari constituted his cabinet alienating key groups responsible for his victory in the election particularly Tinubu and his close supporters. It is obvious that even beyond not rewarding Tinubu’s nominees in his cabinet, Buhari also ensured that the Tinubu group had no meaningful influence or input whatsoever in the policy direction of the administration. Buhari’s stance towards the Tinubu group, after that el-Rufai’s memo, became markedly different from his attitude both after the presidential primaries in Lagos and after his victory in the election proper. In the immediate aftermath of the primaries, during the campaigns and after the election, Buhari, on several occasions, publicly acknowledged Tinubu’s invaluable contribution to his victory. That he could be so easily swayed to adopt a thinly-disguised hostile attitude to Tinubu appears to be a reflection of the quality of Buhari’s leadership and character trait.

    El-Rufai’s memo to Buhari also betrays the fact that he has been the arrowhead of the ceaseless and vigorous efforts to create a wedge between Tinubu and Buhari within the APC and whittle down the influence of Asiwaju within the party. This obsession with marginalizing Tinubu’s group in the APC first manifested itself in the fiasco that was the National Assembly leadership elections, with the then el-Rufai-led Abuja cabal of the party spearheading the bungling of the process with the Buhari administration shooting itself in the foot with negative and costly implications for the cohesion of the ruling party in the National Assembly, for harmonious Executive-Legislative relations at the centre and particularly for the president’s anti-corruption war. This ultimately self-defeating anti-Tinubu obsession also played itself out in the Kogi governorship election impunity that has done incalculable harm to the moral integrity of the APC as well as the controversial and fraudulent handling of the APC governorship primaries in Ondo State.

    El-Rufai’s all too well-known opportunistic antecedents make it obvious that his mischievous antics have absolutely nothing to do with any genuine affection for President Buhari as a person or interest in the wellbeing of the APC as a party. All that el-Rufai cares about is el-Rufai’s selfish interest. Unfortunately, this exceedingly egotistic politician, whose extremist belief in Fulani supremacy compounds the intractable crisis in Southern Kaduna, has been caught and incapacitated in the web of his own intrigues. El-Rufai has been outwitted and sidelined by a far more wily inner power circle around Buhari, thus utterly neutralizing his subtle and insidious agenda of exploiting his purported closeness to Buhari to surreptitiously build up a power base around himself within the APC with which to achieve his now clearly-doomed higher political aspirations. Those who know him so well have seen between the lines and have openly lambasted him for his infantile memo. His seeming smartness has caught up with him. But if truth must be told, the frustrations he so bitterly and desperately expressed in the memo suggest that his assumed political astuteness and sagacity are even far less impressive than his diminutive physical presence.

     

    • Balogun, a public relations expert, writes from Abuja.

     

  • Magu and the Senate: Time to end the circus

    For a while now, Nigerians have been bemused and worried at the same time by the seemingly unending circus that the nomination and Senate confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has become. President Muhammad Buhari’s strong confidence in Ibrahim Magu is only rivalled by the Senate’s disdain of and contempt for him. As the two elephants fought over Magu’s suitability or otherwise as the country’s top corruption czar, Nigerians and the fight against corruption were the worse for it. Thankfully, it would appear an end is in sight for this long running saga.

    Twice the Senate has refused to confirm Magu as the EFCC chairman but the presidency remains determined to retain him in that position regardless. Until now, there has been a media frenzy feeding off this stalemate with no indication as to the president’s next line of action. However, last week, the vice president, YemiOsinbajo, gave the clearest indication yet of the president’s thoughts on the matter. Speaking to a cross section of journalists, Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, advanced legal reasons for government’s stance. It is the opinion of the presidency that going by section 171 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, the president does not necessarily need Senate’s confirmation of Magu’s appointment. He also disclosed that President Buhari did not find the DSS report on Magu meritorious enough to negate his nomination. The vice president also indicated the readiness of the president, if necessary, to resubmit Magu’s name to the senate for as many times as it takes the senate to confirm him. It is worthy to note also that a huge number of legal experts support the position of the law as espoused by the vice president. It is argued and convincingly too, that the  effect of section 1 (1) &(3) read together with Section 171 (1) &(2) of the 1999 constitution as amended, is to void section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act which requires that a nominee for the agency’s chairmanship be subject to confirmation by the Senate.  Since this provision of the Act is inconsistent with section 171 of the constitution, it becomes void to the extent of its inconsistency as per section 1 (1) &(3). In other words, since section 171 (1) &(2) does not require Senate’s  confirmation of the appointments of heads of government agencies like the EFCC, and the constitution is superior to the EFCC Act which requires such senate confirmation, Ibrahim Magu automatically becomes the substantive chairman of the anti-corruption agency and will hold office for such period as stipulated by law.

    The reasoning of the presidency is not only sound in law, it is also a lot of common sense. Everything is not politics. While it may be politically savvy for the president to drop Ibrahim Magu to diffuse executive versus legislature tension, such move may deal a death blow to the administration’s anti-corruption fight. Also, since the matter involves interesting constitutional issues, it will enrich our democratic jurisprudence to have the Supreme Court give an opinion in the event that the Senate is minded to challenge the presidency’s reading of the law. That is what the judiciary exists for. It is hoped that the Senate will come to terms with this legal reality and move on, or opt for a legal challenge at the Supreme Court. I agree with the presidency and the Senate is best advised to let go and move on.

     

    • Prince Nwaeze Onu

    E mail: nationalpathfindernewspaper@gmail.com

     

  • Whistle-blowing: Building confidence, accountability in public spending

    For the corrupt and those with itchy hands for enriching themselves with public funds, it is no longer business as usual.

    The story of the country is changing from one where the system knowingly rewards unethical behavior and punishes ethical practices to where there is no hiding place for corrupt individuals or companies, being they local or multinational firms.

    This change came after the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, initiated and began the implementation of the Federal Government-driven Whistle Blower Policy. Under her leadership, the Federal Government unveiled the Federal Ministry of Finance- Whistle, a secure, online portal through which information bordering on violation of financial regulations, mismanagement of public funds and assets, financial malpractice or fraud and theft that is deemed to be in the interest of the public can be disclosed.

    The whistle blowing policy, which came with rewards for the whistle blower, has recorded significant success in the last few months when its execution began. The objective is to broaden the attack on corruption by encouraging the general public to expose corrupt practices.

    The feedback so far is revolutionary as it is already broadening the attack on corruption by encouraging the general public to expose corrupt practices. The violations include, but are not limited to mismanagement or misappropriation of public funds and assets; financial malpractice or fraud; collecting/soliciting bribes; diversion of revenue; fraudulent and unapproved payments; and procurement fraud (notably, kickbacks and over-invoicing).

    The whistle-blower will get between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the recovered loot, provided that “there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided.” Commenting on the domestic agenda to ensure significant reductions in ‘leakages’ of public funds, and improved efficiency in public expenditure, a source in the Presidency said:

    “The Federal Government is going after those who have stolen our hard-earned money. We have put in place a very successful whistle blower programme that is delivering results and allows those who report illicit activity to receive up to five per cent of any funds that we recover. We are also significantly improving our financial management controls to ensure that it is considerably more difficult for public funds to be diverted. We have to do more though.

    ” Just recently, $9.8 million cash was found in a secret bunker belonging to the former managing director of the National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu. With this development, it seems that resources have been allegedly redistributed from the people into the pocket of one.

    The former aide turned whistle blower, who informed the authorities of the loot, argued that there are as many as three other bunkers – each with about the same amount of cash – that are yet to be discovered. Also, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stormed a residential building in the 7th Floor of a four-bedroom apartment at Osborne Towers located at 16, Osborne Road Ikoyi, Lagos, where a find of foreign currencies and naira notes to the tune of $43.4m, £27,800 and N23.2m was made.

    The EFCC announced on Facebook that they had received a whistleblower’s tip that someone had been moving bags in and out of the apartment. Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, said in an emailed report that these stories are just a tip of the iceberg compared to the many other cases of corrupt and unethical practices that go on in this country and which are rewarded if you have the good and common chance of not getting caught.

    “A major challenge to ethical decision-making is cognitive bias. Most people pride themselves on their ‘ethical and moral’ views on life and business without factoring human bias that may contaminate ethical behaviour and practices and produce unintended consequences.

    Overconfidence is a very important factor to consider as we get caught up on internal traits and incentives such as ‘I’m honest’ or ‘I can never steal’ and do not factor in the fact that when push comes to shove, human beings are capable of committing acts that are not first nature to them,” Rewane said. He therefore praised the whistle blowing policy of the Federal Government, adding that it is paying off positively.

    He said that situational influences may skew ethical behaviour of people except there is ready punishment for defaulters. “For example, in government, a civil servant might be inclined towards unethical behaviour if everyone in his ministry is engaging in unethical practices. Undue influence from his bosses and peers might push him to go against his own ethical principles,” he said. Rewane said the key word here is trust.

    “I am less inclined to do business with someone in Rangpur Bangladesh who I’m not familiar with and might not easily have access to inspections and tests. The major force that propels me to incur the risk associated with international transactions such as this one is trust.

    What fosters trust is a solid ethical culture and framework irrespective of the location of the market and the product offerings in these markets,” he said. Explaining further, Rewane said: “If you give an average manager of a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), who has be conditioned to the ‘Nigerian way’ of doing things, the decision between doing the right thing or ‘saving’ your business from undue attention from regulator, the latter is the go to option.

    Doing the right thing will go a long way in ensuring longevity of the business. However, it may come with certain consequences that might be painful to the business in the short term. It ensures that the manager is free from any practices that may be used against him or his company in the future”. Michael Obinna, a Lagos-based civil servant, also commended the Federal Government on the whistle blower policy, adding that it will help businesses and civil servants to build an ethically-aware culture of conducting business that ultimately fosters trust in the sector as a whole.

    He said that previously, the Nigerian system allows those elected to office and those in charge of serving the public to fail their most important stakeholders, the Nigerian population because of loopholes in public expenditure. He however, said that Adeosun is fixing these gaps and that the whistle blowing policy are keeping all public officials on their toes. According to him, whistleblowers are encouraged and offered protection from harassment or intimidation by their bosses or employers.

    “The hope is that more looted funds will be recovered through the encouragement of voluntary information about corrupt practices,” he said. He said the policy selling points include the possibility of increased accountability and transparency in the management of public funds. It is also expected to ensure that more funds would be recovered that could be deployed in financing Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit.

    The channels for reporting information and the type of information to be reported indicated that anyone with “authentic information about violation, misconduct, or improper activity which can impact negatively on the Nigerian people and government” should report it through SMS text message and email. In the final analysis, it is hoped that the more accountable the government becomes, the higher will be Nigeria’s ranking on the indicators of openness and ease of doing business.

    The ultimate goal is to develop a corruption-free society and attract more and more foreign investors.

    •Ewulu, a financial consultant, works with Lagos-based Angelstege Advisory Services Ltd

  • The “Yorùbá” Nation and “Omolúwàbí” renaming proposal

    I have never hidden the fact that I am a proud Yoruba person who appreciates the cultural richness of the Yoruba people. For instance, I have been fascinated, right from my youth, about the accommodating capacity and the republican pedigree of the Yoruba and how this was demonstrated within the tiny geographical confines of Aáwé.

    This, in a manner that brings to light the seamless interwoven matrix that Ali Mazrui calls Africa’s ‘triple heritage’ of the traditional, the Islamic and the Judeo-Christian. I have a strong belief that my ecumenical temperament derives from the Yoruba upbringing at Aáwé which enabled me to sample the best of Islam, Christianity and traditional cultural manifestations. My grandfather was a Christian, my grandmother a Moslem, and Aáwé was solidly traditional.

    It was therefore possible for me to connect with my Moslem cousins during Ramadan, attend church and appreciate the cultural essence of the Egungun festival. This my fascination with the Yoruba culture has grown over time, sufficiently enough for me to follow avidly its underpinnings in the unfolding of Yoruba politics, development and progress within the confines of Nigeria.

    I am equally patriotic a Nigerian enough not to be assailed by the possibility of a dissonance between my Yoruba beingness and my nationality as a Nigeria. On the contrary, I am actually convinced that the Yoruba and their Southwest configuration have a significant role to play in the transformation of the Nigerian governance framework.

    All my arguments for reform and restructuring have been directed towards enunciating this conviction of the indivisible relationship between the Yoruba and the future of Nigeria. Recently, I have reflected on the future of the Yoruba in Nigeria.

    This is why I became extremely interested and intellectually tickled when I heard a beautiful Ewi poetry recitation by Pastor Adekunle Steven Adedeji, popularly known as Kunle Omo Alaafin Orun. Anyone hearing this poetry rendition, especially the first lines, and not familiar with the oeuvre of Omo Alaafin Orun would immediately put him in the same patriotic context with the great Ewi exponent, Lanrewaju Adepoju. That comparison would be both right and wrong.

    It would be right because the recitation has the same scintillating vocal acrobatic flowing from a magisterial mastery of the Yoruba language, idioms and proverbs.

    The comparison is equally right because both ewi poets are concerned with the state and future of the Yoruba people. But the comparison breaks down immediately the rendition proceeds to a certain point and it becomes obvious that Kunle Omo Alaafin Orun is a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) pastor.

    This is not a bad thing at all. In fact, it just makes the poetry rendition all the more intriguing and compelling. It is a mesmerizing oral poem that demands reflection through its sonorous weaving of Yoruba history, research, Christian theology and Yoruba cultural evolution. In summary, Omo Alaafin Orun makes a case for an urgent change of name from “Yoruba” to “Omoluwabi.”

    He then went on to weave a historical trajectory that places the Yoruba at a Coptic juncture which made Yoruba historical origin entirely Christian, and the justification for a renaming. Omo Alaafin Orun commences the poetry rendition with an elegant but insistent account of his research which, according to him, not only revealed that the concept of “Yoruba” did not emanate from the Yoruba themselves but is a name external to us. But more importantly, his research supposedly revealed that the term “Yoruba” came from a Hausa corruption—Yariba, as a shorter form of Yaribanza or a “bastard” or “sons of bastard.”

    This corrupted name has stayed with us for all of history, and, for him, has become responsible for our ill-fortune for that long too. The case is simple: a name is potent because it seems to outline a person’s or community’s destiny. The Yoruba have a very strong belief in destiny, predestination and the significance of names and naming. Thus, the name a person bears becomes a signifier of the person’s lot in life.

    Thus, if a person’s lot in life has become terrible, one of the first places to commence a corrective measure is the name the person bears.

    A properly researched history of the Yoruba, he argues, provides a different trajectory that could lead to the upturning of the Yoruba lot and transform our fortune as a people who have been blessed not only with a deep cultural heritage but who also have a deep and hitherto unknown connection to the God of Christianity.

    The proper history of the Yoruba, according to Kunle Omo Alaafin Orun, did not begin in Mecca. In fact, that revisionist tendency has an ideological content that is meant to exploit the Yoruba within an Arab/Islamic hegemony. On the contrary, the Yoruba migrated from Nubia via Egypt where they were integrated into a Coptic Christian practice left by St. Mark of the Gospel. The worship of the Orisa that now seems to mark Yoruba religion, for him, was a function of having lost the way and the light of Christianity when historical adversity drove the Yoruba from Nubia.

    There is a possibility that this historically serious and theologically insistent poetry rendition could be dismissed by a lot of people. In fact, it was that dismissive and derisive tone that jumpstarted the long list of comments on the Ewi video on YouTube. But then derision is the wrong way to respond to such a carefully thought out appeal and admonition.

    First, we need to get a clear picture of the message Kunle Omo Alaafin Orun threw out to us all: It seems we have been looking in the wrong places for the source of the Yoruba predicament. Why should we not consider the source of our name? And this is an inquiry that is consistent with Yoruba ontology too, especially with regards to names and destiny.

    A similar account of the Yoruba came from the allegation that Alaafin Aole placed a curse on the Yorùbá race. Why is this diagnosis and recommendation worse than that other? And this one came with a recommendation: Changing our name from Yoruba to Omoluwabi. This is a revolutionary recommendation, more so that it is linked to a theological background in Christianity. But this is not less inspiring even if it is spurious.

    My response is: What’s in a name? In what specific senses does a name or naming constitute a signpost to destiny and predestination? What causal effect does name achieve especially as the Christian bible suggest of Abram/Abraham, Jacob/Isreal or of Jabez renaming? To be mischievous, in what sense did the name “Wole Soyinka”, within the Christian or Yoruba thinking, contribute to the impeding or enhancing of Soyinka’s fame and fortune? My suspicion is that the Yoruba condition is deeper than a concern with the name we were given.

    If truly the name originated from an external ethnic caricature, then at the least, we owe ourselves the responsibility of tuning that caricature around. And that would be a really ironic success because a “bastard” would then have become a socioeconomic and political powerhouse in Nigeria. The way to get about this is not to change our name to Omoluwabi as if the mere fact of nomenclature is sufficient to transform centuries of economic and political anomalies.

    Omolúwàbí is an ethical term that denotes someone whose character is so noteworthy that it becomes a reference for the entire community. The greater challenge than naming is the task of demanding the imperative of Omoluwabi from the Yoruba leadership in a manner that will reflect on the visioning the Yoruba nation require to surge forward. Omolúwàbí has an underlying reform component. Robert Ingersoll, the American lawyer has this to say about Abraham Lincoln:

    “Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone—no ancestors, no fellows, no successors.” The same can be said about Nelson Mandela and Lee Kuan Yew. In the Yoruba ethical parlance, these are Omoluwabi leaders. But being an Omoluwabi comes with what Goethe calls “a never ending song”:

    “Deny Yourself!” Denial is where the creation of the Omoluwabi personality comes from, and it is essentially the denial of oneself on behalf of others, especially those with whom one has significant connection, be it of family, ethnic, gender, cultural or nationality. Noblesse oblige: Mandela gave 27 years of his life to ensure that South Africa has a chance to undermine the apartheid racial system. Lee Kuan Yew gave up the urge for greed and primitive accumulation to build a strong and modern Singapore.

    Abraham Lincoln dedicated his entire legacy to keeping the United States united and stronger. As a reform strategy, the Omoluwabi paradigm is especially demanded on the Yoruba leaders of thoughts and politicians in Nigeria today. And we have the great example of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a politician, who has a great reform mind and cultural sensitivity that enabled him to raise the bar of governance in the old Western Region.

    The question then is: What is the reform import of demanding that the Yoruba governors of the Southwest become Omoluwabi? It is the unfolding of this question in Yorubaland that carries the burden of the transformation of the Yoruba people and all our expectations in Nigeria. I have argued before now that the Southwest constitutes a reform zone that carries the possibility of energising the restructuring of the Nigerian state.

    And that puts a lot of responsibilities on the Yoruba governors, its critical elite corps, not minding whether they are PDP or APC or of non-governmental sectors. Unfortunately, this is an imperative we do not seem to have taken to heart yet.

    •Continued online

    •Dr. Tunji Olaopa, Executive Vice-Chairman Ibadan School of Government & Public Policy (ISGPP) tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng; tolaopa2003@gmail.com

  • The legacy of NA7

    Adebayo The Commander-in-Chief and myself agreed…..

    Ojukwu No: we have not appointed anyone Commander-in-Chief.

    Adebayo Can we not appoint a Commander-in-Chief now?

    Ojukwu We will see about that later……….

    These were the brief exchange between Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, (March 9 1928- March 8 2017), Military Governor of Western Region and Lt. Col. Udumegwu Ojukwu(1933-2011), Military Governor of Eastern Region during the peace meeting held by Senior Military officers in Aburi, Ghana between January 4 and 5, 1967 to resolve Nigerian crisis.

    At the time he was appointed Military Governor of Western Region on August 4 1966 by Lt. Colonel Dan Yuma Yakubu Gowon (82), to succeed Lt. Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi(1926-1966) ,Colonel Adebayo was the most Senior Military Officer in the country. At that time, his six other superiors were either assassinated or in exile including Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi(1924-1966), Brigadier General Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun, Brigadier General Zakariya Maimalari, Brigadier Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe(1924-1971) and Colonel Raph Sodeinde.

    Throughout his tenure as Military Governor which ended in April 1971 he conducted himself in power not with ruthlessness but as a pacifier. He loved people, he loved life and he had a large heart. The five controversial issues that he faced during his tenure and the way he handled those issues no doubt portrayed him as a man of peace.

    These are the Agbekoya Parapo crisis (1968-1969) during which the farmers revolted, the appointment of Iku Babayeye, Igbakeji Orisa, Oba Olayiwola Atanda Lamidi Adeyemi III(78) ,CFR.as the Alaafin of Oyo in November 1970 when he succeeded Alafin Gbadegesin Ladigbolu, the Occupation of ‘Northern’ soldiers in Western Region, the ever constant looming image and shadow of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was at that time the most powerful Politician in the country and the Post War reconstruction in Western Region.

    At the time he took over as Governor, the percentage of Yorubas in the Nigerian Army including in the Senior Military cadre, was less than 5% and it became worse that time that no Military Yoruba Officer was posted to that region to serve. This issue is best understood if you read a book”ARCHITECTURING A DESTINY” by Major General James Jayeola Oluleye(1930-2009). Governor Adebayo referred to it in a speech which he delivered in Ibadan on May 3 1967 when he declared”The training depot for the Army, promised in April has now been commissioned and the monthly intake of Yorubas into the Nigerian Army has now been raised to 200 with the likelihood of further increase in the monthly intake of trainees.

    I know that this will go some way towards meeting the genuine fears of the people of this region as it will afford us the facility for improving the strength of Yoruba personnel within the Nigerian Army and make for harmonious relationship between us and our fellow Nigerians in other regions. The No. 2 command of the Nigeria Army has now been established at Ibadan on the basis of equality of status with similar formations in other parts of the country.

    Plans are in hand to fill the yawning gap in the personnel of the Nigerian Police contingent within Western Nigeria. To this end efforts will be made to provide additional physical facilities”. By August 1966 the two major contemporaries of Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo(1909-1987) have been assassinated( Sir Ahmadu Bello (1909-1966) and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa(1912- 1966) while Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe(1994-1996) was in exile.

    That gave Chief Awolowo the opportunity to transverse the Political field almost all alone in an extremely Military era. On August 3, Lt. Col. Gowon released Chief Obafemi Awolowo from Calabar prison and throughout the tenure of Governor Adebayo he governed under the shadows of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He even presided in the unprecedented selection of Chief Awolowo as the leader of the Yorubas on August 12 1966 in Ibadan.

    In his address to the joint conference of obas and leaders of western Nigeria on October 12 1966, he declared” You will, I am sure, be interested to know that my crusade for internal UNITY among the Yorubas as a prelude to national unity has gone on apace. One significant development in this connection the endorsement of the Oba, Chiefs, and representatives of the people of Lagos, of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Leader of the Yorubas. Nevertheless, we must not relax or slacken our determination to remain united as one people with a common language, common ancestry, common culture, and common destiny.

    The presence here today of an observer-delegation from Lagos is an eloquent testimony to the spirit of oneness between the people of Lagos and their Yorubas kith and kins in Western Nigeria. The Advisory Committee has put finishing touches to the draft of the Charter of Yoruba Unity which we hope to print shortly for general circulations”. He then matched his words with action by releasing all political prisoners previously held in detention and this created an atmosphere of peace in the region at that time. General Adebayo was a team player and he delegated authorities and responsibilities as governor.

    He inherited a competent bureaucracy trained by the British and skillfully engineered by the pioneer Chief Scribe to the region Chief Simeon Olaosebikan Adebo(1913-1994) who later handed over to Chief Peter Odumosu, a highly talented civil servant. The Bureaucrats included top permanent Secretaries like Mrs Folayegbe Akintunde Ighodalo, Chie Olubunmi Thomas, Chief Benjamin Adefolurin Oduntan,Chief Alonge,Chief Samuel Oyewole Asabia, Dr Festus Adebisi Ajayi, Chief Oladipo Augustus Adebayo, Chief A.K. Degun, Chief A.M.A. Johnson, Chief Emmanuel Dapo Shoyege, Mr Isreal Ogunseye,Chief J.K. Akingbade, Chief Festus Oladipo Shadare, Chief Timothy Taiwo, Chief Jonathan Mayomi Akinola, who was my permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and transport in 1970 while I was serving as a Senior Technical Assistant, Chief I.O. Dina, Prince Adewole Adesida, Chief V.O. Oduntan and others. He had an outstanding cabinet including Chief Victor Omololu Olunloyo, Chief Gabriel Akindeko, Chief S.K. Babalola, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo,Chief Michael Adedapo Omishade Chief Joel Ehinafe Babatola, Chief Gab Fagbure and Chief Ayo Akintoba. They kept the flag flying at that time before, during and after the civil war.

    His childhood friend, Bishop Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye(1929-2012) whose village in Odo-owa in Ekiti state is not far from Iyin-Ekiti, the home town of General Adebayo, told him while preaching during his eightieth birthday at Archbishop Vining Memorial Church in Ikeja that General Adebayo was a “lucky man” whom God has been kind to.

    Only a lucky man could have passed through what General Adebayo passed through in life until his lifeless body was brought to Lister Hospital in Ikeja,owned by Dr. Amole, without being sick on the morning of March 8 2107. Just as he accepted to serve under Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon such was his life that he accepted all that came to him in life with enthusiasm and with peace of mind. Dr. Henry Alfred Kissinger (93) wrote in April 2012 that “Conflict is a choice not, by necessity”. General Adebayo was a man of peace.

    In the words of General Douglas Mac Arthur in his address to the American Congress on April 19 1951”Old soldiers never die, they just fade away”. And like an old soldier, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo has faded away. An old soldier who tried so much to do his duty as God gave him the light to do that duty . Farewell General.

    •Eric Teniola, a former director at the presidency, stays in Lagos.

  • The next French President: Macron or lepen?

    In a few days time , precisely 23rd April, the French will go to the polls for the first round of the 2017 presidential election. The second round run-off should come up two weeks later, if none of the eleven candidates scores more than 50% of the votes cast.

    The outcome of the election should be of interest to us in the ECOWAS sub-region in general and in Nigeria in particular , if for nothing , at least for the place of France in the world – a permanent member of the UN, with veto power – and its continued influence in its former African colonies with its attendant impact on the Nigerian economy.

    A case in point is the French-backed CFA franc (directly tied to the Euro), the currency used by Nigeria’s Francophone neighbours, many of them ECOWAS member countries like Nigeria. O the Nigerian borders . A visit to Nigeria’s borders like Seme will convince you!

    The race to determine who will succeed President François Hollande at the Elysée Palace (their own Aso Villa) is now in its last lap. It is obvious that, barring any surprises of tsunamic proportions, the race will run into its second round run-off on Sunday 7th May.

    For anyone who has followed closely the recent campaign and events in France and especially the barrage of relevant polls conducted by different polling agencies and institutes, the run-off of the French presidential election should be between the two forerunners, Marine Le Pen and 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron. Not even the recent surprise surge in voter intention of the far left candidate, Jean- Luc Mélenchon, should ,we believe, change this summation.

    Marine Le Pen, daughter of the famous (infamous?) Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far right party, National Front (le Front National} , has consistently topped the polls, until recently. The other frontrunner, Emmanuel Macron, a former minister of the economy of the incumbent Socialist President François Hollande, is running as an independent on the ticket of a movement called En Marche! (‘On the Move!’) which he formed on resigning from Hollande’s cabinet less than a year ago.

    He claims to be neither to the left nor to the right of the French political divide. With these two candidates as frontrunners in the race for the Elysée Palace , the 2017 French presidential election can truly and rightly be said to be an historic one.

    If the polls are anything to go by, for once in the history of the Fifth Republic, founded by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, we shall have a situation where the official candidate of each of the two major, mainstream political parties, the ruling Socialist Party , on the one hand, and the main opposition centre right party, the Republicans (Les Republicans),the new name of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP, on the other, could be absent in the second round run-off.

    This has indeed made the current campaign exciting, and intriguing. While Benoit Hamon, for the Socialists, and the embattled Francois Fillon, of the Republicans (LR), are running 5th and 3rd respectively in the polls, pundits and the man in the street in France and across the world continue to wager and argue as to whether the latter, once considered the next likely president , can make it to the run-off round by coming at least second.

    Time it was when Sarkozy’s prime minister for all the latter’s five years in power (2007- 2012), wa s seen as the next French President once he had beaten Alain Juppé at the LR primary against all odds . Right from the onset there had been no doubt that the blonde eloquent and no-nonsense Marine Le Pen (who even got her father Jean-Marie expelled from the party he founded) would be present at the run-off in May, having consistently been on top of the pack and credited with more than a quarter of the polled voter intentions.

    Should that happen on DDay it would be only the second time an FN candidate would do so in the history of the French Fifth Republic, after the shock result of 2002 that saw Marine’s father beat Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin to the third place in a contest finally won by incumbent Jacques Chirac.

    This time around , the game has changed, or so it appears. Whereas the LR candidate, François Fillon was for long a close second in most polls behind Marine Le Pen , the scandal involving the former’s wife, Penelope, in a sinecure-type fake jobs allegation, for which he is under investigation, has now taken a significant toll on Fillon’s chances, at least at the first round, according to the polls.

    The man who was once seen as the probable next president of France, after he had won the LR’s primary against all expectations , is now running behind Macron and Ms Le Pen, and may, therefore, not get through to the run-off stage.

    On the other hand, Emmanuel Macron’s fortunes have consistently improved over the past weeks owing to a combination of factors, not least of which is the prevalent anti-establishment sentiment, anti-mainstream politician feeling . While the so-called Penelopegate (alleged use of public funds to pay Fillion’s wife as his parliamentary assistant, and even two of his children) obviously led to a loss of supporters for Fillon, the fact that Macron was able to attract supporters from both the left and the right of the political spectrum has helped him not only to displace Francois Fillion from the second position according to a cross section of the opinion polls but indeed to also catch up with Marine Le Pen at the top of the ladder.

    There has, obviously, been a bandwagon effect in favour of the young former minister of President François Hollande, only 39.The outsider, Macron, hardly known a few years back, is today the toast, as they say, of a sizeable, significant section of the electorate.

    The candidate of En Marche! has indeed been able to attract to his candidacy not only the traditional core centre politicians such as François Bayrou of the MoDEM Party,a recurring decimal in French politics, he has also garnered open endorsement by president Hollande’s recent former prime minister, Manuel Valls, and a host of such prominent members of the Hollande administration as the minister of defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and other top-flight politicians , like Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

    What is striking in all this, clearly a success story, that of a brilliant banker and economist turned politician, is that the winner of the Socialist Party primary, Benoit Hamon, has had to cry havoc and treachery to the high heavens for the fact that contestants at the presidential primary of the party had been made to make an undertaking that they would support the winner of that primary , come rain or shine.

    In other words, a major loser at the Socialist Party primary, Hollande’s recent former prime minister Valls, should normally be the last person to lend his support to independent frontrunner Macron, who had turned his back on the Socialist Party, at least not before the ineluctable run-off in May.

    But then, the opinion polls, for whatever they are worth, and woe betide any serious politician who would deny their relevance, have consistently put the Socialist Party’s official candidate far behind not only frontrunners Le Pen and Macron, but also the embattled Fillon, and now also one Jean- Luc Mélenchon, a far left charismatic rabble-rouser.

    All this has led to the now famous ‘vote utile’ (‘useful vote’) and would explain why a good many Socialist Party supporters have shifted ground and continued to endorse, strengthen and swell the ranks of the former socialist, turned independent, Macron. The latter’s En Marche! movement has turned out to be more than a mere slogan but a veritable rallying call.

    The membership of the movement to have hit 200,000, more than double that of the mainstream Socialist Party and about the same as that of the old Gaullist party that has continually governed France under different names and appellations: RPR, UDF, UMP, used by Sarkozy, and now Fillon’s LR. What’s in a name? The bandwagon effect referred to above may well be due to the perceived need by a non-negligible section of the French electorate, and their friends and allies abroad, notably in Europe, to stop the ultra-rightist National Party incarnated by Marine Le Pen from producing the next president of France. The reason is simple.

    If it is highly probable that neither the candidate of the ruling Socialist Party of President Hollande, nor that of the rightist LR Party (Les Républicans) of the immediate past president Nicolas Sarkozy would make it to the second round run-off, it is clear that only a candidate strong enough to give the FN’s Marine Le Pen a run for her populist, anti-EU, anti-immigration, and some would say racist ideology, come 23rd April, could ensure that the far right candidate does not find her way to the Elysée Palace. If Macron comes first at the first round and Marine Le Pen a close second, the race for the Elysée Palace in the run-off would be literally a battle royal.

    The lesser candidates, the French call them ‘les petits candidats’ :small candidates, prominent among whom could be a certain Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of the far leftist party, Le Parti de Gauche, with his movement called La France Insoumise (France Unsubdued) – rebellious? – and the Socialist Party candidate, Benoit Hamon on the one hand, and the combination of the supporters of François Fillion and the weight of abstentions, and today’s undecided voters, all combined, on the other, could very well determine who wins the race.

    The opinion polls in fact suggest that as many as 20% of those to vote on 23rd April are yet undecided, while abstentions could be as high as 30%. •Continued online •Ekundayo Simpson, Professor of French, CEO Interlingua Limited

  • Anambra 2017 and APGA’s political gimmick

    Anambra 2017 and APGA’s political gimmick

    As Anambra governorship election approaches, any visitor to the state now who is very observant will see that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)-led government in the state has commenced its political gimmick, thinking that Anambra people are gullible. At strategic locations across the state are giant and money-spinning billboards with bold inscription – APGA bu nke anyi meaning “APGA is our own” and the picture of the late ex-Biafra warlord, Chief Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu who died many years ago.

    The questions that easily come to one’s mind are: “What is the picture of late Ojukwu or his family members got do to with the forthcoming governorship election? Is late Ojukwu or his wife, an aspirant in the election? Why can’t Ojukwu, who is dead since be allowed to rest in perfect peace?

    Why should he be dragged into this again? Well, that is the extent of desperation and hypocrisy political power can drive people to, even when it is obvious that such people have no capacity to deliver in office. But that is dirty politics and desperate politicians for you. To these politicians, anything and everything is okay and possible, so far it can guarantee them political power.

    It will be recall that this was the same gimmick, the immediate past governor of Anambra State and Governor Willie Obiano’s predecessor under APGA platform, Mr Peter Obi used to deceive the people of the state during his first and second term elections. Obiano and his supporters appear to be toeing the footsteps of his estranged political godfather, Obi, forgetting that such cannot work for him this time around, due to many glaring political factors. It is very important at this point to remind and teach Obiano, who was railroaded into Government House, Awka by his predecessor, the APGA history and it’s many frauds.

    After the 1998 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary in Jos, Plateau State, where an illustrious Igbo son and foundation member of the PDP, Chief Alex Ekwueme was short-changed at the eleventh hour and Chief Ogbonnaya Onu also schemed out in the All Peoples Party (APP) presidential primary in Kaduna, it became clear to the Igbos that there was need for a political platform of their own to negotiate for political power at the centre. The dilemma of the Igbos then was who would bell the cat. This was because majority of Igbo politicians were in the PDP-led government and others in the opposition, APP including Ojukwu, who was a member of Board of Trustees of the party.

    That was how Chief Chekwas Okorie alongside Chief Maxi Okwu took up the challenge and registered APGA on June 22, 2002 with financial support from the likes of late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Chief Arthur Eze and others. Because of his age-long relationship with Ojukwu and the respect the Igbos have for him, Okorie gave Ojukwu, the party presidential ticket in 2003. Prof. ABC Nwosu introduced Mr. Peter Obi to Ojukwu after Obi was schemed out of the PDP.

    That was how Obi brought in his kinsman, Chief Victor Umeh, who was then personal assistant to Chief Joseph Okonkwo (Ofiadulu), a popular politician and Treasurer of the PDP into APGA. Obi was later given APGA governorship ticket in 2003, courtesy of Ojukwu’s influence on Okorie. After the election, Dr. Chris Ngige of the PDP was announced the winner and Obi went to tribunal.

    With high-level political conspiracy and intrigues in the presidency, Obi reclaimed the governorship seat from Ngige at the Court of Appeal in 2006. Before then, precisely in 2004, Umeh who was made APGA Treasurer had announced the expulsion of Okorie from the party. Umeh made himself acting chairman with the tactical support of Obi. For almost 10 years, Okorie was in court fighting for the soul of APGA, but was frustrated by the undertakers in APGA from Agulu community namely-Obi and Umeh. That was how APGA lost its original soul and became “Agulu” Progressives Grand Alliance with Umeh as its chairman and Governor Obi as major financier.

    It is of note that for eight years of Obi’s administration, APGA never won any National Assembly seat in Anambra State, despite the claim that it was an Igbo and Ojukwu’s party. Rather what Obi and Umeh did was to arrange a secret and selfish alliance with the PDP-led government at centre, where by PDP concede governorship seat to APGA in Anambra and take National Assembly seats.

    They consistently used Ojukwu, his name and picture to do governorship campaign in Anambra. During Obi’s second term election in 2010, APGA apologists told Anambra people that Obi’s second term was Ojukwu’s last wish. All sort of political subterfuges were perpetrated by the APGA undertakers in the state, using Ojukwu’s name just to serve their selfish political interests. Even at that, all the acclaimed apostles of Ojukwu in Anambra and beyond never identified with APGA before and after Ojukwu’s death. Why? Why was it that APGA did not grow beyond Anambra State or Agulu, throughout the eight years of Obi’s administration? Why didn’t the Igbos embrace the party totally? Was it because it lost its Igbo soul and became a platform for Agulu people to make money and achieve their political interest? Why immediately Obi left office, did he abandon APGA and jump into PDP? Was it that he realised that he has been a local champion for eight years and needed to be in the mainstream politics for political rehabilitation and to fight for the state’s fair share of the national cake? Unfortunately for Obi, PDP lost the presidency in 2015 and has not found its bearing since then.

    For Obiano’s government and its apologists, what is of paramount importance now is verifiable account of Obiano’s achievements with the billions of Anambra money, he has collected, not Ojukwu’s billboard, wrapper, rice, money or the known lie that APGA bu nke anyi or Igbo party. May be APGA and Obiano apologists will now tell Anambra people that Obiano’s second term is Ojukwu’s message from the grave. We hear.  Once bitten, twice shy.  Anambra State cannot continue with a party that is an orphan and a local champion with poor performance.

    With All Progressives Congress (APC) led- federal government at the centre performing well and parading credible personalities like Bath Nwibe, and others in the governorship election in the state, it is a question of time, before the state joins the mainstream politics.

     

    • Ezeani, a historian and researcher wrote from Obosi, Anambra State

  • Lagos @ 50: My relationship with Rasheed Gbadamosi

    Siesta time at Ika Grammar School, Agbor, was when students were supposed to give their metabolic system a break by switching off from all physical and mental activities. While it lasted for about two hours, only the Casuarina trees, from their caressing encounters with the winds, were allowed to utter any noise. The students were required – and expected – to catch some sleep.

    Mr, Isichei was the senior housemaster who was the de facto chief enforcer of hostel rules in Ika Grams of the early 70s. He later became the principal of Okpalani Grammar School, Okpanam, in the present Delta State. He would be taken aback by the revelation that Thomas – the otherwise genial, dutiful and well-comported school prefect – rather used this period for literary self-indulgence.

    Well, I was taking advantage of my privileged entitlement, as a prefect, to a cubicle. That was when I resumed my practice of literary expression and elementary journalism that started  two years back at Iyekeorhionmwon Community (later renamed Orhionmwon, and then Urhonigbe) Grammar School, where I had been a front-running contestant in short story competitions organized by the defunct district council then headquartered at Ugo. Indeed, some time in 1969, I had gotten a letter published in the Benin-based Nigerian Observer explicitly titled “I want to be a real journalist.”

    I was also editor of The Mermaid, a student magazine inspired and mentored by Obi Anene, who had just graduated from the University of Lagos with a degree in political science and joined the teaching staff of Ika Grammar School. It was Obi, a political science major who was initially fondly called by the first name Joe, who introduced Government as a subject to Ika Grammar School and prepared a handful of us to perform exceedingly well in the WASCE within one year. He became a features writer at The Nigerian Observer. He and my English tutor Felix Emeka Okeke-Ezigbo, then already a published poet in Nsukka Harvest, nurtured my literary skills, the latter becoming a professor of English and Affiliated Professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of Rhode Island, until he died in Providence on June 25, 2012.

    How far have I gone trying to realize the dreams? If you will permit an uncharacteristic act of immodesty, I went on to enjoy brief spell as radio producer and commentator in the outside broadcast unit of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria under the tutelage of Ishola Folorunso (late), Kunle Olasope, Ben Elugbe (emeritus professor of linguistics),  and sports commentator/newscaster Tolu Fatoyinbo (late). At FRCN, I was colleagues with Sam Okolo (late), and the current helmsman of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Boboye Oyeyemi. I shared microphone with Ernest Okonkwo (late), Sebastian Oforum (late), Kevin Ejiofor, Khalifa Baba-Ahmed (late) and with former minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke; Emma Egharevba and Dan Esiekpe at the National Sports Festival “Oluyole ‘79” in Ibadan. Somehow, I never managed to do so with the one-and-only Bisi Lawrence, whose image loomed large in the Outside Broadcast establishment of FRCN in those days, but who was on the verge of retirement at this period.

    Two years later, at “Bendel ‘81“, I was, on television, I was in the company of old Unife friend  Tayo Balogun; current acting Managing Director of Bank of Industry Waheed Olagunju; Tunde Orebiyi; and a host of brilliant professionals at NTA Benin, including Tonnie Iredia; Dele and (late) Ayo Ojeisekhoba.

    However, it was in print journalism that my journalism dream really came true, when, finding myself in the company of some of the best professionals, I become, in 1984, the features editor of The Guardian, arguably the most respectable newspaper in the country at a time. Another journalistic milestone was a reflection on the close affinity between man and bird that won me a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Fellowship in 2010.

    Known only to a few of my childhood friends, Rasheed Gbadamosi was the big impetus for my affinity for literary efforts, such that this tribute might as well have been titled “Rasheed Gbadamosi in My Journey to the Writers’ World.”

    1971 was the year of the “Fight of the Century” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, an episode that profoundly gripped me for the global interest that it generated. But, in intensity, my engagement in the event was rivaled by the degree of my mental involvement in a small event – the then annual Sunday Times short story competition.

    The contest that year was won by Rasheed Gbadamosi. Among the hundreds of competitors that he beat to the first prize was yours truly, a fourth-form pupil who, on account of having “successfully” tried his hands at short stories, essays, recitations, school drama and other literary forms, thought he could try his luck on a wider stage.

    The journey to meeting Rasheed Gbadamosi started with a letter congratulating him on his achievement and requesting a copy of the winning entry. In no time, a copy of the story titled “Sunset Over Nairobi”, typed double-spaced and cyclostyled into about four pages, was delivered to me by post a few days before its publication in the weekly newspaper. Need I confess that I was overawed by the mastery of the English language displayed by Gbadamosi in the story!

    Aspiring to be like him, I then continued to bombard him with my efforts. He never failed to either acknowledge or comment on any script I shared with him. I remember one short story that explored a theme in inter-communal strife that elicited a comment from him that I was aping Achebe. Couldn’t I find more everyday experiences to derive themes from? It was like asking: “Hasn’t Achebe told the story of the past so eloquently already for you to continue rehashing his narrative?” While I brandished all other letters from the man in the manner of bragging to my friends that I was friends with Rasheed Gbadamosi, this particular one was not something to share. However, I took the advice to heart and, while my spirit was dampened, my literary aspiration was not annihilated.

    During my NYSC orientation at Olivet Hugh School, Oyo in the 1978/1979 year, I formed the Oyo State NYSC Theatre Group that put up a memorable show, including a drama presentation in which Pat Bala, until very recently the director-general of the National Film and Video Censor Board (NFVCB), was the lead actor.

    When I gained admission to both Ife and Nsukka in 1974 to read English, I harboured the anxiety that the chances of a career in journalism, that was always my first love, were in jeopardy. However, Gbadamosi wrote to me to dispel my concern. He then revealed that he, who was one of the best short story writers in the country, was, in fact, an economist!

    Late in December of 1974 Mr. Gbadamosi drove to the University of Lagos, were I was spending time with my childhood friend Gabriel Egharevba, now a now a professor of chemistry at Ife, to meet his young admirer. He then took me to visit with him at his Biaduo Street, Off Keffi Street, Ikoyi, residence and back to Akoka.

    Later on when I had come of age in journalism, he did not fail to say in a few words – as he was wont to do – “You’re doing really well.” Really? My head never failed to swell – especially when he once said this to the hearing of Ladbone (Lade Bonuola, who was my editor). In addition, he was of tremendous support of my career. He made the job of getting him to analyze the annual federal budget quite easy for me as the features editor at The Guardian by coming all the way to Rutam House in Isolo from his Ikoyi residence to turn in his scripts. On a couple of occasions, he actually wrote the scripts in my office amid the din associated with newsroom!

    Gbadamosi was, over the years, up there with the Segun Olusolas and Newton Jibunohs in the top league of promoters of art in Nigeria. The titles of his works even had as much potential to win prizes as their contents – Tree Grow in the Desert, Behold My Redeemer, Sunset Over Nairobi, etc.

    He inspired successive generations spanning art promotion and business. These include two of them of my friends, Waheed Olagunju (current acting Managing Director of the Bank of Industry) and Toyin Akinoso, the well-known geologist, journalist and publisher (who is better known as what I should call an art and culture militant) and one of the prime movers of the Committee for Realistic Arts (CORA).

    Gbadamosi was instrumental, as Minister of National Planning during the administration of Abdulsalami Abubakar, to the construction of the UN House in Abuja.

     

    • Odemwingie is a former features editor of The Guardian.